Stone of Tears

Richard reversed the positions of his hands resting on the pommel. “Yes. But that’s just on mountaintops. The air is colder up there. We’re not on a mountaintop.”

Still she did not move. “Not just mountaintops have different weather. In the south the weather is not so cold as it is in the north. But this place is different still. It’s like an inexhaustible well of heat.”

“And just what is this place?”

“The Valley of the Lost,” she whispered.

“Who was lost in it?”

“Those who created it, and whoever enters.” At last she turned a bit to peer at him. “It’s the end of the world. Your world, anyway.”

He shifted his weight to the other side when Bonnie did the same. “If it’s the end of the world, why are we here?”

Sister Verna held her hand up to the land behind. “Just as there is Westland, where you were born, separated from the Midlands, and the Midlands from D’Hara, so, too, are those lands separated from what lies on the far side of this place.”

Richard frowned. “And what lies on the other side of here?”

She turned back to the expanse before them. “You lived in the New World. Across this valley lies the Old World.”

The Old World? I never heard of the Old World.”

“Few in the New World have. It has been sealed away and forgotten. This valley, the Valley of the Lost, separates them, much the same way the boundary used to separate the three lands of the New World. The last of the country we have been crossing has been inhospitable, a desert wasteland. Anyone venturing through it and into this valley never returns. People think there is nothing beyond, that this is the southern end of the Midlands and D’Hara, with nothing beyond but what you see here: an endless waste, where one could die of thirst and hunger and you could have your bones baked by the heat of the sun.”

Richard eased Bonnie up next to the Sister. “so, what is beyond? And why can’t anyone cross? And if no one can cross, how can we?”

She looked over out of the corner of her eye. “simple questions, but not simply answered.” She relaxed back in her saddle a little. “The land between the New and the Old Worlds narrows somewhat, with the sea to each side.”

“The sea?”

“You have never seen the ocean?”

Richard shook his head. “In Westland, it lies far to the south, and people don’t live there. Or, so I’ve been told. I’ve heard others speak of the ocean, but I’ve never seen it. They say it’s more vast than any lake ever imagined.”

Sister Verna gave him a little smile. They speak true.” She turned ahead, pointing off to the right. “some distance that way lies the sea.” She pointed left, to the southeast. “Off even farther in that direction is also the sea. Though the land is vast between them, it is still the narrowest place between the New and the Old Worlds. Because of that, a war was fought here. A war between wizards.”

Richard straightened in his saddle. “Wizards? What war?”

“Yes, wizards. It was ages ago, when there were many wizards. What you see before you is the result of that war. It’s all that remains, as a reminder, of what wizards who have more power than wisdom can conjure.”

He didn’t like the accusing look she gave him. “Who won?”

At last she folded her hands over the pommel of her saddle and let her shoulders relax a bit. “No one. The two sides were separated by this land between the seas. Though the fighting may have stopped, no one prevailed.”

Richard leaned around for a waterskin. “How about a drink?”

With a small smile, she took the skin as he handed it over and took a long draw. “This valley is an example of what can happen when your heart, rather than your head, rules your magic.” Her smile evaporated. “Because of what they did, the peoples of the two worlds are separated for all time. It is one reason the Sisters of the Light work to teach those with the gift—so they will not act out of foolishness.”

“What were they fighting about?”

“What do wizards ever fight about? They fought over which wizards should rule.”

“I was told something about a wizard’s war over whether or not wizards should rule at all.”

She handed back the waterskin and wiped her lips with one finger. “That was a different war, yet part of the same. After this place separated the two sides, some of each camp were trapped on the New World side. Both groups had gone to enforce their rule on those who had traveled to live in the New World, and on those who had always lived there.

“Once trapped, one side went into hiding for centuries and worked to build their strength before they attempted to seize power over all the New World. The war that had burned long ago flared again, until their force was defeated, except for a few who fled into their stronghold in D’Hara.” She lifted an eyebrow to him. “Kin of yours, I believe.”