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would be impassible.
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Upon Eagle's Light
by Clover Autrey
Chapter Seven
"Don't go in there. Not another step."
Hydeia paused mid-step at Ammah's tone. He said it
quietly, but there was a biting edge to his voice warning her
not to argue. Her eyes slid across the dusty blue swath of
leafy low-lying vines then back to Ammah. "Why?"
"That's tanglevine. We can't cross it now." Shrugging his
pack off his shoulders, Ammah lowered it to the ground and
began rummaging through its contents. "See that broken
hillock over there? With the flat sunken top."
"Yes." Nodding, Hydeia looked to the side at a small hill
that indeed appeared as though the lower part of it had been
sheared off by a giant axe.
"There's a narrow fissure at the juncture below the flat
sunken top where the break is that passes all the way
through to the other side." He lifted his chin toward the small
vine-carpeted hill to his left. "The cleft has made a natural
pass that is home to anvil head spiders and mute scorpions,
but with torches, they should leave us alone."
Hydeia frowned at the little hill. It looked as though once
they went through it, they would still be on this side of the
tanglevines. Why not cross the field and be done with it?
Ammah pulled out a flat, stoppered vial from his pack that
reeked of clotblur grease when he opened it. "This is
sufficient. We only need enough pitch for two days."
Two days? Hydeia whipped around. "This pass will take us
two days out of our way?" She didn't care for the spiders or
111
Upon Eagle's Light
by Clover Autrey
scorpions, but losing any more precious time was
unthinkable.
The look Ammah leveled at her was grim. "Two days to go
through, without resting for the night, and another day to
angle back toward Irrean."
A dull ache pressed between Hydeia's eyes. Three days.
She began to pace in front of the gently stirring tri-pointed
leaves. Their sharp tips were veined and edged with what
looked like gray fluff. The vine field stretched far to either
side, up, over, and across the surrounding hills, coating the
ground in soft blue ripples. A beautiful sight, really, seemingly
tranquil. "How far across do these tanglevines go?"
Rising to his feet, Ammah moved to stand beside her as
they looked across the river of blue foliage. "It takes half a
day to cross. But..." He scowled. "They are tanglevines." His
set expression said that should be enough of an explanation.
"But it's the shorter route," Hydeia stated the obvious.
One side of Ammah's vastly appealing lips twisted in a
grimace. "You don't know what tanglevines are, do you?" He
ran his hands over his face, back up through his hair,
muttering under his breath as he began pacing in anger.
Hydeia caught little snippets of his muttering, "interfering ...
cruel ... leaving her ignorant..."
His eyes were flashing golden fire when he finally came
back to her. "The Matrons didn't prepare you for anything.
They should have warned you about the dangers of crossing
outside of Gaspar. Koric's rotting breath! How do you think
the Fourteen Eyries have remained so isolated and left in
peace these many centuries?"
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Upon Eagle's Light
by Clover Autrey
"Mankind didn't want to trifle with such an inhospitable
land?" She shrugged one shoulder.
Ammah's angry gaze bore into her. "There's very few ways
into Gaspar and each lethally dangerous. Quagmires dot the
south end of Whisper Bluff, fire pools spout all around
Kraignell Pass where anyone fortunate enough to avoid being
burned and scalded will certainly fall into the pools where the
ground gives way underfoot. Rage lions prowl across the field
inside the mouth of Neckbreak Trough just to our east, and
the only way off of Gaspar's Northern Cliffs are barely visible
hand and footholds in the stone face. Any Eaglekin preparing
to travel outside of Gaspar would have been taken aside by
their eyrie's Matron and made well aware of these dangers
and carefully instructed on how to get by them. It's
unthinkable that the Matrons sent you out here neglecting to
share that knowledge "
He cut off abruptly, went chillingly still. Hydeia could see
his mind working, was heading toward the same horrific
conclusion herself, though she didn't want to and fought the
uneasy knowledge creeping like a shadow into her mind. The
muscles in her stomach clenched.
Ammah's voice was quiet. His eyes were furious. "The
Matrons sent you out here to fail."
He'd said it out loud, made it tangible. Gave it form.
Hydeia stiffened her spine against it, clamped down on the
sick feeling sliding up her neck. It wasn't true, though she
knew better. She was the daughter of a tolin sha, a nothing.
Worthless. Unworthy of such a task as bringing back the
grand dame, Sheeannar. Cold shame stabbed into Hydeia like
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