20
The Bear
When they’d stepped into the Hinterlands for the first time, Marsh shuddered. She’d ignored his fears and knelt upon the shimmering blue grass, speaking her intentions to the earth, moon, sun, and sky, as her mother had taught her. We come filled with peace and good intent. We seek only to pass through. The Compass Roads are barred to us, our life forfeit if we traverse them. We will be swift, and aimed true, and will cause no disrupt to your life, which is your own. We come filled with peace and good intent. We ask for safe passage.
“What are you doing?”
“Protecting us.”
His face paled. “You never said a word about going through the Hinterlands.”
“Just how did you expect to reach the Northerlands, Marsh? Magic?” She sighed. “Gabi, Brook, and Meadow will be in the Hinterl
