Light touched his face, too much light for midnight, even with a bright moon and a cloudless sky. He struggled upright and found himself lying across Gunther’s outstretched legs. He had tripped over Gunther! The young air mage was senseless. Simon scrambled to his side, as his head throbbed and darkness swam in from the [...]
“Gunther. Can you send a message drone to the Council? They must know about this place!” The young air mage was hunched into himself. Simon heard the young air mage’s tortured breathing across the chill, moisture sucking air as though it was his own. He watched Gunther marshal his strength. The tense moment stretched longer [...]
The broad wagon wheels ground loudly as the handler drove the vehicle off of the powdered crystal of the salt flat onto a hard shelf jutting out from the towering obsidian monolith. They had arrived near the darkest hour of the night. “Welcome to the Island of Black Glass. I’ll leave my wagon here with [...]
Crossing the White Sea had been an arduous experience. The tribespeople’s ingenuity had amazed Simon. The handler had driven his lizard team up through the tunnel beyond the veil. Their path was lit only by the soft glow of thousands of crystals. But the old tribesman drove the team with great confidence at a speed [...]
Simon could not tell whether he was awake or dreaming. He could not tell what was real or imagined. The pain. Was the pain real? Was the thirst real? The cracking of his ravaged lips, the burning dryness of his throat, the blistering constriction of his sinuses, the pounding throb behind his eyes, and the [...]
Tor opened his eyes. He lay on his back on sands illuminated by the glow of a million stars glittering overhead. He felt kindled by a strange, cold fire that burned inside him. It seemed to him that only moments had passed in that other dream-like state. But the wheel of stars overhead told him [...]
Tor floated in a darkness lit by clouds of purple fog and showers of incandescent sparks. He sensed the lurking presence of the shadow but could not see it. “What have you done?” “No more than what you asked. Have you forgotten your words so quickly?” “What words? I agreed to share my vision with [...]
Chapter 11: Desperate Times “Plagues are not the only thing to come out of the Great Desert. The shamans of the reclusive Desert Tribes are rumored have cures for disease and treatments for health conditions that surpass the understanding of the Healers Guild. Unfortunately, they do not often share their knowledge with outsiders. Those who [...]
The sun was peering bleary-eyed over the eastern horizon as Howard stood waiting on pier number eleven in Westrim’s busy bargeport. Two days had passed in a blur, and with each moment he drifted farther and farther away from the life he had taken for granted. Elise had kept him housebound the entire time. It [...]
Howard sat listlessly on the veranda, watching the stars wheel overhead. The evening rush of noise from the city had subsided to a quiet murmur. The slow pulse of the city beat on his senses from the east, while the rolling breakers of the sea ground at them from the west. The whispering of the [...]
