The skiff abruptly darts forward like an arrow loosed and my heart leaps into my throat. I cling to Bleddyn and we zoom into the mountain’s depths, switchbacking through tunnels at breathtaking speed.

Eventually, we burst through a narrow gap of stone and out over the Vo River. My lungs seize, our sudden height a shock to my senses. It was one thing to fly over the Vo on Trystan’s skiff, quite another to be on this tiny skiff zooming straight off a mountaintop cliff, no railing surrounding us. The skiff swoops down toward the water with alarming velocity.

“Ancient One,” I gasp, looking down at the impossible distance to the black river rushing below.

“Stop that,” Bleddyn snaps over her shoulder as she swoops lower and levels the skiff out. “You’re not Gardnerian anymore. You’d best remember that.”

Chastened, I glance behind us toward where I imagine Fain’s estate was, but it’s no longer visible. We skirt closer to the river, our skiff’s runic glow reflecting on the water as Bleddyn hugs another mountain curve. The two island-mountains of the Wyvernguard and the sparkling city of Voloi come into view—and what lies before them triggers a jolt of alarm.

A newly erected blue line stretches across the river’s expanse, east to west, military rune skiffs patrolling it. Three gaps in its breadth appear to be heavily guarded, gluts of runic ships massed near the gaps in small queues, waiting to be allowed passage.

“What’s this?” I ask Bleddyn, foreboding rippling through my gut.

“Quiet,” Bleddyn grits out as she veers toward the most eastern checkpoint.

We draw up to it as a young Vu Trin soldier waves through the two ships directly before us in quick succession, her slender form backlit by the sapphire light emanating from the runic barrier. The luminous wall of runes extends down past the water’s surface as far as the eye can see, eventually disappearing into a rippling, hazy glow of blue.

The heavily armed soldier is attractive, with long-lashed eyes and dark brown skin. Her full lips are painted a variety of purple hues, and violet glitter is brushed over her eyelids and cheekbones, her long black hair decorated with iridescent purple moon and filigreed heart medallions. Xishlon festival ornamentation, I realize, as I send up a prayer that the upcoming holiday is enough to keep this soldier distracted.

“What’s this, Yu Zo?” Bleddyn congenially asks, her hand waving in a broad arc.

Yu Zo frowns, glancing west before settling her sharp gaze on Bleddyn. “Another hunt for the Black Witch. Ung Li has ordered a massive search of the city and all river traffic. Again.”

Bleddyn huffs out a laugh. “Good luck with that so close to Xishlon.”