“Frankly, it doesn’t matter. She’ll feel it when we cross the border.” Naelin tried to think through if there was anything else she could do to prepare, anything else that would tip the odds from “impossible” to “merely difficult,” but everything inside her was screaming,Go, go, go!
With wind in their faces, they soared above the mountains. It was just past dawn, and the sun was behind them, shedding light on all the rocks beneath them.Ought to make it across Semo into Aratay by tonight,Ven thought.The spirits would have flown straight. So can we.
It helped if he thought of this as an ordinary hunt. Follow the trail, find the prey.
Maybe we can make up time.
Wehaveto.
As they crossed another mountain, he heard awhooshand then the sky was filled with spirits: hundreds of them, rising up from the canyons and valleys. Beside him, with her arms spread wide, Naelin had her eyes closed and was arched back. Wind streamed her hair backward, and the spirits flew all around her. Below, more ran across the ridges and peaks of the mountains—streaks of gold and red and black.
The spirits without a land, he thought. Herspirits.
Some of them flew closer, and he saw their eyes, filled with fire or darker than night. One hissed, showing three rows of wolflike teeth. Another spat crimson spittle into the air. It seared onto the back of another, and the injured spirit howled, whipping around to strike at the spitting spirit with talons as long as swords.
Oh, great.
He’d never hunted with an army before. Especially one that had zero discipline and even less loyalty, to either their Queen or each other.
This is going to be interesting.
With her new spirits, Naelin flew across Semo. She felt their minds pressing in on hers, as if they wanted to swallow her whole—thoughts, memories, feelings. Over and over again, she saw the moments that shaped her: the day her family died, the day she married Renet, the day Erian was born and the day Llor was born, the day she met Ven, the day she lost her children, the day she found them... but the spirits always wanted more. They rummaged through her mind, exposing little memories: the croon of a lullaby sung by her mother, the sound of sizzling eggs, the taste of fresh berries, the smell of fresh laundry in the spring breeze, the feel of Ven’s lips on hers, the way her body shook when she laughed hard enough, the sensation of brushing her hair... so many little details at once that she felt bombarded.
She didn’t feel the wind rushing on her face or see the snowcapped peaks below them, as her mind was plunged from memory to memory, and she was only vaguely aware when they crossed from Semo into Aratay. She didn’t notice when the sun blazed brilliant red on the horizon and the forest below sank into shadows, a vast dark sea of branches and dying leaves. She didn’t feel the night chill, and when, well after midnight, Ven called to her that they needed to stop, she needed to rest, she didn’t hear him until her spirit shrieked and jerked backward.
An arrow had flown by its face.
Ven was holding his bow.
With a pleasant smile on his face, he said, “Stop for the night?”
She didn’t want to. “Erian and Llor...”
“We can’t help them if we’re drained of all strength,” Ven said.
She knew he was right. And she felt the exhaustion in the smaller spirits. A few had flagged behind, far behind, and she knew she couldn’t leave them. She’d taken on this responsibility, and she couldn’t leave them queenless in Aratay, to kill and destroy.
Yet it meant her children were alone. And in danger. And maybe hurt, and certainly scared, and surely...
The grief hit her like a blow to the gut, and she almost collapsed into a heap as both the emotions and exhaustion swept through her. She needed to rest, but she didn’t dare rest. She needed to do her duty, and yet the only duty that mattered was to her family.
How can I possibly do this?
She looked over and saw Ven watching her. And while there was concern in his eyes, it wasn’t patronizing. It wasn’tpity. His eyes simply said,You can’t help anyone if you’re dead. In a way, it was a bit brutal.He knows how much this devastates me. Yet, that was almost certainly what he was trying to convey: empathyandcommitment to her oaths. Brutal, yes. But necessary.
It was exactly what she needed.
Besides, I’ll need all the help I can get in the untamed lands.Fighting through the chaotic swirl of thoughts, she projected a command:Down. Rest.
And the spirits obeyed easily, as if they’d always obeyed her, though she thought it was more likely they obeyed because they wanted to rest than because they respected her authority. They plunged down through the trees, knocking off the last of the golden leaves. Several lit on branches in the canopy, while others plunged deep in between the trees. She felt them infiltrate the forest—and as her spirit landed on a branch beside Ven’s, she felt a wave of uneasiness.
She stayed mounted on her spirit while Ven climbed off and began setting up camp, stringing hammocks between the branches.
“The trees don’t want us here,” she said suddenly.
No, that’s not right. Trees don’t feel.
But she felt watched...
