Page 186 of Flame and Sparrow

I didn’t dare scratch it or otherwise draw attention to it.

I found a shabby little tavern that looked like it would have exceptional gossip and passable food. After tying Nyxia to the hitching post next to a haggard looking old mare, I slipped inside and took a seat in the back corner. I kept the bag containing the glass sparrow and the water of Melithra with me, clutching it close to my chest as though it was the only true ally I could hope to find in this establishment.

It was strange, how out of place I felt in that moment, surrounded by my own kind…as out of place as I’d felt months ago, when I’d first entered the divine realm.

Giving my head a shake—clearing it of musings I didn’t have time for—I summoned the waitress, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible.

I ate an entirely too salty stew purchased with the few coins I’d found buried in the bag I’d taken from Nyxia’s stall, and I kept to the shadows, listening to the conversations around me until I zeroed in on a table of patrons who were just the right level of intoxicated—drunk enough to not be suspicious of me, but sober enough to answer my questions about the stretch of supposedly haunted land that lay somewhere farther north. It took some patience, but among their enthusiastic rambling and laughter, I eventually picked out several useful clues.

Look for jagged rock formations and follow the trail of tall teeth.

The land will turn to the color of ash, and the sky will look brighter than it should, even in the dead of the darkest night.

If you spot the Sapphire Sea to the east, you’ll know you’ve gone too far.

Mind the ghosts who guard it.

What sort of foolish elf wants to tangle themselves up with the evils and ghosts of Miralith, anyway?

I only smiled and deflected when we came to this last question. They went back to laughing and drinking easily enough afterwards, and now that I had a decent idea of where I needed to go and what to look for, I wasted no more time.

Nyxia was not enthusiastic about setting off again so soon, but she stopped protesting after I offered her a few carrots I’d saved from my meal.

“Just a little farther,” I promised her, rubbing her neck before swinging into the saddle once more.

We rode onward, Moth swooping and diving just ahead of us; he seemed restless after being ordered to keep still, even though I’d taken no more than an hour in the city. I worried about him drawing attention to us at first. But after another hour passed and we encountered no other riders—or even signs that any riders had traveled our route—I relaxed somewhat.

The rough yet clearly-inhabited land gave way to wilder stretches full of overgrown fields, unspoiled swaths of wildflowers, and clear streams that looked like pure, bubbling silver in the moonlight. Anything resembling a path ended, leaving us to pick our way through increasingly rocky terrain.

Another hour came and went. I still had not noticed any trails of jagged teeth, nor any of the distinct color changes I’d been told about. I began to worry that I’d chosen the wrong targets back in the tavern—that perhaps I was the victim of some drunken prank or dare between them.

The sky grew darker, thousands of stars flickering to life against the black canvas and making the world seem too big, too vast, too overwhelming—and all the plans I was trying to formulate seemed equally overwhelming against this backdrop.

WherewasI?

What the hell was I doing here?

The farther I went, the harder I tried, the more lost I felt.

Yet I soldiered on, encouraging Nyxia to do the same, until I finally spotted jagged rows of rocks popping up with increasing frequency and forming a road of sorts between them.

I followed these sharp ‘teeth’ as I’d been told to do, keeping a mindful eye toward the east, hoping I wouldn’t see the sea that meant I’d gone too far.

The stars above started to disappear, lost against a sky shifting closer and closer to the color of a polished pearl. The increasingly white atmosphere made a sudden expanse of grey in the distance immediately noticeable.

I’d actually reached it.

‘Veil’was a fitting moniker, it turned out, because that was what it looked like—a thin, gauzy cloth of grey stretched across the world ahead of me, rippling slightly as if caught in the barely-there breeze.

Realizing I was holding my breath, I forced myself to slowly exhale. I pulled Nyxia to a stop and rolled the tension from my shoulders. Moth soared back to me and dove into my arms, huddling against my chest, a low, uncertain mewl rising from him.

“Courage, Ramoth,” I whispered, stroking the ruff around his neck. “We’ll be all right.”

I dismounted, took my bag and strapped it securely across my body, then started to relieve Nyxia of her tack. I planned to let her go her own way from this point; she’d grown up wild before meeting Cillian, a part of the massive herds that ruled the vast Windscar Plains south of our home. I wasn’t worried about her surviving on her own. And I strongly suspected she’d eventually find her way back to Cillian—she’d roamed farther distances than this and made it home in the past.

I watched her trotting briskly away, eventually breaking into an eager gallop. She didn’t look back. I didn’t blame her.

I turned to face the veil.

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