Crossroads: An Artifactor x Deepwoods Short Story
Author: Raconteur, Honor
Date: 2019-03-14
Publisher: Raconteur House

Table of Contents

- Chapter One
- Chapter Two
- Chapter Three
- Chapter Four
- Chapter Five
- Chapter Six

Published by Raconteur House

Murfreesboro, TN

CROSSROADS: An Artifactor and Deepwoods Crossover Short Story

A Raconteur House book/ published by arrangement with the author

Copyright © 2019 by Honor Raconteur

Cover by Katie Griffin
steampunk vintage background with mechanical gears and cogs on canvas paper by Magergram/Shutterstock; Natural brown leather texture background. Abstract vintage cow skin backdrop design by Hitdelight/Shutterstock; Steampunk golden key with mechanical wings on rusty textural background by Black Moon/Shutterstock; Three steampunk keys with gears of gold, bronze and steel on black background by Black Moon/Shutterstock

This book is a work of fiction, so please treat it like a work of fiction. Seriously. References to real people, dead people, good guys, bad guys, stupid politicians, companies, restaurants, cats with attitudes, events, products, dragons, locations, pop culture references, or wacky historical events are intended to provide a sense of authenticity and are used fictitiously. Or because I wanted it in the story. Characters, names, story, location, dialogue, weird humor and strange incidents all come from the author’s very fertile imagination and are not to be construed as real. No, I don’t believe in killing off main characters. Villains are a totally different story.

All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights.

Purchase only authorized editions.

For information address: www.raconteurhouse.com

Author’s Note

For your understanding, and to avoid confusion, let me make the timelines clear. This happens two years after Fallen Ward, the last Deepwoods book. On the Artifactor side, this occurs just after Dreamer’s Curse. I set it at this time for two reasons: A) When a fan first gave me the idea, I’d just finished Fallen Ward and we were currently working on the third Artifactor book, so this timeline got stuck in my head; B) It was the only way, as I needed Sevana’s magic to work in order for this story to make sense, so it had to take place before Scofflaw Magician.

At any rate, there you have it.

Chapter One

Sevana blinked up at the ceiling, parroting back, “There’s nice people inside?”

Big, sounding both defensive and sheepish, gave a guttural groan of assent, the rocks sounding as if they slid against each other. Nice people. Sorry. Lost.

Oh, for the love of…. Sevana was accustomed to Big taking care of any unwanted visitors (mostly looters), but never had someone ‘accidentally’ entered the mountain before. Big normally closed them off before they got more than a foot inside. The only people who actually managed entrance were either very dangerous magicians or ones with terrible timing. I.E., when Baby and Grydon were bored and wanting something to chase. ‘Sorry, nice, lost’ people was a new category altogether.

“Alright, fine,” she huffed, laying down the tools in her hand. Clearly she would get no further work done until this was straightened out. “Where are they?”

Show you.

Tugging the goggles over her eyes up to rest on her forehead, Sevana followed the guides as Big led her out of her workroom door and to the left. The path sloped ever so slightly downward, indicating the way, but she’d barely switched to a different tunnel before she started hearing voices.

The voices got closer and more distinct as she walked, and Sevana tried to get a headcount as she moved. Big hadn’t mentioned an exact number, but it sounded as if there were at least eight people? She had a wand on her, and of course she’d snagged her sword, and yet strangely didn’t feel as if she needed either. Big had been quite firm they were nice people, and she trusted his judgement. She rather had to as she couldn’t discern a single word they said. Sevana wasn’t exactly fluent in all the languages of the world, but she had enough exposure to them that she could at least pick out what language was being spoken, usually.

This one sounded utterly foreign to her. She couldn’t begin to place it.

Following the curve of the tunnel, she stepped out into the wider cavern and paused there, a lantern in hand. A child, three women, eight men and—good grief, two of them were veritable giants, although clearly not related. One of them had pitch dark skin, as dark as any dark elf, and the other as pale and blonde as the Fae themselves. They did not look at all like thieves, as they wore bright colors for the most part, a clear mix of cultures from their general appearance, and didn’t have a single thief’s lamp or loot bag among them.

Sevana barely had two seconds to get this overall impression before three of the group instantly turned around. The two dogs—both of them dark, furry creatures about half the size of a full-grown wolf—whined at her approach, and a thin, blond man’s head came up sharply, spying her. She’d made no sound to speak of, but he’d detected her approach all the same, and the muscles and stance clearly marked him a soldier of some sort. Seeing those sharp blue eyes focus on her, she cocked her head at him and carefully lifted both hands in the air to show that she wasn’t hostile. He didn’t exactly stand down, his hand lingering on the hilt of his sword, but he didn’t draw it. He did, however, say a sharp word to his companions and they all reacted, pivoting about in a quick movement to face her.

The look of them didn’t match with any people she’d seen before. Their clothes, their weapons, it was all subtly different than any culture she knew of. Suspicions rose in the back of her head, offering one strange theory after another. Just where were these people from?

“Can you understand me?” Sevana asked, just on the off chance, only to get a wall of blank expression in return. “I take that as a no. Alright, let’s try a blanket translating spell, shall we? Fozata sol ne fole!”

The magic whirled forward, covering their heads in a fine mist of glowing sparkles, which made a few people flinch, instinctively ducking. Sevana gave it a moment to settle—translation spells normally worked better once absorbed, and then offered, “I take it you’re the ‘nice, sorry, lost’ people?”

The redheaded woman snorted a startled laugh. “That sounds about right. Siobhan Wolfinsky, Deepwoods’ Guildmaster at your service. Sorry for the trouble, I promise we’re nice, and we’re definitely lost. Who might you be? And that light show, what was that?”

“Sevana Warren, Artifactor,” Sevana threw up a hand to indicate the mountain all about them, “and the ‘light show’ as you put it was a translating spell. We’ll be able to understand each other now. This is my home. The voice you heard from the mountain is Big. He reported to me that you were here. How exactly did you get in here? Big was startled, which means you somehow snuck in past his notice. That’s not an easy feat to manage.”

“As to that,” Siobhan responded, making a sour face, “we’re not at all sure ourselves. There was a bit of mixup on our end.”

Pursing her lips, Sevana studied the group again. Two of the men looked vaguely magical to her eyes, with roughly the same magical power that she herself might possess. Without a diagnostic wand, that was a guess, but Sevana trusted her instincts in this. “I take it that you were working some magic and something went awry?”

They blinked at her, then glanced at each other, but it was Siobhan that once again answered. “Well, yes. If you’re working magic, then are you…?”

What an interesting question. Even someone from the boonies knew what an Artifactor was. And where was that accent from? Sevana had traveled the width and breadth of the world in her eighteen years but had never heard the like of it before. “Quite knowledgeable about magic, yes. Answer me one question. Where were you heading to?”

“Goldschmidt,” Siobhan answered promptly. “We were coming through from Baring, on our way home from a job.”

Sevana’s eyebrows shot into her hairline. The woman didn’t at all seem to be lying. But those were not cities that Sevana knew. She could cast a truth spell on her to double check, true, and she might in a moment. Some gut instinct in her said that what she knew as truth was about to take a very sharp turn into the unknown. “And what continent are you on?”

Something about the way Sevana asked this question caught the woman’s attention and she answered more slowly, “Robarge, of course.”

Sevana could only stare in response. Either this was the biggest hoax she had ever encountered or heard tale of, or…well, the ‘or’ sounded preposterous even in her head. Still, it was the only explanation that made sense. A group of people, culturally diverse in a manner she’d never seen before, speaking an unfamiliar language, dressed in clothes that were strange to her eyes. There could only be one conclusion.

“Big. Open the living room, shift enough furniture in there to accommodate fourteen, and ask Baby to go fetch Kip. This will take a while to unravel, I think.”

“No, hang on,” a thin man with glasses and a scholarly look to him demanded, voice squeaking, “You answer a question for us. Where are we?”

“Noppers Woods.” Sevana stared back at him, but the confusion that chased over his face was transparently sincere. Not a hoax, then? “You don’t know where that is. Windamere won’t sound right to you either.”

“No,” he agreed faintly, then turned sharply to his dark, giant companion. “Tran, is that a name you know? Is that a small town?”

“It’s a country,” Sevana interrupted and part of her thrilled at their response. Something ludicrous and fantastical had just happened, apparently, and for once she was actually excited to have visitors in her own home. “I think you’ve just successfully done interplanetary travel.”

“How?” they demanded in an outraged, screeching chorus.

“That is the question,” Sevana agreed, rubbing her hands together in anticipation. “I haven’t had a challenge like this in weeks. Maybe the past decade. Come along, now, you’ve facts to give me if we’re to figure this out.”

“You’ll help us sort this?” The youngest of the bunch, a child with short blond hair and penetrating blue eyes asked sharply.

Sevana gave him a sharp grin. “Of course. I wouldn’t miss the challenge of this for the world.”

It took awhile to settle everyone. More than a few demanded to see the outside of Big first, and that strangely seemed to settle it in their mind more than anything Sevana said. She gathered the impression that this group traveled quite a bit, possibly more than she herself did, and that they knew their geography intimately well. Nothing outside of Big’s door looked even remotely familiar. Some of them were dismayed, others intrigued, but under her eyes they visibly closed ranks. A tight-knit group, this one.

Shooing them back inside—at this time of the year, the cold was brutal, although they hadn’t been doused with snow yet—Sevana urged them into the living room. Big, bless him, had rearranged things so that they all chairs to sit in, more or less arranged in a circle. People filed in and tentatively found their places, and Sevana marked with interest that all of the men who looked like fighters sat closest to the door, as if guarding all within the room. Habit or were they nervous here?

“So,” it was the youngest, the child who looked about twelve, that dared to voice the obvious question, “the mountain can talk to you. And move things. Why?”

“I accidentally turned him sentient as a child,” Sevana explained in amusement, flopping down into her favorite armchair near the fire. She shot off a re-heating spell, getting the stacked logs going again, as it was more than a mite chilly in the room. “I’ve seen no reason to reverse the magic. Big’s a good friend and a perfect host, those times I’m forced to accommodate visitors. Now, sit. You and you—” she pointed to the two men magically glowing, “—sit closest to me. I have a feeling it’s something one of you did that landed you here.”

Siobhan sat at her right hand, eyes narrowed on her thoughtfully. “You can tell just by looking at Grae and Rune that they’re our Pathmakers?”

“I don’t know what that means.” Sevana, for once, didn’t mind those words or admitting to ignorance.

The Pathmakers exchanged a glance, but it was the younger of the pair that explained in a smooth tenor, although he kept darting looks at the other man. “Pathmaking is simple enough in theory. We lay a path of natural stone into the earth, then we take water from a source nearby, and draw upon the power of the sun overhead in order to activate it. A group traveling on the path can cross hundreds of leagues in a few steps that way.”

Sevana threw up a hand, halting him. “Let me get this straight. You literally build a magical path, using three different natural elements, in order to cross immense distances at a time. And both of you can do this?”

“Yes,” the brunet answered in a soft voice. “Rune, here, was my apprentice. He only recently became Master Pathmaker himself.”

Master and apprentice. That now made more sense, why the blond deferred so openly to the other. “And was your former apprentice working a path? That’s how you ended up inside Big, isn’t it? You were walking an open path and it somehow dumped you here?”

“Ah, no,” Grae disagreed with a shamed face. “I had the path open. We were, ah…that is to say, most paths can’t travel across certain natural barriers. Large lakes, seas, deserts—those all prevent paths. If you try to cross them, they fail. But Rune and I have been experimenting and theorizing for months now, and we thought we could perhaps cross a lake at least. We’d done short trials, mostly over rivers, with success. So we attempted Umlaut’s Waters Lake….”

