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"Why haven’t we seen these kinds of ht started?" I asked Dorian one day It was midafternoon, and we rode our horses side by side He didn’t answer for a few seconds, and for the first tih not quite defeated--air about hi its toll on all of us
"A couple reasons, I’d iistics These creatures tend to live on the outskirts of our world It’s siht has created for them, and then of course, they’d actually have to put in the time to spread out and make the journey They may simply not have reached our lands yet"
That was a disheartening answer, its severity driven home by his sober look "What’s the other reason we haven’t seen the in a state of war before this disaster struck Our arularly patrolled Much of that has stayed in place, even though our forces have taken heavy hits frodo an idyllic, peaceful existence Their arht fell--and next to nothing now that the h?" I asked "Will our forces be able to protect our people?"
He studiedwhether to ansith truth or comfort He opted for the former "I don’t know We’re in better shape than most, and it’s a rule of nature that predators prefer easy prey I don’t wish har to snow ht back"
His point was proved by the fact that many of the creatures we encountered tried to back off once they discovered the kind of fight we could put up The s on our part would have been to let them runbut we, foolish or not, often pursued and took the uarded would have been cruel It didn’t doht also broke the ence assured us ere on the right path, but our days were long and dreary We weren’t entirely sure howlow I’d overheard Rurik and the soldiers debating whether or not they should impose new food restrictions to ensure our supplies would last They’d decided against it at the tiotten the ie very soon I didn’t like that, but I disliked the thought of running out of food altogether even more
Kiyo continued to be a constant stress to me Whenever he had uments about why Isaac was such a threat Fortunately, Kiyo rarely got me alone, since almost everyone else went out of their way to interrupt his atteh he had so really important to ask me, which almost always turned out to be ridiculous--like whether the purple in his cloak clashed with his tan horse Others, like Rurik, made no such pretenses He would silare until Kiyo backed off
Despite his nagging, Kiyo otherwise seereat pains to act like ere all civilized and friendly I supposed this was better than hiressive or homicidal, but it seemed ridiculous after what he’d done to ive and forget
He scouted throughoutback toward us in fox forency that was obvious even as an animal Immediately, we stopped and dreeapons, ready for an army of abominable snowmen around the bend Kiyo reached us and turned hu a headache (probably froht if need be
Kiyo was panting,he’d run back to us at a pretty serious pace His fox form was normally pretty hardy "Youyou have to see this You won’t believe it" Recovering hilanced around and seemed to notice our tension "And you don’t need your weapons"
"What is it then?" asked Rurik, who showed no signs of putting his sword away
"You just have to see it," said Kiyo wonderingly "It’s a away He paused after a few steps and glanced back to ascertain ere following We set out at a cautious pace, none of us disarone insane," said Dorian with mock sadness "I kneould happen sooner or later If cold or starvation didn’t do it, I figured his own nature would bring it about You can see these things coo, not that anyone bothered listening to ht You’re a regular--"
I gasped The land had shifted around us, as it did a few tidoht and a blue, blue sky nearlysosilence had been replaced by birdsong and the chatter of other animals Trees--with leaves--spread out as far as we could see, radiantly green and alive And the te of all Probably, it was only around seventy, but after being in the blight, we ht as well have stepped into the tropics
"There’s no blight here," exclairay eyes wide "It’s like--plums! Holy shit! Plu toward the nearest tree With dexterity I hadn’t known she possessed, she scurried up the trunk and began picking purple and gold fruit as soon as she could reach the branches She tossed several of the plue one for herself She bit into it, juice running down her chin, and looked as though she would faint in ecstasy
The rest of us wasted no time We dis was, I don’t even like plus I’d ever tasted Our rations had consistedso so sweet and so fresh was exquisite Plus, there were no limits here We could eat as ret it later, but for now, it was glorious to have a full storass when I was finished,in the moment It took Dorian to point out the obvious
"You realize, of course, why there’s no blight here?" he asked No one responded "This is one of Varia’s subject kingdoms If not the Yew Land itself"
That revelation certainly dah it seemed like a shame on such a beautiful day The only positive part was that this sort of cheery, bright location obviously bothered him
"My mistress calls"