My dreams were filled with the smell of death and burning flesh, and it caused me to shake awake long before Grace. Violently pushing the memories of the battle out of my head, I tried to steady my breathing and my erratic heartbeat. I’d managed to hold the images of the battle at bay for most of yesterday, so much had been happening, but it seemed that my subconscious had decided to hoard them.

After I’d calmed myself down, I opened my eyes to find Grace sleeping peacefully beside me. I had a decision to make, get out of bed quietly and begin my day, or lay in bed and watch her like a total creep. I chose the total creep option, because I wanted to be here when she woke up. I had no fully formed reasons for wanting this, I just did. My heart needed it.

As her breathing was starting to shorten a little, indicating that she was just coming out of sleep, I drank in the sight of her sleeping face. She was on her side, having travelled all the way across her pillow until she was almost falling off the end towards me. Her shortish blond hair was a mess, spiked up in all directions and she had just the tiniest of smiles on her lips.

Letting out a huge sigh, her eyes fluttering open and blinked blearily at me. My heart practically exploded with all the feelings that seeing her wake up induced in me, but I managed to outwardly keep my cool. Internally, not so much.

“Hey,” she smiled, her voice deliciously husky with sleep, and I swear I melted right there in the bed.

These feelings were getting out of hand fast, way too fast for me! Frantically I searched for the breaks on the train, but I found none. I was doomed.

“Morning Grace,” I whispered, my emotions robbing me of any volume above that.

Her arm reached lazily out to smooth my hair down for a second or two, and I closed my eyes in bliss.

“More walking today,” she reminded me as she took her hand back. “We should get up.”

“I don’t want to,” I mumbled, still enjoying the after-image of her hand on my head.

“Come on,” she chuckled, the bed shifting as she got out on her side.

Damn it, how was she able to move this early in the morning? She was such a morning person, whereas I felt like I needed at least a few hours before I could do anything other than grumble helplessly.

****

Our journey continued onwards after the monumental task of getting out of bed. We stumbled through breakfast and said our goodbyes to the innkeep on our way out. We had a lot of ground to cover and we wouldn’t be getting much rest as we essentially passed through what was now enemy territory.

One thing I did notice was that Adam hadn’t actually emerged with Eilian from her room. Whether this meant they had slept together or not I couldn’t tell. I wouldn’t have minded Eilian’s advances so much if I was at all experienced in the area of casual sex, but as I had literally no experience, it had been awkward. That, and I had a full blown crush developing on my friend right now, which meant to my eyes, every other woman seemed just that little bit dull compared to Grace.

Whatever had happened last night, that didn’t stop the Obrec woman from hitting on me a bunch more as she told me about a few of the more novice combat spells she knew. I was a lot more interested in her mind than anything she could offer me with her body.

Passing into Anverleik was as simple as walking past a set of border markers, although off in the distance we could see watchtowers on both sides. It was strange, going from the rigid nation state structure of Earth to the mess that was the european style feudal system. So far as I could tell now, the region was a mix of the different gaelic cultures, with some french and german thrown in over the top.

I was starting to think that the gaelic people had been the first ones “imported” to the area, followed by a sampling of a few more european cultures as the years and centuries marched on. It ended in a language that was predominantly alphabet salad mixed with some stolen words from the romance languages and then a few guttural additions from ancient germanic ones.

We didn’t get to explore the local culture much this time however as we powered through towards the border with Noroshin. A relatively neutral country as far as we could tell. Fennimore and his liege lords were still in the process of expanding their power in the region.

The tense walk only got worse as a few patrols passed us by, and we could tell they recognised us too. They’d stare anger at us, every inch of them spoiling for a fight. Except… they didn’t, because they could see that there were two mages in the party. Our whereabouts were obviously being tracked though, and anxiety began to build within me with each step I took.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

I walked next to Grace the whole way, almost on top of her really, because her proximity had a huge calming influence over me. It also had the added benefit of keeping Eilian at bay just a little.

“You okay Ryn?” Grace asked me quietly as we walked.

Glancing up at her I shook my head. “Nervous, really nervous.”

“Same,” she said with a tight laugh. “The sooner we get across that border, the better.”

“Yeah, I hate knowing I’m in Fennimore’s stomping grounds,” I frowned, watching the road pass under me.

“That, and Eilian is parting with us once we reach the river crossing over in Noroshin,” she murmured, earning an eye roll and a smile from me.

Approaching the Border as afternoon fell, we noticed that we had a tail. A group of men in what looked like some sort of hunter or ranger’s garb were following us at a safe distance on horseback. They didn’t seem to be making any moves right now, but it had my gut churning with worry. Were they somehow reporting our progress to an ambush party up ahead?