Dryly, Sevana finished for him, “Which spectacularly failed. I see. I’ll definitely need a better idea of how this all works in order to help you unravel the mystery. I’ve never heard of this before, and it’s very intriguing in concept. I certainly wouldn’t mind adapting it for my own use, assuming I can get it to work on my world. For now, we need full introductions and a few house rules, as you’ll likely be stuck here for a week or more. Big will accommodate any reasonable request you make, so if you need something, ask him first. Do not, absolutely do not, go into the woods behind the mountain.” Pointing a stern finger at the single child in the room, Sevana growled, “Especially you, young man.”

Alarmed, he pointed a finger toward himself. “Why me?”

“Because you are young enough to entice the Fae. Ah, curses, you won’t know who I’m talking about. Magical race of beings that are very powerful, rather ruthless, and they can’t have children of their own. So they adopt human children and turn them into Fae. Any child unwary enough to waltz through their territory gets kidnapped and I do not want to go through the hassle of negotiating a child away from them for a second time. So kindly stay in front of Big at all times, alright?”

Siobhan gave him a worried look. “But if you’re in their territory—”

“They’re actually about a two-hour hike behind me,” Sevana disagreed blithely. “They respect my territory, I respect theirs. Nothing to worry about as long as he stays out of the woods. Now, second rule: I have both a sentient mountain lion and a young wolf cub that live here. They will think it fantastic fun to play stalk you and land on you in the middle of the night. Don’t stab them. I’m speaking to you, gentlemen, as you have the earmark of a soldier to me and you’re likely to stab first and send flowers later.”

Sevana saw more than a few were amused at this, and for some reason the tall blond giant got a few pointed looks, which made her think he’d be the first to jump. Hopefully in the right direction. Her healing skills were not the best. Sevana noted that while she listed out these dangers and safeguards, the group visibly relaxed a few notches. Were they more comfortable now that they had a better understanding of their surroundings? Or just more comfortable with her, knowing that she would look out for their wellbeing?

Gesturing toward the two dogs sitting at her feet, the young woman with the milky brown skin asked nervously, “They won’t attack our dogs?”

“No, no, as I said, they’re basically sentient. They quite like other animals, and as long as your two won’t start a fight?” Sevana paused, got a hasty nod as an answer, and continued with a shrug, “then we’ve nothing to worry about. Other than that, final rule: there’s a particular door that’s across the way from this room. It leads to my workshop. Absolutely do not enter it unless I invite you in. I’m usually in the middle of volatile experiments. Is that clear enough for everyone? Excellent.”

The front door gusted open with Kip swearing up a storm, the door banging against the stone wall hard enough that she could hear his entrance even from here. “Sevana! Stop sending Baby to fetch me, he thinks its funny to jump me from behind. I’ll have heart failure because of this cat.”

“You’ve been saying that for ten years,” Sevana called back, unconcerned. “It hasn’t happened yet. Thank you, Baby.”

The cat slinked into the room, head panning to take in all of the people, the very tip of his tail twitching in leftover pleasure at having gotten the better of Kip. His ears went flat, then up, taking in details that no human could pick up on. Sevana could feel the tension ratchet up in the room at his entrance, but no one made any sudden moves, and Baby took advantage of that to go to each and give them a sniff. Grydon, still all paws, tumbled into the room as well, tail wagging as he greeted people. They both seemed especially interested in the dogs, who stood to greet them. Since tail wagging happened all around, Sevana didn’t expect trouble from that quarter.

On Grydon’s heels came Kip, looking somewhat mussed, hat missing, scarf barely hanging onto his shoulders, and leaves stuck to his coat and in his hair. Ah, he must have been coming up to see her when Baby bounced on him from behind. It explained why he’d arrived so quickly. Even Baby needed more time than that to go into the village and back again. Kip took exactly one step inside and stopped dead, eyes taking in the full room even as he absently tried to knock the leaves out of his thick, black curls. “Oh, have we clients?”

Sevana grinned at him. “We do indeed. Everyone, this is my business partner, Morgan. I call him Kip for reasons I’ll be happy to share with you later.”

Pained, Kip tried to protest. “Sev—”

She steamrolled over him and continued, “Kip, this is the Deepwoods Guild. They’re an escorting guild from Goldschmidt.”

Kip’s brows wrinkled upwards in puzzlement. “Where?”

“Another world,” Sevana explained with relish.

For the fifth time in their lives, Kip lost all of his composure. His mouth dropped, and he kept making croaking noises, like a strangled frog. “Wha?”

Impishly, she requested with a bat of her brown eyes, every word dripping honey sweetness, “Do help me settle them in, won’t you?”

Chapter Two

Siobhan had been in strange situations during her lifetime. In fact, too many to count. Buying a dark guildsman off a slave block, rescuing an assassin and turning him into a brother, starting a guild at the tender age of eighteen, experiencing a multi-continental war, all of that had been beyond strange. This? This took the figurative cake to a whole other level. Arriving here had been alarming enough. Siobhan couldn’t claim to know every inch of the world she lived on, but still, she knew enough to be familiar with things. And stepping onto an open path only to wind up inside a mountain, when there wasn’t a single mountain on that route? It made her dizzy with anxiety, as she’d no idea where the failed path had thrown them.

It grew stranger still when their hostess appeared. She’d looked obviously foreign, her clothes a different design, features sharper than any Siobhan had seen. When she drew out that polished stick and colored light started swirling around them, Siobhan’s heart about leapt out of her throat. Even when it failed to do anything painful or alarming to them, her heart still beat a frantic tempo. What eventually convinced her to not panic was Sevana herself—she’d looked nonplussed at finding strangers in her home, but not alarmed. She’d taken their arrival in stride, even with a sardonic sense of humor, and Siobhan firmly believed that if you could still joke, the situation wasn’t truly dire yet.

She might not know where she was, how exactly they’d gotten here, or how they’d manage to return, but they could still joke, so they’d manage. One way or another.

Siobhan followed the directions of the talking mountain (because of course when on another world, mountains could bloody talk), to a rather nice room further down the hall from the living room and that volatile workroom. It held a single bed, a chest for clothes, a wash stand, and a thick rug to keep the cold out. Siobhan felt heartily glad to see things that she could recognize, and knew how to use. At least she had that going for her.

A hand she knew well settled on her shoulder as Wolf came to stand at her back. “Big, it’s a fine room, no mistake, but can we switch out the beds? Siobhan and I are married, see.”

Ah, the mountain sighed in understanding. Yes. Leave room, please.

“He has to switch things out and doesn’t want you accidentally in the way,” Morgan (should she call him Kip?) explained as he passed by their room. “For that matter, any other couples in this group?”

“One more,” Siobhan answered, coming out to the cool hallway once more. “Sylvie and Markl. Denny and Rune are engaged, but separate’s fine for them.”

“Got all that, Big?” Morgan gave a grunt of understanding as the mountain sighed an assent. The man possessed an easy-going charm, which strangely made her think of Sylvie, as he had that same disarming air to him. He likely also got wicked steals at the market. “It’s a fascinating story, how you came here. I’m sorry for the apprehension, you must be thoroughly alarmed, but you’ve magically ended up in exactly the right place. Sevana’s a prodigy, one of the best Artifactors in the world. She routinely gets called in for curse breaking or magical problem solving. This situation is right up her alley.”

Siobhan put a hand over her thumping heart, trying to still its harried beating. She’d been a nervous wreck for the past half hour, ever since landing here, and she appreciated Morgan trying to settle her nerves. “I’m glad to hear it, Master Morgan.”

“Oh no, please, Morgan is fine,” he assured her with that charming smile of his that revealed perfect white teeth. “Tell me a little more about your group. I think it’ll take more than a few days for our experts to figure out what went wrong, and how to send you back. I don’t want you bored or stuck inside Big while waiting. It seems an outright pity, in fact. You’ve come all the way to a foreign land, might as well explore and go home with amazing stories.”

“You speak rightly, Morgan,” Wolf agreed with an eager nod. “We’re travelers ourselves because we like to see the world. Ours is an escorting guild. We guide and guard caravans, travelers, and the like from one destination to another.”

Proving that Morgan could put the dots together quickly enough, he pointed a finger to the living room behind him. “Ah, hence your Pathmakers? Yes, I imagine travel is much faster with those two. Alright, well, would it interest you to go into the nearest village, perhaps do some shopping?”

Sylvie, hearing the magical word, instantly popped her head out of her room. “Did I hear shopping?”

“Sylvie,” Siobhan explained with a quick, affection grin at the other woman, “is our trader. She adores shopping and I can imagine she wouldn’t want to miss the chance. It’s a kind offer, Morgan, but we’ve no coin on us that will match this world’s currency. Although I suppose window shopping itself would be interesting in its own right.”

To the three of them, Morgan waved this concern off with a flick of the fingers. “Perish the thought. I can take some of the currency you have on you, get Sevana to validate it as foreign currency, and make a mint from it from collectors. It won’t even take much haggling.”

Siobhan turned this over in her mind, but couldn’t see a fault in the logic, and truthfully she was dying to see what this world was like. How was it similar? Different? “Well, if you’re sure?”

“Quite positive. Do we have a deal? Brilliant.” He paused, caught his bottom lip between his teeth, then admitted, “I do need to notify someone that you’re here. He’ll be fascinated and want to meet you in person, I have no doubt.”

It was about time that someone brought up notifying a superior. Siobhan gathered the impression that Sevana wasn’t the type of woman who catered to others or thought overmuch about silly things like permissions. Bit of a rebel, that one. “Yes, of course. Who?”

“Bel. Ah, that is, Prince Bellomi Dragonmanovich.”

Siobhan blinked at him, as it was so odd to hear the word ‘prince’ out of someone’s mouth when they referenced a living person. She shared a glance with Wolf, and found the same expression on his face as was no doubt on hers. “You have a prince?”

“King, prince, princess, counsellors, the whole kit and caboodle.” Morgan’s head canted to the side. “You don’t?”

“Our world did, once.” Fei drifted up to join the conversation, his slanted eyes sharp on Morgan’s face. “But no longer. Our world is entirely ruled by guilds and trade agreements. This prince, you called him by nickname first. You know him well?”

“Yes, quite well,” Morgan confirmed, shifting his body so that he could face all four people more easily. “Bel was cursed for a decade, you see, until just recently. Hmm, I think it’s been about a year now? Sevana went into the palace and broke him out, brought him here, and then lifted the curse from him after a few months. We had the devil of a time getting his throne back—it was actually harder than breaking the curse—and we all became rather good friends because of it. He drops in as he can, checks on Sevana and requests things from her professionally. He’ll be very anxious to meet all of you. He’s a curious one.”

Siobhan imagined anyone would be interested to meet outlanders in this situation. And this prince didn’t sound stuck up, from that description, but more like good people. “I see. Well, I certainly don’t mind it.” And judging from that expression on Fei’s face, he was more than intrigued with the idea of meeting a foreign prince. Siobhan predicted many an interesting conversation with the two men, if circumstances allowed it.

Big sighed, Beds switched.

Patting the nearest wall, Morgan said, “Thanks, Big. Look, I’m heading into the village now to send up groceries this way. Let me take what currency you’d like to part with now, give me a chance to sell some of it down there today, and relax, alright? There’s a natural hot spring inside Big if you want to take a soak.”

Since Siobhan had been tramping about outside on the road for several days straight, a hot bath sounded heavenly. “That sounds amazing. Thank you, Morgan.”

Sylvie was already digging through her purse. “What coins do you have? We should give him a selection if we can.”

