Silver Hooves in the Darkness

Chapter Eleven

For a time, the feline and the equina traversed the intersecting Runs in the Maze without the urgency of their first assignment. Paola's steady canter was barely strong enough to maintain her transformed state, but it was a pleasant change from the energy draining speed of a gallop. The Maze, for the first time, seemed a nonthreatening place. The specter of Cenere, and the fear he created, had retreated to the hidden places of her mind.

Three short turns in succession finally parted them. Soon, Paola approached a dome wall. The glowing green symbol of a leaf confirmed that she had reached her destination. Without fanfare, the equina entered Dome Erba.

A barrier of stone hid the edge of the dome from the prying curiosity of humans. "Where is the opening?" Paola said. The equina placed her hand on one round stone that jutted out from the jagged wall. Nothing happened, so she ran her hand along the surface and walked parallel to it. The steaks of white in the blue vault above thinned as she worked. There was not a blinding disc embedded in the dome's ceiling, as in Dome Pecora. The wall was too high for her to see the town from her current vantage. More than likely, Dome Erba possessed an orb above its largest building, as in Dome Biblia. But the truth would have to wait until she could find her way beyond the wall.

Why did this dome's entrance need strong protection? All that any edge barrier did was keep citizens away from harm from an unexpected meeting with an emerging equine. Paola frowned. But the system was imperfect, as Lady Petronella had discovered.

Her hand suddenly slipped and seemingly disappeared into the wall. It was a fine illusion. Without fear, she walked straight through the stones. She turned quickly and looked behind her. She could see the scrubby ground she had just left and realized that the opening was narrow enough to only allow the passing of a lone equina. A carriage could not enter Dome Erba by this route. Clearly, she had crossed into the dome at a more remote point and would have a long walk in front of her. The carriage trails out of the Maze were often those closest to the dwellings of humans.

She looked down the passage, which was open to the sky above her. There was a dead end up ahead. How many puzzles would she have to solve to be free of the barrier? In that moment, she wished that she possessed the natural talent of Miacarabella.

*****

"Seek the statue of Matteo, First Healer of Dome Erba," Gemma had said. "Your account and tallies can be settled with the Keeper of the Accounts in the adjacent blue house. You will be given the location of Alessandro's dwelling. He may be out doing his rounds, so you will have to wait for him. As a healer, he must always place the needs of others before his own desires."

The trees had displayed the changing colors of autumn; the fields were already barren, the harvest done. What the librarian had neglected to tell her was that Dome Erba was not the pastoral setting she had imagined for those who practiced natural healing with herbs and crystals. Dome Pecora had fulfilled that ideal. This dome contained a bustling city. Healers robed in blue bartered with loud merchants, who hawked their wares on the wide boulevards. Street musicians played raucously and entertained the largest number of children she had ever seen, who clogged the thoroughfares and tormented the inhabitants with their playful mischief.

Above the greatest building, which appeared to be made entirely of dense purple crystals, the dome's stationary orb began to dim with twilight. She would not get to the Keeper of the Accounts' office before it closed for the day, and thus, she would not find Alessandro before darkness descended. But another equina, and their were many of her kind going about their business, had told her where to find a suitable stable for the night. Because she had yet to make her delivery, she would have to spend currency from her gem to secure from the attendant a safe for her Carry. After she dealt with that, all she wanted was to bathe, and then, to sleep.