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“I’m okay,” Caelan replied slowly. “Do we have time for a short rest? I need a minute to get my feet under me again.”
“We should be close enough to the border that we can afford a break.” Rayne turned toward Eno, a worried scowl digging lines in the warrior’s face. “We’ll stay here with Cael and keep watch. Run ahead and see if you can spot a break in the trees.”
“On it,” Eno agreed and jogged off as if he had an endless supply of energy. Calean shook his head and shifted on the ground so that he was seated on his ass rather than putting pressure on his knees.
“Do you know what it was?” Rayne inquired softly.
“A heart attack?” Drayce threw out.
Caelan lifted his face to frown at his best friend. He couldn’t tell if he was being serious or just trying to get Caelan to laugh. He wanted to hit him on the head with a stick. “Not a heart attack.” He then looked at Rayne, who was standing over him, his gaze on the surrounding woods while his staff was clutched tightly in one hand. “And not an attack. At least, not any I’ve ever experienced.”
He rubbed his chest where the pain had been. It felt like every muscle in his body twitched and ached. There was now an almost electric charge crackling just under his skin, and he didn’t have to guess about that. Something had changed with the Godstone. “But the connection has changed.”
That got Rayne’s full attention. His advisor stared down at him, an eyebrow raised in question. “To the Godstone.”
Caelan nodded. “It feels wilder. Fuller.”
“I don’t understand.”
He could only shake his head. “Neither do I. The power I received before had been a smooth, cool flow. Like water from a bathroom faucet. And now…I don’t know. More like a fire hose, but utterly uncontrolled. I’m getting the brunt of the power, but it’s also going over me, around me.”
“Ouch. That sounds painful,” Drayce winced.
“At first, yes. But now, it’s just weird.”
“Do you know what has triggered this change?” Rayne demanded.
“Your guess is as good as mine right now. I’ve never had this happen.” He paused and shrugged. “But then, I’ve never been in the Ordas this far or this many miles from the stone. Either or both of those could be causing it. Maybe being in the Ordas caused a blockage, and either the Godstone broke through the dam or we’re close enough to the border that the Godstone overpowered the Ordas.”
Rayne hummed softly, scratching his bearded chin with his free hand, but he didn’t sound as if he particularly believed it. “If it doesn’t resolve itself, we may need to call the queen for advice. I don’t like this.”
“Yeah,” he sighed, hating to agree with him on this front, but the Godstone was not something to fuck around with. “It would also be best if we get moving again. This isn’t a place that I want to test out my ability to cast protection when things are going crazy with my connection.”
“Well, we’re in luck then,” Eno called as he jogged up to them. His scowl had been replaced with a smile. “The trees finally give way in a few hundred yards. There’s a wide field, but I could see hints of buildings and lights. Definitely a town. Gotta be less than a mile away. Maybe only a half a mile.”
“Oh, yeah!” Drayce shouted, punching at the sky. “A real bed and no bad kitties trying to eat my face!”
“Look at you. Just this morning you were saying that life wasn’t worth living if you couldn’t have bacon and sausage with your breakfast,” Rayne teased, earning a grin from Caelan.
Drayce shoved his hands into his pockets and tipped his chin up, but there was a hint of a smile playing on his lips. “Yeah, well, people change in the Ordas. I’m happy to say that I’ve roughed it here and hope to never return.”
“I’ll agree with that.” Calean shoved to his feet and dusted some dirt off the seat of his pants. “That was enough of a rest for me. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
They managed to cross the last half mile out of the Ordas with no trouble and started across the empty plain of waving dried grass that had grown to their waists, but they were sadly disappointed with what Eno had called a town.
As they entered through the main street—and it wasn’t hard to figure out which was the main street since the place looked like it had only three or four streets in total—they spied a gas station with an attached mechanic shop. There was also an old diner, a general store, a second restaurant, and a hardware store. Dust and faded paint covered every building. There were a few spots of green and color from flowers, but most of the grass was yellow from summer heat and not enough rain.
