Traitor's Moon

around the morning fire a few hours later. “I couldn’t recall a thing when I woke up, but I never do.”
    â€œNeither did I,” said Beka, clearly disappointed.
    None of the Skalans had anything to report, as it turned out.
    â€œPerhaps the magic doesn’t work for Tír?” Alec offered, still pondering his own strange dream.
    When Thero emerged at last from the tent, however, he knew he was going to have to reevaluate his theory. The young wizard looked too dark under the eyes to have rested well.
    â€œBad dreams?” asked Seregil.
    Thero gazed out over the pool, looking rather perplexed. “I dreamed of drowning here, with the moon shining in my eyes so brightly it hurt, even through the water. And all the while I could hear someone singing ‘home, home, home.’ ”
    â€œYou’re a wizard,” Amali said, overhearing. “Your magic came from Aurënen, so perhaps you are home, in a sense.”
    â€œThank you, lady,” Thero said. “That is a more positive interpretation than I was able to come to. It felt very much like a dream of death to me.”
    â€œAnd yet does not water also signify birth among your people?” she asked, strolling away.
    Below the Vhadä’nakori, the trail grew steeper and the Skalans had to ride most of the morning blindfolded. Chewing doggedly ona slice of ginger, Alec clung on with thighs and hands; at times it felt as if the horse were about to walk out from under him.
    After a few miles of this torture, he swallowed his pride and let an Akhendi named Tael mount in front of him and take the reins. Judging by the muttered epithets he heard on all sides, he wasn’t the only one to give in. Even with this help, however, his back and thighs were soon aching again as he clung on behind his guide.
    Luckily, his torment was short-lived. Reaching a level patch of ground, the column halted and the hated blindfolds were removed.
    Alec blinked, then let out a whistle.
    Far below, a rolling green vista dotted with scattered lakes and netted with rivers stretched toward lowlands on the southern horizon.
    â€œSo green it hurts your eyes,” Thero murmured.
    They came down into the foothills through groves of flowering trees so dense it seemed as if they were riding through clouds. Beyond this, a packed-earth road led through the thick forests of Akhendi fai’thast.
    Alec’s fingertips ached for the pull of a bowstring. Sunlight slanted through the towering trees, illuminating little glades where herds of deer grazed. Flocks of game birds called
kutka
darted across the trail like startled chickens.
    â€œDoesn’t anyone hunt here?” he asked Tael.
    The Akhendi shrugged. “Aura is bountiful to those who take only what they need.”
    The trail met a broader road that led through small, scattered villages. People gathered by the road, staring and waving at the Skalans and calling out to Amali, who was clearly well loved. Men, women, and children alike wore various versions of the familiar tunic and trousers, which some had augmented with colorful open-work shawls or sashes fashioned like fisherman’s nets, but elaborate as lace.
    â€œI can’t tell the men from the women,” said Minál.
    â€œI assure you, rider, those who need to can tell the difference!” Nyal told him, eliciting a round of laughter from his companions.
    The dwellings here were similar in design to those at Gedre, but built of wood instead of stone. Many had open-sided sheds nearby, where their owners plied their trades. From what Alec could makeout from the road, woodworking was a common occupation in this part of the country.
    Many of the byways that branched off from the main road looked disused and overgrown, he noticed. In the larger villages, many houses stood empty.
    Riding up beside Riagil and Amali, he asked, “My lady, this was a trade road once, wasn’t it?”
    â€œYes, one of the busiest. Our marketplaces saw goods from every corner of Aurënen, the Three Lands, and beyond. Our inns were always filled with traders. But now those same traders go downriver to Bry’kha, or overland to Virésse. Many of our people have moved closer to the routes, even gone to other fai’thasts.”
    She shook her head sadly. “The village I grew up in stands empty now. It is a shameful thing for any ’faie to be forced against her will to leave the place her family lived in for