Heads tilted heavenward. Simone said, "Eyeshot?"
Sergeant Murdoch echoed, "Experimented?"
And Heath, "Statues? Not the ones at your villa in Bryce?"
"If we don't land atop the wall," asked Wilemina, "where will we end up?"
Hazezon Tamar held up both hands as if to say, Trust me.
Jedit Ojanen asked, "How did Johan surmount the wall?"
Glad for an interruption, Hazezon lectured. "Oh, likely he just levitated his entourage. That would be no hard feat-"
"Why don't we?" asked Virgil.
"— no hard feat for some," Hazezon plowed on. "Or they may've flown. Remember the Tirrans possessed cloth-wing gliders and animated bird carcasses. Or Johan may have shifted them. I can't know his grimoire, but any of a dozen spells might suffice, and what one magician can conjure, another can replicate. Sometimes."
"Drag your anchor, Haz," sighed Adira Strongheart. "We're beached, so any harbor looks homey. What needs doing?"
Smug at a small victory, Hazezon beamed. "Link hands. Quickly, before we lose the light. And stop grumbling. Hold tight. Don't drop hands, or you'll break the ring-Eh?"
"Milord Tamar."
For the first time, the captain of Hazezon's bodyguard spoke up. Lieutenant Peregrine was tall with fair hair cropped square to her turban-wrapped pointed helmet. She wore the ocean-blue tunic with gold wave that represented Bryce's wealth, come from the sea, and over it a blue cloak. A pirate's scimitar was jammed in a sash, and like all the guards, she carried a lance with a fluttering blue pennant, but now she put that aside. Speaking out of turn on a personal matter, her cheeks flushed rose under a southern tan.
"If you'll permit, sir, I wish to accompany Her Ladyship's party, if Her Ladyship will allow it."
— "What?" Mentally rehearsing a spell, Hazezon was taken aback. "Peregrine, why this sudden decision to quit my service?"
"Milord." The woman stood soldier-straight while squirming inside. "My ancestors are said to come from Buzzard's Bay. I request a leave of absence to visit the region. I promised it to my-my mother. And I suspect Her Ladyship Strongheart would welcome an extra right arm."
"Not if you hail me as 'Her Ladyship' the livelong day," said Adira. "You bespeak me like some whaleboned brine hag. Aye, you're welcome to ship aboard. I'd give my right arm for one soul who can follow orders! And we mustn't disappoint your mother."
Teasing made the proud lieutenant blush deeper.
"Yes, go, Peregrine." Worried about his spell, Hazezon didn't care. "No need to dock your pay. Consider it detached duty. Guard Adira as you would me. The stars and moons know she attracts trouble like a lightning rod. Now, all join hands and hush, children! Remember, don't let go your grasp!"
Formally passing command to her second, Lieutenant Peregrine joined the circle with Adira Strongheart, Sergeant Murdoch, Sister Wilemina, Whistledove Kithkin, Jasmine Boreal, Simone the Siren, Heath, Virgil, and Jedit Ojanen. They joined hands, facing outward in a ring that corralled nine nervous horses. Jedit's big furry paws enfolded Wilemina's and Simone's hands halfway to the elbow.
Hazezon Tamar pried the wax stopper from his jug and dipped his finger in a bluish gel like berry juice with an eye-watering reek like vinegar. Touching a gooey blue finger to Adira's left hand, he traced up Adira's arm to her neck, crossed her throat gently, and striped down to her right hand. Adira protested "slime," but Hazezon carried on, dipping and smearing the liniment across Lieutenant Peregrine's chest, careful to keep the azure thread intact. Around the circle he plodded, smearing goo across leather and cloth and skin and tiger hide, all the while incanting under his breath, until he returned to his ex-wife. The desert mage's brow dripped sweat, which made the travelers cringe, but they kept silent.
Looking at the bulky horses and towering cliff wall, Hazezon gritted his teeth as he wound up the incantation.
"… on the wings of Wullab Fountain-Spitter, on the hooves of Gybo the Galloper, with the speed of the Firestorm Phoenix, upon the breath of Phanal-Unorg, I bid you, all joined as one, be gone!"
A great wind swept from nowhere to sizzle about the adventurers. Hair and skirts and mustaches billowed. Capes flipped over quivers and shoulders. Dust spattered faces, making people squeeze their eyes shut and snort. Horses whinnied with fright and skipped to break out of the human corral.
Adira gasped above the howl, "Don't let go or the magic-"
Gone.
Hazezon's servants and guards chirped. One second, Adira's crew swayed in a gale, the next they vanished, and the air fell still. Ears rang in the silence. The heroes hadn't faded away like sunlight nor been whisked upward like birds. They just ceased to exist.
A guard walked to the circle and gingerly toed a boot print.
A cook squeaked, "Did the charm work, Milord?"
In the shadow of the cliff, Hazezon Tamar leaned back and squinted at the distant blurred cliff top. The others peered upward.
Then a guard shouted a laugh. "Look!"
Arcing from the cliff, bright against a darkening sky, fizzled a fire arrow. It soared far out, high overhead, and gradually dropped to disappear in the desert.
Hazezon Tamar laughed with relief. "I knew it would work! I just dislike to boast and tempt fate. Our desert gods are fickle. Silly of me not to have arranged a signal beforehand. Live and learn, live and learn."
He wiped his face and shivered.
"Don't stand gawking, children. Tighten your cinches and mount up! Let's quit the shade of this fell cliff!"
Atop the cliff wall, Heath watched his fire arrow wink out far below. He had no fear of the bluff's sheer drop, but everyone else staggered back from the awful precipice. Wilemina sank onto shaking knees and gasped for breath, frightened both by magic and heights. Whistledove Kithkin crept on all fours to peek over the edge, then changed her mind and crabbed backward. Murdoch and Simone grabbed reins and cooed to nervous horses. Others straightened tackle or tended weapons to soothe shaking hands. Only Adira Strongheart turned to the business at hand, to explore a newfound world.
What she saw were pine trees, hundreds of them.
Marching almost to the cliff's edge, the trees reared straight and tall a hundred feet or more. Their uppermost branches swayed together, murmuring quietly like surf surging. The ground was soft black loam thickly carpeted with brown needles that hushed footfalls. Jots of unseasonable snow were dotted in hollows like flowers. A heady spice of turpentine and moss and water enveloped the party, the breath of the forest. Up here the sun was still high but was already eclipsed by towering trees. The adventurers could see past scaly gray-brown trunks for a hundred, in some places two hundred, feet, but past that light was defeated, and the forest lay still and dark, quiet and cool.
Adira blinked. An orange-black form glided between trunks then vanished. Spinning in place, Adira realized Jedit had slunk into the forest without a sound. At the roots of one tree, the tiger crouched to sift a handful of snow, totally amazed.
Marveling, Adira Strongheart kicked her boot heel and only disturbed more dirt. She wondered how far down it sank, since somewhere below must begin the massive stones of the giant hand-laid wall. Then she shrugged and retted her headband, dropping concerns of tigers and titans.
People startled as she asked, "Who's been here before? Heath? Jasmine?"
The part-elf shook his pale head. "Other pinelands, yes, but not these."
Jasmine Boreal was most local, hailing from a clan that lived beyond Buzzard's Bay, but she, too, shook her head. "This is Arboria, they call it, or the Pinelands. Near a hundred fifty leagues to the Goat's Walk and Buzzard's Bay, methinks. None cross this forest. Rather they trek the heath to reach the Northern Realm."
"Had we sailed the Storm Coast, we'd ride in luxury instead of tramping in mud and rain," groused Adira, "but we must follow Johan and see whither he wanders."