17

Sonya didn’t know where she was, what she was doing, or really even who she was anymore.

She and Jorge left the Advent Road once they’d drawn close to the Aureum border. They then cut west across the rocky, mostly uninhabited land along the border until they reached the southern edge of the Fanged Wolf Mountains. From there, they kept the mountains to their right and crossed into Aureum through the dense Life’s Blood Forest.

Life’s Blood was a predominantly deciduous forest, and the trees were just coming into bloom with spring. Sonya found the scent of flowers so intense at first that she had to tie a cloth across her face so that she didn’t feel completely overwhelmed by it. Gradually she acclimated enough to take the cloth off, but even then, the flowers masked the scent of game, making hunting more challenging.

The temperature grew gradually warmer as they traveled southwest along woodcutter tracks. Eventually it became so hot that she had to take off her jacket. Now she wore only her breeches, boots, and a belted tunic. She felt strangely vulnerable to be traveling out in the open without a coat or cloak of any kind, although now that she was entering more southern climes, she knew she would have to get used to that.

Sonya had traveled all over Izmoroz. Under Mikhail’s guidance when she was young, and later on her own. Every square mile of her homeland was at least passingly familiar to her, and she had grown accustomed to always knowing where she was. Now she was in Aureum, and it was all so unfamiliar, she couldn’t quite shake the uneasiness in her heart.

By contrast, Jorge’s spirits seemed to rise the farther they got from Izmoroz. Since Sonya felt a keen sense of homesickness, she could easily understand why he was so eager to return to his own home. But she couldn’t seem to bring herself to share in his enthusiasm. Partly because she had no idea what she would do once they got there.

Jorge had told her she could rest, recover, and figure out how to beat Mordha. But how could she do that when she didn’t even know what Mordha was? Not entirely human, she was certain of that the moment she’d stabbed him. But if he wasn’t human, what was he? Did he have a weakness of some kind? Or was he truly invulnerable? How strong would she have to become to beat him? And how would she achieve that strength?

Of course she knew an obvious answer to that last question. She could ask another boon of the Lady. As she and Jorge sat by the crackling campfire one night, she ran her tongue across her sharp teeth and wondered, if she were to ask for another boon, what would be the price next time? And how much of her mind would be left after? As tempting as the idea was to seek out that strength, she realized that she also found it profoundly frightening.

Besides, even if she did become strong enough to defeat Mordha, would the people of Izmoroz even want her back?

“You’ve been stuck in your head a lot lately,” said Jorge.

“Yeah, sorry,” Sonya said. “I guess I’m not very good company.”

“I know you have a lot on your mind, and it’s understandable that you would be struggling. Perhaps it could help to talk it out.”

Sonya stared moodily into the fire as she poked at it with a stick.

“You know, I should have seen it coming.”

“Which part?” asked Jorge.

She sighed. “Mordha’s betrayal, the people turning on me. All of it.”

“The potential for Mordha to betray us was always there. I warned you about it before we’d even left Gogoleth. Once we met them, I admit I let my own optimism, naiveté, and fondness for Blaine and Rowena cloud my judgment. But in retrospect, I can’t say I’m overly surprised by what happened. Except perhaps that Blaine refused to join us.”

“The Uaine are really tight-knit. I don’t think he could ever leave his people. Maybe even if part of him wanted to.”

Jorge thought about that for a moment, then nodded. “Perhaps. But really, Sonya, I can’t see how you could ever have foreseen your own people turning against you like they did.”

“Mikhail warned me years ago.” She took out her knife and began to sharpen it on her small whetstone. Mostly just to give herself something to do. “He told me that in times of conflict, people turn to the Rangers out of desperation, not admiration. He said I should never mistake fear for reverence. And that’s exactly what I did. Maybe I thought I was different. Special.” Her expression grew sour. “But in the end, I was like all the Rangers who came before me. It only took a small push for the people to show how they truly felt.”

“Yes, that ‘push.’” Jorge’s eyes narrowed. “Someone must have spread the word about you being related to both Giovanni the Wolf and the Wizard of Gogoleth.”

“I bet it was Angelo,” said Sonya. “Sounds like the underhanded sort of thing he likes to do.”

“He would have needed help getting it to the locals, however. Galina Odoyevtseva, perhaps.”

Sonya looked surprised. “Galina?”

“I keep telling you, she’s terribly smart. And it’s not as though you endeared yourself to her, the way you were always so disdainful of courtesy and the nobility.”

“You think she was afraid I was going to get rid of the nobles?”

“Weren’t you?”

“Well… not get rid of them completely. Maybe just take away some of their power.”

“Does Galina Odoyevtseva strike you as the sort of person who lets people take away her family’s power?”

“No, I guess not. But what’s she going to do with all those Uaine around? I mean, does her family even have any real power now? If Mordha decides to take charge, how is she going to stop him?”