Agreeable, as it was a smart idea, Siobhan dug out her purse as well and gave him two of each coin that she had on her. Sylvie had a few of the smaller denominations, as did Fei, and between the three of them, they were able to give Morgan currency from three of the major guilds, which totaled up to twenty-eight coins altogether.

Morgan looked quite satisfied by this, and Siobhan had to trust that the man had their best interests at heart, as she didn’t have enough of a working knowledge to know otherwise. She sent him off with mixed feelings, hoping for the best, then went inside their guest room once more. The bed had been switched out from the single to a massive thing that even someone of Wolf’s stature would have no trouble fitting in. Her husband patted the mattress with his flesh hand before smiling in approval. “Good and firm. Wifey, let’s find a change of clothes and get into that hot spring.”

“Sounds heavenly,” Siobhan admitted. Thankfully everyone had had their own packs on them this trip instead of loading things into the cart. The caravan escort had been massive, so large that even with them splitting up three ways, it had taxed the paths. They’d chosen to pack light and keep their packs on them. If they hadn’t, if they’d taken their reinmal and cart, would it have made it? They’d also thankfully done this experiment on the way home, not on the trip down. The idea of a full caravan of people being lost with them was a nightmare she didn’t care to dwell on. Siobhan thanked every star and deity she knew that they hadn’t lost anyone on that whirlwind of a ride as it was. Just remembering how the path had broken, swirling dark and light, so completely unlike every other experience on an open path, gave her chills. She’d likely have nightmares about it for some time.

They gathered up a change of clothes, and Siobhan spread the word about the hot springs to the others, not surprised when everyone decided this was a grand idea and where did they need to go? Big assured her that he could separate the springs out so that people could have private baths, if they wanted, although the two married couples opted to share with their spouses.

She never thought she’d be glad for a mountain’s excellent hosting skills.

The hot spring wasn’t far from them, perhaps two tunnels away, although it was hard keeping her bearings with the way everything turned. Big thoughtfully added doors, and when she pushed through the simple wood panel, she found a cavernous space inside. The ceiling stretched far above head, rough and asymmetrical, the stone a reddish-brown with streaks of white. The hot spring itself was enclosed in a white rim with streaks of algae along the outsides, steam gracefully rising from the water. Dipping a finger in, she found it borderline too-hot, which was perfect for her.

Neither of them lost any time shucking clothes and settling in with a blissful sigh. Wolf didn’t remove his iron hand, but let it rest on the edge, carefully out of the water. Siobhan relaxed against the edge, propping her thighs over one of his, groaning. “Thank you, Big. This is perfect.”

It was hard to tell with the gusty, windy way he spoke, but the mountain sounded pleased. Welcome.

“Wifey,” Wolf looked relaxed, his eyes closed, head tipped back against the side, but he sounded stressed. “I vote Grae and Rune can’t experiment anymore.”

“May I remind you that it was Grae experimenting that helped him invent the one pattern that lets us take caravans? Although I do rather see your point.”

He ran a hand over his face, and only then did she see the strain he was under. “For a moment…just a moment, I lost all track of everyone. I’ve never been that terrified, or powerless, as there wasn’t a benighted thing I could have done.”

Sympathetic, she pressed in closer to give him a firm hug around the chest. Siobhan herself still reeled from everything, her mind balking like a dog skittering away from a bath whenever she tried to wrap her head around being on a different planet. She could sympathize with her husband all too well right now. “I know, dearest. For that matter, I think we all felt that way, even Grae and Rune. In the future, they’re going to be far more cautious about attempting the impossible. I do think we’re banning any more experiments involving crossing water.”

Snorting, he deadpanned, “Yes, this rather proved that a bad idea, didn’t it?” His good arm closed around her shoulders, fingers idly rubbing along her upper arm in a gentle caress. “What think you of our hosts?”

“Sevana Warren is just what she appears to be—an eccentric, brilliant person who thinks rules are questionable things that can be ignored when suitable. But the way she took us on so readily speaks of a good heart, and I’m inclined to trust her as she was quite comfortable with Pete and Pyper. Her business partner, Morgan, seems much like our Sylvie.”

“He did strike me as the male version of her,” Wolf agreed, some of his tension easing. “I came to the same conclusions, although of course we’ll keep a sharp eye on things. Wouldn’t do to let our guard down too much.”

Siobhan thought the same. It wasn’t wise to blindly trust. Still, instinct said that she didn’t need the caution here. “It’s all so very strange, how we ended up here. But I hope it will be a grand adventure, something to tell the kids and grandkids, and nothing more.”

“If we’re fortunate, I think it will be just that.” Wolf paused, ruminating, before tacking on thoughtfully, “I hope we’ll be able to go home soon, but it’s good that we landed here, with Sevana. If she’s like our Grae, a genius in her field, then surely the two of them can figure things out.”

Siobhan certainly hoped so. If not, then who could? “Even if we can’t manage it, I don’t think we’ve landed in a bad place. There’s so much…so much magic here that we have no understanding of, so it might be premature of me to say that. But we’ve been treated kindly by strangers, and if this world can offer us a haven like this, I can’t think it’s a bad place.”

“You think we’ll be able to live here, if we can’t find a way to return?” Wolf sounded pensive and he hugged her closer to him. “I hope it doesn’t come to that, we’ve family and friends that I’ll miss dearly.”

“I know,” Siobhan murmured. She didn’t know what else to say, so left it at that.

They lingered for some time in the bath, but eventually hunger drove them out. The hot water had eased much of her tension but Siobhan couldn’t say it was blithely gone. It would be strange if she were relaxed, all things considered, as they had no sure means of getting home again. Still, she felt better for the bath, and hoped she’d be able to enjoy her stay here in this strange and remarkable land without nagging worry ruining the experience.

With dirty clothes bundled under their arms, she and Wolf headed back for their rooms, only to nearly bump into Conli coming the other direction with a plate in hand. On seeing them, he swallowed what was in his mouth before saying, “Morgan’s brought dinner up for us. It’s quite good. There’s a kitchen further up and to your left.”

“Good, as I’m half-starved.” Wolf plucked the clothes out of her hand and marched ahead to toss them into their room.

Letting him go, Siobhan asked quietly, “Did he mention anything about the coins?”

“He did. Said he sold about six, and for quite a deal, and said he’d wait until he had you with him to sell the rest. Something about shopping tomorrow at the market?” Conli looked hopeful, mouth lifting up in an expectant smile. “Do you think I can have a little, perhaps see what medicines they sell here?”

Of course he wanted to play too. Siobhan should have expected that. “Let’s see how much we can get. If there’s enough to pay for everyone’s food for the next few weeks, I think we can give people a little money to play with. It would be a shame to go back without a few souvenirs, although mind the weight. I don’t want to strain Grae or Rune on the way back.”

Conli nodded along, likely expecting most of that, and agreeable to it. It was common sense, after all. “Shi, one thing, though. Morgan said something about a prince coming tomorrow and wanting to meet us. Do you know anything about that?”

“I do, or at least he’d mentioned that he needed to report us to the prince over this land, and he expected the man to want to met us himself. But tomorrow?” Siobhan frowned thoughtfully, tapping a finger to her chin. “Is he that close, that he can make it tomorrow? How big is this country, anyway?”

Not close, Big denied on a sigh. Fly.

Startled, Siobhan’s head came up. “Fly? The prince will fly here?”

Yes.

Her eyes met startled blue as she and Conli shared a bemused look. Conli rubbed at the back of his head and offered, “Well, they have talking mountains on this world. Why not flying princes too?”

“You know, when you say it that way, it does rather put things in perspective.”

Chapter Three

Sevana, alerted by Big, stepped outside wrapped in a thick cloak in order to greet her uninvited guests. Seriously, one little group of aliens, and suddenly everyone had to come visit her to gawk. Well, alright, maybe she’d react the same way in their shoes.

Sarsen’s streamlined flier, Windstorm, circled twice as it came in for a landing on the narrow area outside her front door. Normally, he would have parked on top of Big, but with the snowfall last night the landing up there might be too tricky for him. Sevana felt people crowd in behind her as they got a good look at the ship, a long oval vessel with dragonfly shaped wings on either side, enclosed with a sturdy glass top. A sensible choice in this weather, as it would keep warmth in and snow off the passengers.

“That…is not what I expected.”

Glancing to the side, she took in the expression on the short, burly redhead’s face. What was his name…? Beirly, that was it. Sevana hadn’t much interaction with the man, having been cloistered with the two Pathmakers featuring occasional visits from Siobhan. “What did you expect?”

“Wasn’t sure what to expect,” he admitted with a quick, ready smile. “Big just said the prince was flying here.”

“Well that was helpful of him.” Sevana rolled her eyes toward the mountain behind her. “You could have mentioned he was being flown here, not make him sound like a gargoyle.”

Big grumbled a bit, his equivalent of a shrug. Didn’t care, huh.

The side hatch to Windstorm opened and Bel hopped lightly out, then turned and reached back to give someone else a hand down. To her surprise, both Hana and Sarsen disembarked next. Well, she’d expected Sarsen, but not Hana. What was their new princess doing here?

Bellomi, the rat fink, came right up and wrapped both arms around her in a firm hug. Squawking, she tried to fight him off, but he’d unfortunately finally hit his full adult height recently and with that came his full strength. It proved beyond her. “Bel! Stop with the hugging! Seriously, every time you come, you hug me.”

“And I get a rise out of you every time,” he agreed, tone impish against the top of her head. He finally did pull back, but it was only so Hana could sneak a hug in, and Sevana put up with it, growling in resignation. Seriously, these two.

She missed Bel’s initial once-over of the group, but Hana finally released her and she saw it when Bel held out a hand to the nearest person, Fei. “Greetings. I’m Bellomi Dragonmanovich.”

“Man Fei Lei,” Fei answered, taking the grip in a warrior’s clasp, his head canted a little as he took in the prince curiously. He accompanied the grip with a slight bow of his torso. “A pleasure, Prince.”

“Just Bel, please,” Bel requested with a charming smile. (It was a near replica of Kip’s smile, proving where he’d learned it from.) “This is my wife, Hana, and our esteemed friend, Sarsen.”

Introductions went all around, Sevana shifting from foot to foot, waiting for them to be over so they could sensibly get out of the cold. She kept a sharp eye on the group, though, curious what her guests thought of all this. Grae had told her last night that their people no longer had governments at all. Only one was still functioning, the government in Saoleord, wherever that was. Fei’s hometown. This must be as equally strange to them, meeting a prince and princess, as finding themselves on another world. Or perhaps it didn’t even register in comparison. They did seem curious, if stiff in their reactions to Bel and Hana. Not knowing how to act, perhaps?

Well, those two would set them at ease, just give it another hour.

“Alright, everyone in, we have a perfectly warm mountain and there’s no reason to stand out here.” She shooed them inside, and they moved like obedient sheep, Bel leading the way inside and asking someone questions already.

Moving in to lean his head near hers, Sarsen murmured, “How did this happen?”

“We haven’t figured it out yet,” Sevana admitted, unable to keep the delight out of her voice. She adored a good challenge. “But feel free to sit in with us. It won’t take long to catch you up to speed. How did you get wrangled into bringing those two out here, anyway?”

“Ah, well, Morgan actually contacted me and asked if I was in the area. Bel wanted to get here with all speed, so I flew in very early this morning and picked them both up. Of course, I was very curious too, and wanted to meet them.” Sarsen looked up, lips pursing. “I have to say, they’re not what I expected. They’re very obviously culturally diverse from each other.”

Proving to have sharp hearing, Rune half-turned in the hallway, pausing in the living room doorway to explain, “We’re all from different continents. Wolf, Denny, and I are from one, Sylvie and Fei from another, Tran’s from a third, and the rest are from the fourth.”

