Belladonna

bitter gristle. "When he crossed over from Wizard City, intending to find me in the Den, he ended up in the waterhorses' landscape instead. A few weeks before that, when I had gone to Wizard City to report the murders in the Den, I ended up in the waterhorses' landscape too, when I crossed a bridge to get away from that thrice-cursed city. I walked a few hours before meeting a waterhorse that was willing to give me a ride without tricks."
    "The Eater had killed one of them," Glorianna said. "It was scared."
    Sebastian nodded. "Didn't take that long to reach the border and cross over to the Den. But Koltak wandered through that landscape for days trying to find the Den, and ended up going to Dunberry and Foggy Downs."
    Michael nodded. "Would have taken him some time to go from one place to the other, even on horseback."
    "The point is, he was able to reach both from the waterhorses' landscape."
    "Are there waterhorses around Foggy Downs?" Glorianna asked Michael.
    "Sometimes," he said. He looked at Sebastian. "You're thinking going through the waterhorses' landscape would be a shortcut to Dunberry and Foggy Downs?"
    "Maybe," Sebastian replied. "I just know Koltak ended up in those places while he was looking for the Den."
    "The Eater of the World is out there in Elandar," Lee said, bracing his hands on either side of his plate. "We know that.
    Creating the bridge between Aurora and Darling's Harbor was risky enough since that provides a way in to both your landscapes."
    He tipped his head to indicate Nadia and Glorianna. "Creating a bridge between —"
    "A resonating bridge," Glorianna said, interrupting him. "In the waterhorses' landscape. And you could create a couple of one-shot bridges Michael could carry with him that would get him back —"
    "Here," Sebastian said, interrupting her. "That would get him back to the Den."
    "A wise choice," Yoshani said. "I agree."
    "All right," Glorianna said. "One-shot bridges that would get Michael back to the Den if I need to return to my island."
    Lee didn't look happy, but he nodded.
    Jeb pulled out a pocket watch and studied the time. "Still the shank of the evening in Aurora. Barely past dinnertime."
    "In that case, let's enjoy the food Philo provided," Nadia said.
    Meeting adjourned, Glorianna thought as she picked at her food. Discussion ended. She would need to pack tonight, would need to consider what to carry.
    Tomorrow she would begin another stage of her journey.
    She tried not to wonder if she would ever return home.

Chapter Twenty-six
    M ichael stared at the sand and stone that scarred the rolling green land. "That isn't right. That doesn't belong here. Did that ... Eater
    ... do this?"
    "No," Glorianna said, her voice as dry as the sand. "I did." She swung off the demon cycle, then shrugged out of her pack and set it on the ground before moving closer to the sand.
    "Why?" Michael asked. Either she didn't hear him or chose to ignore him, so he swung off the demon cycle he was riding and shrugged out of his pack too. Since he had his full pack with all his gear, he didn't see any reason to be clanking and clanging while he tried to talk to the woman.
    "Careful," Sebastian warned.
    Not sure if the warning was meant as a caution about approaching the sand or Glorianna, Michael took care as he got closer to both.
    "So," Michael said. "Is this like the sandbox?"
    "No, this is a desert." She studied the sand and stones, then nodded as if satisfied.
    "So if someone steps onto the sand ..."
    "They cross over to that landscape."
    Wasn't much of a landscape, Michael thought as he took a step closer. Some stones and sand and ... Was that the remains of a horses head?
    "So you step over the stones and end up in a desert, Then you step back over to this ..." Part of the word, he finished silently as it occurred to him that he was looking at a piece of the world far away from anything he knew.
    "The stones form the border here in the waterhorses' landscape," Glorianna said. "They don't exist in the desert landscape."
    Michael frowned. "Then how do you know where to cross over to get back here?"
    "You don't get back here, Magician. That was the point of altering the landscape."
    He stared at her.
    Glorianna huffed out a breath. "The Eater had formed an access point for the death rollers in the pond that existed here. I closed it once after Sebastian told me about the waterhorse being killed, but a dark heart passed this place often enough to allow the Eater to restore the access