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    Sarien sat in the middle of the Eldian alliance war camp, surrounded by men, women, and children scurrying about on some task or another. Most helped to tend the wounded. Screams of agony and fear rose from those carried to the sick tents, where the Vatner healers helped whoever they could. Wind stirred Sarien’s hair, and he was thankful for the gusts of fresh air in the otherwise rank encampment.


    Sarien barely registered the smells and sounds of the camp. They were only minor distractions. His focus was elsewhere. The wayfaring wasn’t working properly. Well, it responded as usual when he reached inside his chest and stoked the power. The problem arose when he tried to utilize it. Something or someone was interfering with his ability to open gateways. He’d thought it was due to the imminent arrival of Wyndemir, but now he was not so certain.


    Grasping onto the power, Sarien felt connected to everything around him. Not just the camp and its inhabitants, but the world itself, and even those beyond.


    The white flame was like a path he could tap into, moving two points in space together so that he could open a gateway between them. This path carried a sense of contestation with it now, like thousands of beings were traversing it at the same time, or like a single being so enormous in scope that it did not allow anyone else to access it. It was the reason why Sarien believed the cause was Wyndemir. The two must be connected.


    Sarien flexed his power and attempted to push back against this intruder, but it was like trying to move a mountain. Impossible. Instead, he focused on the openings in the wayfaring. A faint impression of gateways opening and closing came to him when he let his mind flow through the white flame. He sensed that they were being opened and closed by wayfarers weaker than himself.


    If he was having such trouble opening gateways of his own, how were these being opened? There were only two conclusions. Either the wayfarers were all working together, as he had done with Thys. Or the wayfaring was only being restricted in Maydian.


    To test his theory, Sarien let the wayfaring take him to Malac without conjuring a gateway. He wasn’t used to this way of traveling, but immediately realized something was wrong. The presence turned its attention to him, and a great pressure exerted itself on Sarien, as if someone was trying to crush him like a bug.


    He successfully emerged in Malac, panting and dripping with sweat. The wayfaring was no longer safe to travel. Sarien found himself alone in the dungeons, the last place he’d been before escaping with the others to Rhinerien. The room was empty, and he saw no trace of Yelena. When he tried opening a gateway, that same resistance reared against him. This answered his second query. Whatever was happening didn''t affect only his own world. Taking care to move as quietly as possible, and with as much speed he could muster through the wayfaring, Sarien returned to Maydian in the very same spot he’d been sitting a moment earlier. People eyed him with alarm when he appeared out of thin air.


    The only answer that remained was that someone or a group of people were occupying the wayfaring and actively trying to keep him out of it. Were the other wayfarers involved somehow?


    Sarien’s mind spun in circles. All he knew for certain was that Wyndemir was coming, and that this very fact disrupted the wayfaring in some manner. That alone did not make it more difficult for him to traverse it. He was also being kept from it, or nearly so, by a group of people contesting his will as soon as he touched the power.


    Maydian would need a way to combat both threats at the same time. For that, Sarien needed his power. Thys had given him an idea. If they could pool their powers together and push Wyndemir away, they might stand a chance.


    With what he’d found during his glimpses into the wayfaring, one thing stood out as a sure answer among a mountain of questions. Wyndemir was not coming here by his own will. He was being pulled into existence from somewhere beyond.


    His priests would be a natural answer to the who, but Sarien didn’t think they were the only culprits. They were lending their strength to the cause, but they alone could not be responsible for the approaching calamity. The rhinn’s connection to the wayfaring was different from his own. It wasn''t as deep. He’d sensed that much when adding his own power to Thy’s gateway.


    The priests needed to be eliminated, but that task was already assigned to Kax, Lana, and Thys. What remained was gathering enough rhinn travelers to repel what was coming. How many would he need? Hundreds? Sarien didn’t even know how many rhinn travelers existed outside the priesthood.


    He needed to act. With that in mind, he went in search for Mica.


    It didn’t take long to find the leader of the rhinn resistance, bloodied and bandaged as he was, and Mica blurted out the answer to Sarien’s first question before he’d even had time to ask it.


    "Eighteen."


    "Travelers in the rhinn army?"


    Mica sat down on the muddy ground with a thud. "Your human commander didn''t want you leading them, but he relented when he saw what damage one of the god’s priests can do."