Interesting. Sevana absently pulled the door firmly closed behind her, shutting out the winter cold, as she asked, “Your continents, is this a large geographical distance?”

“Huge. Without paths, it would take weeks to cross from one side of a continent to another.” Rune’s mouth quirked up in a smile. “You wonder why and how we all came together as a group, don’t you? In truth, it’s mostly Siobhan’s doing. She collects people. Almost everyone in the group, aside from Beirly and Grae, she met while traveling.”

Sevana blinked at him. “It can’t have possibly been that easy.”

Shaking his head, Rune corrected her dryly, “Siobhan’s charm is legendary. I’d almost say lethal. I was a dark guild assassin when she met me, and look how I turned out.”

Letting out a low whistle, Sarsen made a show of looking him up and down. “You look less inclined to murder now, I admit. I’d dearly love the full story of that.”

“Oh, we’re grand story tellers, us Wynngaardians,” Rune assured him with an impish glint in his eyes. “You just have to ask. I’m sure your prince and princess will want the full tales, so you might as well listen in.”

“Good. We’re all curious to learn more about you.”

“Sev!” Hana called from inside the living room.

Huffing, Sevana pushed through and inside, discovering people had already piled onto their preferred couches and chairs, although Denny for some reason sat on the floor with both dogs, Baby, and Grydon all piled up around her. No one else seemed to find that odd, although seeing Baby sprawled across the woman’s lap with his feet in the air and his tail twitching in happiness was an odd sight to Sevana. Since when was her mountain lion so...so…well, whatever.

The princess sat on a stool near Bellomi, her back to the fire, likely warming up after that chilly flight here. She had an expectant look on her face that always boded more work for Sevana. “Sev, how close are you to solving the problem?”

Snorting, Sevana drawled, “I barely understand ‘the problem’ as you put it. We’ve no idea why their magic connected with this world.”

“So you’ll need considerable time to sort this out?” Hana looked pleased by this, and she turned to Siobhan with a triumphant air. “See? No harm to it. We’ll borrow one of Sev’s larger flying devices, and you can tour this side of the country at least and see a great deal of it without needing to tramp through all of the snow. Sarsen will take us about, won’t you, Sarsen?”

“I don’t mind,” Sarsen admitted. “Although I would like to at least help Sevana too.”

“You don’t necessarily need to be in the room with us to participate,” Sevana pointed out, dropping into her favorite armchair. Ahh, the bliss of the crackling heat of the fireplace felt good against her chilled skin. “You can talk to us via Caller while flying them about.”

“Hmm.” Sarsen maneuvered around to sit near the hearth, his back to it as he thought. “Yes, alright. It’ll be a shame for them to be stuck indoors, all things considered. I’ll play tour guide.”

Bellomi clapped his hands together. “Good, that’s settled. Thank you, Sarsen. Siobhan, I assure you, flying is perfectly safe. Sevana invented the flying devices, and I’ve never seen her crash one. Sevana’s been using them for three years or so now, and it’s a very reliable and quick method of travel.”

“I would dearly like the opportunity,” Siobhan admitted frankly, expression lighting up in anticipation. “We’ve no magic like this on our world, after all.”

“Truly?” Bellomi turned in his chair to converse easier with her. “What’s your world’s magic like?”

As those two fell to discussing (well, four, as both Rune and Hana got into it too), Sevana turned back to Sarsen and spoke in a lower tone. “Kip’s gone into town to buy more groceries, but he’ll be with you as well, as he’s the money exchanger for them.”

“Ah. Understood.” Sarsen glanced around the group before asking in a murmur, his lips barely moving, “There’s members of this lot that look formidable. And one of them’s already admitted he was an assassin. You sure you’re safe in here with them?”

“Safe as houses.” Sevana didn’t blame him for the question, she’d asked herself the same at first. It’d become steadily clearer to her during the night, and again this morning, that they might look like a motley crew, but there was nothing to fear from this bunch. Baby, Big, and Grydon all adored them, which told her most of what she needed to know. No one could get past those three’s instincts. But it was something more. The careful, gentle way the men looked out for the women. The devoted manner in which the women saw to the men’s comfort. Big had made an unexpected noise last night, while she was speaking with Grae and Rune, and before she could blink, the blond had swiftly moved and put himself between her and the door. Of course, he’d felt foolish later, when he realized it was just Big, but it said volumes to Sevana that he would automatically protect her in that manner.

Sarsen gave her a dubious look.

Opening her mouth, she intended to reassure him, but it was the stunning brunette that spoke instead. Leaning sideways in her chair, she confided to them both, “On our world, traveling outside of a city is dangerous. Sometimes even being inside a city, as well. Anyone weaker is abused by those stronger. Half of our guild are enforcers for this reason, as they’re our defenders. They look rough, I do admit, and they scare most people by just standing there and breathing, but I swear to you they’ll do no harm unless threatened first.”

“Just walking around in a city is that dangerous?” Sevana couldn’t even fathom such a world.

“Especially for her.” Markl leaned around his wife’s shoulders, giving her a fond but forlorn look. “My Sylvie’s the type to turn heads, and it often invites trouble. Denny gets picked on as well, because of her mixed heritage, but no one dares mess with either of them much now at home. Rune’s taken more than a few heads off where Denny’s concerned. And Tran established that he has no sense of humor concerning Sylvie years before I even came into the picture. It’s only when we’re outside of Goldschmidt that we really have any trouble.”

Sylvie laced her fingers with the hand resting on her shoulder, giving him a fond smile. “I’ve seen you knock a few heads together too. Scholar.”

Grinning back at her, Markl shrugged agreement. “Husband’s prerogative.”

Proving that she could listen to two conversations at once, Hana leaned their direction and asked with an upwards, questioning lilt in her voice, “But why would Denny’s heritage cause trouble?”

“It’s a taboo where she’s from to have mixed blood,” Markl explained with a grimace. “And she’s the daughter of a prostitute, to boot. It invites trouble on her head. We’re all very careful with her in certain cities. Especially in Quigg—that’s her hometown, and a hotbed of crime—Rune refuses to leave her side.”

Seeing that their audience only followed part of this, Sylvie further explained, “Rune and Denny are engaged. They’re set to wed in about three months.”

“Oh!” Hana clapped her hands together, delight spreading over her in a flash. “What exciting news. I’m newly married myself. It’s a blessing, but mercy, the preparations for a wedding are not to be taken lightly. Bel,” poking her husband’s shoulder, Hana insisted, “we need to get these two an engagement present while we’re out tomorrow. Or we can go into the village today, really, there’s most of the day left and we shouldn’t depend on poor Morgan somehow getting enough food to feed everyone.”

Denny, still on the floor with all of the animals, lifted both hands in protest. “You’re very kind, but we don’t need—”

“Don’t argue with her,” Bel suggested, eyes crinkling up. “Trust me on this. You will not win the argument with Hana. I speak from much experience. And I’d like to get all of you a souvenir, really. Milby’s within walking distance from here, or we can take Bouncing Clouds for a short jaunt, if you want to go down to the market and take a look around?”

In the end it was the idea of flying even that short distance that sold people. Sevana let them sort themselves out, only demanding that she had at least one Pathmaker stay behind. Grae, looking very nervous at the idea of boarding the flying craft, chose to remain which was for the best, anyway. He was the one who had operated the path that dumped them here and was the more experienced of the two. The rest of them trooped out, dragging on winter gear as they did so and making a general ruckus near the front door as they filed out.

Sevana chose to work in the living room—it had a going fire, after all—only snagging two Callers and her journal from the other room before setting up with the Callers on a round table nearby. Grae settled into a chair opposite of hers, looking at the Callers curiously. “These are…?”

“Callers,” Sevana supplied. “We use them for long distance communication. I snagged two, as it occurred to me that we might want to pull my Master in on the conversation. I’m not sure if he’ll have any amazing insights to share, but he’ll certainly pout if we don’t at least invite him to the discussion.”

Apparently Grae liked this idea, as he gave her a shy nod and smile. “I think the more minds we bring to bear on the problem, the better.”

“I quite agree. Besides, it’s more fun.” Sevana tapped the nearest Caller and called Master, as Sarsen likely needed a little more time to get into the air and settled. “Master.”

The Caller stirred, reforming its blank humanoid shape into Tashjian’s form, complete with furry slippers and his favorite robe. “Well, hello, sweetling,” he greeted in his creaky, aged voice. “I see you have a guest.”

“A client as well as a guest,” she clarified for him. “This is Grae Masson. He’s from Goldschmidt.”

Master’s miniature face screwed up in a thoughtful frown. “Ah? I can’t quite place that name.”

“As you shouldn’t. He’s from another world.” Sevana said that last part with relish, as it wasn’t often she blew Master’s mind, and she enjoyed it thoroughly whenever she had the chance.

Tashjian’s jaw dropped hard enough that he choked on his sip of his tea, beating at his chest with a palm and gasping for air. “Wh-wha?!”

“Not pranking you,” Sevana swore, lifting a hand in the air in solemn vow, although she cackled evilly. She did love that reaction. “He and his friends accidentally dropped into Big last night. We’ve been trying to sort out the how of it since.”

“Wait.” Master slammed his mug down somewhere, the clink of it dangerously loud, and he jabbed a finger at her. “You’ve had visitors from another world since last night and you’re only now calling me?!”

As an aside to the amused Grae, Sevana admitted, “I might have done that on purpose. He’s very easy to rile.”

“Sevana!” Master scolded, voice booming even from the Caller. “You ungrateful child, I swear I don’t know why I took you on as an apprentice.”

“You were bored.” Sevana leaned back, crossing one leg over another, still vastly amused. “I got Sarsen drunk and he admitted it once. Now, do you want to hear the problem?”

“Of course I want to hear the problem,” Master snapped, beyond exasperated.

“Sarsen’s here as well, but he’s ferrying people about so they can go sightseeing. Let me call him up before we dig in.” Sevana poked the other Caller, watched it come alive with Sarsen’s features, which seemed to be sitting leisurely. “Sarsen, are you at the point where you can talk?”

“I am, they’re all off and in Milby.”

“Good. First off, Grae is something they call a Pathmaker. His world doesn’t have magic, not in the way we understand it, but he has a modified magical ability strictly limited to creating magical paths. Grae, if you would?” Sevana barely had her head wrapped around the concept and it would be infinitely better if Grae explained it himself.

In his soft voice, Grae succinctly explained all that pathmaking entailed, and Master quickly snagged a journal from nearby and scrawled out notes. Sevana updated her own notes, for that matter, as Grae mentioned a few details he hadn’t the night before. Not that she blamed him for that; the man had been understandably rattled last night.

“You were attempting to cross a large lake when the path failed and sent you here,” Master summed up, mostly rhetorically, as he didn’t seem to expect a response to that. “Interesting. There’s a great deal of natural water swirling around in Big. And of course a lot of stone. I wonder if that’s coincidental, having those two elements in common?”

A very good question, and something Sevana had been asking herself since last night. “There’s no such thing as coincidence in magic, you know that.”

“Not according to our rules of magic, no,” Master agreed, still tapping a finger against his journal and watching Grae carefully. “But I’m not sure if our rules apply in this case. Sarsen, what do you think?”

“I think there’s no reason to discount it as a coincidence. Rune explained a bit to me on the flight here—he’s the other Pathmaker in the group—and he’s theorized that it was the connection between water and stone that led them here. Also why the path failed, as there’s no direct sunlight inside of Big.”

