Chapter 6 #2
“Am I too late for the reunion?” Mariyah, Queen Jazela’s daughter and my favorite cousin, asked, grinning as she rode over to me on her chestnut mare, Citrine, and dismounted.
“I’m sure we’ll be around so long you’ll get sick of us,” I said with a laugh.
She hugged me tightly. “I wouldn’t complain if you stayed forever. We hardly ever get to see each other.”
It had already been an entire year since the last time I saw Mariyah.
As a rule, the queens tried not to spend much time in the same place.
Having two of the queens picked off would be disastrous.
Mariyah was already a better heir than I was, having inherited her mother’s power of summoning powerful earthquakes.
It was to our everlasting regret that our enemy could fly.
The infantry was susceptible to it, of course.
Queen Jazela had won many battles by asking the earth to swallow whole battalions of soldiers.
But the Eagle Riders were formidable. They put Queen Jazela at risk the moment she set foot on the battlefield.
“The pavilion is ready if you’d like to rest,” Ama said.
Suddenly, the weight of everything—the terror of being attacked, fleeing from our home, and worst of all, losing contact with Shazeera—settled on me like iron chains.
I still felt drained from the encounter with the Eagle Rider, and I wondered if summoning the wind had also taken a toll on my body in the same way my mother’s magic drained her.
Beside me, Shazeera drooped with exhaustion, too. “I could use a little sleep.”
“Rest up, then,” Mariyah said with a sympathetic look, “and we’ll catch up later.”
Ama sensed my change in mood like she always did and kindly led Shazeera and me to where our pavilion had been erected on the banks of the enormous lake that provided the horses with fresh water.
To the west, I could just make out the craggy mouth of the Nazeeran Canyon, where it was surrounded on both sides by countless tents and pavilions.
We walked through lush grass with horses grazing peacefully.
I couldn’t see it from here, but I knew the green landscape ended abruptly in scrubland and rocky soil that led to the Great Twin Plateaus and Little Mesa.
The grass surrounding the canyon was lush for our horses thanks to Queen Samira in the south, who had used her earth magic to create this oasis for our people.
As I entered the cool, dim interior, my shoulders relaxed…until I caught sight of the map of Equnox. Sucking in a breath, I moved closer to it.
“The battlegrounds have spread this far south?” I asked, trepidation making my hands shake as I pointed to the red flags spread across our land.
With the Zephyrian territories marked, it was easy to see how much of our continent had been swallowed by their empire.
They ruled over the Angora Mountains and Ridgeline Foothills to the east, the Black Forest to the north, and the coastal port city of Rhythos in the northeast. With the Modavian Sea to the east, our territory had shrunk to the grasslands in the middle and southern parts of the continent.
To protect our people, we kept the battlegrounds to the north near the Black Forest, hundreds of miles from our encampments.
But this map showed we were losing ground.
Soon, they would threaten Queen Jazela’s canyon city, where the majority of our people took refuge.
Ama leveled her gaze at me, and there was so much in that look.
She was the Queen of All Queens of a people on the brink of extinction.
If we didn’t all die in battle, then we would be assimilated by the Zephyrian Empire, losing our ability to live a nomadic life, to follow our horses across the Equnox Plains.
“Yes,” she said. “We don’t have much longer. ”
And I knew what she meant. We didn’t have much longer as a people if I couldn’t manifest the power to shield us. With our power combined, we might have the strength to cover the plains and keep the Zephyrians out. The wards would repel eagles and infantry alike.
Looking at the map reminded me of what Ama had said before. That the world had once been full of different types of magic.
“Ama, when you said there were magic lines that still exist, how is that possible?”
“I only meant that the world once had different types of magic. Some of those ancient magic bloodlines may have even made their way into the people of this continent through the port cities long ago, but none of them were as powerful as earth magic, so they didn’t matter.”
“So there are others in the world with magic?” I asked, feeling like my entire worldview was being turned upside down.
She shrugged one shoulder. “Perhaps. At one time, yes.” She reached out and touched my cheek. “But you are tired. We can talk about this later. Just rest now.” She pressed a kiss on my forehead and turned to leave.
Thoughts raced around in my mind. Ama didn’t know what the wind power could do—what would she say if she knew what had happened with the Eagle Rider?
“Ama.” I craved that comfort and reassurance only a mother could give, but when she paused and looked back at me, the words evaporated off my tongue.
I couldn’t tell her yet. I didn’t want to see the disappointment when she found out I truly couldn’t channel the Earth Mother’s power.
For surely what happened with the wind proved that I had no connection to the earth like all the women in my line before me.
I couldn’t even begin to fathom the gravity of what this revelation meant.
I shook my head. “It’s nothing.”
She gave me that look that told me she knew that wasn’t true, but she must have taken pity on the fact that I was too tired to get into it. “I love you, Zara, and I’m glad you’re here safe.” She laid a hand gently on Shazeera’s neck and then ducked back out of the pavilion.
Without another word to each other, Shazeera and I moved to one of the bedrooms off the main space of the tent and collapsed onto a bed of azure silken pillows.
Shazeera lay down beside me on a plush rug, and as I listened to her deep breaths, I knew one thing was true.
I would never do anything to risk our bond again.