As she winged toward the Courts of Tide, she marveled at the changes that had taken place there.
For a thousand years, the Courts of Tide had been the richest city in all of Rofehavan. Built upon seven islands, the city was surrounded by the waters of the Carroll Sea, and great bridges spanned from island to island.
But now everything was amiss. The ground had risen, leaving fields of rotting kelp and sea urchins to the east of the city. The odor of brine and decomposing fish assailed her. Carcasses from beached whales and a leviathan littered the plains.
Down below, islands had become hills. Ships in the harbor were stranded on dry ground, miles from any shore. Rhianna peered to the east, seeking for a glimpse of the ocean. She could not be certain, but she thought that she saw water far in the distance, twenty or more miles out. But it could have just been vapors rising from what was once the ocean floor.
Swooping into a dive, Rhianna headed for the old palace at the Courts of Tide. It still stood, tall and pristine. Its white towers gleamed in the morning sun. Atop its pinnacles, standards snapped in a sharp breeze-white flags with the red Orb of Internook at their center. Where once there had been alcoves open to the sea, where undines had risen on the waves to take council with ancient kings, Rhianna saw only rocks and ruin. All along the island s old shore, shanties and fishermen s huts and old inns leaned precariously, like so much driftwood washed up on the beach.
Children could be seen down below, where once there had been forty feet of water, searching through the remains of tide pools for crabs and urchins, while adults prowled about old shipwrecks, perhaps seeking for lost treasure.
Rhianna banked to her left and folded her wings, dropping toward the main road to the palace.
She was two hundred yards out when someone let a ballista bolt fly from the castle wall. She folded her wings, creating a smaller target, and hit the ground hard.
It was a terrible landing. She lost her footing and went tumbling, head over heels.
It might have been all that saved her. The marksmen upon the castle wall stopped firing, as one of the men shouted, 'I got it! I shot it clean through.'
Others cheered and celebrated.
Rhianna climbed to her knees and cried out, 'Parley. I come in peace. I come to speak with Warlord Bairn on an urgent matter, concerning the safety of his borders.'
Bairn was the current usurper squatting at the Courts of Tide. He didn t really rule the place. The city was becoming a barren ghetto, where gangs fought for food and shelter. He was a mere vulture, picking at the remains of Mystarria.
Only when Rhianna looked up to the castle wall did she notice the bodies. There were three of them, hanging by their wrists in the shadows just below the battlements and just above the drawbridge. Human they were, but not like the small folk. They were the corpses of humans from the warrior clans at Caer Luciare. They had the bony head plates and the nubs of horns at their temples.
Two men and a woman hung dead on the castle wall.
Immediately Rhianna knew what had happened. When the worlds were bound, there were some people who lived on two worlds at once, people who had shadow selves. And when the worlds became one, those who lived on both worlds were bound into one person, retaining the memories and skills and abilities of both.
It had happened to her foster sister Talon, and to the Wizard Sisel.
But for reasons that Rhianna could not understand, when the two were bound into one, there seemed to be no pattern as to where they ended up. Talon s two 'selves' had merged at Castle Coorm, though one of her shadow selves had been hundreds of miles away, in Caer Luciare. And Rhianna knew from news at Caer Luciare that Sir Borenson s two halves must have merged on the far side of the world, for Talon s shadow father had gone missing from the fortress.
Perhaps one personality dominated the other, and the two halves merged with the dominant personality, Rhianna mused. Or maybe some other factor came into play. Perhaps it was all just dumb luck, random chance.
But these three unfortunate souls had merged here at the Courts of Tide. And because of their strange appearance, they had been killed.
The captain of the guard shouted, 'Hold! Don t move!'
He was a big man, with golden-red hair and leather armor made of sealskin. He didn t bother wearing a helm.
He eyed Rhianna, curious. He demanded, 'What are you?'
'A woman,' Rhianna said. 'I come as a friend, bearing a message.'
The captain studied her suspiciously. By some instinct, Rhianna flapped her wings slowly, trying to cool herself. This amused the captain, and he leaned over the castle wall, peering down at her, as if to peek down Rhianna s blouse.
'Never have I seen a dove with bigger wings or finer breasts,' the captain said. Behind him the pikemen and marksmen upon the wall chortled at the jest. 'If you are really a woman, prove it.'
Anything I say will just be a joke to him, Rhianna realized. She refused to rise to the bait, and just stood glaring at him.
He was dying to find out how she had gotten her wings, and Rhianna was just as determined never to tell him.
'So,' the captain of the guard said at last, 'you hope to speak to Warlord Bairn. On what business?'
She decided to command his interest.
'A mountain of blood metal has risen within the borders of Mystarria,' Rhianna told him. 'I thought that I should warn Bairn to get it, before his enemies do.'
The captain of the guard suddenly straightened and took interest. 'Where is this mountain?'
'That is information I will sell-to Warlord Bairn alone.'
The captain s brown eyes glittered with malice. He raised his hand. 'Archers!' he commanded, and suddenly dozens of bowmen rose up from behind the merlons of the castle wall. 'Ready arrows.'
The archers bent their bows to the full.
The captain studied Rhianna, to see if she d squirm.
'Kill me,' Rhianna promised, 'and Bairn will have you hanging from the city gates before sundown.'
The captain considered her threat. He warned the archers, 'Don t let her leave,' then turned and raced from the castle gate.
Rhianna sat down and waited, folding her wings about her. The artificial wings draped over her shoulder suddenly, so that the folds of skin looked like a crimson dress.
The archers held their bows at the ready for long minutes, until their arms grew tired and they went to rest.
Bairn did not summon her to his great hall. Perhaps he feared this woman with wings. So he came to the top of the gate himself, like a king negotiating a siege.
He was a tough-looking man, with dark hair and sharp widow s peak. He had a broad, cruel face and thin lips. His eyes seemed colorless and looked glazed, as if he had been drinking.
'Name yourself,' he demanded. He was wearing a cloak of black, and as he casually leapt up and sat upon a merlon, he suddenly reminded Rhianna of a huge black vulture worrying over a corpse.
'Rhianna,' she said, 'Rhianna Borenson.' She did not want to use her real name, and so she used the name of her foster father.
'Borenson…' he said. 'That name is known to me.'
'My father was once guardsman to the Earth King,' she said. 'He held forth at this very castle.'
'You have his red hair,' Bairn mused. That was true enough, though she was not blood kin to Borenson. Still, it was a name that commanded respect.
'I ve come to give you warning,' Rhianna said. 'There is a new danger in the land-a type of giant, called wyrmlings.'
'We have found some,' Bairn said, nodding toward the dead folk on his walls. 'They are responsible for this… mess.' His eyes roved across the armor, taking in the fields of rotting kelp below them.
Rhianna didn t know if she should argue. Warlord Bairn was known to be a brawler, and took offense when
