The Goat Bridge deserved its name.

  It was simply an arc of natural stone curving over the canyon. On this side, there was only the usual scrubby Highnds growth; on the other, past a border of stone along the edge of the canyon, green grass and retively ft nd waited.

  We stopped, all of us out of breath and more than a little fatigued. It had been a good reason to stay mostly in my dragon form, which I really liked a lot for many reasons, and my stamina was good, but the increased need to eat was definitely a trade-off.

  A solitary farm, which I’d spotted via a quick flight, had been quite willing to tuck the wagon out of sight for us and keep it until it could be retrieved one way or another—or until Terenei’s aunt, who had been messaged about it, just decided to sell and repce it.

  Picking our route had been challenging, to say the least, even with Serru and Zanshe’s knowledge and skill, and my short scouting flights. At one point, Heket and Zanshe and dragon-me had used loose rock to build a slope of sorts, which we’d covered in all the bnkets to help with traction, so we could get the ornithians up a two-meter slope; that was a lot of work, but it was the only way through. We spshed across fords and, once, swam, which was easier for aquian-me than the others and made Aryennos extremely nervous even with me keeping pace right beside him. Camping had been difficult both nights, with little ft ground, and we’d unanimously prioritized the ornithians’ tent, fitting ourselves into whatever we could manage—and we’d been too tired to care how crowded we were anyway.

  At least Cheer and Peace seemed to be enjoying this new adventure, being part of the group instead of ahead of us. Their feet and flexible spines were able to handle surprisingly diverse terrain: they just spread their toes wide, let the spongy padding on the bottom provide traction and protection, and curved effortlessly around anything that was in their way. Their new harnesses offered no chafing or obstruction at all, and as near as we could tell, they didn’t mind them.

  There was a bck felid sitting on this side of the bridge, watching for us.

  “No mosslings around,” he said. “I checked.”

  “Thank you for the harnesses,” Terenei said. “They work wonderfully and must be much more comfortable for them. You could have stayed long enough to let us thank you.”

  We’d woken up the first morning to find, lying on the ground in front of the ornithian tent, a pair of harnesses that were somewhere between a centaur’s, the ones the boys had been wearing to pull the wagon, and a really good backpack frame. The wide bck leather straps stayed secure no matter what ground we were on, much better than our makeshift version had, and padding protected them from the awkward shapes of the house and mecha. Camping gear had been distributed between personal bags; the bag of gathered items had been stashed in Serru’s bank account long ago in Blue Goat Ridge while I’d been missing. That was all. But sometimes it was helpful to be able to grab hold of a strap for bance, and both ornithians bore with that unfazed.

  He shrugged. “I didn’t think improvising was going to be good for them, but I had to have room to set up my workshop to do something about it. I couldn’t wait around for you to wake up. You made it without getting into it with the bitch queen. Congratutions.”

  Where exactly did he have said workshop? A close look showed a felid-style backpack, which was of course bck, but there were limits to what could go in one of those.

  “There isn’t a lot of vegetation around,” I pointed out. “It hasn’t been a fun hike, but it should be easier once we get across, right?”

  “In theory.”

  “I think,” Zanshe said briskly, “we should stop for a snack before we cross the bridge. That will give us a chance to work out the best way to do this and make sure we’ve all had a bit of a rest. Better if we don’t tackle that while tired.”

  “Joining us?” Serru asked. “We still have fresh baked goods from my sister. I believe we still have some of the felid treats. Or, since I assume you can change the way Nathan can, you can have something sweet.”

  They just couldn’t bear to not be polite. Not even to someone they’d grown up fearing. He was here and being helpful and it would just be unthinkable to tell him to his face that he had done terrible things, the least of which was being rude, that made them not want to be close to him.

  “If I switch to the only other form I actually like, your leader there will think I’m about to go on a zombie rampage.”

  “Are you going to?” Zanshe asked, rummaging in her bag.

  “I don’t currently have a reason to, and people who are still alive are too much trouble anyway.”

  Zanshe regarded him thoughtfully, then nodded and held out a sweet pastry. “I believe you. They’re very good.”

  He paused, then suddenly he wasn’t a felid, he was back in his jotun form, accepting the pastry from her without, I noticed, ever actually touching skin.

  I took a travel bar for the moment, so I could enjoy the goodies better once I was less hungry, and prowled over towards the arch.

  At maybe a meter and a half wide, it could have been worse, but it was a long way, both across and down. I wasn’t looking forward to this crossing. The wagon would have been practically impossible—being lightweight, it could possibly have been carried, but it would be difficult and risky.

  “That’s rather arming,” Terenei observed, right beside me.

  “Yeah. What do you think the odds are that Ary’s going to make it across?”

  “I know. I have an idea I want to try. In theory, it should work. It’s going to take me time, but if I’m right, it will make crossing safer.”

  “I’m all in favour of safety over speed. What are you going to do?”

  He smiled and pulled his sketchbook out of his bag. “What I always do.” He sat down there, legs crossed, and began to paint.

  Serru brought us both pastries after a moment, but left Terenei’s with me.

  “Why is it called the Rainbow Canyon?” I asked her. Names here usually had a reason.

  “Because the Rainbow River runs through it,” she said. “And the river is called that because sometimes it has colours in it. I don’t know why. There are rivers from the Highnds that run down into it that sometimes have a single colour each, so presumably that’s where they come from, but I don’t know the source of those.”

  “All the metals in freaky colours here,” Logan said, “are all from specific ores that have colours and they can be added to formus to make the metal look like that. It’s just as complicated as alchemy, getting alloys that are the right mix of different kinds of attributes. The coloured ores make them softer so mostly they get used for decorative junk. The tributary rivers that turn colours are running across rock with veins of coloured ores and sometimes some comes loose. While they’re dissolving, the particles tend to attract towards each other for no obvious sensible reason and they make swirly currents.”