    "What happened?"


    "Mayhem, death. The usual," Mica answered, with an air of weariness.


    "Well done," Sarien said. "Where are the travelers?"


    Mica closed his eyes. "Give me a moment and I’ll take you to see them."


    Sarien shifted his weight from foot to foot, fiddling with the leather straps of his spear’s sheathe, until Mica had enough of his impatience and got to his feet. "Fine, let’s go."


    "Are there any travelers among the rhinn allies brought in by Thys? What about your rebels?"


    "There’s one among the rebels apart from me, not sure about the others."


    "I’ll need him or her too, and you," Sarien said, following Mica down another muddy path that went straight through the center of camp. "Can you find out about Thys’s people?"


    Mica sighed but didn’t voice any misgivings. "I’ll find out. And there are only male travelers."


    Sarien stopped dead in his tracks. "What? That can’t be right."


    “That is right,” Mica reiterated. "Women are never tested for the gift. The few that have been found using the gift throughout the centuries have been put to death."


    "Why?"


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    "I don’t know why, but this has always been the case no matter who ruled the lands in Rhinerien, so it isn’t just the priesthood or the Emperor."


    "How do you test for the ability?" Sarien asked, dropping the topic for the moment.


    "It’s simple," Mica said, holding out his palm to Sarien’s chest. The sense of something solid and authoritative passed through Sarien’s white flame and he watched as Mica’s eyes widened. Mica collapsed to the ground, unconscious.


    "Hey!" Sarien shouted, shaking the rhinn. "Mica!"


    It took a slap to the face for the rebel leader’s eyes to flutter open. "What happened?"


    "You put your hand to my chest and then you collapsed!"


    Mica raised his hand again from where he lay on the ground.


    "Are you sure?" Sarien asked.


    He nodded. "I have to know."


    A tentative sensation fluttered through Sarien’s white flame this time, almost imperceptible. Mica still grunted and breathed hard. "So strong."


    "How are you doing that?" Sarien asked. “No one else has been able to sense it.”


    "Just touch me anywhere and let your traveling move between yourself and my core. You should feel my power responding to yours. Don’t they teach you anything here?"


    "Apparently not," Sarien said, grabbing the rhinn’s shoulder. The white flame poured through him and into Mica, responding to Sarien’s will like it already knew what it was supposed to do. There was a sense of something there. It was faint, but unmistakable.


    Mica gasped. "Easy there!"


    "Sorry," Sarien said, pulling back.


    When Mica had recovered, Sarien continued, "You’re right, I could feel something there."


    "Told you."


    "But you’ve never felt that with a female?"


    "I’ve never tested a woman," Mica corrected.


    "You will," Sarien said. "We will need all the help we can possible get, and that includes women."


    Mica sighed, exasperated. "I’m telling you, it’s a waste of time. From what I’ve heard, there are barely any women with the ability at all. Even if you find one or two, they will never use it. They’ll be too afraid of the consequences."


    "We’ll see."


    They made it to the rhinn travelers and Sarien demonstrated how they could join their powers together.


    Quite a few of the travelers gasped through the scarves they wore over the lower half of their faces and began muttering amongst themselves after they touched their traveling to Sarien’s white flame. Mica barked orders for them to calm down.


    "When the time comes, this is what I’ll need from you," Sarien said. "Together, we’ll stop Wyndemir from breaking through into our reality."


    They silenced instantly.


    Sarien cleared his throat, bracing himself for cries of outrage at his next order. "I need volunteers for a group that will go back to Rhinerien and test your female rhinn for the ability to travel."


    The crowd remained silent for several more breaths. Then one of them cleared this throat, started to speak, fumbled, then started again. "What about the women here?"


    "You have women here?"


    "Camp followers," someone said.


    They started speaking over each other until a clear and high voice rang out from the middle of the group. "I’d like to volunteer."


    The traveler stood and removed their scarf, revealing the face of a female rhinn in her middle years with short-cropped brown hair.


    Sarien glanced at the flabbergasted Mica, and smirked. "A waste of time, you said?"


    The crowd of travelers looked just as surprised, all except the rhinn man to her left. He stood and removed his scarf as well. "My wife. I’m sorry, but we didn’t know what to do. Please don’t punish her."


