“What did you do? I could have ported us out-” Her voice stopped abruptly, and Sath flung his arms out toward her but felt nothing. This had to be just a port spell. She must have finished her recitation before he flung the potion. A loud rush of air filled his ears as it always did, but somehow it seemed to go on much longer than it should have this time. Sath finally caught Gin’s tunic, and he clung to her as she screamed and wound her fingers deep into his fur to keep hold of him. He opened his eyes but saw nothing but blackness and stars, and found that he could not draw a breath deeply at all. Fighting back the panic rising in his chest, he wrapped his arms even tighter around Gin to make sure that they were not separated. After what seemed like several lifetimes, they hit the ground with a crack, landing in a heap on what felt like dry dirt and stone.
Sath sat up and, to his horror, found that Gin was underneath him on the ground. “Gin?” he whispered, fearing that his weight and the force of the impact had killed her. She was so still…but breathing. “Gin!” he said, willing her to open her eyes. After a few tense moments, her eyelids fluttered, and she opened her eyes, looking up at him with confusion.
“Why…are you…on top of me?” Gin said haltingly as she tried to take a deep breath. Sath watched as her lips moved in a silent recitation of a healing spell, and soon he felt the wave wash over him as well. He scrambled off of her but stayed very close, not taking his eyes off of her.
“Can you stand?” he asked quietly. Gin nodded and got to her feet with a little help from him—though, in truth, he was just as wobbly on his own feet. “Your Sephine be praised,” he muttered as he stood and looked around.
“Where are we, Sath?” Gin said, anxiety creeping in around the edge of her voice as she moved closer to the Qatu.
“I’m not sure…but it doesn’t look like the Forest,” Sath said. Panic again threatened to overtake him as it had in the transport, but he held it at bay, scanning the area for anything familiar. The bond he had with Gin had been a blessing, but also a curse—if he let fear take him, she would know it immediately. The sky was as dark as it had been when he had opened his eyes during transport, and there were stars—but they didn’t look familiar to him at all. A cold and slightly salty wind blew around them, only marginally stronger than a breeze but enough to lift the bits of Sath’s fur that weren’t already on end in alarm. A gasp from Gin brought his attention around to her, and he looked where she was pointing at…nothing. They were standing on a rock in the middle of nothing—surrounded by water, from the sound of it.
“It…looks like the world. . .exploded,” Gin whispered. The large rocks they were standing on seemed to be connected to others by smaller stones that spanned the space between them, rather like a path across a stream. On the other side of one of the trails was more ground and maybe grass—it was hard to tell in the near pitch dark. But Gin was right, it looked like the world they knew, but after a great battle had literally blown open parts of the land. Sath ran a hand over the top of his head while keeping the other arm tightly wound around Gin.
“Aye, it does, but it’s not right,” Sath whispered back. “Look, there’s water here and-” He took a deep breath and exhaled before speaking again. “Salt air. Saltwater. We are near—or on, or IN—a large body of water. The ocean. But how did we end up here? That potion was supposed to just grant us camouflage if we needed an escape.”
Gin tightened her grip on his arm. “I don’t know, Sath. Is that one of the potions you got from the Ikedrian in the Outpost? Before you ask, yes, I saw that through the bond.” He scowled at her. “Do you not think that is a coincidence that she made you the potion, and then we were chased by one of her kind and had to use it?” She stamped her foot in irritation, causing a slight grin to spread across her companion’s furry face. “What?”
“It’s nothing…just that here that little foot of yours doesn’t echo like it does in Qatu’anari,” he chuckled, trying to make the best of their situation. Gin wasn’t having it. She pushed his arm away and folded her arms across her own chest, causing the rippling sound of tiny bells as her armor shifted and moved. Sath was glad that he had convinced her to wear her helmet on this trip. It was chainmail rather than leather, and he would at least know that she was better protected should they meet trouble. “I was taking us to Bellesea, yes, but we were going to catch a boat and sail down and around to Calder’s Port. That’s how we used to travel, remember? Rather than use magic and step through rifts to -” He paused as a horrible thought entered his mind. “Gin, you don’t think…” Sath’s jaw dropped as he scanned the immediate area. “Could this be one of those rifts?” He pulled her back close to him protectively, causing her to let out an exasperated sigh.
“If that is where we are, how do we get back out? Ben took me to the Void once, and it did
