Trial by Fire

Gideon had heard of the Outlander shamans. They were laughed at by the Covens, but the Outlanders believed that shamans had some kind of telepathic ability that allowed them to do something that only the greatest witches could ever do—farsee. Gideon had read about farseeing in an obscure book, and he didn’t entirely rule out the shamanistic ability to do it, like the haughty Covens did. He also didn’t rule out the possibility that Carrick was actually a great magical talent who’d been overlooked. Call it farseeing or spirit walking, either way the possibilities were intriguing.


“Continue,” Gideon said in level tone. He poured another glass of wine for Carrick and motioned for him to sit down.

“My father died when I was a teenager, and I went back to the shaman. After a few weeks he … decided not to teach me how to spirit walk.” Carrick’s face fell. Gideon had never had much talent himself, but he knew that for those who did have it, not developing it was like being a musician whose instrument has been smashed. How horrible for the poor drub. Carrick took a deep drink of wine before continuing. “But before I was sent away, I learned enough to believe that there are other worlds, and that they are as real as this one.”

Instead of sitting behind his desk, Gideon opted for the other armchair next to Carrick. He brought the decanter of wine with him, and refreshed both their glasses.

“Tell me about these other worlds, Carrick,” Gideon said with genuine interest.




Lily watched the stars whirl all night. Meteors streaked across the sky—dozens of them. She wished on every single one that she would be magically transported back home, but they all burned to black and left her exactly where she was. It didn’t take Lily long to realize that no amount of wishing was going to get her anywhere. She had to act.

The stars faded, the sun came up, and Lily made a decision. No matter what happened, no matter how hard it was, she was going to find a way to get home.

She heard Rowan awake with a start before he reconciled himself to his surroundings. His back scraped across the trunk of the tree as he slid sideways—trying to see around the branch she was sitting on to get a look at her.

“Are you awake?” he asked, his voice still rough from sleep.

“Yeah.”

“Did you sleep at all?”

“No.” She heard him mumble something to himself and decided to cut him off before he could scold her again. “My butt did, though. Slept like a log all night.”

“Well, obviously, your butt has more sense than you do.”

“You’re a funny man, Rowan whatever-your-last-name-is.”

“Fall.”

“I’d rather not.”

She managed to get a tiny chuckle out of him, which she considered a huge achievement. Rowan stood up on his branch, bringing his head level with Lily’s, and started to untie her. His lips were still pursed in a near smile.

“My name is Rowan Fall,” he said, tossing the rope over her lap as he unwrapped her. His eyes briefly flicked up to meet hers and then back down to his task. “I was born Outland. My community traveled from site to site, gathering minerals or mining them as we could. Depending on the Woven, of course. Outlanders aren’t allowed to own land or stake out permanent settlements.”

“Why not?” Lily asked.

“The Covens and the Council—”

“Are those like two different branches of government?” Lily interjected.

“It’s more complicated but, yeah, that works for now,” Rowan replied, a hint of admiration in his eyes. “Anyway, the Covens and Council decided that it was too dangerous to try to establish settlements outside the thirteen walled cities because they’d be impossible to defend. If the Outlanders were citizens, they’d be entitled to all the rights that citizens have—and one of those rights is to be defended by the Guard. So the Council denied them citizenship.”

“How brave of them,” Lily retorted.

“Right?” Rowan smiled at Lily briefly, his face lighting up, before he dropped his eyes and went back to coiling the rope around his forearm. “But no citizenship means Outlanders have no rights to own land. It all stems from the fact that Outlanders weren’t supposed to have survived the Woven Outbreak in the first place. But now that many generations have persisted, the laws keep it so Outlanders have no rights. That way they’re a source of cheap goods and labor for the Thirteen Cities.”