Daughter of the Disgraced King by Meredith Mansfield

Author:Meredith Mansfield [Meredith Mansfield]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-05-18T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16: The Ring Mountains

The next day all of them—the four princes, Mayra, and Ailsa—set out early to explore the surrounding mountains on horseback, followed by their guards. The princes knew the area well, of course. And Mayra knew quite a few of the trails, too. It was all new to Ailsa.

They rode through a mixed forest of pines and oaks with lush undergrowth. It wasn’t nearly as ancient as the forest they’d ridden through the day before, but the mix of oak and pine had a charm and wildlife of its own. Ailsa noticed that squirrels and deer were more frequent here and there were more different kinds of birds flitting around the branches. The varied forests of the Ring Mountains were endlessly fascinating, but they also made Ailsa aware of how young and relatively poor the Far Terran forests were.

As the sun climbed to midday and past, Ailsa began to eye the bags that hung from the saddle horns of the princes. The trail passed through a beautiful little glade with a small stream running and gurgling through it and deep, thick grass cushioning the ground. It was the perfect place for a picnic. “Why don’t we stop here?”

“Not quite yet,” Jathan said. “There’s something I want you to see. It’s not far now.”

“What is it?”

Jathan winked at her. “You’ll see.”

Ailsa looked across at Mayra, riding beside her, but the other girl just shrugged. Ailsa’s stomach rumbled and she was just about ready to speak up again when the princes in the lead stopped. Ailsa and Mayra rode up beside them.

Below them, the land fell away in a perfect bowl. The exact center of the bowl was a crystal-blue lake, surrounded by a dense pine forest. It was a striking vista. Ailsa stood and just stared at it as the older princes dismounted and found a spot under the shade of an old oak to set up lunch.

“I thought you’d like this,” Jathan said. “This is where it all started, you know.”

Ailsa didn’t take her eyes from the view. “Where what started?”

“Far Terra. The idea of it,” Jathan said. “The Ring Mountains are volcanoes. Mostly dormant volcanoes, but still . . . Generations ago, one of them erupted. All of this was just steaming lava until some mages decided to see what they could do. Heat and ice mages bled the heat off. Earth mages broke the lava down into soil. Then water and green mages went to work bringing it to life. It succeeded so well that your . . .” Jathan paused and counted on his fingers. “Your four-times-great-grandfather got the idea to try to transform the desert, too.”

Ailsa blinked and focused on that impossibly blue lake. She knew the story, of course. She’d just never expected to see the place that was part of Far Terran legend. This valley—this valley—had been more desolate than any part of the desert ever could be. Not long before Far Terra was first founded. And now it was this rich and beautiful forest.

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