Page 91 of Bound to the Orc King

The tundra slides by beneath us, turning whiter the farther we fly as the hardy bits of greenery that dotted last night’s campsite yield more of the land to ice.

After another hour, we fly over pure white, the snow-covered surface achingly bright with reflected sun.

“Fuck me,” May says, shielding her eyes with a hand. “Who knew you needed sunglasses at the freaking north pole?”

“Thankfully, we are there.” Lukendevener dives for the ground, his descent so steep I assume he’s doing it to prove a point.

May yelps as she’s thrown back against me, and my grip on her tightens. My thighs lock onto the dragon’s back to keep us in place, and I squint into the brightness and the wind but can make out nothing but white.

The gusting air stills from one second to the next, the noise falling away.

“What just happened?” May gasps.

“I don’t know.”

Lukendevener lands on the ground with a bone-jarring thump. “What happened is we’re here.”

It’s still too bright, and human eyes are slower to adapt than mine, so I pick up May and slide down the dragon’s side.

We land in his shadow, which blocks the sun’s reflection off the snow enough that I can finally see.

We stand inside a massive bowl carved out of the ground. “What is this?”

“It’s a crater!” May says. “I’ve been to one like this on Earth. It’s where a meteor fell out of the sky.”

“A meteor?” Sheevora walks up, her wings spread wide to cast shade for Naomi and Wranth, who step carefully to stay in her shadow. “Or a moon?”

Shock zips through me at the thought.

“Oh. My. God.” May’s eyes go wide. “This is where the moon goddess fell from the sky!”

Naomi looks just as surprised as my bride, but Wranth scowls at the ground. “Something doesn’t feel right.”

“You’re correct.” I crouch, set my hand on the ground, and feel an eerie nothingness. “There’s no magic. I’ve never been anywhere in Alarria that didn’t have magic.”

“That’s weird, right?” Naomi says. “The goddess has a ton of magic, so if she’s here, why is there none?”

“This is why we call it the wastes,” Lukendevener says. “It’s more than the cold and ice. It’s the fact that the very ground has been stripped of magic.”

“You know where else is stripped of magic?” Wranth growls.

“Avalon.” I meet his eyes. “The Dark God.”

“If you wanted to trap a magical being, what better way to do it than cut her off from all magic?” May says.

“So you think the Dark God is the one who trapped the Moon Goddess?” Naomi asks.

“Who else would be powerful enough?” May spreads her hands wide. “This is right. I can feel it.”

“Can you also feel where the goddess is and how to free her?” Sheevora booms.

May grips her crystal and closes her eyes, a frown line pinching her brow. After a while, she stops trying and shakes her head. “There’s still a barrier of some kind.”

“Let’s get everyone here so we can scout around and see what we can find,” I say. “Maybe there are visual clues for how to reach the goddess, such as a cave or something.”

“I’m off.” Naomi blinks out of sight.

She returns with Rune and Shadow first, and both weres are able to see better in the snow glare than any of the rest of us. Next come Starfall and Zephyr.

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