The rolling black meadows soon gave way to ridges of ploughed dirt standing like ranks of soldiers. Zhira’s fingers felt as though they had frozen to the reins. She’d covered her hands in her long shirtsleeves but the air crackled with cold. Zhira supposed she should have been grateful for the thick layers of cloud that blocked out the starlight, but she couldn’t see beyond Rhyode’s shadow against the dark night and there hadn’t been any warmth to trap. She could hear the sea though, falling further and further below as they rode. It crashed against rocks, and she could taste the spray on her tongue.
The road rose and fell in steep slopes between farmlands or patches of trees. There were stone bridges over small streams, all rushing away back to the south. They crested a final hill and t
