The gleaming spire of the prayer shrine was visible from far in the distance. Its brilliance grew more sharply defined as they drew nearer. Although now part of Zolian territory, Kazan remained a center of trade, and the shrine housed the gods of Aquafa and Zol, as well as those worshipped by visitors from many different lands.
A channel carrying water from the great Mahalu River in the grasslands ran alongside Okuha Road, the main thoroughfare that led to Kazan. Once travelers reached this path, they no longer had to worry about finding water.
“Ochan, whaddat?” Yuna shouted, resting a hand on Olaha’s antlers to lean forward and point. Olaha flicked his ears irritably.
Van followed the direction of her finger. “Those are flags,” he said quietly.
Colorful banners lined the top of the wall surrounding the city, flapping in the spring breeze. “That red one’s the flag of the former Kingdom of Aquafa,” Van explained. “The blue one’s for Zol. The yellow and green one belongs to the Kingdom of Igilia far to the south. The city flies the flags of every country it trades with. That way, traveling merchants and visitors can look up and say, ‘Hey, there’s my flag.’”
“Uh-huh. I get it,” Yuna said solemnly, although whether she actually understood was questionable. “Flags wavin’ and sayin’ ‘Welcome, welcome.’”
Sae, who rode beside them, glanced at Van and chuckled. A heavy dread had spurred them forward on this journey, but Yuna’s innocent delight at seeing Kazan brightened their spirits.
The ponderous rumble of cartwheels came from behind. “Hoh there! Make way!” Van and Sae hurried over to the side of the road, and a horse-drawn cart piled high with enormous bags lumbered past. A young man stood on the edge of the cart, his body draped over the pile as he struggled to keep it in place. Every time the wheels bumped over a stone or rut, the bags swayed drunkenly.
The road was unusually crowded, packed with travelers heading for Kazan—some on horseback, some on reindeer—almost as if the flags were beckoning them, as Yuna had said. They came from all over Aquafa to join the celebration marking the Visit of the Emperor’s Eyes.
Van turned to Sae. “They said the Oki tents would be on the north side of the city wall, didn’t they?”
“I bet they’re over there,” Sae answered, pointing. “Let’s go a little farther and then cut across that field.”
A breeze ran across the road. Clouds appeared low on the horizon and scudded across the sky, casting faint shadows on the grass.
When the Echo Master revealed that the settler villages were still being attacked, Van’s first thought was that the disease had spread to wild dogs, ossam with no connection to the Ahfal Oma. However, Suohl had said, “They weren’t ossam. They were huntin’ hounds. Rochai, no mistake. Made by breedin’ dogs with black wolves.”
Van’s skin had crawled at the possibility this raised. “Do you think the soul of a dead man could be riding them?”
“Well, it ain’t impossible,” Suohl had answered with a grimace. “But y’know, even if that were the case, there’s no way a dead man coulda controlled ’em.”
“You’re sure? Not even if his soul had run with them when he was alive?”
“Not even then. Ain’t no way you can control ’em like that once you’re dead,” Suohl had explained slowly and deliberately. “You’re you because of your connection with your body. Maybe some souls stick around after they die ’cuz they’ve got unfinished work, but they take the same shape as when they were alive, right?”
Having never seen a soul, Van had been unable to agree with any certainty, but he’d heard people say that the ghosts of those who bore a grudge looked the same as they did in life. “Don’t some people come back as butterflies, though?” he’d asked.
Suohl had chuckled. “You mean young women in love who die before they marry?”
“Yes,” Van had responded, only to smile at himself for even half believing such a romantic tale. “Still, you said you rode the raven’s wings.”
“Darn right I did,” Suohl had said, wagging a finger at Van. “That’s why I know. It ain’t easy to stay on another livin’ creature. It’s kinda like a contest of souls. You oughta know what I mean.”
Van did. When he’d run with the pack of Kinma dogs, the ground had loomed close, and even the grass looked different. Surely, that was how the dogs saw the world. He’d lost the ability to speak, and the part of him that was human seemed to shrink to nearly nothing. The emptiness inside Van had receded, lulling him into a state of peace, but somewhere in his mind, there had remained an uneasiness, a stomach-gripping fear—the fear of completely losing himself as a human being.
