Spear

by Nicola Griffith

She will never say what the girl’s true name is, or who the other was, and the stories are never the same. And always the cave is hidden.

name, she thinks, is what makes a person who they are. A name is how they know themself.

Maglicunos, man of Elmet.

And as though being free of the weight freed some other part of her, she flowed from one state to another, and now instead of a solid object moving to or from a target, she became liquid, pouring to and around it. And now she could read Llanza’s horse as easily as her own; she could read his intent as simple as breathing.

Then she ground the seeds from a bushel of apples and added the grounds to his honey. When he fell in a swoon