“Sounds alarming,” Hanna said, keeping her voice light and friendly. “We lack such exciting features in Aratay.”
“Small price to pay for not living in a tangle of weeds.” The Semoian guard nodded at the border of Aratay. “Begging your pardon, Madame Ambassador.”
Beside her, one of her guards, Tipi, began to reply, and the headmistress laid a hand on her arm to caution her into silence. “We thank you for the warning,” Hanna said.
As soon as the Semoian waved them on, her own guards wheeled her down a gravel path, away from the border. “‘Tangle of weeds,’” Tipi muttered. She was from the Southern Citadel, known for its tangle of magnificent magnolia trees. “Better than this rock pile.” She glared balefully at thelivingrock piles—the gigantic earth spirits—who watched them pass with flat eyes made of shale.
“Hush,” Hanna said. “Every land has its beauty. Besides, let’s not offend our hosts.” She was certain that the stone giants were spies as well as guards and would be reporting to Queen Merecot on their arrival, so she plastered a reassuring smile on her face and beamed at the scenery.
Soon, though, they left the border, and the earth spirits, behind.
Yellow and white flowers clumped together between the tall grasses, creating a lovely quiltlike blanket at the foot of the mountains.I don’t see any cause for alarm yet, Hanna thought.This is very nice.
As the path climbed upward, Hanna saw blueberry bushes and requested a pause to gather some. These bushes were stuffed with clusters of deep last-season berries—in Aratay, the berries hadn’t ripened like this.More proof that the bad harvest in Aratay was the result of unhappy spirits, rather than natural weather, she thought. Not that she required proof. Right now, Semo seemed to be a safer place to be than Aratay.
As they passed a bush, Hanna wormed her fingers in between the leaves to pluck a few berries. She popped one in her mouth. Soaked in sunlight, it tasted like the last vestiges of summer. “Delicious,” she proclaimed. “Stop here.”
Serk produced a sack, and all of them turned to the task of stripping the bushes of as many berries as possible, taking care not to alarm any nearby tree spirits by damaging any branches or leaves. Hanna was delighted—she hadn’t had a picnic in years.I might as well enjoy myself before—
“Alert to the sky!” Tipi called.
All four guards aimed their bows upward, arrows notched. It was impressive, considering they’d just been picking berries.
Hanna tilted her head back, shielded her eyes, and watched as six spirits with leathery wings flew toward them, carrying a chariot between them.
—before Merecot finds us, she finished.
Encrusted in jewels, the chariot glistened in the sunlight. Hanna watched the spirits circle once and then fly down onto the path. At Hanna’s command, her guards lowered their bows but didn’t relax. She didn’t expect them to.
One of the spirits paced forward. Its body was shaped like a horse, but it bore leather-textured bat wings. It spoke with a mouth that looked as if it could grind rocks. “Queen Merecot welcomes you to the glorious land of Semo and invites you to complete your journey in comfort and see our beauty from above.”
Hanna’s youngest guard, nineteen-year-old Coren, fidgeted beside her. His hand clutched his sword hilt. “I amnottraveling by spirit.”
“You will do as the ambassador says,” Evenna barked at him. “If she wishes to travel by spirit, we travel by spirit. If she wishes to travel by dancing bear, then dancing bear it is.” Turning to Hanna, she said, “Ambassador, how would you like to proceed?”
Hanna considered it. There was a reason no one traveled via spirit except in dire emergency. You were placing yourself at the mercy of their temperament and trusting in the control of their queen. And these were foreign spirits under the control of a queen whose motives were... self-serving, at best. Hanna knew she didn’t have anywhere near the kind of power to wrest control from Merecot if the queen intended them ill. She’d be trusting in Merecot’s desire for diplomacy. Yet that was okay.
I did come here to determine precisely that.
“It is a three-day journey by foot across the mountains,” Serk said. “Treacherous terrain, with all the dangers that go with it. If these spirits are to be trusted—”
“You can’t trust spirits,” Coren objected.
Hanna agreed. But it wasn’t about trusting the spirits. It was about trusting Merecot... Frankly, she wasn’t sure which was more deadly.
The spirits waited. One of them pawed the ground with its hoof. The chariot was wide enough for all of them, with velvet-cushioned seats. To reject it would be to insult Merecot, which may have been why she’d sent it—to see what they’d do. “It’s a test,” Hanna said.She’s testing to see if we truly want peace.Or to see how gullible we are.“If any of you wish to return to Aratay, I will send a message with you absolving you of any responsibility. But I will ride.”
Evenna snorted. “Our job is to guard you.” Without hesitation, she lifted Hanna out of her chair and into the chariot, then shot pointed looks at the other guards. Bringing Hanna’s wheelchair and their supplies, the others joined her, cramming together on the cushioned seats. They positioned their packs on the floor between them but kept their weapons accessible, though once they were airborne, there would be little they could do.
Hanna hoped she was making the right decision, for all their sakes.
Running up the path, the spirits stretched their wings out, then kicked off the gravel and soared into the air. Hanna gripped the sides of the chariot as it tilted. Wind rushed in her face, stinging her eyes and battering her cheeks, but she kept looking straight ahead as they flew toward the mountains.
They flew high, bursting through the clouds, until around them was a field of whiteness, broken only by mountain peaks, and then they swooped down, flying between the mountains. Outwardly calm, Hanna kept a firm grip on the side of the chariot as she watched the scenery zip past.
On the side of one mountain, she saw an avalanche: earth spirits tossing rocks back and forth, like children playing catch. As the rocks tumbled down the mountain they sounded like thunder. She watched tree spirits rip apart a boulder by penetrating it with roots that thickened and split the solid stone. Air spirits swirled with storm clouds over another mountain.
Semo, she noted, was thick with spirits. Very active spirits.
