Bonn Skaard called for Starlex, and the only answer he received was the rush of frozen wind in his ears. His hard, muscled skin was used to the rough winds of Kadaar, but the sound in his ears was so unbearable it threatened his very sanity so that when he, at last, entered the atmosphere and saw the blue sea beneath him, he almost welcomed the relief of sudden death.

  Quickly, he reviewed his life as he fell. It was a hard life, a life of pain and struggle. But he had been blessed too. He had known great happiness when he was with his wife, Klava Kadaar, and their young son Bo. But the Thrades had ripped away that joy from him and all that was left was the will to live, only to fight for his people and to exact revenge on his enemies.

  When the fight became too hard and his brethren's loss too great, he humbled himself and asked for help from the mainland. But that experience only reinforced what he already knew to be true: the people of the mainland were not to be trusted. They worshipped a god who had long ago abandoned his kind. But then he met the violet-eyed Illyminum princess and discovered a new faith. And when he learned she carried his child, he allowed himself to believe—if only for a moment—that perhaps there was more to life than the daily fight for survival.

  And yet here he was, passing from one world to the next. He didn't think twice when he leaped through what the mainlanders called the God Gate. He followed his heart and for that, despite everything, he was glad.

  As the blue sea rushed toward him, he could make out more of this strange world he was entering, the so-called Blue Planet, to which no man from Ardelym had ever traveled. Whitecaps indicated rough waters, and floating pieces of wood that land was nearby. Plummeting toward the sea, he saw that those specks of wood were boats, long ones, not unlike the fishing boats he once built in Jotur. He thought suddenly of his friend Leiffen and smiled.

  By the time the sea yielded to the penetration of his falling body, he had made peace with himself and acknowledged, that despite everything, he had lived a good life.

  The impact had stunned him enough to knock his brain around inside his head but it hadn't killed him. He didn't fancy a drowning death but if this was his fate, he must accept it. As he plunged to the bottom of the sea he opened his eyes and spotted a school of small fish scurrying away as if he had disturbed them. He dropped like a stone into the dark depths, embraced by the cold arms of a watery death.

  "Be a shame to survive the fall, only to drown like an old sailor, wouldn't it mate?" he almost heard Leiffen's voice ask.

  His feet hit the seafloor, sending a shock through his body. A puff of black earth surrounding him. At what point, he wondered, do I breath in his cold fire. He thought of the family he'd lost and the love he had found, and wondered if the god who ruled this planet was as cruel as the old gods of Kadaar.

  With his last swallow of breath fighting for release, Bonn gazed up at the surface where a pool of yellow sunlight beckoned him with new freedom.

  It was now or never. He demanded his legs to make a low crouch, then he bounced off the seafloor, giving him just enough momentum to rise. His muscular arms cut through the water as he fought against his bursting lungs. With his eyes trained on the rippling circle of sunlight, he slowly let go of the air. He controlled the bubbles rippling from his mouth, the pain in his chest, and kept telling himself, "Rise! Rise!"

  He felt the scrape of a fish's fin against his torso and watched his blood flower before his eyes. Ignoring the pain, he kept crawling toward the surface. Out of breath now. His instinct about to take over and force water into his lungs, he made one final push.

  His head popped up among rough waves.

  A fountain of saltwater spewed from his mouth followed by a great Skaard war cry. A wave fell on him from behind and knocked the breath clean out of him. That was followed by another wave, and then another. At last, he got his bearings and dove deep beneath the waves, surfacing on the other side.

  Bobbing in the far distance was the dark outline of a landmass. He swam toward it until he was crawling on his belly through the surf, and he didn't stop moving until the lapping waves gave way to the hot sand.

  "Starlex," he whispered with tears of gratitude and wretchedness stinging his eyes as his legs crumbled beneath him. He embraced the sand as closely as he ever had his love. Gripping fistfuls of rough sand, he wept for Starlex, knowing she could have never survived the ordeal he had barely lived through.

  With that sad thought clouding his relief at being alive, Bonn clambered to his knees, pressed his palms together, and prayed. In his native Skaard tongue, he prayed to the old gods of the Jotur forest, and to Illym, and to whatever god or goddess ruled this new world in which he found himself, shaken but alive.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  * * *

  Starlex's flesh instantly cooled once she crawled into the shade. The relief was so intense she wept. But her tears were dry. The muddy smell of damp earth egged her on as she dragged herself to the edge of an emerald pool and tumbled in head-first. The cool water jarred her from her stupor, and when she surfaced, she spewed out a mouthful of fresh water that she had gulped in so eagerly she nearly drowned.

  She ducked her head under again, resurfaced with a cry of pure joy then floated on her back from one end of the pond to the other. She gazed up at the tall palms sweeping their branches across the bright blue sky.

  Perhaps I am dead and I have at last arrived at the Heavens, she thought, her tears blending with the drops of water on her face. And if that is the case, then I am happy to stay in this place forever.

