Endure - Sara B. Larson Page 0,33

and then tying them to the trees we slept under. We took turns sitting up and stoking the fire, hoping the flames would frighten off any predators that thought to make us — or our transportation — dinner. Exhaustion wore me down, and on the fifth day, I could feel Mira struggling to maintain her pace as well.

“We’re running them into the ground.” We’d stopped to eat a hurried lunch of the mangoes Eljin had spotted just off the road. There was also a stream where the horses were greedily drinking, and where we’d refilled our water flagons. Our food supplies were long since gone, and we’d had to resort to living on whatever we could find in our rushed flight to Dansii. Hunger clawed at my belly constantly. Certain muscles itched from nonuse and fatigue, while other new ones I’d never used before ached from all the riding. I’d never gone so long without training — except when Eljin had kidnapped us and taken us to his father’s castle in Blevon.

The horses’ mouths and necks were flecked with white, and their bellies were soaked with sweat beneath the girths I’d learned to put on and take off each morning and night.

“They can’t keep up this pace anymore,” I continued as I took my last bite of mango and tossed the pit away, far from satiated.

“I know.” Eljin stared at his hands, where he held his own half-eaten mango. We’d put a few more in our packs just in case we couldn’t find anything to eat later. I longed for the time to catch some fish from the stream and broil them over a fire. The thought of warm, flaky fish made my mouth water.

“What are we going to do?” I pressed, forcing away the thoughts of any food besides fruit.

“We keep going. We’re going to have to let up on our pace, at least for some of the time, so the horses don’t get hurt or worse. And we hope they’re having the same trouble.” Eljin took another bite of his mango, but instead of swallowing it, he spat it back out and stood up, walking over to his gelding — whose name was Gusto, I’d found out — and held his hand out. Gusto lifted his head and lipped the mango into his mouth. Mira lifted her head as well, and Eljin repeated the process for her, making me feel bad that I’d eaten my entire mango myself.

“Let’s get moving. Looks like another storm is coming.” Eljin took Gusto’s reins and swung himself up onto the saddle.

I stood up and hurried over to Mira, following suit, leaving the stream and the dream of fish behind us.

The next afternoon, the foliage began to thin out around us. The sun was hot and oppressive as the trees, vines, and bushes became more and more sparse, until suddenly, the jungle ended. The world opened up around us, stealing my breath with its majesty — and with the fact that we were suddenly very exposed. To the east and west of us, I could see the curve of the jungle, stretching on and on out of sight. At the edge of the horizon to the west, a massive mountain range split the sky with jagged, snowcapped peaks.

“Striking, aren’t they?” Eljin said from beside me, following my gaze to the mountains. “Those are the Naswais Mountains I told you about. You’re lucky to see the tops of them — they are so tall, they’re usually encased in clouds. No man has ever made it over them alive.”

I stared at the mountains in awe, unable to imagine even trying to travel over them. The highest peak was so far up in the sky, it almost seemed as though it would touch the sun.

Finally, I looked forward to see the road wind down into a fairly large city sprawling across the gently rolling grasslands. And just beyond the city was a massive gray wall with spikes along the top of it. It stretched as far as I could see to the right or left, all the way to the mountains to the west and whatever lay to the east. Papa had told us once of a “wasteland” — with miles and miles of black rock, a mountain that breathed fire, and that beyond that stretch of lifelessness was water. Endless water. I wondered if the wall reached all the way to the water or if they’d quit building it when they’d reached the rivers of