The Tenth Power
By Kate Constable

Excerpt:
As soon as the gap in the Wall was wide enough, Mica flew through it and straight into Tonno’s arms. “Calwyn were all set to leave tomorrow, hey, what’d you say then? This is Anataris, it ain’t like I thought – I got so much to tell you! Did you find Samis? Is he dead, oh, say he’s dead, go on!”

“How can I say anything while you’re strangling the breath out of me?” growled Tonno, folding her in a bear hug.

Trout leapt forward to pump Halasaa’s hand and ask a dozen eager questions about their journey and Gellan. The small group of priestesses who had sung the chantment of unmaking hung back, wrapped in winter cloaks. And Calwyn hung back too, looking for Darrow. When he stepped from behind the big sled, fair hair gleaming above his dark cloak, her heart rose into her throat.

“Calwyn,” he said.

She nodded; she couldn’t speak. Halasaa spoke into her mind.

My sister, is all well with you? Have your powers returned?

She shook her head. Halasaa and Darrow exchanged a swift, unreadable glance, then Darrow stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. Calwyn pressed her cheek against the rough cloth of his cloak. Then, over his shoulder, she saw the fourth figure, standing apart from the others, wrapped in a fur-lined, cherry-colored cloak, a faint smile playing about her lips. Calwyn’s mouth fell open.

Tonno was muttering to Trout and Mica. “—traveling with us. She says Samis has gone to Spareth, got some story – most irritating woman I ever met – not far behind him, we’ve seen his camping places. Darrow thought he might have stopped here –”

The former princess tripped daintily across the snow to kiss Calwyn on both cheeks, just as if they’d met at a grand ball at the Imperial Court. “Darling Calwyn, how delightful to see you again! Isn’t Darrow a wonderful traveling companion? So amusing, so considerate! We sledged all the way from Gellan on the sea ice, then along the rivers, day after day, and he hasn’t let me suffer a single moment’s discomfort!” The princess slipped her arm possessively through Darrow’s.

Calwyn stared from Keela to Darrow and back again. Darrow shook off Keela’s hand. Without a word, he nodded tersely to the priestess and stalked along the path to the Dwellings.

“Poor boy!” murmured Keela. “So brave! His illness is troubling him, of course, but he never lets us take proper care of him, and he insisted on singing all the way…” She shook her head and sighed, and set off after Darrow.