Grabbing the minds of three nearby tree spirits, Naelin propelled them toward the bridge.Fix it.She formed an image of a finished bridge. Obeying, the spirits began to grow branches from the trees and weave them together.
“That isn’t necessarily faster,” Renet pointed out. “We can just use the rope.”
“It needs to be done. Regardless, we aren’t taking the bridge. We’re going to fly.” Closing her eyes, she reached for the three nearest large air spirits.
“Uh-uh, Naelin, you know I’m not comfortable traveling—”
“Then don’t come,” she cut him off. She didn’t understand how he could talk about comfort when their children were missing.The more time we waste...She chose not to finish that thought.The faster, the better.
Lifting up her face, she watched three air spirits slice through the canopy. Sunlight wavered as the leaves shook and fell all around them. The air spirits she’d called looked like jaguars, with orange-and-black markings on their fur, but they had blue-and-purple iridescent wings like peacocks.
Rejoining Naelin and Renet, Ven shielded his eyes as he looked up at the spirits. “Yours?”
“We’re going too slow.”
“As you wish, Your Majesty.”
Renet fidgeted beside her as the three spirits landed. “Naelin, can’t we discuss this?”
There’s nothing to discuss.The longer this took, the longer Erian and Llor were in danger. She strode toward the spirits. “If we stay on foot, it will take us five days to reach Mittriel.” She swung herself onto the back of the closest one. It hissed like an angry cat as she settled her weight onto it and grasped its neck fur. “If we fly, we can be there tomorrow.”
“Naelin...”
Ven clasped Renet on the shoulder. “No shame if you choose to continue on foot. I’ll leave you enough supplies.” He handed Naelin’s ex-husband a coil of rope and an extra knife.
Renet refused them. “I’m not traveling alone. Are you crazy?”
“Your choice.” Climbing over the branches, Ven mounted a second air spirit beside Naelin. He looped a length of rope around the spirit’s neck and around his waist. “Secure yourself?” he suggested.
“I won’t fall,” Naelin said.And if I do, so what?She’d make another spirit catch her. Gone were her qualms about drawing the attention of spirits. All her carefulness hadn’t protected the two people who mattered the most.
“Do it anyway,” Ven said.
Reminding herself she had no rational reason to be angry at him—if he hadn’t carried her away from the battle, she’d be dead and her children would still have been taken—Naelin tied herself onto the spirit.
Swearing under his breath, Renet climbed onto the back of the third spirit and tied himself on. The jaguar spirit snarled, flicking its fat tail. “This is a bad idea,” Renet said. “Just want to be on the record saying that.”
She also had no rational reason to be angry at Renet. He wasn’t a warrior. It wasn’t his fault he hadn’t been strong enough to protect the children.
But logic didn’t keep her from wanting to growl at him.
“Duly noted,” Naelin bit off, and then she commanded the spirits,Fly!
With a roarlike cry, the spirits launched themselves up from the branch. Naelin felt the wind in her face as they soared upward between the branches. Orange and yellow leaves blurred around them until they burst through the canopy into the sun.
Her stomach felt as if it had stayed behind down in the branches. But she just gritted her teeth and held on. The wind yanked on her hair, pulling it into her eyes, and she wiped it back so she could see.
Below, the forest looked like a toddler’s painting: reds, oranges, and yellows spattered everywhere, on a backdrop of dark green. The sun bathed it all in light, so bright that it even washed the blue out of the sky. If she’d turned around, she would have seen the haze of the untamed lands, where Bayn might or might not be alive. If she’d looked north, she would have seen the mountains of Semo, where her children might or might not...
She didn’t look.
They flew until the sun began to sink and the stars began to poke through the darkening blue. Beneath her, Naelin felt the spirit’s wingbeats begin to slow. Touching their minds, she felt their exhaustion. It seeped into her bones and muscles.
As much as it annoyed her to stop, she guided them down into the trees. Landing on a broad branch, she slid off the spirit’s back and sagged against the trunk of the tree. Her legs felt wobbly, as if they’d forgotten how to stand. Beside her, Ven and Renet both dismounted. Renet dropped immediately into a crouch and hung his head between his knees.
Leave us, she told the spirits.
The winged-jaguar spirits obeyed, taking off from the branch and then gliding between the trees. They disappeared into the gathering shadows.
