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cold as I answered, “We are going to a meeting to discuss peace, Karashan.”
    The raven shook her head. “I mean no disrespect, milady, but I have been a soldier for seventy years. Serpents do not know the meaning of peace—or honor. If we do not attack soon and flush out whatever they have planned, you can be sure we will find snakes in our own beds.”
    I resisted the urge to glance at Rei in a plea for assistance. This had to come from me alone.
    â€œKarashan, you have your orders. They come from the Tuuli Thea and have been repeated by her heir. Do you plan to obey them?”
    She hesitated.
    â€œDo I need to remove you from your positionto ensure you will not do anything foolish while my family is in Mistari lands?”
    â€œNo, milady,” she finally answered, voice soft. “I will not give the order to attack. But, milady … if you do not let them move soon, my flight might not wait for my word. They are restless.”
    I nodded. “I trust you to keep them under control, Karashan. And if you cannot, I trust you to bring word to my mother or me before they take action. Understood?”
    â€œYes, milady.”
    I returned to the Keep feeling like a stone plummeting toward I knew not what. I ran my hands through my hair, trying not to look flustered in front of the Royal Flight.
    â€œShardae?”
    I turned to see Karl, one of the few members of the Royal Flight who was my age, watching me with worried eyes. “Yes, Karl?”
    â€œI will obey your orders as always, milady,” he assured me, “but what if Karashan is right? You yourself agreed to go to the Mistari camps because there was a slim chance the serpiente might be sincere—so you, too, must know they probably are not. Isn’t this too great a risk?”
    I shook my head. “If they attack, we will defend ourselves as we have after every serpiente plot in the past. But if they don’t, then maybe we can find a way to make peace. Isn’t the possibilityof your children never having to fight worth the risk?”
    Karl nodded. “My trust is with you, milady.”
    I hoped I was worthy of it.
    Before we could speak more on the subject, we were approached by the Mistari’s avian representative, Mikkal, who had arrived earlier in the day to guide us into the foreign territory. “Are you ready to go, Lady Shardae?”
    I sighed lightly, but nodded. “My mother?”
    â€œShe is waiting downstairs for you,” he answered.
    We joined the rest of our group: my mother, Andreios and two others from the Royal Flight. The Mistari Disa and Dio, their queen and king, had limited our number to five. We had been assured that the serpiente would bring the same. Shortly we were off to Mistari lands, with Mikkal in the lead.
    The journey was not an easy one, even though my form was one of the strongest an avian could boast. The young goshawk was an extraordinary flier, and he set a hard pace. Once we had crossed the water and were over the sweltering Mistari lands, the trip was decidedly unpleasant.
    The central city of the Mistari, if it could be called such, was surrounded by a natural ring of high stones. Inside those walls, the tigers of the Mistari tribes slept during the hottest hours of the day. Though the group had only been in thisarea for forty or fifty years, since they had been driven out of Asia by the ever-spreading human population, they had already crafted sturdy walls where the granite mounds were too widely spaced or not high enough for their liking. Built into these walls and stones were the structures where the Mistari lived and slept, some grand and brightly decorated, and some little more than tents held aloft by simple stone piles.
    In the center of the ring, one of the giant boulders had been carefully hollowed out and decorated with carvings of each Mistari leader, including the Mistari Disa and Dio. This was their simple palace—the reception hall,