“I can’t say I disagree with that assessment,” Grae admitted. “That idea’s crossed my mind more than once. In our teachings, there’s certain barriers that we learn to never try and cross. Anything large and manmade—like the Grey Bridges—deserts, oceans, and large lakes. I think we all assumed that it was because we were cut off from the connection of the earth, and because of that, the path wasn’t moored to the ground directly. It lost direction and power, hence why it failed.”

Fascinating. Also, from what Sevana had been taught in the past twenty-four hours, entirely logical. “But you tried it anyway?”

“Rune and I developed a new pattern,” Grae explained patiently. “We call it the Wave pattern. It is a series of five lines, all interconnected. My Coral pattern is similar to it, and because the stepping stones are all intertwined, it has the power to handle very large caravans. I thought, based upon that principle, the Wave pattern would work the same over water. At least for short hops. We literally were only trying to cross the lake itself, no further.”

Sarsen gave a hum, clearly thinking hard. “In theory, I can’t fault your idea. It’s sound in principal.”

“My main question,” Master posed to the group, “is this: why connect here? Grae, what happens when a path fails, normally?”

“It just fails. We end up partway along the distance, or we don’t move at all. We were all braced for landing in the water, really, even joked about it. This is far outside our expectations.”

“Then it makes even less sense for you to end up here.”

A crazy, not altogether sane, idea popped into Sevana’s head. “I know this might sound…well, crazy…but hear me out. As it happens, I’m in the middle of developing another portal system.”

All three men instantly turned to her, all ears.

She spoke slowly, as if putting the words together one at a time like paving stones in a path leading forward. “I want a new system, something different from the clock portals. They take a great deal of magical stamina to run, and I’m constantly having to turn them on and off, so I thought if I could attach a water wheel to the side of them, use natural springs to power them, it would take the burden off of me. And, of course, that room has one of the few skylights that Big allows, as the room is so vast that no matter of lighting charms can keep it well-lit in there.”

“Water, sunlight, stone, and portal magic,” Grae breathed in stunned realization.

“So it is Sev’s fault,” Sarsen announced as if he’d expected that answer all along.

If he’d been closer at hand, Sevana would have hit him. “Excuse you! We create portals all of the time, how was I supposed to know that I’d summon aliens doing it?”

“Only you, Sev,” Sarsen mock-sighed, although he sounded infinitely pleased, which meant he planned to rub this in for years. Possibly decades.

Sticking her tongue out at him, she huffed. “Really, like this is my fault. Grae, how plausible does this all sound to you?”

“Very,” Grae admitted frankly, spreading his hands in a shrug, although he still had a stunned expression on his face, as if someone had taken a pole and hit him directly on the forehead with it. “We’ve never understood why pathmaking worked. We knew the rules, that if you do this it’ll work, but if you do that it won’t, but why it created open paths? What magic made it operate, why certain people could do it, but others couldn’t? That part has never made sense to anyone. It just worked that way.”

“The spiritual plane is all interconnected,” Sarsen observed, more thinking aloud, “we know that for a fact. And the dreaming land that the dragons inhabit in their sleep is also all interconnected. Can we assume from this instance that all portal space is also interconnected? That even being on a separate world doesn’t matter to that dimension?”

“I think we have to assume that,” Master agreed, although he kept rubbing at his forehead, as if the very idea pained him. “This situation doesn’t make sense otherwise. Great good magic, but this is going to keep me up thinking for the rest of the year.”

“The year just started,” Sarsen pointed out in amusement.

“I know.”

Sevana snickered. Although, she secretly felt the same way. “Alright, moving on. I think we’re making some assumptions, but they all sound logical to me, and I certainly can’t think of any other reason why our guests would land here. Can we all agree this is the most plausible scenario?”

Firm nods from all three men.

“Good. Then on that basis, how do we build a pathway back home for our guests?”

Chapter Four

Denny didn’t know what to make of these flying devices. The way her hosts spoke of them, so casually, inclined her to think it was as normal a method of travel on this world as a boat would be. It certainly looked boat-ish, with wings attached, although it had a glass canopy over the top of it. Likely to keep the weather out. She had never been the sort to be nervous about heights, and since a prince and princess used it, it had to be safe. Still, her nerves stretched taut enough to vibrate under her skin as she climbed carefully inside.

What stopped her in the entrance was Pyper and Pete, not sure what to do with them. They didn’t know this area and she didn’t think it was allowable to try and take them with her on a shopping trip. Finally, she ordered, “Go sit with Grae.”

Agreeable to this, the dogs dashed off to find the Pathmaker.

With that sorted, she fully entered the flying ship. This vessel was indeed meant to hold several people, as there were built-in benches along the sides large enough to hold perhaps a dozen. Sarsen moved immediately to the front, where a ship’s steering wheel stood, and the prince and princess went about the vessel escorting people to different seats and trying to relax any fears. Denny took the seat she was waved into with a timid smile, perching almost on the edge of it.

Leaning into Rune’s side, Denny mentioned quietly, “For all that they’re royalty, they’re very down-to-earth people, aren’t they?”

“Surprisingly so,” Rune agreed sotto voice. “I wasn’t sure what to imagine, but it wasn’t this.”

Sarsen turned in his chair, looked around and nodded in satisfaction to see everyone seated. “Bel, get the door. Alright, it’s a short enough ride, we’ll only be in the air about ten minutes. But it’ll give you a taste of what flying’s like.”

And likely who wouldn’t be comfortable with it. Denny kept that thought to herself.

The vessel hummed with glowing magic, much like a path would, although of different colors. Then it smoothly lifted up with only one small bump as it left the ground. It was such an easy transition that it put to rest the butterflies in her stomach. Or did until Denny turned and looked down at the ground becoming smaller and smaller in her vision. Oh my. That was…much higher up than she’d imagined.

A warm hand found hers, and she gripped Rune’s hand tightly, but she wasn’t really afraid. This was exhilarating, truly. The trees looked like toothpicks from this height, and she could see the vast stretch of a primeval forest behind Big as far as the eye could see. “It’s beautiful.”

“It is,” Sylvie agreed and then groaned. “Oh, if only we could capture this moment, we’d make so much money. Beirly. You have to figure out how we can make this flying vessel at home.”

Beirly was already rubbing his hands together, looking about the vessel with transparent avarice. “Oh trust me, I will. As soon as we get back.”

Chuckling, Sarsen promised over his shoulder, “I’ll dig up Sev’s blueprints for it. I’ve no idea how you’ll power it, as your magic differs from ours, but you’re welcome to try.”

There was not a single thing in this (well, their) world that Beirly couldn’t build once he put his mind to it. Denny’s money was on him.

She went back to watching the view out of the window, and the village quickly came into view with the half-frozen river winding around it. It wasn’t a large place, about the size of Stott, but it looked charming. Also strange, although she couldn’t explain why.

“Where’s your wall?” Tran asked, leaning close enough to almost smush his nose up against the glass.

“Yes! That’s what’s bothering me,” Siobhan exclaimed, also leaning around to stare closely at the village.

Sarsen didn’t seem to understand the question as he gave them a quick, confused glance. “Wall?”

“Your wall for protection,” Wolf clarified, although he sounded intrigued. “You don’t need one for this village?”

“We don’t fortify most of our cities.” Bel’s eyes darted around them, taking in all of their expressions, his own green eyes sharp as he considered them. “There’s no need. While there is some level of crime in my country, it never rises to the point of cities attacking each other. I don’t let it. I keep a national guard, army, and navy posted throughout Windamere at all times to help subdue trouble in its infant stages.”

Denny looked at him, the confidence in him, then down at the village again. A flash of envy tore through her. A world so peaceful it didn’t need fortifications? What must that be like, to live in a world like this?

“Am I the only one that’s jealous of that?” Sylvie asked rhetorically.

“No,” Alex grumbled to her. “And I was trying to create that very thing. Well, I thought I was.”

Fei seemed to share their opinions but he only said, “At least we know that ideal is obtainable. Perhaps we can further learn how this was achieved while here, and spread that information among the leaders of our main guilds.”

Trust Fei to look at it from a different angle. He seemed to have a talent for that.

Bel, intrigued by this, offered, “I’ll certainly be willing to share our strategy for it. Perhaps after dinner tonight, we can go over the basics.”

Inclining his head in a bow, an eager smile slid across Fei’s face. “I look forward to it, Bel-zhi.”

“We’re about to land,” Sarsen announced.

The view outside the window was certainly becoming bolder and larger as they approached the ground once more. It looked pristine white out here, the snow untouched by animal or people, although not for long. The patch that Sarsen chose to set down in wasn’t far off the beaten path, and the road leading in looked to be nothing more than dirty slush from all of the traffic. The buildings looked very unique to her eyes, made not from stone, but thatch and brightly colored beams. It was so much brighter than the typical grey stone buildings she knew that it made her smile unconsciously. “It seems a cheery place.”

“Oh, it is that,” Hana agreed as she followed Bel out the door. Pausing, she admitted to her, “I grew up here, actually. I was the librarian here until I married Bel.”

Denny blinked at her. Wait, the princess was a librarian? Weren’t princesses supposed to be born royalty? Or did that work differently on this world?

Of course, Markl, standing behind her, focused entirely on a different part of that statement. “There’s a library here?”

“I’ll show you,” Hana promised him, then stepped clear to let everyone else out.

“What about a medicine shop?” Conli inquired as he followed after her.

“Oh, we’ve several of those, although they mostly deal in potions,” Bel assured him. “We’ll stop in and let you browse as we go.”

Denny wrapped her jacket tighter about her as she stepped into the clear air, her breath a white mist. Sevana fortunately had a treasure trove of random gear that she’d been able to share and size for them via different magical spells. Well, really, Sarsen had raided her storerooms and then belatedly told her he was doing so, which his friend obviously didn’t care about, as she’d just grunted and waved him on before diving back into questioning Grae. It was good to have the warm clothes in this bitter cold. Denny had never experienced a wind with this kind of biting chill to it before.

Sarsen stayed behind to chat with the other two, but Bel had them well in hand, divvying people up. Hana offered to take Markl to the library first, which he vetoed, as he wanted to see the trade here in action. Although everyone in the guild knew that eventually, Markl would enter that library, and then they’d have the devil of a time getting him back out again.

Even on a cold winter day like this, the market was in full swing. There were hot wares available at different kiosks, coffee or something called hot chocolate—Denny didn’t know you could drink the stuff—breads, legs of some sort of baked fowl, and that was just the food. Every imaginable type of clothing, accessory, tool, and several beautiful pieces of artwork lined up for display in shop windows or hung from lines outside trader wagons. It was as fully stocked as any market Denny had walked through and yet was entirely different, as they had magical wares out for sale as well.

“Morgan!” Bel lifted a hand and waved it overhead, pausing at a semi-busy street corner.

“Ah, there you are. Good timing, I was about to dive into the madness and try in vain to find you.” Morgan strolled up looking as cheery as ever, a red scarf wrapped around his throat and tucked into a long black jacket. It made him very dashing, more than usual. “Good morning, all.”

“A top of the morning to you, Morgan,” Siobhan greeted. “Thank you for coming to meet us here, I’m sure we’re interrupting business.”

“I’ll actually be doing business as we shop,” Morgan denied pleasantly. “I’m checking in with the various vendors to see if they’re running short on inventory. They likely are. Sev’s heating charms go fast in this kind of weather. Shall we sell some more of your coins first? I found two other places that are itching to buy some, and with Bel’s and Hana’s word for their foreign authenticity, we’ll get a mint from them.”

“Yes, please,” Siobhan encouraged.