“That,” said Jorge, “is an excellent question. Especially since we now know he’s someone not even you can defeat.”

“You saw me stick my knife in him, right?”

“Of course.”

“It was like… stabbing wood or something. It didn’t feel like a real, living person.”

“Could he be sluagh gorta?”

“I thought you said they couldn’t speak or remember things.”

Jorge shrugged. “That’s merely what Angelo told me. It certainly seemed to be the case with their army. But perhaps there is more than one kind of sluagh gorta. For all we know, they could have been concealing vast amounts of strength from us.”

“Yeah,” Sonya said quietly. “I guess that means even Blaine and Rowena might have kept secrets from us.”

They stared at the fire for a little while, the silence broken only by the occasional pop from an overheated rock.

“Well, on that depressing note, we should get some sleep,” said Jorge. “If we get an early start tomorrow, I think we should be able to reach your surprise by midday.”

Sonya’s eyes widened. “My surprise?”

He grinned. “I thought that might perk you up a little. Trust me, you’ll like it.”

The next morning, Sonya did her absolute best to find out what the surprise was, but Jorge stoically withstood her barrage of questions, vague threats, and occasional pleading.

“You are not good with surprises, are you?” he asked as they steered their horses down the narrow trail.

“It’s torture,” she declared. “And you’re enjoying it.”

“A little,” he admitted. “But only because I know it’ll be worth it.”

Sonya knew he was only doing it to help her. It gave her something to focus on, and as much as she complained, she was grateful for that. The scents, sounds, and landscape around them still left her feeling off balance, but rather than let them overwhelm her, she finally began sorting through them, identifying each in turn with a fresh determination. After all, any aspect could be a clue to her impending surprise. And perhaps in her careful scrutiny, she was able to appreciate just how lush and green it all was. How the scents of flowers and soft, rich earth mingled. How the golden sunlight filtered down through the thick branches to illuminate motes of pollen that danced upon the gentle breeze. How the air was filled with the mating songs of birds and insects so that it was an almost overwhelming cacophony of life. Spring in Izmoroz might be a desperate and clawing thing, but here in Aureum, it was a radiant diva returning triumphantly from the off season. And the way the salty air mingled with…

Sonya stopped. “Are we close to the sea?”

Jorge grinned. “I should have known you’d smell it first. Perhaps you don’t remember this, but after your… adventure with the giant orca—”

“Lord Massa.”

“Yes. After I dragged you back into the cave and stabilized you, you began rambling for a while. Talking about whatever seemed to come into your head.”

Sonya winced. “I hope I didn’t say anything too horrible.”

He blushed and looked away. “You were… colorful on a number of topics. I promise I won’t hold you to any of it. But one thing that really struck me was when you told me your old teacher Mikhail had sailed on the ocean and you wanted to do that someday.”

“I… sort of remember that?” She vaguely remembered thinking about it, at least. She certainly didn’t remember talking about it to Jorge, though.

“Well, I happen to love sailing, so it saddened me to learn that you’d never been on a ship. So I promised myself one day I’d take you on one. I’d like to get back to Raíz as soon as possible and there’s a seaport on the coast of Aureum near here called Herder’s Gate. So I thought this would be a good time to make that happen.”

By then the forest had begun to thin, and Sonya could see a vast green meadow beyond. The meadow seemed to stop abruptly after about a hundred yards, but she could smell the tangy salt air even more strongly.

Sonya urged Peppercorn out into the meadow where the unfiltered sunlight lay like a warm blanket on her shoulders. They soon reached the far end of the meadow, which dropped off suddenly at a cliff’s edge. Far below, and stretching all the way to the horizon, was the ocean, waves sparkling in the morning sun. Vast, majestic, and deadly, it was as glorious as the tundra in winter.

“It’s called the Ocean of Loss,” said Jorge as he reined in his horse beside her. “It’s said that if you travel more than a few miles from the coast, your boat might be swept out into the endless seas, never to be seen again.”

“It’s beautiful,” she said. “And we’ll be sailing on it?”

“Herder’s Gate should be a couple of days’ ride south of here. We’ll just follow this cliff until we get there. Then we can board a ship that will take us directly to Colmo, the capital of Raíz and my home.”

As they rode along the edge of the cliff, Sonya couldn’t tear her eyes away from the sea. It was nothing like the drab and inhospitable White Sea in the north. This ocean teemed with life. Fish jumped out of the water, their scales glittering in the sun. Sea birds swooped down to catch those fish. Plants and strange translucent creatures bobbed along with the current. It was a whole system of life unlike any she had ever seen before. It was a wondrous sight she would have never experienced if she’d stayed in Izmoroz.

“Huh. I guess there are good parts about going someplace new,” she conceded.

“I hoped you’d say that,” said Jorge. “Just wait until we get to Raíz. You’re going to love it. I promise.”

And for the first time, Sonya thought that maybe she would.