    "Hush now," the woman said, waving for her husband to sit. She turned to Sarien with a challenge in her eyes. "You’re saying we don’t have to hide anymore?"


    "You don’t have to hide anymore," Sarien promised. "Do you know of any other women with the ability?"


    "Women are hunted and killed by the priesthood in Rhinerien if we as much think about touching the traveling. Most don’t even know women with the ability exist, even among the travelers." She pointed at her companions, who all stared in disbelief. "As you can see."


    "We need the assistance of every single traveler if we’re going to pull this off," Sarien said.


    Two other rhinn popped to their feet and Mica sat down in the grass, shaking his head.


    "Hi!" one of them said in a sunny voice, waving her hand after removing her face covering.


    The other one didn’t say a thing, but slowly removed her scarf to reveal the face of a young female rhinn.


    “You didn’t have to show yourselves," the older woman said, exasperated.


    "It’s fine, I trust him." The younger woman removed her cap, presenting short-cropped dark hair. She smiled brightly. "Maybe we can let our hair grow out now."


    "I don’t trust him," the second woman said, glaring at Sarien, "but I’m done with hiding."


    He thought of them as young, but in actuality, they were probably his own age. Sarien nodded to each of them. "What are your names?"


    One of the male travelers shot to his feet, a dagger clutched in his hand, shouting, "Degenerates!"


    He lunged for the closest woman, the dark-haired one, and she raised her hand as if to open a gateway. Without hesitating, Sarien lent her his strength, forcing it open on her behalf. The male traveler tumbled through and disappeared as she shut the gateway behind him.


    They heard a faint, faraway scream and Sarien looked up to see the rhinn man falling to his doom.


    "Join your strengths to hers," Sarien shouted, pointing at the dark-haired woman. "And you, put him back on the ground!"


    "But he tried to kill me!"


    "We need everyone," Sarien said, watching the other travelers concentrate. "Do it!"


    The young woman grumbled but finally relented, opening a gateway to catch the still screaming rhinn in midair. This time, Sarien didn’t lend his own strength, but they managed to get the gateway opened without him. They understood and successfully executed the concept he had been explaining to them.


    The exit appeared beside them, but instead of falling through to land on the ground, the male traveler shot out like an arrow, flying through the camp to skid across the grass before finally coming to a stop.


    "Someone go tell him that his punishment will be more severe next time," Sarien ordered. "If anyone else has a problem with women joining our ranks, let me know now."


    No one spoke up.


    He turned to the women. "What are your names?"


    "Henna," the first older woman said.


    The dark-haired, bubbly one raised her hand and waved again. "I’m Tlem!"


    "Yonfer," the surly one said, speaking as if someone was forcing it out of her.


    "Are you comfortable going back to Rhinerien in search of more women travelers like yourselves?"


    "If I may?" Henna said.


    Sarien nodded.


    "At least one of us three should remain and gather those already in this world."


    Yonfer sighed. "I’ll stay."


    "It’s decided then," Sarien agreed. "Mica, you’ll go with Yonfer. Bring a few soldiers for protection."


    "Fine, fine," Mica said, looking out at the group and the three women in particular. "Why didn’t you join the rebellion?" he asked, the question clearly for Henna, Tlem, and Yonfer.


    "Why would we?" Tlem asked, honest confusion painted across her face.


    "We didn’t know what the priesthood was planning," Henna added.


    Yonfer glared. "And the rebellion wouldn’t be more welcoming to us, anyway."


    Mica nodded. "Perhaps not."


    It was another hour before everything was set in place and the women were off. Sarien sent them to a spot just outside the rhinn capital and they promised to return in three days so he could retrieve them. Three days wasn''t long, but it would have to be enough.


    Yonfer replaced the scarf around her face before setting off with Mica in the direction of the rhinn parts of the encampment. According to her, the three of them were not the only ones hiding in plain sight, and she would return with plenty of new recruits.


    The rest of the travelers set out to test every rhinn they could find, both male and female. Sarien wanted them all even if they were unaware of their nascent powers. It would take a legion of travelers to enact his plan.


    He turned his gaze up at the sky and was overcome with an eerie sensation. Something was closing in on their world. Not yet. But soon.


    With a knot of unease in his gut, Sarien took out his mother’s book.