The whole group perforce tagged along as well, although fortunately it wasn’t far to the first place. It looked to be some sort of money exchange place, a small building with barely more than two counters and a few stools. Most of them stayed outside as there was no way to go in without making things unbearably cramped, although Sylvie and Markl both followed Siobhan in. Mostly due to professional curiosity, unless Denny missed the mark.

As they haggled inside, Denny stayed on the sidewalk, but she eyed a few pretty things across the street. That cloak especially, with that dark blue material and the cream-colored embroidery around the edges, that was stunning. Would she be able to afford it?

Someone bumped into her from the side and immediately turned, tugged at the brim of his hat and muttered an apology. Denny didn’t have the chance to get a single word out before he’d moved on. Bemused—she never got that reaction unless one of her guildmates was glaring—she let it go. Then it happened again, a harder shoulder check, and this woman actually stopped.

“Dear, you need to be careful,” the woman scolded, shooing her to stand closer to the building. “Wagons come barreling through here all the time.”

Never in her life had a complete stranger voiced concern for her well-being, or spoke to her without giving her a sympathetic look, as if they knew her life history just from the color of her skin. It left Denny tongue-tied as a result, as she had no idea how to react to this woman.

“Thank you,” Rune said, coming to the rescue. “We’ll stay closer to the sides.”

“You do that,” the woman encouraged, then pointed further down the narrow road. “And if you get too cold, you stop by my shop. I have hot mulled cider, best in town. I’ll throw in a cranberry muffin too as a service.” With a wink, she bustled on.

Denny, poleaxed, turned her head to watch her go. “Does this world…do they not care what you look like?”

“Not a bit,” Hana said encouragingly. “We do have other cultures in this world that are darker, or fairer, than the people you see here. But we don’t much care where you’re from.”

For the first time in her life, Denny stood on a sidewalk in a marketplace and no one had given her even a second glance. Pure pleasure raced through her, setting her face alive with a smile. “Rune. I’m going to go over there and look at that cloak.”

Knowing very well her joy, Rune encouraged, “Go then.”

She promptly did, grinning the whole time.

“Wait, you still have to look out for pickpockets!” Hana called after her.

“Too late,” Rune said ruefully. “She’s gone. Just as well she has no money on her at the moment.”

Denny nearly giggled in abject delight. If picketpockets were her biggest concern here, then…well, they might have to drag her out of Milby kicking and screaming. She was going to enjoy this experience to the hilt.

There didn’t seem to be an immediate, working solution for how to get home again. Erik had to admit that if they had to be stranded in a different world, they’d landed in a very good place indeed. The people were kind here. Not just their hosts, but the people in general. Bellomi had explained on their first outing together that he didn’t tolerate crime in his kingdom, that they had harsh laws and a police force in order to keep things in check, and the results of his work clearly showed. Never before had Erik been able to shop in a market and not keep a sharp eye on both his purse and his companions. It had been strangely liberating to do so. Denny and Sylvie especially reveled in the atmosphere, beyond pleased that they could shop without being hassled.

Five days into their stay, even Erik had relaxed a hair. There was no real danger here, they were well cared for by their hosts, and what danger resided in Noppers Woods was well contained. Sarsen seemed quite content to fly them about to different areas and that was another experience altogether, one that Erik enjoyed thoroughly. He wistfully wished they could somehow take that knowledge back with them, how to create flying machines but it was clearly made with the magic of this world, which theirs did not share. Beirly seemed to have an idea of how to adapt it, though. He probably shouldn’t discount the idea just yet.

Late afternoon of the sixth day, Erik carted in a crate of fine alcoholic beverages, Bellomi and Sarsen right behind them. Someone had suggested letting their guests sample all of the different brews Windamere offered, and that sounded like a fine plan to Erik, so they’d gone into Milby and purchased at least one of everything. Big, seeing that his hands were full, kindly opened the door for him. Erik looked in a generally upwards manner with a smile. “My thanks, Big.”

“Tran?” Bellomi’s voice sounded cautious and a trifle alarmed. “Why are you coming from that direction?”

Quickly putting the crate down, Erik stepped outside again, one hand on his sword. “What’s the problem?”

Tran lifted both hands in a staying motion. “It’s fine. I was just keeping an eye on things. Baby got it into his head that Alex needs proper training in hunting and skulking skills. He keeps taking the kid out into the woods when our back is turned.”

Alarm shot through Erik. “Wait, Sevana specifically told Alex not to do that.”

Bellomi waved him down with a strangely reminiscent smile on his face. “It’s fine. As long as they don’t go too deep in, they’ll be fine. When I stayed here, Baby gave me the same lessons. It’ll be good practice for the kid. And Baby adores teaching us hapless humans. He’s a good teacher; he won’t let Alex come to any harm.”

“It’s certainly been entertaining watching them,” Tran admitted with a deep snicker. “Baby of course noticed me, but neither Grydon or Alex has yet, and I think Baby’s about despaired of them because of it. They are improving though, I grant them that.”

As long as Tran kept an eye on the situation. Shaking his head at the idea of a mountain lion teacher, Erik decided to let that one be. “Tran, we’ve got a selection of brews here. Want to join in a sampling party?”

“I do believe that’s the stupidest question you’ve ever asked me.” Tran rubbed his hands together, already heading inside and shedding his heavy coat as he went. “Where’s everyone else?”

“Girls are still shopping with Morgan, Conli and Rune,” Bellomi informed him, hefting the crate a little higher in his arms, making the glass bottles inside clink together. “Hana’s determined to find a nice engagement gift. Since Sylvie and Morgan are shopping with her, I pity the merchant she eventually buys from. Those two are formidable. We left Markl in the library, happily combing through the books. I think it’ll take a force of nature to get him back out again.”

Knowing Markl, Erik agreed with that assessment. He knew Grae to be inside with Sevana, still working out the kinks of how to get home again, although they seemed to have a general plan. But, “Fei?”

“He was with me,” Tran answered, slipping sideways to get past Erik and inside Big. “But he went ahead of me, said something about his turn to cook tonight and wanting to get a rack of lamb going.”

Mmm, lamb sounded good. Of course, any night that Fei cooked was a good night. Erik scooped up his crate of goodies and followed Tran in. “Ask him if he wants to join us.”

Big whispered, Coming.

That was the funny thing about the mountain. He loved passing messages along, for whatever reason. Bellomi mentioned off-handedly that Big adored having guests, a rare thing as Sevana did not, and enjoyed playing host to their large group. After nearly a week of being here, Erik no longer jumped when the mountain spoke to them and just let things roll. “My thanks, Big.”

They settled in the living room, the only space big enough for everyone, and one of the few fireplaces that was kept going throughout the day. Erik threw a few more logs on the fire, building it up once more, and as he did that Fei appeared with several tankards that they put to good use. As they filled them up, Beirly joined them, rubbing his hands together with anticipation. Erik had lost track of him at some point. “Where have you been?”

“Sevana let me take apart an old flying device of hers,” he explained, as giddy as a child with an entire shop of sweets. “I’ve been backwards engineering it. It might take magic to make it fly, but I think if we put some sort of engine into it, it could work the same. I saw something in Saoleord that might be adapted.”

“I hope you figure it out.” Erik really hoped he did, as flying would be amazing in their world, magic or no magic. “Want a tankard?”

“Sure. What are we drinking?”

“Everything,” Bellomi told him cheerfully, passing him a cup. “We’re doing a sampling party. You have no idea how much I’m looking forward to this, I haven’t been able to drink like this in ages.”

Considering his status in the kingdom, Erik imagined not. Although he sometimes struggled to remember that Bellomi was a prince. The man was just so approachable and down to earth, he felt more like a friend than anything. “Then let’s open this party up properly.” Taking his tankard, he lifted it in the air. “Here’s to cheating, stealing, fighting, and drinking. If you cheat, may you cheat death. If you steal, may you steal a woman’s heart. If you fight, may you fight a brother. And if you drink, may you drink with me.”

They clinked glasses and drank deeply. The ale was robust, an earthy aftertaste that lingered on his tongue and set a low fire to his belly. Smacking his lips, Erik lowered it and grinned. “A fine beverage. What’s next?”

Chapter Five

Siobhan returned from the shopping trip, her nose frozen on her face, which was really her only complaint. They’d had a great deal of fun shopping at the market, and while they did buy sensible things like groceries, they’d bought fun things as well, such as clothes, a bit of jewelry, a wonderfully rendered art book that covered the wonders of the world, some interesting medicines, and so on. Hana had insisted on buying Rune and Denny’s wedding rings, a kindness really, as Rune had been saving to afford something beside plain gold. These had small sapphires intertwined amongst the metal in a simple but elegant design. The young couple had been beyond thrilled with the purchase.

All in all, a good day, and Siobhan blessed that they’d been lucky enough to end up here, with such good hosts. What worried her, however, was that she’d lost track of her troublemakers. Wolf had gone ahead to start a drinking party, she wasn’t necessarily worried about him, but where was Tran? Alex?

Coming through the front door, she nearly ran smack into Tran, and only his quick reflexes saved her, as his hands caught her shoulders. “Whoa, steady there.”

Re-balancing, she patted his chest. “Thanks, Tran. Where’s everyone?”

Used to her counting ducklings, Tran rattled off, “Alex just headed for the baths. He’s been tramping out with all of the animals all day, and trust me, he needs one. Grae and Sevana are still bent over their designs in her workroom, and when I passed by, they looked happy with their progress.”

Relief flowed through Siobhan. She always checked in with them, to hear what they had to say, but they seemed mostly to have theories about what went wrong with only tentative plans on how to send everyone back home. Progress sounded good.

“Everyone else’s on their way to being good and drunk,” Tran continued, frankly amused. “I just turned the rack of lambs over and lowered the heat, as they’re done, just need some more basting.”

“I thought it was Fei’s turn to cook tonight?”

“He started it, but I didn’t have the heart to pull him away from his conversation.” At her puzzled look, he gestured toward the living room. “Go see for yourself.”

Beyond curious, she did so, giving way so that everyone could come in behind her without needing to scoot sideways to manage it. As they went to their own rooms to stash their goodies, Siobhan beelined for the living room, setting her own shopping bundles just inside the door and out of the way. It took barely a glance and a moment to listen to realize what Tran had meant by that. All of the men were comfortably sprawled out, a tankard in hand, although they seemed to have fallen into their own groups. Fei and Bel were adamantly discussing sociopolitical systems with gusto, hands gesturing in the air and illustrating their points, both clearly enthralled with whatever it was they were agreeing on. Most of it went straight over Siobhan’s head. The other group closer to the fire consisted of Beirly, Wolf, and Sarsen. Sarsen had Wolf’s iron hand in both of his, turning it this way and that, and that conversation seemed just as involved.

Was it too much to hope for that Sarsen had an idea of how to make that iron hand truly unbreakable?

Crossing the rest of the distance, Siobhan dropped down to sit on her husband’s knee, which he accommodated by shifting his free arm out of the way, then closed it back again around her waist. Looking up at her with a smile, he greeted, “Shopping went well?”

“I pity the poor merchants,” Siobhan reported cheerfully. “They were on the point of tears by the time we left. Sylvie and Morgan are a terrifying combo. Hana kindly bought our two wedding rings, which they’re wearing, as they’re terrified of losing them. All in all, we had a great deal of fun, although I’m now worried about our weight allotment.”

“We should probably curtail the shopping soon,” Wolf agreed, eyes crinkling up in a silent laugh. “Although good luck convincing Sylvie of that. Here, wifey, try this ale. It’s the smoothest thing I’ve ever tasted.”

She pulled it up to her mouth and took a generous swallow. “Mmm, yes, that’s quite good. We need the recipe for this.”

“Brewmaster’s a friend of mine,” Sarsen promised her absently, his attention still on the iron hand. “I’ll get it for you later. Beirly, instead of iron, have you considered tungsten?”

