Tivi's Dagger by Alex Douglas

slight
bow which they returned but I got the impression that they were not
particularly pleased about the presence of outsiders in their
midst. Had Kari not been with us perhaps they would not have given
us shelter at all.
    Later, when we were back on the
well-travelled path by the river, I noticed that Kari had an
earring in his right lobe and was fingering it with a half-smile on
his lips. The skin around the piercing was pink but he did not seem
to notice any pain. It was a silver hoop, from which hung a tiny
piece of bone carved into the shape of a narrow fang.
    “ What’s this?” I asked, falling into
step beside him.
    He smiled, and I felt my mouth mirroring
his. “It is my first ring, Nedim.”
    There was obviously some significance that I
missed and the blank look must have showed on my face, for he
whispered in my ear. “In honor of my first lover.”
    I remembered the cluster of rings that had
dangled from Mother Kiti’s ears, and her talk of having known
numerous men in her time. How many rings would hang from my ears if
I hailed from Methar? Too many to fit on, I imagined, barely able
to remember most of my lovers’ names. For the first time in my life
I did not feel so proud about that. I smiled at Kari with a mixture
of happiness and faint consternation. What if Brin were to realize
the significance of the piercings?
    “ What are you two whispering about?”
Brin barked. “Get a move on. We have a long way to go.”
    “ Nothing, brother.” I sighed and
picked up the pace.
    We followed the river until the sun was high
in the sky. It began to curl right and eventually we came to a
divergence in the road, marked by a signpost which was tree-like in
the number of branches that pointed in different directions. The
place names were carved in unfamiliar rune-like symbols, and I
realized we had ventured further into Methar than most traders from
Lis who would have needed the common translation.
    Just as Kari was folding the map away,
flashes of silver darting through the trees to our left caught my
eye. It was a group of monks perhaps thirty strong, moving swiftly
and silently through the forest. My first glimpse of Tivi’s
warriors, the Methari army.
    “ I wonder where they’re going,” I
observed.
    A faint crease appeared between Kari’s
brows. “They are going in the same direction we are.” He pointed to
a branch on the signpost and tapped the symbols with a worried look
on his face. “The shorter route through Khar Tam. It will take
perhaps three days to get to the caverns, according to the distance
on the signpost. It is greater than I’d remembered, or surmised
from this map.”
    “ And that’s not good because…?” Lana
looked at him expectantly.
    “ Tivi’s warriors do not travel in such
a manner for no reason. Certainly, they’ve been alerted to
something ahead. We will have to sleep under the stars tonight. We
cannot hope to reach the next village before nightfall. Perhaps
there will be another Pilgrim’s Rest, but they are not marked and I
do not remember exactly where they are.” He scratched his head and
pointed to the left where the rocky path plunged into the trees.
Rising above the thick forest head lay two tall peaks crowned with
mist. “There are two ways onward — the shorter leads through the
mountain, carved out long ago. It will be dark and infested with
spiders.”
    I swallowed. “You mean those goat-sized
things you talked of before?”
    “ Among others.”
    “ Wait, what?” Lana stood, hands on
hips. “No one ever mentioned goat-sized spiders to me .”
    Kari turned to Brin. “There is another path
which will lead us around the mountain, but there will be a sheer
drop on one side and the wind is unpredictable. Taking that route
will also add more time to the journey. It is your decision which
to select. My grandmother and I were blessed with fine weather that
day so we took the outside path, but I know how impatient you are
to reach Thar Mati.”
    “ By the