Sebastian

soon as possible. The demon cycles are the fastest way to travel."
    Reluctant but unable to think of how to refuse when he had been insisting they needed to reach Wizard City as quickly as possible, Koltak mounted the other demon cycle, setting his feet on the footrests the way Sebastian had done.
    "Hold on," Sebastian said.
    Koltak's hands ached from gripping the handlebars so hard. As the cycles moved sedately up the main street, he relaxed a little. They weren't going any faster than a horse could walk. Why couldn't they have used a natural beast instead of these creatures?
    "How many days do you think it will take to reach the bridge?" he asked.
    Sebastian looked at him, his expression hesitant and puzzled.
    Had to stop asking about time. The boy wasn't stupid. Given enough time to consider the nature of Ephemera, Sebastian would come to the correct conclusion, which would be disastrous. Need to move quickly to save Ephemera. Need to find the bridge to protect Ephemera .
    Sebastian grinned wickedly. "It won't take that long."
    They moved sedately up the main street until they reached the dirt lane. Then…
    Koltak screamed as the demon cycles surged forward, whipping above the dirt lane at speeds a galloping horse couldn't match or sustain. The cottage flashed by. Sebastian shouted, "Border ahead."
    The cycles lifted like a horse jumping a fence. Koltak had no idea if it was necessary to cross the border from this side or if it was the demon's perverse attempt to scare him into pissing himself.
    The ground he'd toiled to cross flowed under him, and the moon, almost full now, illuminated the land, giving it a strange beauty and peace he hadn't noticed or felt in all the days he'd been trapped in this landscape.
    The demons rumbled and slowed down as they approached what looked like pale, barren earth that had a ring of boulders at the center of the fan-shaped area.

    "It's sand," Sebastian said. Leaning forward, he tapped the demon on the shoulder. "Get us a little closer, but go slow. Be careful."
    The cycles edged up to within an arm's length of the place.
    "We've gone the wrong way," Koltak said. "I don't remember seeing a place like this."
    "No," Sebastian said in an odd voice, raising a hand to point at something half-buried in the sand. "I think this is the right way. Look."
    Koltak gasped when he realized he was looking at the severed horse's head. "But… it wasn't like this before."
    "It's been altered. I'm thinking if you cross the stones outlining the sand, you'll end up in another landscape a long way from here." Sebastian looked at Koltak, wariness in every line of his body. "What killed the horse?"
    "What does it matter?" Koltak replied, trying to hammer the fear back with righteous anger. She had done this. Must have done this. Had she altered an unprotected landscape into this wasteland? Were there towns out there, suddenly awash in sand?
    "What killed the horse?" Sebastian demanded.
    "Death rollers. There were death rollers in the pond."
    Sebastian took a deep breath. Blew it out slowly. "Doesn't look like they're going to find any water where they are now. Come on. If this was the same pond, we're not that far from the bridge. I couldn't have walked more than a couple of hours before I met the waterhorse." He paused, then added softly, "I wonder what happened to it."
    For the good of Ephemera , Koltak chanted silently. To save Ephemera .
    They headed north. One hill looked like another, as far as Koltak was concerned, just as one stand of trees looked much the same as all the others, but Sebastian slowed at each stand of trees, circling each one to study it from every direction.
    "It's this one," Sebastian said. "After crossing the bridge and walking for a while, I turned south at a stand of trees. I think it's this one."
    Koltak bit his tongue to keep from saying something imprudent. He couldn't risk saying anything that would jar Sebastians focused thought of reaching the bridge.
    They turned west, and in less time than Koltak would have thought possible, they reached a narrow creek.
    But not a bridge. No sign of the wood planks.
    The demon cycles drifted north, following the creek.
    "I see the planks!" Koltak said, his heart pounding with excitement. Almost there. Almost done. If Dalton didn't fail him…
    Suddenly the cycles swung away from the creek, snarling viciously. They circled back, ending up north of the planks, facing the way they'd come.

    "Something was here," Sebastian said