Prince Yushir strolled up to his friend as Lord Eastwei reached the center of the room. He nodded down at the instrument. “So it’s finished?”

Eastwei nodded. “It is.”

“And you have tried playing it?”

“I have.”

The prince half-turned toward the closed door. “Was the lovely Lady Roberts in attendance?”

“She happened to come inside,” Eastwei admitted as he strolled toward the door himself.

Yushir quickly followed at his side. “You won’t play it for me?”

“I have tested it. That is all I desired to do,” came the bland reply.

Yushir raced in front of his companion and faced him at the top of the stairs. “And what did your audience of one think of the flute?”

Eastwei stared at him with a face that almost showed the emotion of irritation. “She said it was satisfactory.”

The prince lifted an eyebrow. “Is that all? Surely a flute you have been working on for so long would produce a stronger result from her.”

“Should it?” Eastwei countered.

Yushir shrugged. “She is not very familiar with magic and I thought that any you could perform would most definitely please her.”

“Why do you choose me?” the lord persisted.

Yushir leaned toward his friend and narrowed his eyes in study. “Why do you care?”

Eastwei’s usual indifferent expression reappeared and he strolled around Yushir. “I do not.”

Yushir hurried after him and caught up outside the venue. “Your questions were hardly in line with your usual indifference. Could it be that the Lady Roberts said more than just ‘satisfactory?’”

“That would hardly matter,” Eastwei commented as he turned and followed the path around the grove.

“But it matters to me,” Yushir insisted. “I would most dearly like to hear what she had to say about your music.”

Eastwei paused and turned his head to look down the forest path. The children were scrambling to find their hiding spots and Anna leaned against a tree with her head against her crossed arms.

“One! Two! Three!” she shouted as the kids tucked themselves into every nook and cranny they could find.

Yushir stepped forward to peek around his friend and saw where his gaze lay. A sly smile slipped onto his lips before he covered it with his usual affable one. “Well, it is a relief to know you will be able to play it for the coming festival. My uncle was sorely worried he would have to find another-”

“You may tell your uncle I will keep my promise,” Eastwei assured him as he continued on his way.

“W-wait a moment!” Yushir stuttered as he took a few steps after his friend. Eastwei’s pace, however, told him the conversation was over. He folded his arms over his chest and sighed. “He must enjoy cloaking himself in secrecy.”

Yushir turned his attention back to the grove. Anna had reached fifty and was now tiptoeing over the grove searching for her prey. The prince smiled as she found one of the children who squealed in delight. Anna snatched them as they tried to make an escape and trapped them in a bear hug. She spun them in a circle with both of them laughing before she set the child down.

Yushir smiled but his happiness was short-lived when a god hurried up to him, out of breath and with a frightened expression on his face. “Your Highness,” he wheezed as he clutched his chest and bowed his head. “Urgent news.”

The prince knitted his eyebrows together. “What is it?”

The messenger’s eyes darted over to the children and Anna. “I cannot say just now-”

“Then lead me somewhere where you can say,” Yushir commanded him.

“Then I will lead you to the troubles,” the messenger replied.

Yushir and his guide hurried down the many streets and across one of the wide, long bridges that connected the main island to one of the smaller ones. The prince soon realized their destination. “We are headed to the outskirts of Kang’s farm, are we not?”

His guide turned his head to one side and nodded. “We are, Your Highness. The trouble happened at the edge of the island opposite the bridge.”

The pair crossed the bridge and passed a large farm with dozens of corrals and stables. A variety of animals of all shapes and sizes occupied the paddocks though the one closest to the palace was unoccupied. Yushir knew what that meant. The beast that had ‘attacked’ Anna was out.

They left behind the corrals and a few small fields before arriving at the edge of the island. A thin strip of trees covered the end of the land and a small contingent of guards stood at the edge. They stood erect at the prince’s coming and bowed to him.

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“If I knew who it was we would not be standing here?”

The voices came from the other side of the trees and Yushir took the lead with his guide bringing up the rear. The prince discovered Kang and his pet standing a few steps from the edge of the abyss. Pampir faced him and Lord Eastwei stood off to the side with his gaze fixed on the ground. A strange blackened bulb lay on the ground atop scorched earth.

“What has happened?” Yushir spoke up, interrupting their argument.

Pampir shot straight up and bowed his head to the prince. “Your Highness, this fool-” He lifted his head high enough to glare at Kang, “-nearly allowed someone entrance into the heavens.”

“I did no such thing!” Kang objected and Mew made his protests known by growling at the delegate.

Pampir shrank away from the beast but kept his ground. “H-how dare you threaten me! I am a delegate from the king!”

Kang stroked the back of Mew’s head. “You are the one threatening me with worse by falsely accusing me of being lax in my borders.”

“That is enough,” Yushir commanded and the trio fell silent. His eyes darted between the two. “Will someone kindly give me the details?”

Kang nodded. “I will, Your Highness. I was out this afternoon tending to the fields when Mew here sensed something. Didn’t you, girl?” Mew nudged his hand with the top of her head and purred.

“Go on!” Pampir snapped.

Kang scowled at him but an impatient look from the prince held his tongue. “Mew led me in this direction and I saw someone trying to enter through the holy barrier.” He nodded at the edge of the abyss. “Just there. The barrier was making quite a fuss pushing the person back. Sparks flew and everything.”

“Was it a man or a woman?” Yushir asked him.

He shook his head. “I could not say, but they had a strap slung over their shoulder and a large leather bag at their hip. The intruder saw us coming and dropped backward out of sight. I rushed up here but the clouds had already hidden them if they hadn’t teleported away already.”

Yushir moved closer to his introspective friend. “What of this thing on the ground?”

“It was dropped by the intruder from their bag and the moment it touched the earth it burned,” Kang explained.

Eastwei knelt and stretched out a hand toward the thing. The tip of his finger brushed against the blackened thing and the creation exploded into a powder of dust. The black bits settled onto the ground and disintegrated to nothing, leaving only the scorched earth.

“What do you make of it?” Yushir asked him.

Eastwei frowned and opened his hand so the palm faced the ground. Fire shot out and blasted the marred earth, turning the dirt into a sheen of fine glass that reflected the sun.

“Why did you do that?” Pampir asked the lord as he stood.

“Whatever it was had infected the earth with its sordid magic,” Eastwei revealed as he tucked his hands into his sleeves. “We should investigate the rest of the islands to guarantee there are no others.”

Kang nodded. “Mew and I will do that right now. Come on, Mew!” The pair turned and rushed off.

“But what was it?” Yushir questioned his old friend.

Eastwei furrowed his brow, a sign that worried the prince more than the baked ground. “I’m not sure.”

A chill ran down Yushir’s spine. Eastwei stepped forward to the edge and raised one hand toward the abyss. A red glow emanated from his hand and thin threads floated out of his palm. The tendrils brushed against the invisible wall Kang had mentioned and made it visible for a few brief moments. In that time, it thickened the shimmering magic before both magicks faded.

Eastwei lowered his hand. “I have added my own ward to the king’s barrier. If anyone should attempt entrance around this island then I will know.”

“A brilliant idea, Emperor Eastwei!” Pampir lauded as he bobbed his head. “A very good plan! Now nothing shall get through.”

Eastwei didn’t acknowledge the praise but turned and left, leaving his admirer hanging. Yushir inclined his head to the lord and hurried after his friend.

“Do we have nothing to worry about?” Yushir asked him in a quiet voice.

Eastwei stared ahead with his eyebrows knitted together. “I don’t know.”

Yushir pursed his lips as he looked forward. “Two of those in one day from you. This must be serious.”