lanna Kawa stood on a canyon edge in a snowbound mountain range. She gingerly looked over the edge. A layer of motionless clouds floated lazily a hundred feet below. The opposite wall of the canyon was a pale, precipitous rock face. The peaks of the mountains in the distance were obscured by small gray clouds.

She turned around and brushed a lock of hair from her eyes. A path of dark, dense soil littered with patches of snow and smooth gravel led into the mountains from the small ridge where Alanna was standing. She took a few steps up the path just as a bracing gust raced down the incline and out into the open sky.

Alanna closed her eyes, shielding them from the icy gale. The ground was soggy, but she found good footing on the very slight incline of the rocky path as it turned sharply to her right. As she walked, she passed several very shallow half-frozen puddles. She could hear the sound of water dripping from behind the rocks and from under the narrow shelves of ice that encrusted the rocks on either side.

It seemed that despite the freezing wind, this part of the mountain range was thawing. Alanna could hear a faint rumbling sound in the distance. What clouds were discernable in the gray sky were moving very slowly. Alanna guessed it might be morning.

The sound was getting louder as she carefully climbed. The ground was beginning to feel more solid. At the end of the path the rocks formed a crude doorway of sorts that seemed to lead into the sky. Only grayness was visible beyond it. A storm of icy water vapor and a frighteningly loud rumbling sound greeted her as she reached the end of the path. A majestic waterfall rained lightly on the smooth rock.

The source of the waterfall was not visible above her. It landed on a crudely semi-circular outcropping another fifty feet below, forming two smaller falls which disappeared into the frosty haze.

Alanna winced and shielded her eyes with her hand at the reflected glare from the haze.

Maybe the sun is out? she thought.

The sound was pleasing even though it was loud. Alanna reached out into the silver sparkle as it rained down. As the first sheets of water drenched her hand and arm, the waterfall vanished!

Alanna felt as if she had suddenly been transported to another place. The silence was so sudden. Dozens of tiny white butterflies fluttered past her. In the place of the waterfall was a translucent bluish spiral staircase that rose from the clouds below straight up into the sky!

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uch tableware is expensive. I’m sure you understand. My glasses are my business, you see. Perhaps we can come to an agreement? Business is hit or miss these days. I have just the thing here. You’ll be right as rain.”

Reina waited for the multitude of words to subside, much as she might wait for the last glops of sludge to fall from an empty well bucket. Enken’s nose wrinkled as he wondered how anyone could hear the man over the sound of his moustache.

The proprietor held up a short, wide glass as if for auction. “My price for my finest glassware is one copper monarch.”

Unfortunately for the proprietor, naming a price in the presence of Reina of Kulnas was like dangling a canary before a starving alley cat. She approached negotiations like a mongoose. The outcome was never in question. Only the speed and direction of the decisive strike.

The end of the Vicereine’s staff punched the wooden floor of the tavern, making a hollow sound. The very moment those between the door and the proprietor realized she was coming their way, spilled drinks and at least one overturned chair marked their escape.

As Reina slowly walked from the door to the bar, the patrons gave her considerable deference. Her robes scathed the floor. The sound was both unpleasant and ominous. She used her staff as a mountain climber might use a pick.

As hard as he tried, the proprietor still couldn’t see more than Reina’s chin until she reached the bar and raised her head slightly.

“I am not in the habit of paying for simple reagents. Perhaps I can conjure what I need.”

The proprietor’s skin began to crawl.

“Now to the best of my recollection, conjuring a fine drinking glass is a rather complex spell. It requires a living component.”

Reina’s voice lingered over her words, as if she were savoring her advantage. Her eyes met his.

“To complete my work I will require five human teeth.”

The proprietor slammed the base of the glass down on the bar and held on to it as if he were trying to recover from a wave of nausea. A nervous tick was causing his right eye to flutter, and his upper lip curled involuntarily. He pulled his hand away as Reina reached for the glass.

Enken looked over the Vicereine’s shoulder, then moved a chair to make room next to her.

“I will be quick about my business,” she said, taking the glass in her pale hand. His eyes rose, and a fresh wave of sickness overcame him as looked into the face of the jawless skull atop Reina’s staff.

The Vicereine examined the glass carefully, then turned slowly to one side and tossed it lightly into the air. Several people in the room jumped at the shattering sound. The proprietor closed his eyes and muttered to himself.

Reina’s eyes focused on the shards scattered around her feet. She identified the largest piece of glass on the floor, then brought the full measure of her powers to bear, gathering the flickering light from the room and altering it. She reached beyond the physical realm with her mind and one by one, she adjusted each dim beam of light to pass through the broken shards of glass and reveal what was beyond her sight.

The glass shards darkened, and clouds passed through them. Reina was looking down on an ocean at night, with each shard showing a different region of the water. Enken frowned, and then his eyes widened in recognition. A three-masted wooden ship.

“They are underway,” Enken said.

Reina’s mind reached deeper into the darkness, and the ocean faded. When her vision re-focused, she could see six people standing on the deck of the ship. One held a colorful jeweled Lantern. It’s light glowed through the broken glass and brightened the wooden floor of the tavern.

“If we do not reach the Gray Coral Strand in time to greet them, they will not survive,” Reina said quietly.

The Vicereine reached into her coin purse and drew an object from it carefully. She placed a crown-emblazoned silver coin on the bar. A month’s wages for a tavern keeper.

“My apologies for the mess.”

The patrons watched with a combination of dread and curiosity as the dusty-robed woman made her way back to the door and waited for Enken to hold it open. The proprietor finally exhaled as the last of her robes passed the edge of the doorjamb. Enken followed her outside.

Nobody spoke.

Continue to Chapter Seven