  Except, her thought continued, as her arms and legs made slow and steady strokes through the cool, green water, I would be terribly lonely.

  Her thirst sated at last and her skin cooled, her mind turned to another pressing need: hunger.

  She swam to the coolest end of the pond and stepped up a ladder formed from smooth rocks and settled beneath a large palm tree. She had seen similar trees in Mynimium's interior gardens, but never one this large. In fact, the entire scale of this new world appeared to be near twice the size of her Ardelym.

  After resting on the bank for a while, Starlex slowly clambered to her feet in search of food. She had lost one suede boot in the pond. Deciding to retrieve it later if she could, she slipped off its mate and padded barefoot across the soft white sand. Her gown was in tatters now, the thin fabric barely covering her breasts. The Nazeer belt was clasped high on her waist above her bulging belly. She took a moment to cradle the child within, wondering if he or she was more comfortable now that her skin was cooled.

  One thing was certain, she reminded herself, mother and child must eat soon if they were to survive. Survival was all there was.

  Gingerly, she traversed her new environment. Among the tall palm trees were low, scrubby bushes. Her nasal passages now flushed clean, her keen sense of smell led her up a narrow path. Among the swaying palms, a single fig tree stood proudly.

  Starlex ran to it. Standing on top of a boulder that seemed to have been placed there for that express purpose, she jumped until she reached a lower branch. Then pulling it down to meet her, she picked several of the fruit which appeared the ripest. She sat beneath the tree in the shade and ate the slightly bitter-tasting figs until her stomach ached. Her appetite sated, at last, she gave in to exhaustion and curled into a ball in the shade.

  * * *

  A jangle of a horse's harness awoke her. Starlex opened her violet eyes and gazed at a sky so bright with stars that for a moment she thought she was back in the void. She sat up and pulled her knees to her chest. In the pool below her, she saw the reflection of the stars above. The intense beauty of the vision almost overshadowed the danger. Almost. For there were three horses drinking at the pool and two people, a man and a woman. Even in the low light, she saw that their faces and hands were dark in contrast to their white robes and head coverings. She would almost mistake them for Scipio Davadas' kin except they were much taller and leaner and they spoke to each other in an odd tongue.

  She wondered what would be the better tack: speak up and risk being molested or killed, or remain silent and making this small oasis her home. How long could she live on water and figs? Her baby kicked within her, reminding her of its presence. Her decision was made, she must approach these people and pray they are friendly.

  Starlex, her pale skin shimmering beneath the starlight, emerged from the path. The woman gasped, dropped the horse's reins, and ran back to the white sea of sand.

  Am I really that terrifying? Starlex thought, walking around the edge of the pool to where the flighty horses pawed the sand.

  "Shhh," she said, approaching a white mare that reminded her of Sola. The horse sniffed the air as she approached and calmed down as she showed she was not an enemy. She flattened her hand beneath the horse's velvet-soft nose and let it sniff her palm, still sticky with the remnants of the figs she had eaten. As the horse licked her hand, the people who she now observed were a family, couple and a boy of about ten, approached her cautiously.

  "I am lost," she said in the Ardelymian common tongue. "Will you help me find my way to the nearest city?"

  As expected, the couple showed no sign of comprehending her words. Wary glances volleyed between the man and the woman. Starlex kept her distance from them, shielding herself, and her near-nakedness, with a wall of horseflesh.

  The man said something to the woman in a tongue that lacked the musical cadence she was used to. His words were the hard staccato beats of a battle dum.

  The woman nodded and approached the second horse, a gelding, nearly black in the moonlight. She removed a rolled up rug from behind the saddles and unfurled it on the ground. The man, his dark eyes never leaving Starlex's, did the same with another rug. Then the woman pulled a bolt of silk from the pack.

  A ripple of fear traveled down Starlex's back when she watched the man then produced a dagger from his belt. The wavy blade of the scimitar glinted in the moonlight. Her legs stiffened, readying themselves for a quick retreat. But he only used the blade to slice into the fabric. He put the knife back in his belt and ripped the silk the rest of the way. Then he tossed the ball of silk at Starlex with a curl of disgust on his lips nestled within his dark beard.

  Starlex wrapped the length of silk around her body, and then crouched in the sand. A cold wave of shame washed over her and she resisted the urge to cry.

  The man grunted orders at his family while they went about setting up their camp. When they had laid out their rugs on a bed of sand, the woman looked up at Starlex and motioned for her to sleep on the rug she had placed on the ground near where the horses were tied.

  So, I am to bed with the beasts? Starlex thought with pride. Still, she was grateful for the kindness and made herself comfortable on the rug. The man watched her with dark eyes glimmering through the moonlight, until at last, she could not longer fight the fatigue in her body. Trusting they would open again the following morning, she shut her eyes.