“No, what’s that?” Beirly asked, very intrigued.

“Hardest metal that you can find in nature,” Sarsen supplied, finally tearing his eyes away. “Iron doesn’t even compare to it in terms of strength. It’s a little difficult to work with, as it has a high melting point, but I’ve crafted things with it before. I think it’ll solve the problem of the fragility of the hand. Although truly, the way you engineered this…” Sarsen tilted it again to look at the joints. “It’s very clever. Can you draw out the design for me?”

“If you’ll help me craft him a new hand with tungsten, I think that more than a fair trade,” Beirly agreed promptly.

“That’ll be my pleasure. I’ll understand the design much better if you guide me in making one anyway.” Sarsen waggled his eyebrows at Wolf teasingly. “That sound alright to you, Erik?”

Wolf grinned back, a bit of tooth in the expression. “If you can really forge me an unbreakable hand, I’m all for it.”

“I didn’t say it was unbreakable, just that it was nearly impossible for human strength to break,” Sarsen corrected.

“And no,” Siobhan added tartly to her still grinning husband, because she didn’t trust that expression at all, “that is not a challenge.”

Wolf attempted an innocent look. He was very bad at it.

“But I think we can do more than just make this more durable.” Sarsen poked at one of the joints with a pencil, expression alight with a look Siobhan knew well from watching Beirly work. “The joints on this thing is ingenious. I can see the locking mechanism—that’s quite innovative—but it requires the other hand to set it in the right pattern, correct? I wonder if we can’t insert some gears and put a spell on it so that it can move much like a normal hand.”

Beirly and Wolf went taut, their entire focus on him. For that matter, Siobhan held her breath. “But you’d use magic to make it work, right?” she asked him uncertainly. “And magic runs out, even on this world.”

“I’ve no notion if it’ll work right on your world,” Sarsen admitted frankly, still poking at the joint and clearly thinking hard. “But I can create it so that the spell can renew, run off a natural energy. Say sunlight, that should be more than sufficient considering how much traveling you do.”

Beirly leaned in as well, studying the hand with new eyes. “If we design it right, then even if the spell doesn’t work, it’ll still function like it does now. You can still lock it in place when you need to hold something.”

“Yes, exactly,” Sarsen agreed, pleased Beirly apparently shared his vision. “But if it does, you have a fully mobile and functioning hand just like your left. What do you think, Erik?”

“I think its certainly worth the try,” Wolf said promptly, not even needing to think about it. “But do we have the time to make it?”

“It’ll take a few days, but magic will help speed the process along. I think its doable.”

The conversation was interrupted by Sevana, striding into the room with a bounce and an infectious smile. “Everyone! I think we have a plan.”

Siobhan half-turned, hope rising fast and hard. As much as she respected this woman’s magic, her eyes went to Grae to see how he felt about this. Her cautious friend would never whimsically try something that he didn’t have perfect faith in. Grae, to her relief, had a hopeful smile on his face and a certain smugness, as if he were sure this was the answer.

“We believe that your magic and mine opened at the same time,” Sevana explained succinctly, still bouncing a little on her toes, as if she were beside herself for having figured it out. “Portal dimensions overlap, and because we both worked magic at the same time and with the same elements, they connected when they shouldn’t have, which brought you directly here. I wish I could actually test the elements involved on your end, get the exact power levels, but Grae’s given me a good estimation, and I know my power levels here, which more or less coincide. We believe we can duplicate this.”

“We’ll need to build a path with the same wave pattern,” Grae pitched in, his voice louder than usual so that everyone could hear him without straining. “But we’ll incorporate Sevana’s clock portals, so it won’t be a long path. We’d only gone four stepping stones in, approximately, when we were yanked here.”

“So four stepping stones in, then you step into my clock portal, and presto!” Sevana threw her arms out wide in a grand gesture, smile irrepressible. “You’ll be home. Pretty sure. We think.”

“Maybe not Goldschmidt, but Robarge at least,” Grae added more prosaically.

Siobhan sucked in a breath, head dizzy with the possibility. Strange enough they’d landed here to begin with. But going home again was somehow trickier, more dangerous, as they had only a good guess on how they’d come here to begin with. Still, she had to trust her experts and if they felt this could be done, then…well. No one had ever accused the Deepwoods Guild of lacking courage.

Her husband squeezed her gently around the waist, offering silent encouragement, and that was what loosened up her throat and lungs enough to be able to say the words. “How many stones do we need?”

In the interest of using their time at max effectiveness, they divvied off the tasks. Beirly and Erik were to focus on his new hand, making that their priority to get done. Siobhan, Grae, Rune, Denny, and Sylvie were the stone gatherers. Fei picked Bel’s and Hana’s brains, learning everything he could about government and economics and recording it to take with them to share. Markl and Conli did the same, only from Sevana’s and Milby’s extensive libraries, writing down as much as they could. Alex was hit and miss in helping with the stone gathering, as was Tran, as Baby seemed intent on teaching the boy on how to properly hunt and skulk. It was such a rare opportunity for him to be able to go outdoors and play that Siobhan didn’t have the heart to curtail him. She let him go, with Tran keeping a careful watch on the pair.

Erik personally thought that was a bit optimistic, as Tran didn’t have the same sense of ‘dangerous’ as the rest of them, and Baby apparently had rules because he brought home things he shouldn’t. But he wasn’t about to tell his wife that. He was more or less sure that whatever happened, Alex would survive the experience and learn from it, and that was more important.

Even though it was his own hand, Erik couldn’t really help much in the forging process. Still, he was vitally invested in this and sat on a stool out of the way of the worktable and watched both men bent over the metal. It had been something, watching Sarsen forge the different pieces of it. It took an interesting blend of kiln work and magic to melt the metal alone and Erik had no idea how Beirly would manage to duplicate the process at home. Even though he had tungsten ore to lug home, it was indeed a question if he’d ever be able to use it.

The room was hot, almost unbearably so, and that was after it was left to cool overnight. Yesterday’s forging could still be felt on his sweating skin. Erik ignored it, his eyes focused on the joints of the first finger as the men used a combination of gears and pins to bolt the thing together.

“Not too tight,” Beirly cautioned Sarsen. “It’ll stop the joint from moving altogether.”

Grunting acknowledgement, Sarsen eased up on the tension. “There?”

“I think so. Alright, let’s add the second knuckle. Wolf, how’s it looking to you?”

“Very sharp,” Erik admitted, the excitement audible even to himself. “I don’t know why, but I expected it to be darker than iron.”

“No, it’s actually quite lighter. Looks much like silver, doesn’t it?”

“It does, strangely.” The thought brought a smile to his face. “People will think I’m a wealthy man, striding around with a silver hand on my arm.”

“Up until you punch someone with it,” Beirly muttered, shaking his head in exasperation. “Just do me a favor and don’t try to stop a sword or a shield with this hand, alright?”

“Now, Beirly,” Erik teased in his most deadpanned voice, “that’s what metal hands are for.”

“Try using your head,” Beirly shot back, eyes twinkling with laughter. “I guarantee it’s harder. Oh good, second joint’s working fine.” He lifted it closer to his face, inspecting it carefully, the nodded. “Yes, that’s fine. Alright, let’s set that here. Middle finger.”

“Middle finger,” Sarsen agreed, handing Beirly the tip of the finger to hold steady while he lifted a gear and pin.

The door to the workroom opened and Baby slouched in with a distinctly guilty air about him. Not that Erik had much experience reading the body language of giant cats, but the hangdog way his head hung between his shoulders, and the guilty looking boy trailing in after him gave him a good indication. Uh-oh. Maybe he should have been worried about those two after all. “Baby. Alex. What did you do?”

Half-prostate on the floor by this point, Baby carefully lowered something onto the floor before releasing his jaws and stepping back. It was up to Alex, however, to explain.

“We, uh,” he glanced uncertainly at the cat before swallowing hard and gamely continuing, “We were searching through this one area, looking for game, and Baby caught a scent in this burrow-looking place. And he said it wasn’t dangerous, but he wasn’t quite sure what it was, and um, so we got a stick and I poked around in the hole a bit to drive it out—”

At this point this small bundle of white huddled on the floor tentatively uncurled and poked a tiny face up. Erik leaned further out of the stool, astonished to see an actual face, much like a human’s face, on a creature that couldn’t have been as tall as his hand. It was incredibly tiny and delicate and clearly terrified. “What in the wide green world…?”

“Baby, you benighted idiot of a cat.” Even as he cursed him, Sarsen sounded more exasperated and resigned as he abandoned the hand on the table and came around to kneel in front of the tiny, shivering creature. “Where in blazes did you find a Nisse?”

“Is that what it is?” Alex asked tentatively. “Baby just knew it was trouble to disturb it, but when we pulled it out, it wouldn’t go back in. And we didn’t want to leave it out there, it’s freezing outside. And it’s so little.”

“And where’s Tran?” Beirly asked, also sounding exasperated. Although how this could be Tran’s fault, Erik wasn’t sure, as the little creature clearly wasn’t dangerous, so Tran wouldn’t have moved to stop them.

“He, uh, well, he said he’d report it to Siobhan and—”

Sevana’s voice echoed down the hall, reaching into the range of whistling tea kettles and screeching cats: “Baby! Do we need to review rule two?!”

Baby whined in the back of his throat and scooted under the table, huddling up next to Erik’s legs, clearly looking for protection. Although Erik wasn’t at all inclined to do that, he did find this funny.

Sarsen poked his head out the door and called back, “I’ll handle this, you keep building the path!”

“Fine!”

Unable to tap down his curiosity, Erik inquired, “And what is rule two?”

“Rule one’s don’t bring something home larger than yourself,” Sarsen answered absently, still focused on the creature on the floor. “Rule two is don’t disturb anything magical that lives in the forest. They are not game. Really, Baby, you know what a Nisse is. You’ve run into them before.”

Baby disagreed with a petulant growl.

Trying to be helpful, Big translated, Smell different.

“Yes, Big, I caught that.” Shaking his head, Sarsen left the room for only a moment, ducking out and coming back with a cookie and a small thimble of milk. He sat both carefully on the floor before backing away, resting on his knees. The Nisse uncurled a little more, regarded the food, and inched forward to try both. Pleased with the offer, he ate another bite, drank noisily from the milk, and finally found enough courage to look directly at Sarsen. It squeaked out something, the voice so high in pitch that Erik was barely able to discern the words.

“You’re a friend?”

“Yes,” Sarsen agreed with an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry for you being dragged out of your home like that. Our two young ones were curious, they didn’t mean any harm. If you’d like, you can take the cookie and milk with you, and I’ll escort you back home.”

Looking relieved, the Nisse bobbed his head several times in agreement. “Please do.”

“Alex,” Beirly suggested in a very paternal tone, “why don’t you go clean up some, and then come back and help us put the hand together.”

It was mostly meant to keep the boy out of trouble, and Alex undoubtedly realized that, but he looked intrigued as he craned to see further over the table. “It’s ready to put together? Sure, I’ll help.”

Beyond amused at this, Erik gave the cat’s head a pat. “Why don’t you stay here too?”

Baby growled, gave a forlorn sigh, and flopped onto his feet in the very picture of discontentment.

Chapter Six

Siobhan was not blind to the nervousness of her guild. For all that they were comfortable helping Grae and Rune pick out stones, assisting in building the path, this wasn’t like any other path that they’d built. They didn’t demand reassurances, but still, the tension and worry lingered in their eyes and body language. Short of opening a path and sending them on it, Siobhan didn’t know how to prove this to them. It was very much a one-way ticket. For that matter, Siobhan shared their nerves.

