Klanek's face wrinkled into deeper worry lines when Serovek relayed the news about the collapsed bridge to him. “If we can't cross here, we'll be forced to take the round-about way to reach the valley, and that means going through what's left of Chamtivos's territory.”
Serovek was about to tell the driver he'd love to hear any alternative options when Anhuset straightened from her casual slouch and pointed to a spot behind him. “It seems your map missed a third bridge, margrave.”
He twisted in the saddle, then wheeled Magas around for a better look at this newest surprise. While the spot where they stood had cleared of morning fog hours earlier, dissipated by sun and wind, it still clung to a part of the cliffs in the distance—a gray shroud whose folds now parted in ripples and folds to expose a magnificent beam bridge of swooping arches, decorative spandrels, and graceful parapets constructed of ivory stone.
“That one isn't on the map, is it?”
Startled by the unexpected discovery but hopeful the gods had just bestowed a mercy upon them, Serovek bit back a smile at Erostis's almost forlorn question. “No, it isn't, but that doesn't mean it can't be crossed. We might as well scout it before we decide to take the longer route.” He didn't relish traveling through Chamtivos's territory, and if this new bridge offered a way to avoid that, he'd gladly take it.
They set off toward the bridge, and Serovek felt a splinter of unease the closer they came to it. How a map maker could capture the details of a footbridge but miss a beam bridge of this size and majesty made no sense. Judging by the depressions in the cliff walls where the other beam bridge had been anchored, it was wide enough to accommodate all types of traffic, with a lane dedicated to each side crossing instead of having to wait for clearance.
This bridge dwarfed the collapsed one, easily three times its size and wide enough to allow full battalions and cavalry to cross, along with wagons of every size. Tendrils of fog wound through the parapets and floated just above a bridge deck partially covered by a carpet of tightly twisted ivy. The greenery wrapped pilasters and spilled over the deck's edge in long garlands. More of it draped statues twice the height of a man that lined the bridge on both sides.
Where bridge deck met cliff edge, a set of pavers carved in arcane runes marked the transition from ground to bridge. Their party halted, and Serovek dismounted for a closer look at the carvings. He stretched out a hand to trace one of the symbols in the air. The abrupt change in temperature made him step back before reaching out a second time to test the air.
“What is it?” Anhuset had dismounted as well and came to stand beside him and Magas.
“Put out your hand,” he instructed her. “Just over the line where the bridge starts.
She hesitated for a breath before doing as he asked. Like him, she yanked her hand back. Unlike him, she didn't try a second time, electing instead to wipe her hand on her leg. “It's warm. Summer-warm compared to where we're standing.”
Serovek had assumed the runes carved in the pavers were either wards or a greeting and was inclined to believe the former rather than the latter. Therefore he wasn't overly startled when his hand slipped across an invisible barrier that separated the hard cold of a lingering winter still gripping the land from the heat of a day in high summer. No wonder the ivy draping the bridge was so lush and green. An enchantment protected it from the elements.
What made him pause was Anhuset's lack of awareness of or sensitivity to the sorcery. The Kai he'd known, blessed with a heritage of magic, could sniff it out when it was nearby. She'd said nothing nor given any indication she'd felt its presence, even when they stood at the bridge's entrance.
“Did you not sense the magic as we got closer?” he asked her in a low voice, keeping his tone light and conversational.
Her entire body stiffened, an infinitesimal tensing. If one wasn't watching her closely, they'd have missed it, but Serovek had been watching, and the reaction told him his question had touched a raw spot.
Her expression as well told him more than she realized. Studied. Distant. An indifferent mask. “It's human magic,” she said in a bland voice. “The Kai don't always sense the sorcery your kind wield.”
Your kind.
Had she slammed her shield down between them, her message couldn't have been clearer. He trod where he wasn't welcomed with his question, and she warned him with those two words that he'd be wise to back off from any more inquiries.
He held up both hands, palms out, in a gesture of surrender before turning his attention to Erostis and Klanek. “We don't know what these wards do or if the bridge's apparent stability is just an illusion. I'll walk it first...” Three sets of protests went up so that he had to raise his voice above them. “Then come back so we'll go as a group.” He scowled at Anhuset and the two men as they all readied to launch into another spate of argument. “I'm not asking you. I'm telling you.”
“I'm going with you,” Anhuset returned his scowl. “My magic might have missed the first ward, but it may catch something else before you stumble into it.”
Her suggestion gained an enthusiastic nod from Erostis. “It's a good idea, margrave. Better than you going alone
