Darvan-dick had not been kidding. Aside from getting out to relieve myself behind trees in the northern woodlands, I stayed in the carriage for over a week. Rain delayed us for a couple of days when the woods grew too muddy for the carts. I ate the rations of bread, dried fruits and meats that were offered at each stop. Elsedora was never far, and her humming was becoming a constant irritant.
The carriage rattled on as light seeped through the too-small window at the top of the door. We had begun descending beyond the Plateau today. I peeked out the window and saw glimpses of beige mountains in the distance. We passed a heavy presence of Sahlmsaran guards, who wore chest plates with the rattling-serpent symbol. He guarded the border.
Sweat crept between my breasts, down my back and forehead and well...everywhere. If itcouldsweat, it was sweating. But out of principle, I would not tell Elsedora she had been right. Every garment I’d packed was unsuitable for this heat, and it wasn’t even summer yet.
The carriage jostled down the switchbacks of the Plateau for hours before we found flat ground. At the bottom, the path was laden with rocks, and every movement was jarring to my stomach.
I was going to be sick.
Thinking it might help settle my stomach, I dared to look out the window again. It didn’t work. An unforgiving wave of nausea overtook me. I banged on the door.
Oh Sources, no.I didn’t want to be sick—not in front of them.
The carriage creaked to a halt, but I kept banging on the door until Elsedora came around the side and unlocked it. After throwing myself from the cab, I ran behind a boulder across the trail and emptied the contents of my stomach.
“Woah,” Elsedora said over my shoulder.
“What is this place?” I heaved out, trying to distract her from having time to tell me that she’d told me so about the wool.
Glancing around at the passing guards, I sighed. There was no sign of an ill-tempered warlock on a gray horse. Good. He hadn’t witnessed me weak and hurling.
“Sit, sit. This is Skull Valley,” Elsedora answered as she guided me toward another boulder, away from where I’d vomited. Elsedora wore a silk pair of pants, with suede chaps that protected her while riding, and a silk tunic that was entirely indecent—a portion of herstomachshowed.
However,the ensemble did look far more forgiving in the heat than my heavy skirts and tunic.
Warhorses and soldiers passed us on the trail, unfazed. Trained soldiers set on their destination. None of them regarded me, as though their orders were to pay me no mind at all. They were all dressed in light linen, which prepared them for the sweltering sun of this valley of death.
“Pleasant name,” I mused and then heaved up a bit of bile.
I heard approaching hoofbeats crushing the rocky ground. “It isn’t a pleasant place,” Darvanda answered from atop his horse. This man loved to look down at me. “What are you doing out of the cab?”
“Oh, enjoying the sunshine,” I snapped. “Why is it called that?” I chugged the flask that Elsedora offered me.
“You can often find skulls of fallen Brennac exiles here.”
“Why would there be skulls here?” I stood, bracing at the thought of having to climb back into that suffocating cab.
“The switchbacks didn’t always exist. They’re man-made. When the Phynnic began their crusade against all magic, this land bordered their territory. They would push exiled Source-wielders, and the mortals who helped hide them, off that cliff.” He pointed up. The cliff towered hundreds of feet above us. “Also, when Source-wielders began to flee after the Great Wars, many died of dehydration. We weren’t prepared during the early days.”
After the Great Wars—after he’d destroyed the city of Phynx. I tried to remind myself that he was not merely a victim of the suffering. He’d contributed.
Yet that had been more words than I’d ever heard him speak—each one more horrible than the last.
“How couldanyonesurvive it? The fall, the travel without water?”
“Many didn’t, hence the skulls. Immortals who fell shattered so many bones it took them weeks to heal enough to be able to walk. Mortals who caught onto rocks and branches sometimes got lucky and could scale down. Broken, thirsty, hopeless, cast out of the only home they’d ever known. The journey killed many. Not even immortals can live without water.”
Heart racing, I started pacing to settle my stomach. During the Great Wars, thousands of mortals and immortals were exiledhere. I stepped back onto the worn dirt path, avoiding looking up at Darvanda or the cliff beyond him again.
“Why should I believe—” My voice cut off as I passed something ivory on the ground. My knees hit the sand, and my hands trembled as they dusted away rock and soil.
It was a human skull…a small one.
Darvanda dismounted and stepped behind me.
“Like I said…you still find skulls here.” His tone was gruff.
“This was a child.”
