Zancara is a dangerous place—for those with and without magic. Their isolation is absolute. And though there are plenty of rumors, no one knows for sure what happens behind those walls—except that outsiders are not welcome and that the government remains inpower.
But with that kind of isolationism, it seems possible that dark mages could have forced their way in, and none outside would be at allwiser.
Traveling to Zancara was a fool’s errand, for even if she could get in, it would be harder to find a wayout.
But I never thought to look there. And I’m running out ofleads…
“Yes,” she said abruptly. “I think I will visitZancara.”
Clovicus merely nodded again, surprisingAngelique.
“You’re not going to tell me I shouldn’t go?” sheasked.
The Lord Enchanter shrugged. “As astounding as it is—and as much as I loathe to admit it—the boy isn’t wrong. It had occurred to me before that it was apossibility.”
“And you didn’t think totell me!” Angelique was unable to entirely mask the accusing tone of hervoice.
“Because it was dangerous,” Clovicus grunted. “Evariste would toss me through a portal to some desert land if he heard I let you go. But you’ve rapidly improved at using magic over the last few years. I think you have a better chance of surviving now.And…”
The lord enchanter hesitated. An icy wind ruffled his robes as he stared out into thedarkness.
“And?” Angelique prompted when he didn’t goon.
“If you’re right, and someone has targeted Stil as part of a concentrated effort…we need to know that Zancara hasn’t been overtaken, and more than ever we need to findEvariste.”
Angelique tapped her lower lip as she thought. “Because Stil can outfit a whole army, but Evariste can move them across the continent with a singlestep.”
“Exactly.” Clovicus shoved his hands into the folds of his robe. “And that’s an advantage we need if war really iscoming.”
* * *
Rather than spendthe night with Clovicus and his students, Angelique opted to continue on—galloping west, doubling back the direction she and Pegasus and come. (Doing so took a bit of explaining, for the constellation was grumpy at the thought of retracing their path. But he grudgingly ran on, sending snow flying like ocean spray as he plowed throughdrifts.)
She was starting to regret the decision to continue on as the temperature dropped in the darkest hours of the night, and the wind grew almost violent in itsblowing.
She passed the spot where she had stabbed the rider—obvious due to the blackened spot from her potent fireball surrounded by snow melted into ice—and continuedwest.
Do I have it in me to ride through the rest of the night? Or should I think about making a camp on the border? Hurrying to Zancara will do me no good—I’ll need to be rested and thinking clearly, or I’ll never find a way to wrigglein.
Something hard smashed into the back of Angelique’s skull with acrackle.
Angelique flopped onto Pegasus’ neck and would have toppled over his shoulder if he hadn’t reared slightly to throw her back into thesaddle.
She blinked stars from her eyes and clung to Pegasus’ flame-like mane, crouching low on hisback.
There was a whistling noise, and Angelique braced herself for anotherblow.
But Pegasus snarled and spun around. He struck out with a front leg, and a fireball made of blue and purplish flames collided with what looked like a large snowball rolling on theground.
Pegasus pranced up to the half-melted snowball and would have smashed it into the ground, but Angelique recognized the magic threaded through thesnowball.
“Pegasus, wait! It’s fromStil!”
Pegasus snorted at the snowball and made a prancing circuit around it, but he let Angelique slide from his back. He draped his head over her shoulder and bared his teeth at thesnowball.
Though it was mostly destroyed, the snowball made a feeble attempt to roll towardher.
When she crouched down and touched the snowball it disintegrated, revealing a tiny scrap of paper balled in thecenter.
