She saw images: Erian and Llor, on the back of Bayn, running through the forest. She felt the spirits’ hunger, their hate, theirneed. And she saw through their eyes as two spirits—two who had come with the others but weren’t with them now—pull Erian and Llor from Bayn’s back and then fly north while the other spirits drove Bayn across the western border.
Naelin yanked her mind away from the spirits. And she heard herself in her own body, screaming. “Erian! Llor!”
They’d been taken north.
Toward Semo.
Alive.
Reaching out, Naelin grabbed the mind of a large air spirit and pulled it toward her. Heronlike, it had a sinewy neck, white feathers, and broad wings. She flung herself onto its back and compelled it northward.
As she flew, she flung her mind out like a net, catching every spirit within fifty miles and driving them toward Semo.SAVE MY CHILDREN!
ATTACK!
Far from the border, in the capital of Aratay, Queen Daleina felt the cry of the spirits in the northwest. Naelin’s command shook through her, the other queen’s rage hitting her so fast and hard that Daleina sank to the floor.
“Your Majesty!” Her seneschal rushed to her side.
On her other side, her sister, Arin, grabbed for her, touching her arm, her forehead. “Is it happening again? Daleina, can you hear me?” To the seneschal, she snapped, “Get Healer Hamon!”
“Not... me,” Daleina managed. “Naelin.” She felt her spirits race northward, full of bloodlust—toward the border of Semo.
What was she doing? Naelin!
They finally had peace! Queen Merecot had been defeated. This was a time of healing! If Naelin attacked Semo... She’d start a war!
As the first wave hit the border, the Aratayian spirits crashed into a line of foreign spirits. The Aratayian spirits were a random assortment: a few larger earth spirits made of rocks and moss, mixed with tiny twiglike tree spirits and dandelion fluff–like air spirits, but the Semoian spirits stationed at the border were giants made of granite and dragons made of obsidian. They met the forest spirits as they crossed, and they tore them to shreds.
Daleina felt her spirits die—and with them, bits of Aratay.
Plants withered.
Flames engulfed trees.
Rivers dried.
No!What was Naelin thinking?
Daleina forced her mind northward, seizing the spirits before they could plunge over the Semoian border.No!STOP!
The minds of the two queens crashed into each other.
Chapter5
Daleina knew Naelin was stronger. She’d started out stronger than most heirs, and becoming queen had only amplified that strength. Before today, Daleina had considered it a boon to Aratay: two queens, one with training and one with power, to protect their people. Together, they could usher in a new era of peace to their forests and guard their land against threats from within and without. She’d considered Naelin to be a sensible and reliable, even wise, queen.
She’d never considered the possibility that Queen Naelin could lose control.
It felt like a tornado. As Daleina touched the minds of the spirits, she felt their thoughts whipping cyclone-like, caught in a rush of fear and anger. They whooshed northward, swept into the maelstrom of Naelin’s fury.
Daleina tried to grab them, but they slipped away from her commands. She felt as if she were shouting into the howling wind, her words swallowed instantly. Jamming her fists into the floor, she concentrated—throwing her full self outward.
Stop! Do not cross!
She stretched her mind, imagining her thoughts were a wall that blocked the northern border.
The spirits, propelled by Naelin, battered against her wall. Her body flinched as if she’d been kicked, but she held firm. It didn’t hurt that the spiritswantedto obey her. They didn’t want to leave Aratay, especially once the first few died.