  “That makes sense,” Zanshe said thoughtfully. “But I didn’t know that. I’m not sure anyone has gotten around to officially researching it.”

  “Whatever.”

  “That’s really interesting,” I said. “There’s a lot about this world that’s absolutely fascinating. Thanks for the info on this one.”

  “Let’s just get across it, maybe?”

  “Working on it.”

  I watched the Goat Bridge come to life on Terenei’s page.

  “Are we ready to try this?” he asked. “If it works, I don’t know how long I can hold it.”

  “After what I’ve seen you do, this is just a question of scale, and I’m absolutely sure you can handle that.” I gave him his pastry. “Here. Eat that, not too quickly, and I’ll have everyone sorted by the time you finish.”

  We wrapped scarves across the eyes of the protesting ornithians, and used handfuls of their favourite leafy greens to convince them to come forward with minimal fuss. Everyone else simply gathered, Myu cradled in Heket’s arms. We had nothing to carry that wasn’t on one of us or one of the ornithians.

  Zanshe knelt across from Terenei. “Can I help? I am very good at visualization.”

  “Sure. I’ll take any help I can get. I haven’t done anything this big before. Put your hands here... like that.” Terenei gnced around at the rest of the party assembled close to the end of the bridge, nodded, and took a deep breath. With the sketchbook cupped between his hands and Zanshe’s and their fingers overpping, he focused on the Bridge and began to hum under his breath. Zanshe looked at the page in front of her instead, then closed her eyes.

  The Goat Bridge shimmered weirdly, and I instinctively squeezed my eyes closed, then re-opened them. The whole stone arch highlighted itself with green lines, marking out every contour.

  The lines warped and stretched, dragging the stone of the arch with them.

  “Go,” Terenei said, gaze never leaving the bridge.

  I investigated, but it was already obvious: the Goat Bridge now had walls on either side. They weren’t very high, not above my dragon-form knees, but it still made all the difference.

  Serru led Cheer out onto the altered bridge, eyeing it warily, but she took a deep breath and stepped onto the glowing green structure. Cheer followed her, not hesitating since he couldn’t see how mad this was. Aryennos came right behind with Peace. Heket set Myu down and raised a hand to tap her goggles; Myu sauntered across calmly, and Heket stayed a step behind her.

  The still-jotun Zombie King was surveying the bridge with an expression that might even have been respect. “Well, damn. Your drag queen’s got some skills, bro.”

  “They barely recognize gender, how would they have drag queens? Go if you’re going.”

  He shrugged, nodded, and went.

  I moved along the edge until I had a clear view of the far end.

  Serru stepped onto normal ground, and urged Cheer out of the way before she turned to wave at me. I waved back.

  “I can’t hold this,” Terenei said, and there was tension in his voice. “It’s fighting me. It’s too big a change to the world.”

  Well, yeah. He could pull a guitar or clothes off a page and they’d exist on their own for at least a while. I was fairly sure that the instant his concentration dropped, so would this.

  “Serru and Ary and the ornithians are across. Heket and Myu are almost there and I think they’d be okay. Our guest is... maybe three-quarters of the way over?”

  “I’ll try. Zanshe, go.”

  “If you’re sure.” Zanshe let go. “Don’t harm yourself. I’ve crossed it before without help.”

  “All right.”

  Logan was all the way across and Zanshe past half when the green outlines fshed and reverted and then died. Zanshe stopped long enough to get her bearings, then continued with no obvious difficulty.

  As soon as I was sure of that, I spun around, back to our artist.

  He had his head bowed and he was breathing hard, that violet hair in multiple aquian-style braids damp with sweat along his forehead.

  “Everyone’s across, or as good as, and you just made that a lot less nerve-wracking than it could have been. Put the art stuff away. I’m not letting you walk across that in this condition.”

  He nodded wearily, sat up straight, and packed paints and sketchbook away. “I’m not sure I could walk that far on ft ground right now. That took more than I expected even with help.”

  I helped him up, then brought up my dispy. That strength boost seemed like a useful thing right now...

  None of my training in how to move someone had taken the presence of, or the need to spread, wings into account.

  Fortunately, between my dragon size and that strength boost, it was easy to simply scoop him up into both arms. He pulled his backpack off his shoulder and around onto his abdomen, keeping it out of my way and secure with his outer hand, and wrapped the other arm around my shoulders.

  “You get the fast easy trip across,” I said, and stepped off the edge.

  He made a cute squeaking sound, then ughed and just leaned against me. “I got rescued.”

  I nded with the others, but didn’t set him down.

  “We’re going to have to rest for a while,” I said.

  “Technically, you could set up your house here,” the Zombie King said, “but there’s no water in reach. There’s a shelter not far that way, at the first water source.” He gestured. Sure enough, the top of a structure was visible past a small rise. The bright red and white tiles of the roof were hard to miss.

  “There is?” Serru said in surprise, turning to look. “I’ve used this bridge before and I’ve never seen a shelter in the area. That’s new.”

  “Helpful, though,” I said. “Zanshe, can you take Terenei long enough for me to switch to centaur?”

  “Absolutely,” she said.

  In moments, we had Terenei securely on my centaur back, the fringed white magical saddlebags not interfering with either of us. He snuggled close, arms around me, and rested his head on my shoulder.

  “I’m pretty sure once I feel less awful, I’m going to be really proud of myself,” he murmured.

  “You should,” Serru said. “I am.”

  “I honestly don’t know if I could have forced myself to walk across that otherwise,” Aryennos said.

  “Worth it,” Terenei said.