“It doesn’t matter. What matters is we set off in a confident state of mind, and Huan certainly arranged that nicely. Now, it looks like my tribe is itching to get into the air. Would you like to fly with us?”

Auraya nodded. “I would, thank you.”

Sirri grinned, beckoned, and they both leapt off the outcrop. The Speaker’s tribe immediately surged into the air to join them, followed by tribe after tribe of Siyee. Auraya looked back at the cloud of flying figures and felt a thrill of amazement.

But it was followed by a stab of concern. This will be their first war, she thought. There is no way they can be fully prepared for what they will face. She sighed. And there is no way I am either.

PART THREE

33

Plains are supposed to be flat tracts of land, aren’t they? Danjin thought as he climbed the face of the hill. The Plains of Gold were better described as “undulating.” They were a little less undulating in the western part, but here in the east they could be described as flat only in comparison to the rugged mountains at their edge.

They weren’t living up to the other part of their name, either. The plains were gold only in summer when the grasses turned yellow. Now, in the aftermath of winter, they were a mix of healthy green new shoots growing up among older, darker plants.

Danjin reached the top of the hill and paused. His heavy breathing sounded loud in this quiet place. He turned around and his quibbling and discomfort were forgotten. Below was the largest army camp he’d ever seen.

The only army camp I’ve ever seen, he corrected himself. But this is certainly larger than any I’ve read of.

Men, women, animals, tarns, plattens, and tents of all sizes covered a large valley surrounded by low hills. The grass that earned the plains their pretty name was now trampled into mud. The light of the late afternoon sun touched a line of brown that led into the valley on one side and continued to the mountains on the other. A wider band of crushed grass around the western part of this road showed the direction the army had come from. In the center of the valley was a large tent, which had somehow managed to remain white despite being pitched beside the muddy main thoroughfare of the camp each night. This was where the White’s councils of war were held.

It was hard to imagine any force could match this army. Danjin looked to the mountains in the east. Even at this distance they looked fierce and unassailable. He was too far away to see the road winding up to the pass. Somewhere beyond those peaks was another army, and by all reports it was even larger than the one before him.