“I was only able to hang on to my sense of self when I rode that crow ’cuz I was alive. ’Cuz I had my body to come back to. If I’d tried to ride Lady Crow when I was dead, she’d have won. I’d have lost my soul and become a crow myself.”
After lowering his voice, Suohl had said, “Y’know, there were times when I wondered if my wife’s soul was actually ridin’ Lady Crow. She talked and acted just like her.” Then he’d laughed and shook his head. “But I know that wasn’t the case, ’cuz I rode on her wings myself. It’s hard to explain, but I’m sure the soul of that bird was Lady Crow’s. My wife might’ve possessed the crow before she passed on, leavin’ a shadow of herself somewhere. But even so, it was nothing more than how a dog’s demeanor resembles its master’s. Lady Crow’s soul was her own.”
Still smiling, he’d added, “Y’see, the body’s just too important. A soul without a body can’t hold its shape for very long. If it could, this world would be full of ghosts.”
Pausing, he rubbed his arm. “Maybe the guy’s soul latched onto the rochai when he died,” he’d continued. “Maybe it’s even with ’em still. If that’s true, it musta fused with the dogs’ souls by now. I’m sure of it. The bond with the body ties the soul to this world. Without the body, that bond dissolves. Those dogs’re still livin’, so they’re gonna be way stronger than a dead man. I guess his will coulda survived awhile after death ’cuz that’s how he communed with the beasts, but once he fused with the dogs, it couldna lasted more than a day or two. It’d just melt away to nothin’.”
Spreading his hands, he’d sketched the figure of a man in the air. “I told you that the human body is like a forest made up of all the little lives inside it. Yet I’m still me, and you’re still you. It’s because of our bodies that we can think of ourselves as ‘me’ and see ourselves as separate entities.”
That makes sense, Van had thought. He’d experienced that for himself. Did that mean Kenoi was no longer leading the Kinma dogs? Consumed as he was by a powerful delusion, he might have retained his will, but even so, it would’ve been hard to control the pack the way he had while alive. But if it wasn’t Kenoi’s soul shepherding them, then the only other possibility was that some rochai found their way to Oki after Kenoi’s death or perhaps that Oki was already host to rochai carrying the disease.
Van had shared these thoughts with Sae as they rode toward Oki that night. She’d frowned. “Those are both possibilities,” she’d said. “But the fact that rochai are attacking settlers must mean that someone’s controlling them, right?” Van had nodded, and Sae’s expression clouded over. “But who, then? I thought Kenoi was so fixated on you because you were the only other person who could do it.”
Van had stared at the night-shadowed road. “There may be a pack that isn’t led by men,” he’d said in a low, measured tone, “but I think it’s more likely I was used as a dropped knife.”
“A dropped knife?”
Van had pulled his dagger from his belt and held it up. “Let’s say I run into an enemy with only a dagger in my hand. First, I show my opponent how good I am with it.” He’d flourished his weapon and slashed at the air. “Then I drop it.”
“Ahh.” Sae had nodded. Her father had taught her this same trick. “If all your attention’s focused on the other’s weapon and he suddenly drops it, you’ll think you’ve gotten lucky and relax. That unguarded moment is the most dangerous.”
Frowning, Sae had asked, “You think that Kenoi and Ohfan planned to use that trick all along?”
“It’s certainly conceivable, don’t you think? Kenoi was sick and didn’t have long to live. The Dog King was the key to their whole plot. It was a very fragile plan. Without someone to lead the Kinma Dogs, it wouldn’t work. Sure, it might’ve succeeded if I’d been willing to simply do what they asked, but it would’ve been foolish to depend entirely on the good intentions of an outsider. I’d never gamble the fate of my clan on something that risky.”
Sae’s expression had darkened as she listened.
“They may have just used me as a pawn to distract all of you,” Van had concluded.
Sae cocked her head to one side. “I think that would be difficult,” she’d replied. “We’re not infallible, of course, but the Molfah net is spread over the entire country, and spies report from every corner. Were someone else capable of manipulating the Kinma dogs, we would’ve noticed.”
Van had peered out toward the dark road ahead. “That may be,” he’d said quietly. “But it’s when you’re sure something’s impossible that you let down your guard.”