the rest of the way out into the darkness.
When the carriage emerged into the light again, Bayan took one look out the window and barked a startled exclamation. The road ran right along the cliff’s edge, and the sheer drop seemed several hundred strides straight down. Within a few carriage lengths, they passed the upper guard post and turned sharply into the next switchback, which took them further up the mountainside.
“I can see why the Academy is up here now.” Bayan clung tightly to his seat. “No one could pay me enough to scale the cliff and attack it.”
Calder laughed. “You’re afraid of heights?”
“I wasn’t until now!”
Two more switchbacks and a short tunnel led them past a turnoff whose sign read Peace Village , to a cluster of buildings pressed against a sheer cliff. Three enormous but brief tunnels, much larger than the ones they’d driven through, led back through its face; one was lit with sunlight from the far side.
The main building stood three stories high, towering over the smaller buildings on either side. The structure was broad and red-roofed, with three wide staircases approaching it from the front where the road ended in a circular turnabout. Staircases and raised walkways also passed between the main building and its neighbors. The largest building’s levels grew smaller toward the top, like a three-tiered festival cake, and each roof bore strange, downward-curling, claw-like bronze shapes on the corners. Above the highest roof, a walkway cut into the cliff face. Its visible side was latticed and had evenly spaced, narrow windows. Below it, similar walkways clung to the cliff face and angled into and between the large tunnels and down to the buildings.
Bayan craned his neck to look up at the sheer cliff face that blocked the late morning sun. A broad, circular carving dominated the plain, smooth stone, formed of an outer ring surrounding six teardrop shapes, their slender ends pointing toward the center.
“What’s that supposed to be?”
“That’s a good question, son,” said Philo. “Why don’t you ask the headmaster?”
Kipri grinned. “That means he doesn’t know either.”
Philo gave the young eunuch a look of mock disapproval.
Nic pulled the horses to a halt in the circular drive before the triple staircases.
“End of the journey at last.” Philo eased himself forward on his seat. “Kipri, if you’d be so kind as to fetch the boys’ luggage?”
Everyone exited the carriage. While Calder tucked his hands into his armpits, Bayan cradled the poor little pitcher plant close, imagining that it was shivering as well. We’re both out of our element here.
Philo led Bayan and the others up the central staircase to the main building. Up close, the strange curved bronze shapes on the building’s corners resolved into stylized fingers.
On the top level of the steps, they crossed a broad floor mosaic that mirrored the circular carving overhead. The mosaic’s teardrops were formed with colored stones in bright hues of red, white, green, silver, blue, and turquoise. The rest of the image was formed of smooth black obsidian surrounded by a thick ring of gold.
“I like this one better.” Calder pointed down at the mosaic as they crossed it. “They should both be like this.”
Bayan glanced upward, indicating the uncolored pattern in the cliff face. “You want to be the one to paint that thing?”
“Aye, good point.”
As Philo approached the crimson double doors and reached for a long bronze handle, the door swung open from within. A tall man in bushy white sideburns and a light blue tunic and pants beamed at them.
“Welcome! Be welcome to the Duelist Academy. Please, come in.” He stood aside and let them enter. Bayan noticed round tattoos on the back of each of his hands; one resembled the mosaic pattern he’d just crossed.
While Philo and the white-haired man exchanged pleasantries, Bayan moved a short distance away for a look at the interior of the
When the carriage emerged into the light again, Bayan took one look out the window and barked a startled exclamation. The road ran right along the cliff’s edge, and the sheer drop seemed several hundred strides straight down. Within a few carriage lengths, they passed the upper guard post and turned sharply into the next switchback, which took them further up the mountainside.
“I can see why the Academy is up here now.” Bayan clung tightly to his seat. “No one could pay me enough to scale the cliff and attack it.”
Calder laughed. “You’re afraid of heights?”
“I wasn’t until now!”
Two more switchbacks and a short tunnel led them past a turnoff whose sign read Peace Village , to a cluster of buildings pressed against a sheer cliff. Three enormous but brief tunnels, much larger than the ones they’d driven through, led back through its face; one was lit with sunlight from the far side.
The main building stood three stories high, towering over the smaller buildings on either side. The structure was broad and red-roofed, with three wide staircases approaching it from the front where the road ended in a circular turnabout. Staircases and raised walkways also passed between the main building and its neighbors. The largest building’s levels grew smaller toward the top, like a three-tiered festival cake, and each roof bore strange, downward-curling, claw-like bronze shapes on the corners. Above the highest roof, a walkway cut into the cliff face. Its visible side was latticed and had evenly spaced, narrow windows. Below it, similar walkways clung to the cliff face and angled into and between the large tunnels and down to the buildings.
Bayan craned his neck to look up at the sheer cliff face that blocked the late morning sun. A broad, circular carving dominated the plain, smooth stone, formed of an outer ring surrounding six teardrop shapes, their slender ends pointing toward the center.
“What’s that supposed to be?”
“That’s a good question, son,” said Philo. “Why don’t you ask the headmaster?”
Kipri grinned. “That means he doesn’t know either.”
Philo gave the young eunuch a look of mock disapproval.
Nic pulled the horses to a halt in the circular drive before the triple staircases.
“End of the journey at last.” Philo eased himself forward on his seat. “Kipri, if you’d be so kind as to fetch the boys’ luggage?”
Everyone exited the carriage. While Calder tucked his hands into his armpits, Bayan cradled the poor little pitcher plant close, imagining that it was shivering as well. We’re both out of our element here.
Philo led Bayan and the others up the central staircase to the main building. Up close, the strange curved bronze shapes on the building’s corners resolved into stylized fingers.
On the top level of the steps, they crossed a broad floor mosaic that mirrored the circular carving overhead. The mosaic’s teardrops were formed with colored stones in bright hues of red, white, green, silver, blue, and turquoise. The rest of the image was formed of smooth black obsidian surrounded by a thick ring of gold.
“I like this one better.” Calder pointed down at the mosaic as they crossed it. “They should both be like this.”
Bayan glanced upward, indicating the uncolored pattern in the cliff face. “You want to be the one to paint that thing?”
“Aye, good point.”
As Philo approached the crimson double doors and reached for a long bronze handle, the door swung open from within. A tall man in bushy white sideburns and a light blue tunic and pants beamed at them.
“Welcome! Be welcome to the Duelist Academy. Please, come in.” He stood aside and let them enter. Bayan noticed round tattoos on the back of each of his hands; one resembled the mosaic pattern he’d just crossed.
While Philo and the white-haired man exchanged pleasantries, Bayan moved a short distance away for a look at the interior of the
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