The space between worlds

It was a blizzard now – I could hardly see the horse in front of me. We seemed to be floating rather than galloping. The snow was no longer driving straight into my face. It was parting like a curtain before it touched my skin and I couldn’t hear anything at all except my own breathing.

All at once I began to feel strange and dizzy, and I feared I was about to fall off my horse. Alice tightened her grip upon my waist. I felt nausea in my belly . . . and then everything changed.

There was suddenly no snow; no battle; nobody but Alice and me staring out over a vast featureless plain of grey sand. My horse had come to a halt and I could feel it trembling beneath me. Above us the sky was the same colour as the sand; there were no clouds, no sun, no stars – just the same quality of light that might be expected back in the County at dusk. In every direction the horizon was obscured by a distant white mist.

I realized that Alice had used her magic to bring us to this strange place. But I needed to be back in the battle. I wanted to be sure that Jenny was safe and that everybody got back across the river.

‘Where are we, Alice?’ I demanded angrily. ‘Is this the dark?’

‘No, Tom, this is the space between worlds,’ she replied. ‘From here we could be back in Chipenden in an instant or, with great difficulty and danger, find our way into the heart of Valkarky. But the Kobalos mages can use it too.

Starblade Book 2 Chapter 19