The other lands

In that stillness, Cori

C HAPTER

Mena had known there were considerable risks, but she thought she and Elya could pull it off. The night sky would provide cover. They would leave Melio and the others in northern Talay and fly high over Bocoum, then low across the I

That was how she had pla

"What was the meaning of that?" Cori

When they were apart, Mena had difficulty remembering Cori

Mena chose not to let this official summons become as "official" as Cori

"Nice to see you as well, Sister," Mena said, once the long yawn had slipped away. "I can't believe Dariel has truly sailed to the Other Lands. Any word from him?"

"No," Cori

"I do wish he were here. I thought about him often while I was hunting, and so looked forward to seeing him." She paused a moment, exhaled, and finally acknowledged Cori

"Have you lost your wits?"

"No, not at all," Mena said. "Just the opposite. I've gained some wit. Cori

"You're not making sense." Cori

"That thing is my good friend. No harm can come to her. None at all. You're to put word out to that effect. A royal decree. Let everybody know it." Cori

To Mena's relief, Cori

She told it all just as she remembered. Cori

"We all have burdens," Cori

No, Mena did not. She described the bloated vultures and the foraging creatures, the lion with the eyes down its back, the snakes on legs, the monstrosity that had once been a fish but became a ravening mouth. The tenten beast, she said, had stared at her with malevolence different from a mere animal's. It had been changed not just in size and shape but inside its mind as well.

"The Giver's tongue is a foulness," she said. "All traces of it have to be wiped out."

"You're mistaken," Cori

Mena eyed her as she sipped her tea. "You seem surer of this than you were before."

"I know more than I did before. You've been away, but I trust you've heard rumors of the work I performed in Talay."

"I heard tales about you bringing water from the ground wherever you pleased. I didn't know what to make of it."

"Make of it that I've been learning ancient wisdom. Sorcery, if you must call it something, although it's not so exciting as that may sound."

"How? Who is teaching you?"

"I'm teaching myself from some old texts. Don't look so frightened, Mena. I haven't gone mad any more than you have. Nor is it dangerous. Just think of it as-as if I were studying medicine or music. I'm learning things that expand my knowledge in useful ways."

"But to make water come out of-"

"Water comes out of the ground all the time. There's nothing more natural. I just help direct it. But go on with your tale. It's more amusing than my study of ancient spells."

Though she was not sure that was true, Mena did want to get to Elya. She had not said the things she wanted to yet. She described the day she had crept up to the lip of the hill and looked down into that orchard and first seen that reptilian head. Some part of her had known that here was something different, but her mind had not grasped it in time. She told of how they had hunted it, shot it through with crossbow bolts, and tried to weigh it to the ground. They had torn shreds in its marvelous wings. None of it was easy to relive: neither her flight clutching its tail nor the battering she took landing nor the sight of what she thought to be the dead creature when she had climbed down to look upon it.