They took three full days to build it, despite it not being many stepping stones. Everyone wanted to make sure this path was precisely right, which meant a lot of digging in the ground for the perfect stones. It didn’t help that their hunting was shortened due to the short days of the winter season. But, finally, the path was done and their plans were to leave in the morning. Big promised to open up a skylight in the exact area over the path the next day, giving them full daylight to work with, and of course there was water already running next to the clock portal that had caused this shenanigan to begin with. Big even shifted the bedrock in the area to be dirt instead so the Pathmakers could place the stones exactly as they would.

The next morning, Siobhan rose a little early and prepared breakfast for everyone. It was early enough that most still slept, so she was surprised when Sevana wandered in with a half-asleep expression on her face and footsteps dragging. Stifling a yawn, Sevana muttered something that might have been a good morning.

“Top of the morning to you,” Siobhan returned, slightly amused. Not a morning person, apparently. She had more than a few of those. “I’m making hash, eggs, and bacon. Kettle’s hot if you want tea.”

With a grunt, Sevana headed for the stove and poured herself a mug of hot water before dropping tea strainer and a spoonful of tea leaves in to steep. As she waited on that, a bit of clarity seeped into her eyes. “You always rise this early?”

“On travel days,” Siobhan admitted freely, scrambling the eggs and keeping a sharp eye on that bacon lest it burn. “Not everyone in the guild is good with mornings, and it’s better if I keep an eye on people in general as we go out the door. Someone always forgets something otherwise.”

“I see now why Erik calls you the worrier.”

Shrugging, Siobhan didn’t bother to deny it. “Someone has to be.”

“Better you than me. Constantly managing people…” Sevana trailed off with a shudder. “No thanks.”

Glancing at her from the corner of the eye, Siobhan mused on that for a moment. “Yes, you’re much like Grae. Or Markl. They enjoy people but only in short stints. They’re much happier if you leave them to their work and their research and not make them interact with the world on a daily basis.”

“At least you understand that. I’m still trying to get that through everyone else’s heads.” Judging her tea steeped enough, she took the strainer out and mixed in a dollop of honey. “I know you’re nervous about today, but I’ll stake my reputation on this working. Grae’s staking more than that. You’ll make it home, Siobhan.”

Now, that put things into perspective, didn’t it? Grae was staking not only his own life, but all of theirs, that was how certain he was of this working. That eased some of her tension and she managed a smile for the half-asleep Artifactor at her elbow. “Thank you. I hope, though, that if this ever happens again, we’ll wind up here.”

Brightening, Sevana agreed, “Me too. Wouldn’t that be amazing, to have interplanetary travel be a repeatable thing?”

Shaking her head in a mix of amusement and despair, Siobhan muttered, “Amazing is one word for it.”

It took a little longer than it should have to gather everyone together. Their bags were all packed and on people’s backs, that wasn’t the issue. It was all of the hugs, and goodbyes, and well wishes that ate up the time. Siobhan didn’t begrudge it, as she felt as if she were leaving remarkable friends behind, even if they had known each other barely more than a week. She hugged more than a few people herself, Bel and Hana in particular, as they had been more than generous not only with their money, but their time and patience.

Eventually, they couldn’t stall any longer, as the sun approached its zenith in the sky, the perfect time to move. Grae held a flask of water taken from the small spring bubbling out next to the tall grandfather clock that was their destination. The door to the clock stood open wide, the pendulum in motion.

“Remember,” Sevana cautioned, standing next to the door. “Don’t jar the pendulum. There’s enough room if you squeeze through, and I recommend taking off your packs and going sideways to manage it. It’ll be hardest for Erik and Tran, but you should be able to make it.”

“Keep the path open for an hour after we go through,” Grae urged her in return. “A path can’t stay open for any longer than that without failing. If it stops before that point, we’ve made it through and I’ve closed it on my end.”

“Alright,” Sevana agreed.

No one said the obvious: if the path failed, then they hadn’t made it. Siobhan chose to leave those words unspoken, as there was no reason to jinx their journey.

Once the path opened, no one could move off of it, so Siobhan stole one more hug from their remarkable hostess, although she made it quick, as Sevana clearly felt uncomfortable with long embraces. “Thank you, Sevana. For all of your help.”

Sevana awkwardly patted her on the shoulder before pushing her off. “Yes, well, try not to drop by again.”

In perfect agreement on that point, Siobhan gave her a firm nod. “We’ll try not to.”

“Alright, everyone ready?” Grae’s voice didn’t shake, either through willpower or confidence, no one was sure. His hand stayed steady as he dropped water on the first part of the stepping stone.

Unlike every other path Grae or Rune had opened for them, this one shone in a stronger, deeper blue and green mixture. The air felt humid as usual, but heavier as well, as if a thick blanket pressed in all around them. From Rune and Grae’s expressions, that was a good sign.

“Step calm and careful, just like always,” Grae encouraged them. “Denny, you have Pyper and Pete?”

“I’ve got them.”

“Then let’s go.” Grae took the first step forward, leading them down the four stepping stones. It felt odd on this path, because even though they weren’t covering any real distance, the air around them distorted, making it seem as if they’d covered leagues like on a normal path.

Siobhan was one of the last in line, only Wolf behind her, as she wanted to keep an eye on people as they filed through. Her heart stayed lodged in her throat as she watched each person carefully slide through the clock’s open chest, avoiding the pendulum neatly as if they’d done it a million times before. Even Tran managed, although he had to suck in his gut. When it came to her turn, Siobhan paused and shouted out one last time, hopeful they could hear her despite the echoing effects of the path, “Thank you!”

Faintly, she heard several voices overlapping as they called back, “Be safe!”

With a deep breath for courage, and Wolf’s hand on her shoulder, she stepped inside the narrow confines of the clock and crab-walked her way through the portal. On the other side lay that deep, incredible darkness they’d crossed before to get here, and it was only Wolf’s firm grip on her shoulder that kept her from panicking completely. But as deep as the darkness was, she could feel something solid under her feet, and from ahead Grae’s voice reassured them, “We’re still on the path! Put one foot in front of the other, I think we’re almost clear!”

As if his words were a benediction, Siobhan saw a sparkle of blue and green light ahead, a beckoning signal. She followed it, focusing only on that and breathing. “Wolf.”

“Still here, beloved. Keep going.”

In the next breath, the light exploded all around her, enveloping her the way a normal path would. She nearly stumbled in surprise, it was so abrupt, adrenaline singing through her veins. Ahead of her, she heard a whoop of pure joy, someone else laughed, and her body tingled with hope and anticipation. They’d made it?

Two more steps, three, and she did stumble this time, barely keeping her feet as she left that darkness and the swirl of lights for the vast stretch of grassland outside of the path. Siobhan let out a sob of relief, eyes burning with thankful tears because there, ahead of her in all of its questionable glory, lay Goldschmidt. Her eyes took it in, then quickly darted away, checking to make sure that everyone had come through. Some people were hugging each other, some were kissing the grass, others lay flat on their backs and fighting off tears but everyone, every single member of Deepwoods had made it. Dropping her pack, she whirled and caught Wolf in a fierce embrace, which he returned just as hard.

“Aye, love, we made it,” Wolf whispered against her temple, kissing it gently before lifting his head. “Grae, Rune. No more experimenting with water for you.”

Not at all offended, both Pathmakers groaned out a laugh.

Keeping an arm around her husband’s waist, Siobhan asked anxiously, “The path is closed now? You think Sevana can tell that we made it?”

“It’s closed, and yes, she’ll know,” Grae assured her with a satisfied smile. “I told her what to look for. It’s alright, Shi. Just enjoy being home again.”

“But what about…” she turned, looking intently at Wolf’s hand, as that was the main question on her mind now that they were home again.

Perhaps reminded, Wolf lifted his hand to the sky, letting the rays of the sun bathe over the back of it, his brow furrowed as he focused. Under their astonished eyes, the hand flexed like a real one would, clenching into a tight fist and releasing again.

“It worked,” he breathed in astonishment, flexing it again, a dazzling smile exploding across his face. “Beirly, it works!”

“I see that.” Beirly seized the hand, drawing it down to his level and had Wolf flex it again. “I’m now mad we didn’t bring more magical things with us. All we have is what Sarsen shoved into my pack. But I look forward to what we can build, now that I have all of these interesting blueprints.”

Not to be outdone, Markl threw in, “And what I’ve learned from them about crime management, economics, and trade agreements will be vastly helpful moving forward. Truly, as nerve-wracking as that was, I think the experience will be to our good. Hopefully they will feel the same way about it.”

Siobhan felt that they would. At least, she’d felt the joy they took in turning strangers into friends, and that told her everything she needed to know.

Bellomi stood with his arm around Hana’s waist, peering anxiously at the clock. “Did they make it? The swirly blue-green light show stopped.”

“They made it,” Sarsen and Sevana said confidently in unison. Sharing a glance, Sarsen gestured for her to go ahead.

“Grae told me what to look for,” she explained, gesturing toward the now still path. “A failed path flickers several times before abruptly cutting off. A solid path will steadily fade as the Pathmaker releases his control over it. That’s what we saw, a gradual stop to the path. They made it.”

Pressing a relieved hand over her heart, Hana gave her a smile. “I’m so glad. I hate to think of them stranded here. Do you think the paths will ever cross again? Have them end up here, I mean.”

“Grae swore up and down he was done experimenting with water, so likely not.” Sevana shrugged, as if this didn’t bother her, although she actually wouldn’t mind if it happened again. “But the important thing is, they made it home.”

“Yes,” Bellomi agreed, his smile a little bittersweet. “As much as I enjoyed their company, that is the most important part. Well, I suppose we’re bound for home too. Thanks for hosting us, Big, Sevana.”

“Feel free to come back when aliens invade my home again,” Sevana responded with saccharine sweetness.

Laughing, Sarsen hugged her around the shoulders, hanging on tight even though she squirmed. “Oh don’t worry, we’ll be back before then.”

“Yes,” Sevana sighed, resigned. “I thought you’d say that.”

Author

Dear Reader,

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~Honor

Honor Raconteur is a sucker for a good fantasy. Despite reading it for decades now, she’s never grown tired of the magical world. She likely never will. In between writing books, she trains and plays with her dogs, eats far too much chocolate, and attempts insane things like aerial dance.

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Other books by Honor Raconteur
Published by Raconteur House

♫ Available in Audiobook! ♫

THE ADVENT MAGE CYCLE

Jaunten ♫
Magus ♫
Advent ♫
Balancer ♫

ADVENT MAGE NOVELS
Advent Mage Compendium
The Dragon’s Mage ♫
The Lost Mage

WARLORDS (ADVENT MAGE)

Warlords Rising
Warlords Ascending
Warlords Reigning

THE ARTIFACTOR SERIES

The Child Prince ♫
The Dreamer’s Curse ♫
The Scofflaw Magician
The Canard Case

The Fae Artifactor*

THE CASE FILES OF HENRI DAVENFORTH

Magic and the Shinigami Detective
Charms and Death and Explosions (oh my!)

DEEPWOODS SAGA

Deepwoods ♫
Blackstone
Fallen Ward

Origins

FAMILIAR AND THE MAGE

The Human Familiar
The Void Mage
Remnants
Echoes

GÆLDORCRÆFT FORCES

Call to Quarters

KINGMAKERS

Arrows of Change ♫
Arrows of Promise
Arrows of Revolution

KINGSLAYER

Kingslayer ♫
Sovran at War ♫

SINGLE TITLES

Special Forces 01
Midnight Quest

Crossroads: An Artifactor x Deepwoods Crossover Short Story

*Upcoming