Anilitak moved to obey his command without hesitation. She did not think to doubt or question this stranger. He spoke kindly, but directly, and the mention of a murder drove her previous fears from her mind. She inched forward from the wall and found the rope again. She clung to it like a drowning woman.

“Which way?” she asked. She kept her feet still, certain that if she took a step the wrong direction, she would kick the dead man.

“Toward Rodion’s Knot.” He briefly touched her hand with a few fingers. It was a shock in the darkness. “Quickly.”

He set off the way he had come, moving quickly, or so it seemed from the rhythm of his footsteps. Anilitak tried to keep pace. She focused on the sound of his passage. It was a solid, true thing in the darkness, attached to a friendly voice. His footfall became in a sense physical as she concentrated on it, a beat of color in her mind, the outline of a figure running before her unseen.

She almost crashed into the intersection pole. The man was off at an angle as she felt blindly for her choices. “Wait!” she cried in panic. Five choices, with three in the general direction of his sound. “Wait! Don’t leave me!”

“To Rodion’s Knot!” he cried.

“Wait!” she screamed, angry now and overwhelmed with the prospect of being lost again. “Wait, you idiot!”

His footsteps had disappeared. She scrunched up her face, trying to stop the tears. She wondered what the use of it was. Who would see her cry? She let them fall, choking back her moans. All the fear and disaster and loss of the last few days rushed over her. Even if she had been in the sun, she would have seen nothing, and the darkness was a comfort to her.

“Are you all right?” The voice was his. He had returned to her.

“No,” she said miserably. “I don’t know where I am.”

“You are three station from the Rodion. Feel the lead. The knots are close, the threads tight-woven. There’s no give. Close to the Rodion’s Knot.”

“No,” Anilitak said. “I don’t know where I am at all. Where is this place?”

He didn’t answer at first, but Anilitak heard him snapping softly, as if keeping time while he thought. “What do you mean?”

“I was at a river. I fell into it and I ended up here.”

“Was there…light?”

“Yes, lots of it.”

He clicked his tongue; Anilitak found in it an expression of sorrow. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I’ve heard of lost souls who come to us from the light. It has been some time since the last. I will try to explain what I can, but not here. We must report the murder soon. Everyone must be alerted. They’ll suspect us of the murder, too, but it can’t be helped. You mustn’t mention you come from the light. They’ll kill you for sure. Understand?”

“Kill me?”

“Ah…yes, I probably should have softened the blow. Sorry. These murders have been going on for years. They’re always looking for someone to blame, and you’ll be next if they discover where you’re from. But they won’t find the killer, no matter what they do.”

“Why not?”

“Never mind. We can’t keep talking. We’ve got to warn everyone before someone else dies. If everyone lays low for awhile, it usually stops for a time. I’ve got a tether here somewhere…. Here, take this end.” He thrust a leather cord into her hand. “Wrap it around your waist and tie it. We lead children with these when they can’t reach the ropes well. And lovers, too, into uncharted areas. But never mind that. We need to go. Ready?”

“I guess.”

“Try to keep up.”