into a secluded valley surrounded entirely by granite cliffs rising fifty feet into the air. The ubiquitous fog enshrouding the swamp was completely absent, revealing a sunny winter afternoon. The valley was lush with a wide variety of plants that looked like natural growth at first glance, but upon consideration must have been cultivated by Hazel for the sheer variety on display.
Isabel tipped her head back and closed her eyes. Slyder was perched on top of a cypress tree. She sent him into the air, circling higher and higher, trying to get a view of the valley but all she could see was swamp stretching away in every direction to the horizon. It made no sense. Slyder was close, she could feel it. He should have been able to see the valley, yet it didn’t appear to exist.
She followed a well-worn path through the artificial jungle toward the sound of men chopping wood. Not far from the cottage, Hector and Horace were cheerfully working away, splitting rounds of wood and stacking the wedges neatly along one side of the little clearing.
“Oh, hello Isabel,” Hector said. “Mistress Hazel said you’d wake soon. Isn’t this a wonderful place?” He went back to work stacking a round of wood atop his chopping block without waiting for an answer.
“I really like it here,” Horace said. “Do you think Mistress Hazel will let us stay?”
“What’s gotten into you?” Isabel demanded. “We have work to do.”
“I’ll say,” Hector said, motioning to the stack of rounds still awaiting the axe.
Isabel looked at him incredulously for a moment before turning on her heel and marching back to the cottage.
“What have you done to them?” she demanded, stalking toward Hazel.
“Just a simple charm spell,” Hazel said. “They’ll be fine.”
“Dispel it,” Isabel said. “Right now!”
“No,” Hazel said. “I’ll need that firewood for the winter.”
“They’re not your servants,” Isabel said. “Remove your charm or I’ll …”
“What will you do?” Hazel asked, pointedly. “Mind your tongue or I’ll send you back into the swamp alone. If the death leeches don’t get you, the Sin’Rath surely will.”
Isabel fixed her with a glare, her eyes flashing, but said nothing. Ayela looked from one to the other and then down into the fire. Isabel left the cottage, nursing her growing anger in the hopes that she could overcome the effects of the malaise weed, but her anger just didn’t quite rise to the level necessary to shield her from the pull of the firmament.
She started walking without any real destination, mostly just trying to put distance between herself and Hazel. She didn’t trust the old witch and she wasn’t about to let her take Ayela. She hadn’t known the Princess of Karth for long, but she felt she owed Ayela for helping her escape the Sin’Rath and she admired her for her strength in the face of powers that were so clearly beyond her. But more than any of that, Ayela had become her friend.
Isabel turned the facts of her situation over in her head while she walked around the little valley, an island of growth and life in a sea of desolation that was the gloaming swamp. The valley was lush and green with literally thousands of different types of plants, some still producing fruit, even this late in the year, others flowering as if it were spring.
She was essentially alone against Hazel, without access to her magic, stripped of her weapons and worse, she had very little understanding of the foe she faced. She wished Alexander would come to her. At the thought she stopped, frowning in thought.
He had been traveling with them when they entered the valley, providing light with his illusions until they crossed the threshold of the valley entrance and then he’d vanished. It wasn’t like him. He would have been there for her the moment she woke from the henbane. Worry slammed into her followed by helplessness. What if he was hurt? A thousand possibilities cascaded through her mind, each worse than the last. With an act of will and a deep breath she imposed a sense of relative calm on her mind. He would come to her when he could. There were more things happening in the Seven Isles than her predicament.
She started walking again, this time with a renewed sense of purpose. She explored the valley, looking for a way out, anything she could use as a weapon, and anything out of the ordinary. During her first trip around she didn’t find the entrance. Even though she