his life. Maybe this time he would follow his heart.
The Den wouldn't be the same if he left, but the Den, too, had been changing over these last few years, so this might be the time for the man and the landscape to go their separate ways. A bad time, to be sure, but a Landscaper had no right to interfere with a person's life journey, no matter the cost.
She started walking again, anxious to reach the cottage. Sebastian wouldn't mind her bedding down on his couch for a few hours. She needed some time to rest. She needed the peace of solitude so she could think.
But when she got close to the cottage, another swell in the currents of power washed through her. This one was fainter, as if it were a ripple of something that had begun a long way away, but no less powerful.
Another heart wish. And something more.
Glorianna reached under her hair and rubbed the back of her neck to get rid of the prickly feeling.
For good or ill, a catalyst was moving toward the Den—a person whose resonance would bring change.
And that change seemed to center on the cottage.
She went inside and hoped Sebastian hadn't rearranged the furniture since her last visit. Feeling her way in the dark, she reached the couch without tripping over anything, dropped her pack beside it, then slumped in one corner, knowing that if she stretched out she would never make the effort to get up and rummage for something to eat.
Nothing to be done about the heart wishes or the catalyst. Things were in motion, but a hundred possibilities could change the pattern that might bring those heart wishes and the catalyst together. Right now she needed to think about the alley and a landscape that had been taken out of the world long ago and shouldn't be able to touch the rest of Ephemera. And she needed to think about a possibility she didn't want to consider.
Sighing, Glorianna rubbed her hands over her face.
Only one way to find out. After she got some rest, she would go to the Landscapers' School and look at the forbidden garden, just to reassure herself that the Eater of the World was still contained behind a stone wall.
Chapter Four
"Hoo-whee! You lucky I came along," William Farmer said.
"Yeah," Sebastian muttered. "Lucky."
"Don't usually pick up strangers this close to a bridge. Can't never tell what might be crossing over from another place. But you look like a regular fella."
The farmer spent a minute making various noises at the two horses pulling the wagon, which didn't seem to have any effect on the animals. It certainly didn't increase their speed.
Travel lightly . Sebastian closed his eyes and tried to feel grateful that the farmer had offered him a ride.
Even if he'd followed the cart path that had led from the bridge, he could have spent days trying to reach Wizard City, getting detained one way or another over and over again. His reluctance to get anywhere near the wizards was at odds with the knowledge that it was what he needed to do. But Ephemera responded to the heart, not the head, so the landscape would have provided obstacles to keep him from reaching the city, turning the journey into a battle of wills—his against Ephemera. He still would have reached the city eventually, but the people he'd left behind in the Den didn't have time for eventually.
So when he'd reached the spot where the cart path joined the main road at the same moment the wagon was passing by, he'd accepted William Farmer's offer of a ride for what it was—a sign that the journey would go smoothly if he didn't turn away from the gifts that were offered.
No one ever said gifts like this came without a price.
But, he thought with a sour glance at the farmer, if he had to listen to the man hoo-whee all the way to Wizard City, the price of this particular gift was a bit steep.
"You really going up to Wizard City to talk to a wizard?" William asked. 1 am.
"Hoo-whee! Don't know as I'd want to do that. They's not like regular folks.
The Den wouldn't be the same if he left, but the Den, too, had been changing over these last few years, so this might be the time for the man and the landscape to go their separate ways. A bad time, to be sure, but a Landscaper had no right to interfere with a person's life journey, no matter the cost.
She started walking again, anxious to reach the cottage. Sebastian wouldn't mind her bedding down on his couch for a few hours. She needed some time to rest. She needed the peace of solitude so she could think.
But when she got close to the cottage, another swell in the currents of power washed through her. This one was fainter, as if it were a ripple of something that had begun a long way away, but no less powerful.
Another heart wish. And something more.
Glorianna reached under her hair and rubbed the back of her neck to get rid of the prickly feeling.
For good or ill, a catalyst was moving toward the Den—a person whose resonance would bring change.
And that change seemed to center on the cottage.
She went inside and hoped Sebastian hadn't rearranged the furniture since her last visit. Feeling her way in the dark, she reached the couch without tripping over anything, dropped her pack beside it, then slumped in one corner, knowing that if she stretched out she would never make the effort to get up and rummage for something to eat.
Nothing to be done about the heart wishes or the catalyst. Things were in motion, but a hundred possibilities could change the pattern that might bring those heart wishes and the catalyst together. Right now she needed to think about the alley and a landscape that had been taken out of the world long ago and shouldn't be able to touch the rest of Ephemera. And she needed to think about a possibility she didn't want to consider.
Sighing, Glorianna rubbed her hands over her face.
Only one way to find out. After she got some rest, she would go to the Landscapers' School and look at the forbidden garden, just to reassure herself that the Eater of the World was still contained behind a stone wall.
Chapter Four
"Hoo-whee! You lucky I came along," William Farmer said.
"Yeah," Sebastian muttered. "Lucky."
"Don't usually pick up strangers this close to a bridge. Can't never tell what might be crossing over from another place. But you look like a regular fella."
The farmer spent a minute making various noises at the two horses pulling the wagon, which didn't seem to have any effect on the animals. It certainly didn't increase their speed.
Travel lightly . Sebastian closed his eyes and tried to feel grateful that the farmer had offered him a ride.
Even if he'd followed the cart path that had led from the bridge, he could have spent days trying to reach Wizard City, getting detained one way or another over and over again. His reluctance to get anywhere near the wizards was at odds with the knowledge that it was what he needed to do. But Ephemera responded to the heart, not the head, so the landscape would have provided obstacles to keep him from reaching the city, turning the journey into a battle of wills—his against Ephemera. He still would have reached the city eventually, but the people he'd left behind in the Den didn't have time for eventually.
So when he'd reached the spot where the cart path joined the main road at the same moment the wagon was passing by, he'd accepted William Farmer's offer of a ride for what it was—a sign that the journey would go smoothly if he didn't turn away from the gifts that were offered.
No one ever said gifts like this came without a price.
But, he thought with a sour glance at the farmer, if he had to listen to the man hoo-whee all the way to Wizard City, the price of this particular gift was a bit steep.
"You really going up to Wizard City to talk to a wizard?" William asked. 1 am.
"Hoo-whee! Don't know as I'd want to do that. They's not like regular folks.
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