When the first border watchtower came into view, even easy going Eilian was fingering the hilt of her sword nervously, her eyes flicking back and forth across the fields and pastures around us. Surely they would try something, right? It would almost be surprising if they didn’t attack us.

Moving past the tower though, and nothing came, no troops springing from the crops around us, nor mages or knights. Each step towards the border marker bringing nothing but a tension so tight you could strum it like the strings of a guitar.

The marker stones were now just a few hundred yards away, then fifty, then ten… and then we were over. The danger wasn’t gone though, because it was pretty well known that borders, even marked ones like these, were at best a suggestion rather than a concrete line. Our tail did mysteriously disappear when we crossed the border though, which was nice.

“Do you think they’ll try attack us on this side?” I asked Eilian, who shrugged helplessly.

“I have no idea, if I’m honest,” she said. “You humans do things strange, that’s for sure. Even a vagabond like me has respect for the forests, but you lot seem to just cut them down wherever you please. ‘Course you don’t come from the forests like us Obrec do, it ain’t in your blood.”

“Maybe the ones that have been on the ring for a while are like that,” I said, shaking my head with a frown. “But I’d like to think that those of us from Avonside are a little better about it.”

“Hardly,” Kit snorted. He’d been the fastest to pick up on the Anve language, and it showed now. “They were burning the fucking amazon last I heard before we got portaled over here.”

“Amazon?” Eilian asked, curious now.

“Big-ass jungle back on Earth,” he replied. “Absolutely massive, biggest on the planet. But obviously that doesn’t matter to those hungry for wealth.”

“Greed is the way of most races I’ve met,” Eilian sighed, glancing up at the dark side of the ring. “Neither of our races is even the worst for it, not by a long shot.”

“That not frightening at all,” Grace muttered sarcastically in anve, loud enough for everyone to hear.

“Aye, exactly,” Eilian nodded, and the two shared a glance that could almost be called cordial.

The sense of apprehension that we’d felt as we waited for the an attack that hadn’t come turned to restlessness as we closed in on the river. A bridge came into view, along with a crossroads that sat before it. This was where we’d be saying goodbye to our Obrec travelling companion.

“Alright, guess I’ll see you all whenever I get around to visiting that town of yours,” she said with a smile. “It’s been interesting travelling with you!”

“Yeah, you too. Thanks again for saving us back at that battle,” I told her, finding that I still kinda liked her, despite all the flirting and whatnot.

“Not a problem, anything for a pretty girl,” she winked. “Especially considering you’re Esra’s kid. Us children of the Scalmeis coven need to stick together after all, it’s not like there’s many of us left.”

“The Scalmeis coven?” I asked, suddenly confused. Children? What?

“That group of mages that Esra and my old man were part of,” she replied as she walked backwards away from us. “Ask Esra when she tracks you down!”

Then she was gone, trotting off down the road with her hooves kicking up dust and her horns shining in the sun. Damn, what a wild woman.

“Time to cross the river,” Troy told us, wasting no time. “Ryn, I’d like to try for your grove tonight rather than sleep in an inn. I’m not going to trust the locals until we’re far, far away from that man.”

Crossing the river here looked like it was just a little dangerous. The bridge was another one of those old ring builder ones, but unlike the one I’d seen earlier in the city, this one had seen far better days. Pockmarks and blast patterns indicated it had been the site of an ancient battle, and there were even a couple of husks that looked to be steel ones scattered about. They were very obviously ruined, but it was a little terrifying nevertheless.

Metal creaked and sang in the breeze as we moved across, but the bridge held. I guess people had been using it for millennia before us and it hadn’t fallen down, so it probably wasn’t going to keel over now either.

Once safely on the other side, we turned off the path and made for the nearest copse of trees. It was here that we prepared to enter my grove again. We hunched down and centered ourselves in case the wind was strong, then turned to Troy to give the word.

“Everyone ready?” he asked, glancing between us all. Nods from all around. “Alright, take us in Ryn.”

I did so, reaching back and sideways towards the fabric of reality with my mind. I grabbed hold of my friends and pushed us across. Then the light changed to the familiar dusk of Earth, and we sighed in relief as our feet stayed under us. Nothing but a breeze to greet us.

I smiled and straightened, only for Grace to give a choked gasp. “Oh my fucking god!”

I turned towards where she was looking and my breath stopped in my chest. My tree… my happy tree in the middle of my grove… It had grown! My eyes followed its new form up… and up… and up…

“That’s no moon...” Kit whispered in awed disbelief.