I pushed away the blankets that had been piled on top of me and stood. The medic reached out to steady me, but I waved away his assistance, ignoring the nausea coursing through my aching body from the effort it took to remain standing.
“I need to speak to the emperor. Now.”
6
Zara
The first thing I felt when I woke was a velvety-soft nose nuzzling my shoulder.
But it was when the voice flitted through my mind that I jolted fully awake.Zara, wake up.
Shazeera?
Shazeera pricked her ears forward and tossed her head in obvious surprise.You heard me! At last.
I wasted no time throwing my arms around her neck. With the eyes of General Isa and the others on me, I tried to stifle my sobs knowing that, to them, my actions had no basis.
Shazeera dipped her head to hug me back.Thank the Mother.I thought I would never be able to speak to you again.
I’m so sorry, Shazeera. I’ll never use that power again—that’s what did it, I think. Somehow opening myself to the wind stifled our bond.
“First Daughter,” General Isa said gently, “is something wrong?”
I looked up to find all three of them and their horses watching me with rapt curiosity.
“I had a terrible dream,” I told General Isa.
She nodded like she had suspected as much. “That’s only natural given the eagle attack.”
I looked at her in surprise, but then I realized she only meant the eagle and rider who attacked her and her warriors. They still didn’t know about my own battle.
“Let’s press on,” General Isa said. “We have another full day ahead.”
As we set out, the weight on my shoulders lifted, the link between Shazeera and me shimmering brightly.
Perhaps the power you channeled only silences our link for a short time.
Short?I thought back incredulously.It felt like an eternity. I never want to go through anything like that again.
Shazeera fell silent for a few moments, and I could tell she was turning things over in her mind. Finally, she said,It was worth it, though, wasn’t it? You knocked that monstrous bird right out of the sky.
It was worth itthistime, and we can say that now that we’re safely talking to each other again. How do we know what will happen if I try to use that power again? What if we can’t talk to each other for days? Weeks? Or what if it damages our bond permanently?
There’s no way to know what it will do unless you explore the power a little more.
I knew there was wisdom in what she said, but the fear that had lived inside me for the last twenty-four hours still had me in its grip. I thought about the way it had made it difficult to draw breath, too, when I was connected to the vastness of its power. But in the end, it hadn’t really hurt me. I had only felt exhausted and physically fatigued.
I had no proof that the wind power I had called upon would do anything worse than make it so Shazeera and I couldn’tcommunicate mentally or make me tired. But I had a terrible feeling deep inside me that the more I used the unknown magic, the greater the risk.
Because the one thing I knew for certain was that magic always had a cost.
At sunset onthe third day of travel, we could finally see the tops of the plateaus that formed the Nazeeran Canyon. I prayed to the Earth Mother that Ama and the others from my camp were already there, safe with Queen Jazela and our other cousins. Queen Jazela came from the Nazeeran line of earth magic users capable of causing massive earthquakes and fissures in the earth. Inspired by the landscape around the Great Twin Plateaus to the west, she had created a split in the earth that formed a massive canyon. That way, even on the relatively flat land of the plains, her people and horses could quickly escape eagle attacks by following paths down into the gorge. The many outcroppings provided cover, and there were caves that had been carved into the sides, where they could hide.
Many generations ago, before the Zephyrians came to our continent, six tribes had spread across the land. Each tribe was descended from a single daughter who had been given an earth magic gift from the Earth Mother. The Angoran tribe in the mountains could find useful minerals and precious gemstones. The Semalian tribe along the coast could transform sand into glass without having to use fire, which made them profitable with the port city merchants. The Nazca tribe in the north grew countless massive trees, creating the Black Forest. In the south, the Faridan tribe grew crops in such abundance they could feed the entire continent year-round. Each tribe had their own queen,the direct descendent of the First Daughter who was given the earth magic gifts from the Earth Mother. But it was the Sorayan tribe—my tribe—whose line produced the Queen of All Queens. This queen always had the power to heal and shield. This was the magic the Earth Mother was known for, and because of that, the Queen of All Queens was revered.
We all lived in harmony, trading resources and sharing our gifts with one another. But when the Zephyrians came, all they wanted was to conquer. Coveted for their gem-seeking abilities, the Angoran tribe were the first to fall. Fifty years later, the Zephyrians decided they needed to expand their eagle nests and conquered the Nazcas of the Black Forest. More time passed, and they spread their empire to the Semalian land on the western coastline, and created a massive settlement near the northeastern port city of Rhythos. Soon, the grassland tribes were surrounded on three sides of the continent. The Zephyrians coveted the land we roamed with our horses, wanting it for more settlements and cities. So the three remaining free tribes—the Sorayans, the Nazeerans, and the Faridan—joined forces, becoming the Children of Earth.
But it wouldn’t be long until the Zephyrians overthrew us, too. They’d take over the ancient grasslands that kept our horses fed and force those of us who survived the onslaught into Zephyrian settlements until we lost our culture and ourselves.
