Read The Way Into Darkness: Book Three of The Great Way for Free Online

be permitted to travel The Way.  
    In the morning, the huge head was still there. An eerie sense of the deep strangeness of the universe ran along Cazia’s skin like goose prickles, and then, as the morning passed, the whole thing began to lose its mystery. All through the second day, people streamed away from the camp and knelt in the temple to implore the god for one favor or another. As an Ergoll princess, Ivy was first, naturally, having gone to her audience and returned before the other two girls woke.  
    “I sent a message to my parents, of course, and asked for a good harvest and aid against our enemies. The usual things.”  
    Cazia wondered once again if the ground would open beneath her. “ Does he aid you against your enemies?”
    “Father says yes but Mother and Uncle say not really. He does not drop landslides on top of Peradaini troops, if that is what you are wondering. I am not sure what he does, and I am not sure anyone would be glad to tell me the answer.”  
    They spent their whole morning doing nothing but chores and resting their feet. Ivy and Kinz helped Cazia clean her clothes--apparently, she was not keeping them white enough, and the soldiers were whispering. Scrubbing them with water taken from streams wasn’t enough to satisfy Indregai aesthetics; Ivy gave her a leather pouch with a yellowish powder inside that, when wet, cleaned her robes astonishingly well. Cazia wished she’d known about this when she’d lived in the palace.  
    Then she got a change of bandage, an approving clap on the shoulder from the doctor treating her, and words of encouragement from the other girls.  
    Late in the morning, Belterzhimi came to visit them. He was, as before, tale, pale, and impeccably dressed. He’d put on the formal white robe that showed he was a warden. With a flourish, he made a show of thanking Cazia for returning Ivy safely to her people. Cazia was surprised; why he was thanking her now, after so many days of travel together? Then he produced a tiny green jewel from a pocket in his sleeve and offered it as a token of his gratitude.  
    Cazia’s whole body flushed, but Ivy moved slightly behind her cousin’s shoulder where he could not see her but Cazia could. The princess scowled.  
    That was pretty clear; Ivy did not want her to accept the gift. Cazia blinked and looked down at the ground so Belterzhimi would not realize that the princess disapproved. Her thoughts swirled with all the possible reasons Ivy might not want her to accept, some mortifying, some terrifying. What to do?  
    The answer turned out to be easy: trust her little sister. She refused the little jewel as graciously as she could manage three times, after which Belterzhimi seemed to feel compelled to give up. He bowed his head with formality, then stalked away, clearly annoyed.  
    He was barely out of earshot when Kinz rushed forward. “What was happening?”
    Ivy pressed her lips together, unwilling to talk until her cousin had gone much farther. Cazia didn’t care. “I don’t understand. If he wanted to give me a gift to thank me, why did he wait so long? And why not Kinz, too?”  
    “He has something you want,” Ivy whispered, as she brushed the dirt off a smooth stone so she could sit on it. “Worse, he owes you because you helped me. If you had accepted the jewel—and it was so beautiful, I would bet it was one of the named jewels in the family line—the debt would have been discharged and he could have demanded something in return for permission to visit the temple.” Ivy pressed her fingers against her lips. “I can not imagine what he would want from you, though.”  
    “Information on the flying carts,” Cazia said, the realization coming to her at the same time the words came out of her mouth. “Peradaini refugees from East Ford would have crossed the Straim, right? They probably brought a flying cart across with them. You and I might be the only people he’s met who have admitted to riding