Daylight broke as suddenly as if the sun had exploded all over the sky. Sofia, Orì and Ami rose with a jolt, their eyes and minds heavy and confused with sleep.
"Master Zbgi," Orì exclaimed.
Ami looked around in fright.
"Where?"
"No, not here. But this is his doing. He is looking for us."
"He, or them?"
"I don't know. And it doesn't matter. All we have to do is get to the other side of the mountains, then go into Illyah."
"Will we be safe there?"
"Safer, anyway."
Sofia peered up towards the crowns of the mountain chain that was hidden in a thick blanket of clouds.
"Were the mountains this high, yesterday?"
Ami and Orì followed her gaze. The day before, they remembered, the mountains had stretched high into the sky as well, yet not that deeply into the clouds.
"Maybe the clouds are lower, today," Ami said.
"Maybe," Orì agreed, unconvinced. "We have to get going right away."
They quickly gathered their few belongings, all the while peering nervously downhill, as if Master Zbgi were to appear on the horizon at any moment. Far off, they could still make out a vague rectangular shape. It was the inn, where they had all been together the day before.
"I thought we came further," Sofia said. "How will we ever get away from them?"
"Now you start worrying?" Orì tugged on Sofia's backpack. "Give this to me, I'm stronger than you are."
"No, you're not." Sofia shouldered the backpack, feeling its distinct weight. "Well, maybe we can switch later."
Ami was chewing on the piece of bread Orì had distributed amongst them.
"Do we have water?" he asked.
Orì looked at him indulgently, then she rapped her knuckles on the large rock in whose shadow they had spent the night. A fountain of fresh water sprang from it.
"As much as you want," she said lightly.
Happily, Ami formed his hands into a hollow and drank from it. Sofia looked on suspiciously, but when she opened her mouth, Orì said,
"If you ask me if the water is real, I am going to carry you back to Master Zbgi myself."
Sofia made a face at her and held her tongue. Carefully, she tasted the water. It was fresh and clear and cold. After she had quenched her thirst, Orì did the same. The source dried up as quickly as it had appeared, only a little puddle on the ground proving that it had been there at all.
They set off towards the mountain pass, quiet and nervous. At first, the menacing melody about Cyrus Twist was still coursing through Sofia's mind, but it was quickly replaced with more urgent thoughts and worries.
"He'll spot us," she said after a while.
"We could make ourselves invisible again," Orì suggested.
Ami was firmly against it.
"I'll faint. Honestly, I don't think I can take it. We have to keep that as a last resort."
The girls thought about it, then reluctantly agreed. It had taken him a long time to recover the previous evening. Anyway, invisibility was tough to keep up, and it took a lot out of them to extend it to Ami.
"I'm sorry," he added sheepishly.
"Don't apologize," Sofia said. "We are in this together. And if anything, it is good that we have different talents. That way, we can help each other out."
Before Ami could say anything in return, Orì froze in her step.
"Look,"she said, pointing towards the sky.
A large dark bird was soaring high, its wings spread out majestically, but its head clearly turned towards the ground, its little eyes sharp and piercing. It was hunting for prey.
"It's Master Zbgi. Ami, I don't think we have a choice."
"There got to be another way."
Orì thought frantically. Then she reached for Sofia's backpack again, but this time not to take it but to open it.
"There's a blanket."
Sofia knew right away what she meant. She tore the blanket from the backpack with little regard for the other items inside. The bird was still far away, but who knew what it (he!) could see from its vantage point up high in the skies. With a swift gesture, she threw the blanket over their heads as if to shield them from a sudden downpour. Together with Orì, she made sure that they were completely covered. Then, Orì turned the blanket transparent. They could see the sky as if through a glass ceiling.
Ami was confused.
"How does this help? He'll know it's us."
"It's transparent from the other side as well," Orì said. "As are we beneath it. All he will see is the ground underneath our feet, like a reflection."
"That's brilliant!"
Orì looked satisfied by the praise.
"It's easy," she said. "Easier than invisibility."
"Then why didn't you think of it yesterday?" Sofia couldn't keep herself from saying.
"At least I thought of it today."
They continued on, keeping an anxious eye on the sky. The bird kept circling for a while longer, and then it vanished. They breathed in relief, but then realized that this didn't mean the danger of being discovered was over.
"What will he do next?" Sofia said, peering around.
As if answering her question, the wind took up and blew against them as they kept marching forward. They leaned into it, but quickly felt how they were becoming more tired. Rain started to fall, fat droplets hitting their faces like a myriad of tiny whips.
"A little help, Sofia?" Orì called, her head held down against the elements.
"How?"
"Come up with something. I can't do everything."
Sofia felt the objections bubbling up inside her, but Ami shot her a pleading look. He was soaking wet already, his hair stuck to his cheeks.
Orì was shielding them from sight, now she had to shield them from the opposing forces that were slowing them down and making their bones feel heavy as if filled with lead. Even though she felt ambivalent about using magic, especially since she had felt so alienated from her own self during the mirroring trick, she figured that what she would be combatting was magic too. Fighting un-reality with unreal tricks was fine with her.
She closed her eyes in order to focus. It still felt strange to bend her surroundings to her will. She needed to visualize it first. She thought about warmth, about comfort, about a pleasant breeze that was refreshing as well as enveloping. Gradually, she started to feel it. The fine hair on her arms dried and stood up. The layer of wet cold vanished. The wind stopped howling. The noises moved farther away from her.
