The horses weren’t reacting to the magical chaos that surrounded Howard and Clark, they looked almost bored as they stood where the blood weave had been. The Franklin brothers on the other hand, looked anything but bored. An army was streaming toward them, mounted up and carrying all the supplies they could manage, toward the magical chaos and whatever lay on the other side.

The grasslands rolled away from the sand filled ritual circle, tall waving grasses in every direction, tall enough to brush against the bellies of the horses in places. The grass near the circle of sand had been crushed down by the red army, broken and bent by constant motion. Scattered over the grasslands, strange broad-spreading trees stretched skyward, reaching for the glittering heavens.

Clark took a moment to size the army up then spurred his horse to a walk, turning in a tight circle back the way they had come. “Reckon we should get out the way, ‘fore it causes trouble.”

“Yep.”

Howard’s horse fell in beside Clark and the brothers moved east. Every moment they both hoped that whatever had brought them to this midnight place would take them back to Iowa and the road West. Instead the plodding horses moved out of the ritual circle and away from the turmoil of the red-clad army. Another army streamed away in front of them, fleeing whatever anomaly had brought the former soldiers here to this place.

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“Think we should head north a bit to avoid that second army?” Clark asked, taking his brother’s ‘yep’ almost for granted and turning his horse north anyway.

“Don’t figure we want to mess in whatever them two armies was on about.” Howard drawled.

“‘Spose not.” Clark considered for a moment before adding. “We’re going to end up breaking our promise to Bea if we can’t figure out a way back.”

“Don’t go borrowing trouble. We’ll take this one day at a time and see where we are come dawn.” Howard glanced at a sky full of brilliant, but unfamiliar, stars. “Can’t be too far off, can it?”

Clark pointed at the enormous, pockmarked moon. “Who knows.”

The Franklins rode along at an easy lope, heading generally northeast and away from anything they knew and cherished. At this moment, with two armies surrounding it, whatever had brought them here was unreachable. Howard and Clark were determined sorts and patient, they would find a way home.