“It came this way,” the boy said, poking the disembodied head with the tip of his blade. “Did you see it?”
“I’ve only just arrived. You’re the first people I’ve seen.”
“How’d you come to be here?” the blond man asked.
I held out my statuette. “This brought me here.”
“Is that… a Wult? Why is it wearing horns?”
I shrugged. “Earth misconceptions.”
In the distance, an eerie wailing was carried on the wind. We stood still as we listened, the sound making my skin prickle with fear.
“Is that the beast?” I whispered.
The woman nodded.
The blond man motioned for the others to follow. We crept through the forest on quiet feet, the mud muffling our footsteps. The strange, umbrella-like leaves filtered the sunlight. When we stepped out of the shelter of the trees and onto a cliff overlooking a broad valley, I had to catch my breath.
On the horizon, twin suns hovered above the mountaintops. The sky was tinged red, as if the atmosphere here were made up of different particles.
The howling came again, though far in the distance on the other side of the canyon. The sound faded as the suns set.
“How did it get so far away from us?” the boy asked. “We were right on top of it a moment ago.”
“Magic?” I said. “If it was creating portals, it most likely has powers of some sort.”
“I hate magic,” the blond man said, working his jaw back and forth. I had to admit he had a nice face, if one liked manly, rugged features. Thankfully, I didn’t.
“We’ll have to make camp,” the woman said. “We can’t scale down the cliffs and traverse the valley in the dark.”
“But we’ll lose the beast,” the boy said.
“No. It won’t escape us, that I promise,” the blond man said, hefting his sword. “Not while I’m chasing it.”
Confident, much?
The older man scratched his wiry beard. “What do we do with the waif?”
Waif?
They all turned their gazes on me.
“What are you wearing, girl?” the bearded man asked.
I glanced down at my attire. “This is Earthlander clothing.”
“It’s hardly suited for traversing. You’re not even wearing shoes,” the woman said.
“Well, I wasn’t planning on traveling anywhere. I was sitting comfortably in my computer lab when I got unexpectedly sucked into a portal.”
The woman clucked her tongue. “She’ll die if we leave her here dressed that way. Doesn’t look like she’s brought any food with her, either.”
The blond man scrutinized me. I didn’t like his penetrating gaze, as if he could read my thoughts. “We haven’t got time for tagalongs.”
“I’m no tagalong,” I said. “I’ve got magic. I could probably help you track down that beast if you asked nicely.”
“Good luck getting him to do that,” the woman said. “He never stoops so low as to ask anyone for help.”
The blond man shrugged. “If she wants to help us track the beast, I wouldn’t dissuade her.”
“Only because she has a pretty face,” the girl said, smirking.
He raised an eyebrow. “I said nothing about her looks.”
“You didn’t have to.”
The red-bearded man shifted the battle axe he carried. “What sort of magic do you possess?” he asked.
“Faythander magic—specifically, elven magic. I also have Earth magic when it’s cooperating. And it’s not. I don’t think I could use either of my powers to create a portal right now, which makes me wonder how I’m getting home. First, I need to know where I am.”
“We’re wondering the same thing,” the girl said. “Although if we catch this beast, we’re hopeful it will create another portal back to Faythander.”
“Then let’s hope it does,” I said.
The light had slowly faded as we’d stood on the cliff. I could barely make out the jagged peaks across the canyon. A few stars dotted the sky, and three moons appeared above us. One was a faint pink color. Odd.
“Can you at least use your magic to start fires?” the boy asked.
“Yes.” I smiled. “That I can do.”
“Very well, then,” the red-bearded man said. “She stays.”
#
We sat around a campfire sputtering glowing embers that got carried on the wind, the air thick with the scent of woodsmoke. I didn’t know where I was or who these people were, yet strangely, I felt at home with them. It was a feeling that didn’t happen often. Or ever.
I was the offspring of a human and an elf. My parents had abandoned me to be raised by dragons in Faythander. Ten years ago, I’d gone to Earth, hoping to forge some sort of relationship with my mother. It hadn’t happened, so I’d moved out. I’d ended up going to medical school, then I’d landed in Boston, trying to scrounge up some sort of practice to cure people who’d gone to Faythander and returned to Earth with amnesia and depression.
That would never happen unless I got my mirror box to function—and I still had the problem of creating a reliably functioning Wult statuette. I’d put it in my jeans’ pocket, hoping to snag a bit of authentic Wult… something to craft into the pewter. I eyed the man with the red beard. How would he react if I plucked out a strand?
“What’s it like where you come from?” the woman asked.
“Are you sure you want to know? It’s not all that interesting.”
“She doesn’t have to talk about herself if she doesn’t want to,” the blond man said.
“It’s not that I don’t want to, but I’d rather not bore you. Also, I think you’ve got me at a disadvantage. I don’t know anything about any of you. I don’t even know your names.”
“That’s an easy enough problem to solve,” the boy said. “I’m Rolf.” He sat up straighter. “The cousin of Prince Kull—that big brute there.” He pointed to the blond man. “The woman is Kull’s sister,
