off and traveled into the wasteland. It was initially hard to see, which was the danger, for it carried little visible signature to make itself known. She focused on a place where the air was a subtle shade of red. The wind was twisting, fast and hot, scouring the land as it moved.
The foreign presence knew what to look for. The firestorm left a track on the field of rocks and boulders, a swathe burned black, where smoke rose from the ground.
Selena was made to watch it for a time, and then she felt that the presence had seen enough. She heard a clicking voice break the silence.
Follow your lifeline to your body.
She was forcibly turned in her casting, until she faced the direction she had come from. The group of skalen was so far away it couldn’t be seen. But she saw a faint white line, cutting through the wasteland in a direct line past the tall rock formation. She sensed that the softly glowing cord connected her to her body. It took little effort to gently pull on it. Soon she was flying over the plain once more. The tower of boulders sped toward her, then the field of pale gravel, and finally she saw a multitude of lizard-like figures and a cluster standing around a mantorean and a young woman on her knees.
Selena dived back into her body and gasped.
Slowly her eyes refocused. After a few breaths, her vision returned to the way it had been before. With an effort she climbed to her feet. Rei-kika’s body slumped; she looked both tired and regretful. Group Leader Vail stood watching. The golden sun beat down on the plain.
“Well?” Vail demanded.
“If we go this way, the firestorm will be on our left.” Rei-kika pointed.
“Good,” said Vail. She turned to her son, Watch Leader Rees. “We will march in daylight, with a short rest at midday, until we are past the firestorm. Gather our people.” She scowled at Selena. “Do not fail me again.”
The march continued, but this time Selena traveled up front. As the golden sun climbed ever higher and cast fierce rays onto the barren landscape, she recognized features from her casting and directed the group, keeping the column clear of the firestorm’s path.
She was still shaken by what had happened. Every time she remembered what it had felt like to have another awareness in control of her casting, she felt sick. Rei-kika had seen her as no one else had. Her very identity had been violated. She was glad that the mantorean was traveling with Rees, rather than with her and Group Leader Vail. She would do anything to avoid her mind being penetrated again.
But at the same time, when she managed to bring herself back to that moment of joy, before the mantorean took charge, she knew she had been free. Her casting was no longer hazy. It had been as sharp as what she could see with her own eyes.
She began to see the scars of destruction that the firestorm had left behind as it moved across the terrain. Being caught in its heart would lead to a fiery death, and even the smoking rock would burn anyone foolish enough to walk on it.
It was only when they were drawing closer to the small range of mountains and were well clear of the firestorm’s path of travel that Group Leader Vail called a halt.
Two hours into the midday rest, with the skalen taking shelter below a low cliff, a pair of guards took Selena on another journey. They prodded her to keep her moving as she wondered where they were taking her in the blazing heat; the skalen usually conserved their energy. She looked everywhere for Taimin or Lars, scanning the mass of figures as she walked through the group, but couldn’t see them. Her anxiety grew, working its way through her body until her jaw was clenched.
“You should never displease Group Leader Vail,” said one of the guards. “But you are fortunate. Watch Leader Rees convinced her to give you another chance to fulfil the bargain you made.”
Sweat beaded on Selena’s forehead. A hill grew in her vision, dotted with sentinel cactuses twice the height of a man. She was brought to a halt.
“There, mystic,” one of the skalen said. “Look.”
Selena’s eyes shot wide open. The hill was exposed to direct sunlight but the man-like shapes of the cactuses had confused her. Horror was a heavy, sinking weight in her chest.
She saw Taimin, recognizable