Realm of Ruins by Hannah West

Author:Hannah West
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Holiday House
Published: 2018-12-03T16:00:00+00:00

ORE and more trees cropped up over the next two days.

Soon after crossing the border into Volarre, we would be free of the open fields and able to lose ourselves in the centuries-old trees. Upon reaching the Forest of the West Fringe, we could disappear entirely.

At last, we approached the deep chasm of the gorge that followed the border. A glance from the edge offered dizzying views that made my knees feel as though they would drop out from under me. The grass gave way to steep rock ledges, none navigable. We hadn’t come upon the narrow bridge yet, but I assured the others it should be just around a westward bend.

Clouds flew by on a quick wind, casting shadows across the dramatic landscape. We stopped for an early dinner, which Kadri declined. I realized that she hadn’t eaten breakfast either. It struck me that her abstinence had nothing to do with appetite and all to do with proving her value on this journey after insisting to Mercer that she would not be dead weight. She had combed any wild bushes we’d passed and kept a sharp eye out for game and berries even though there was plenty of food for her.

“Kadri,” I said, coming alongside her and dodging her bow tip. “You need to eat something. We’re not strapped for provisions.”

“It’s the principle. I promised I would be an asset, not a burden.”

“If you grow too weak to walk you will be a burden.”

“I’m far from that,” she said. “And we’re almost to the woodlands. There will be plenty of game there.”

“In the meantime, eat something. Please?”

She didn’t reply, but I decided would take up the battle again at the next meal.

We walked on without seeing any bridge at all—yet I was sure I hadn’t led us astray.

“What’s it like in Erdem?” I asked, to distract myself. “The land? Is it green?”

“In parts, but other regions are arid. It was rainy and muddy where we lived and there were violent storms. Mountain ranges separate inland Erdem from the coasts and from Perispos, and there aren’t many passes through. When the mist rolled down in autumn, it felt as if there was no escaping that wall of jagged mountains. But it was beautiful on sunny days, and oh! The spices. You wouldn’t believe them. I know we have imports from Erdem here, but the colors and flavors aren’t the same. There were whole markets in Dogahn dedicated to spices and nothing else.”

Kadri’s eyes took on a dreamy quality and she got lost in her thoughts, presumably of food, while Glisette stopped short. “I don’t think there’s a bridge,” she announced.

I turned around. “There is.” If I’d made an error—though I was sure I hadn’t—I planned to fall on my sword. “We shouldn’t be far….”

“Did you see that pile of rocks at the bottom a few minutes back?”

“That little dam?” I asked with a sinking feeling.

Glisette shook her head. “I think it was the bridge. Someone destroyed it. Maybe Mercer and I could levitate us across.

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