Fragments - Book One of the Missing

Chapter 27 - Rowan

Rowan's confidence in herself was growing. She had been able to practice her gift several times successfully on the Majestic, as well as outside - like the maze. Her gift still made her capable of horrible things, was the cause of so many horrible things. But at least that wasn't all that defined her anymore.

She gathered her dinner plate and went to the sink to clean it. Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Hamza set up the scrying bowl on the table in his small living area.

"What are you looking for?" she asked.

"This time, I was hoping to show you two a little about the world I come from, and a little bit about Darus's Army. Information is power."

"How can you scry on Darus's Army? Aren't most of them still in Embla?"

"Yes, but once I have touched a person, I can scry on them anywhere. Even through Embla's protective shields."

"So you spy on them. Brilliant," Taniel said as he came into the room. He offered to carry the scrying bowl for Hamza, who seemed slower than usual today.

"Thanks, my boy. My leg is killing me in this cold."

"Old injury?" Taniel asked.

"Something like that. Got it in the war." Hamza settled into his chair and waited for Taniel to set up the scrying bowl in front of him. "Taniel, can you turn out the light. Just light some of the candles, please."

Rowan took a seat across from Hamza. Taniel walked around the perimeter of the room, lighting candles to replicate the warm glow of the first night they arrived. Finally he took a seat next to her.

"Put your hands lightly on the surface of the water, as if they were floating."

Gratefully, the water was warm. Rowan didn't know how much more cold she could handle.

"Close your eyes, and keep your mind blank. When I start moving my hands you will see images shifting before you - it may be a bit much until I find the person I am looking for."

It happened suddenly. First blackness then an overwhelming feeling of being pushed back, pinned by some force. Faces passed her in a rush. There must have been thousands of them. Her stomach churned with the vague feeling of motion sickness.

Then just as quickly, one face stopped in front of her — a girl about her age, with soft features and a small nose. The girl fell back, and Rowan fell forward towards her, into her.

Rowan was standing on a beach, Taniel and Hamza beside her. Hamza pointed to a girl in front of them, watching out over the ocean. Rowan followed her gaze and saw three ships approaching the shore. Surely, she thought, they would run aground. But the nearer they came, the higher the ships rose - as if they were floating.

The girl on the beach waved them on, directing the ships. In unison, the ships turned slightly and landed on the shore, all at slight angles. The girl walked up the dunes to call out to someone Rowan couldn't see. She left Hamza and Taniel by the shore to see what was on the other side of the sand dunes.

The view was spectacular, and spectacularly frightening. Vivid green grass rolled out for miles, with small hills, one after the other, almost as if in rows. The plain was lined on the far side with thick trees that must have reached hundreds of feet tall.

It wasn't until Rowan saw people filing out of the hills did she realize they were camouflaged hide-aways. Or army tents, more like it, as the men and women striding to the beach were all dressed in armor. Several pushed wagons which floated above the ground.