The Rift War by Michelle L. Levigne Page A

tunnel, makes me feel like I am three hundred. I want to travel the tunnel beneath the sea and
see that other-time world before I die."
    "That would be an adventure!" Ectrix tried to imagine the world beyond the enchanter's
protective spells. What changes could two thousand years bring to the world outside the
dome?
    Martus stood slowly, staring over the boy's shoulder. He raised his arm just as slowly,
pointing at the opposite wall, his eyes getting bigger, his skin going pale, then a moment later
flushing dark red.
    Ectrix turned and looked where his superior pointed. In the niche where it had stood as a
signal for generations, the golden-white, dancing flame had changed to royal blue. It held still, as
if made of glass or ice.
    "The heir is coming," the boy whispered. His gaze turned to the open window. Below,
hidden in shadows and trees and tall, lush spring grass, was the mouth of the tunnel to the
other-time world.
    "Go!" Martus' voice cracked. "The Regent has to prepare."
    For a moment, Ectrix drank in the colors and enchanted beauty of the signal flame. Then
he tore himself away and dashed down the steps. Five seconds to snatch up the saddlebag of
provisions, a water skin, and his cloak. He barely took time to saddle his horse before mounting
and digging in his heels.
    "Baedrix!" he shouted to the sky, the wind forcing the words back into his mouth. "She's
coming! The heir is coming!"
    * * * *
    She had felt the tingling of the portal at least ten minutes before they reached it. The
growing sense of the thinning wall between the tunnel and the Vale of Lanteer made the hairs on
her arms and the back of her neck stand up, and filled her with a sense of well-being. Such a
strong sense, she had to fight the urge to sing at the top of her lungs, to leap off her horse and
spin in a wild, child's dance, her feet never touching the ground.
    Their torches dimmed as they approached the portal. A blue and silver sparkling light
shimmered around Mrillis, outlining his shape, enhancing the colors in his clothes as he passed
through the wall, then the opening became visible, as if the enchanter had been the key.
    The energy shimmered across her skin, rainbow lights shooting from her fingertips like
rockets for a few seconds as she followed her grandfather. She felt like she had twenty hours of
sleep compressed into a flicker of time. Emrillian turned to watch Grego pass through the barrier.
He stared, mouth dropping open, as he looked around at the new place they had entered.
    "Now wait a minute..." Grego stared as the roof of the tunnel vanished in bright, soft
light.
    Emrillian smothered a chuckle behind her hand, watching astonishment and disbelief
war on his face. She had wondered how long it would take him to notice the change.
    Sheer walls of stone glistened as if made of crushed jewels mixed with severe black and
gray stone. Light flared from balls of blue and green luminescence. They oozed from the ceiling
like drops of water until they detached and floated, gently bobbing in the air over their heads.
Emrillian felt a gentle tingling in the air. Her hair lifted from her scalp as if stirred by wind.
    The soft, faintly amber light came from everywhere around them. Pillars of rock in
muted rainbows blocked her vision, but couldn't mute an impression of vastness. She
remembered what Mrillis had told Grego during their earlier stop, that the Vale of Lanteer was
no longer a valley. She wondered if the rock pillars had once been trees, if the colors came from
the birds and flowers that had been here, alive, absorbed when the Threads wrapped around the
Vale and pulled it out of the fabric of time and space.
    "How did we get here?" Grego blurted. He dismounted when Mrillis did, staring all
around, his head moving like on a loose pivot.
    "Long ago, when I was young and arrogant and didn't know what was impossible, I
anchored the Vale of Lanteer to this part of the tunnel. It is a good sign, that the doorway opened
at our approach,