"That's better," Ami breathed.
Sofia opened her eyes. Nothing much had changed. The sky was still dark and wild, the elements were still in turmoil. But they themselves were moving forward in a protective bubble, like a translucent layer of protective skin.
"Won't he be able to see this?"
"He might," Orì said, stretching herself. "But for now, we are safer like this."
"He could send down an avalanche," Sofia said.
"That's too dangerous. They want to find us, Sofia, not kill us."
Sofia grinned.
"What about a pack of wolves?"
Orì looked at her.
"Are you serious?"
"A fire," Ami chimed in.
"A flood," Sofia added.
"An earthquake."
"Opening up the earth and burying us."
"He could carry the whole mountain off and throw us into the sea."
Sofia giggled.
"Or flip it upside down and we'll fall off."
"Turn it into dust."
"Erupt a volcano."
Orì looked from one to the other, as Sofia and Ami couldn't stop laughing, despite, or maybe because of, their desperate situation.
"You two are so stupid," she said, but smiled. "I should have stayed with the others."
As Sofia and Ami gathered their wits about them again and returned to their previous serious, though now a little less somber, mood, Orì kept thinking about their outburst of comical ideas.
"You got a point, though," she said slowly.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, there are more possibilities than merely hiding ourselves."
"You can fly," Ami said.
"And fall," Orì replied wryly. "No, even if I could, I couldn't take you two with me."
"Sofia could put a mirror image of us someplace else, to throw them off our path."
Sofia shook her head.
"It's too difficult. I barely managed to do it the first time."
"We should think about more doable things," Orì said. "Smaller. And easier."
"Like walking faster?"
"Maybe a little bigger."
"Can we -," Sofia hesitated, afraid that what she was going to say was foolish. "Can we, maybe, go through the mountain? Like a tunnel?"
"Too dangerous," Orì said. "If we lost control, we would be crushed."
"What about lowering its height? Or flattening it?"
All three of them looked onto the enormous obstacle towering in front of them. Next to its imposing size, they felt like a bowl of water floating on the ocean.
"Impossible," Orì said. Her face was pinched, hating to admit defeat.
Sofia was thoughtful. A few scenarios went through her head, none of them very promising, but all of them had one thing in common.
"We wouldn't have to change the entire mountain chain. Or even one entire mountain," she said. "But maybe we could alter small parts of it, only the track that is right in front of us. Flatten it, or mould a small valley or path that goes through the rocks."
Orì exchanged a glance with Ami. Then Sofia looked at him as well.
"What?" he said. "Me?"
"Why not you?" Orì asked.
"We can't do everything," Sofia added.
"But you -, you are much better at this sort of thing than I am. I can barely make my own hair grow."
"What about your masks? You carve them, you form the wood, or the stone, or whatever material you get your hands at."
"But they are small."
"It's still the same thing."
"And I do it partly by hand. Do you suggest I do that here too?"
"It doesn't have to be a work of art," Sofia said. "It could be coarse. And go away as soon as we have passed through."
"Coarse?" Ami was shocked.
Orì pouted at him.
"Do you want to keep your artist's sensibility intact, or do you want to be free?"
"After all, you don't hear us complaining when our tricks don't work out perfectly," Sofia said.
"Exactly," Orì agreed.
Ami looked from one to the other and flinched.
"Come to think of it, maybe I prefer it when you two are at each other's throats, instead of at mine."
"Try it," Sofia urged. "Just a small path, right here in front of us."
Ami looked doubtful, but he didn't want to lose face completely. He fixated the area. Narrowed down like this, it didn't seem too daunting. There was a slight slope, and the path, if it could be called that, was covered in rubble. Walking over it wasn't very difficult, but they had to be careful not to trip, and the ascent made it more strenous than crossing a flat plane.
"Like carving a mask," he whispered to himself, and carefully lowered the area that lay ahead of them, forming a road that was smooth and easy to tread.
They stepped onto it, expecting it to wobble or even throw them off and turning back, but the surface held steady.
Orì clapped her hands.
"Amazing!"
"Now we'll finally be able to advance faster," Sofia said. "Keep it up, Ami."
He shot her a sideways glance.
"Easier said than done." But he looked very proud.
From that moment on, their crossing went much more smoothly and rapidly. They were able to catch their breath and settle into a brisk pace. Ami levelled the road in front of them, and piece by piece carved a way through the mountains for them. Sofia held the elements at bay, and Orì kept them covered and safe from view. From time to time, Sofia and Orì had to remind Ami that it wasn't so much about the quality than the speed of his workmanship, but he quickly developed a knack for it and started to enjoy carving the mountain, as he called it.
Sofia started telling them about her time in Nihon, about how she had met Kaido at the Dragon's Inn, and how she had joined him and Mica with the Shadow Theater. Orì was more than a little jealous about this and asked many questions, while at the same time trying (unsuccessfully) to get Sofia to admit that she was glad that she had lured her into Nihon.
For the first time in long, they felt somehow relaxed. And they didn't notice the eyes that were watching them, the nose that was sniffing at their tracks, and the paws that were walking behind them. If anything, they assumed that this feeling of being pursued came from Master Zbgi, who was still out there, looking for them, and they paid it little heed.
But the Bayla was there. Following them.