The viper pulsed at her heart, awake, alert, but not restless or uneasy. Content, perhaps. The Pall did not scare the viper, nor did it arouse the viper’s hunger. That was strange, too, given that the viper hunted Spore. Was there no Spore in Flat Pall? Nothing with enough energy to irrupt?

Xilsi’s enthusiasm at being the coachman had cooled, and she’d turned her attention fully to the horses, looking a bit strained. They, at least, had been bred and chosen for a steady temperament and followed the lead carriage with no signs of distress or nervousness.

Kem coughed anxiously. “What’s that noise?”

Elen thought it might be the wind rising, but it was a rushing burble, plopping and splashing.

“It’s a river,” Xilsi said with a chuckle.

The tone of the roadbed changed beneath them as the elevated embankment became an arched bridge. Water rushed below, a wide, powerful river with high banks.

“That’s a big river,” said Kem.

Even silent Ipis exclaimed, “Wow!”

They stared at the churn of the rushing waters flowing below the long span of the bridge. The difference between the road and the river was that the Pall did not touch the water but stretched over it, like a wispy canopy, which was why they had not seen the river ahead. All was hidden beneath the Pall, only the high causeway of the road left exposed, while the river ran as if beneath an extended archway formed by the deadly toxin.

The sound of the wheels changed as the bridge reached solid ground and the piers and arches became, again, an embankment.

Xilsi said, “Did you ever hear the story about a prince who took a dare and found the headwaters of a river, and got in a boat and pushed off and floated into the Pall?”

“And was never seen again?” Elen said.

“Oh, no, not at all. She survived the journey, returned to the palace, murdered her uncle, the Oak Emperor, for being completely inept, and placed herself on the throne.”

“The Willow Emperor!” said Kem. “I mean, I didn’t know about the boat, but my friend Joef told me all about the murder. There are at least twenty plays written about it, as well as five chronicles and two histories and more poems than can be counted. ‘She who was kindest to me now sets the poisoned cup to my lips.’”

“That’s right, she poisoned him,” said Xilsi. “But maybe the High Heavens had a hand in it.”

“How’s that?” Kem asked.

“Because the Willow Emperor is the one who set in place all the new protocols that allow the empire to survive, and even thrive, despite the Pall.”

“Is the story about the river true?” Elen asked skeptically.

“Do you think it’s not possible?”

“I think that on the river, on a boat, a person can remain untouched by Spore, so yes, it’s possible.”