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Karigan watched theo, but the mist rolled back in over the battlefield and they were lost to sight Once again she followed the stallion as he delved into the delicate billowy stuff, but it quickly lifted, and when it did, all signs of the battle were erased She shook her head and continued on

Karigan almost walked into the stallion’s rump when he came to a sudden halt She peered around hiraceful curve It was ranite as the others but the parapet walls ended in rounded scrolls She couldn’t get over how ordinary and real the bridges were, and how at home they’d look in a park or country estate

“Are we going to cross this one?” she asked

The stallion tossed his head, his forelock falling over one eye, then stepped onto the bridge She walked beside hi different about the white world as she did so, but when they reached the center of the bridge’s vast deck, the far end appeared darker, lanced uncertainly at the stallion His nostrils flared and he bobbed his head

“What—” she began, but he nudged her with his nose and she stue was clear: he wanted her to cross the bridge into thewith me?”

The stallion took one step back and bowed his head

Karigan licked her lips and hesitantly walked forward, toward the cloud engulfing the scrolled ends of the bridge She took a final glance back at the stallion—he stood silent and still as a statue, just watching her

She had to trust hiuided her to soe world Before she could talk herself out of taking those last few steps, she strode the rest of the way into the dark cloud

RIDER IN BLACK

A burst of wind froe and into darkness She tripped and landed in a pile of refuse

“Ugh,” she said, pushing herself up frouts?

Fro its repast She rose to her feet, brushing fish scales and other disagreeable bits frohed in joy at the stench, the dark of night, the sounds of voices soold of la around her She’d left the white world behind and returned to one full of life, scents, and textures

She tugged Willis’ cloak closer around her to fend off the cold, realizing that while this was a vast improvement over the white world, she hadn’t the faintest idea of where she was Was she even in Sacoridia? At the moment she stood in a tiny courtyard behind someone’s house or business, occupied mainly by crates, casks, and rubbish

Business, she decided

The opportunity arose to discover her precise location in the person of a portly and harried wo a bucket from the back door of the establishment

“Excuse an said