Ventus by Karl Schroeder

Karl Schroeder / Ventus / Page 298
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Two days’ travel brought them deep into the barren hills
that signified the border of Iapysia. He was confident now that
the Winds did not know where he was. The gauze continued to
protect him, and hence the people he travelled with. That was
good; but he couldn’t wear it for the rest of his life. He would
have to find Armiger soon--or Calandria would, and either way
there would be an end to this.
He was riding up front with Suneil when the wagon
topped the crest of a particularly long hill, and Suneil reined in
the horses. Standing to look at the vista below, Suneil sighed
and said, "Home."
Jordan stood too. Sun had broken through a rent in the
autumn clouds, illuminating the valley below within a vast
golden rectangle. Within this frame, the land fell in a series of
green steps to a landscape of grass and forest cradling a long
sinuous lake. The road wound down switchbacks to the floor
of the valley, and vanished beyond the sunlit frame at the far
end of the lake, where the valley seemed to open out into a
plain.
Jordan could see some blue-grey squares and lines near
the lake. "Are those ruins?"
Suneil nodded. "That valley lies in Iapysia. The desert
starts beyond it."