“No,” Slorn said. “But I had no choice. I knew when I decided to return to the Shapers that I would never leave this mountain again. That’s why I needed another wizard, someone I could trust, who could hear my argument and the mountain’s reply and take that knowledge where I no longer could.”
“And where was she supposed to take it?” Sparrow said. “Into her cell? Because that’s where she is, you know. Alone, suffering, without even her puppy for comfort, and it’s all because of you.”
“I am fully aware of my fault in this,” Slorn said. “But Miranda has a much bigger role in things to come than she knows. A role I forced her into by bringing her here, and a role I will force her to continue by hiring you to free her on my behalf.”
Sparrow snorted. “I don’t think you can afford me.”
“Ah, but I won’t be paying you,” Slorn said, taking something from his jacket pocket. It was a fat, leather-bound notebook tied with a loop of string.
“What’s that?” Sparrow said, leaning in for a better look. “Your diary?”
“My research notes,” Slorn said, holding the book like a precious relic. “This book contains the complete record of Nivel’s and my work for the last ten years. I may not be able to afford your services, but this book should be plenty to buy the services of the woman who owns you. Every answer to every question Sara has asked me about demons over the last decade is in his book. I’m giving it to her in exchange for Miranda’s freedom, plus freedom for all her spirits.”
A sly smile spread over Sparrow’s face. “All her spirits?” he said, scratching his chin. “A clever touch, bear man.” He eyed the book, and Slorn could almost see the scales weighing the danger of freeing Miranda versus the danger of angering Sara. Sara must have won out in the end, for a moment later, Sparrow’s hand swooped in and snatched the book from Slorn’s fingers.
“The Council accepts your offer,” he said, hefting the book in his hands. “But I must say, you’ve become a very trusting bear in your old age, Heinricht. How do you know I won’t just take this and leave poor little Miranda to the mess you made for her? I mean, it’s not like you can go for a stroll to see if I kept my word.”
Slorn smiled. “It was because I knew you were following us that I risked bringing Miranda to the Shaper Mountain in the first place. Sara’s too good a judge of opportunity to abandon a spirit like Mellinor. My guess is that you have orders to take us both back to Zarin. However, breaking someone out of the Shaper Mountain is no easy feat, and since I’m not going, you might be tempted to cut your losses and just leave. With this in mind, think of that book as collateral. You’ll find a letter to Sara on the inside cover explaining that Miranda is supposed to be with you.”
Sparrow’s smile faltered, and he flipped the book open, glaring at the note scrawled across the inside cover, impossible to rip out without ruining the first half of the notes.
“You can be a very conniving bear, Heinricht,” he said, snapping the book shut with a deep sigh. “You know, of course, that this little payment is between you and Sara and won’t spare the Spiritualist the enormous debt she’ll owe the Council for her escape.”
Slorn shrugged. “Miranda is a competent woman. I trust her to handle her own obligations.”
“I’ll be sure to tell her you said so,” Sparrow said, tucking the notebook into his pocket as he walked back to the wall. “Lovely chatting with you, Heinricht.”
“You take care of Miranda, Sparrow,” Slorn said, his voice heavy with warning. “She knows things now that could save us all.”
“What, haven’t you heard?” Sparrow said, glancing over his shoulder. “The Empress is on the move. Nothing can save us now.” He pressed himself against the wall and jumped, catching the edge of the vent with one hand. “Good-bye, old bear,” he said, pulling himself expertly into the opening. “Maybe we’ll meet again someday.”
“Likely not,” Slorn said.
Sparrow laughed and folded his thin body, slipping out of the cell like smoke. Slorn watched the place where he had been for several minutes, blinking his eyes every time his focus drifted from the physical world toward the spirit. Someday, he told himself, someday he would ask Sara where she’d found Sparrow and how his spirit invisibility actually worked. It was a lie, of course. In all likelihood he would never leave this cell again. Still…
Letting the spirit sight take over again, Slorn looked down through the heart of the mountain, down to its base, the enormous shelf of rock that supported all the mountains around the Shaper peak, and then down farther still to where its roots ended at the very bottom of world. There, the stone suddenly stopped in a smooth, curved base, as smooth as the arc of the sky, but upside down. Slorn swallowed. He’d never looked so deep underground before, and it was only because the mountain was one single spirit that he could do it now.