Hands on the steering stone, Haplo waited.
The dog sat beside him, ears up, eyes alert, mouth open in an expectant grin. Time passed. The dog eased himself down on the floor, front feet extended, head up, still watching, its plumy tail brushing the floor. More time. The dog yawned. Its head sank beneath its paws; his eyes, on Haplo, became reproachful. Haplo waited, hands on the stone. The blue beams had long since ceased to shoot out. The only object he could see were the suns, gleaming like a superheated coin.
Haplo began to wonder if the ship was still flying. He couldn’t tell. Magically controlled, the cables didn’t creak, the wings didn’t move, the ship made no sound. Haplo had no point of reference, he couldn’t see clouds scudding past, he couldn’t see land drawing near or receding, there was no horizon.
The dog rolled over on its side and went to sleep.
The runes beneath his hands remained dark and lifeless. Haplo felt fear’s small sharp teeth start to gnaw at him. He told himself he was being foolish, there was absolutely nothing to be afraid of.
That’s just the point, something inside him answered. There’s nothing.
Perhaps the stone was malfunctioning? The thought crossed Haplo’s mind, but he immediately banished it. Magic was never fallible. Those using it might be, but Haplo knew he had activated the beams correctly. He envisioned them in his mind, traveling with incredible speed into the void. Traveling, traveling, an immense distance. What did it mean, if the light didn’t come back?
Haplo pondered. A beam of light, shining in the darkness of a cave, lights your way a certain distance, then eventually grows dim and finally fades out completely. The beam is bright, concentrated around its source. But as it travels farther away from the source, it begins to break apart, diffuse. A shiver prickled Haplo’s skin, the hair on his arms rose. The dog sat up suddenly, teeth bared, a low growl rumbling in its throat.
The blue beams were incredibly powerful. They would have to travel an immense distance before they weakened to the point where they could not return. Or perhaps they had encountered some sort of obstacle? Haplo slowly withdrew his hands from the stone.
He eased himself down beside the dog, soothing it with his hand. The animal, sensing his master’s trouble, gazed at him anxiously, tail thumping against the deck, asking what to do.
“I don’t know,” Haplo murmured, staring out into the dazzling, empty sky.
For the first time in his life, he felt completely helpless. He’d waged a desperate battle for his life on Arianus and he hadn’t experienced the terror he was beginning to feel now. He’d faced countless enemies in the Labyrinth-foes many times his size and strength and sometimes intelligence-and he’d never succumbed to the panic starting to bubble up within him.
“This is nonsense!” he said aloud, leaping to his feet with a suddenness that unnerved the dog and caused it to scramble back, out of his way.
Haplo ran through the ship, staring out every portal, peering through every crack and cranny, hoping desperately to see some sign of something-anything-except endless blue-green sky and those damn, brightly shining suns. He climbed up top, moved out onto the ship’s huge wings. The sensation of wind blowing against his face gave him his first impression that they were indeed moving through the air. Grasping onto the rail, he stared out over the ship’s hull, stared down, down, down into an endless blue-green void. And he wondered suddenly if he was looking down. Perhaps he was looking up. Perhaps he was flying upside down. He had no way to tell.
The dog stood at the foot of the ladder, gazing up at its master and whining. The animal was afraid to come topside. Haplo had a sudden vision of falling over the hull, falling and falling endlessly, and he didn’t blame the dog for not wanting to risk it. The Patryn’s hands, gripping the rail, were wet with sweat. With an effort, he pried them loose and hurried back down below.
Once on the bridge, he paced its length, back and forth, and cursed himself for a coward. “Damn!” he swore and slammed his fist hard into the solid wood bulkhead.