Sharp, cold wind flew against my cheeks and I eventually had to squeeze my eyes shut and press my face into the Stag’s neck. My hair whipped and tangled behind me and my thighs ached from the endless rumbling motion of the Stag’s rhythmic strides.

  We had left my home forest far behind and ventured forth to the distant “Palewood” Cervis had mentioned; I had no idea such a place even existed, prior to tonight. It seemed after a while that Cervis’s hooves only skimmed the ground, rather than actually touching it. Now and then, as we crossed alien landscapes I had never seen the likes of, I began to feel an inkling of fear about what fate would befall me- but Cervis had said not to be afraid. I refused to give in to my doubts about the unknown. Think of it as an adventure, I reminded myself, time and time again. I closed my eyes and tried to imagine I was out riding Father’s horse in the forest on hidden trails, but the vision wouldn’t hold, disturbed by the antlers.

  “It is not far now,” Cervis said as the night sky lightened in misty predawn. I opened my eyes, ducked low against the wind, and looked around. We had entered some kind of desert- wide, flat land surrounded us on all sides, with silver sand shining in the light of a falling moon. Ponds of shining lavender water interrupted the level landscape in uneven intervals, and as I watched, a shining ethereal figure leapt out of one and flipped in the air before vanishing once more beneath the surface. I gasped.

  “Cervis, where are we?”

  “The Desert of Dreams,” he answered. “It is far beyond the Land of Free Men- that is the name we give to your realm- and it is the final barrier between your land and ours.”

  “Who lives in your land, Cervis?”

  “Monsters,” he answered, his tone grim. “Beings of Magic and mischief. For as long as you live with me, you must never venture beyond the walls of my estate. Anything you desire, I can provide; but if you leave the walls, I cannot guarantee your safety. The creatures there will offer no mercy- you will be in grave danger, Aster. Do you understand me?”

  I swallowed heavily. “Yes.”

  “Are you afraid?”

  I closed my eyes against the shimmering desert and steeled my nerves. “No.”

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  The sun rose peony and gold in the clear sky, sharp against the desert and painting the sands gold, before we reached Cervis’s land. I couldn’t help but look around as we entered the towering forest- trees triple the height of any I’d seen crowned against the distant sky, their trunks shades of ivory and ash, their leaves any color from pale blue to dark sapphire and indigo. I had never seen such a forest.

  “Is there any place like this in your estate?” I asked, desperate to know if I would get a chance to explore and study this world.

  “Quiet- we mustn’t be heard.”

  I silenced, remembering Cervis’s warnings about the monsters that dwelled in these lands. So this was the Palewood, then- the name fit, and it seemed the kind of world in which Cervis would live. I had spent part of our trip wondering about the creature I would now live with; he seemed to hold a youth I didn’t expect. I had met faye before, on rare occasions, and each seemed ancient and full of wisdom and mysticism. I knew that was part of the glamour charms they employed, but I had suspected there must be some truth to the illusion of age they carried. Cervis held no such enchantments. His nature remained a mystery, but his voice, the more I heard of it, had a tonal quality akin to a young man.

  We had slowed to a walk, and I sat up, looking around the great forest. Ahead, between the arching branches of the towering trees, a wall of silver stone rose to half the height of the trees. There was no gate in sight, but Cervis walked steadily toward the wall as if an opening existed. I savored my time to look around the Palewood, knowing it would soon come to an end, and tried not to think too much about the walls and what they meant. This might well be my last time outside of them. Ever.

  We were a horse-length away from the wall when Cervis instructed quietly, “Close your eyes and hold your breath.”

  I did as he said and felt him begin moving again. I forced myself not to breathe or even squint until he grew still again and said, “Alright- open.”

  I took a deep breath and then opened my eyes, and gasped.

  Before me stood a grand, floating palace, with curving walkways of golden marble and lavender stone accents connecting drifting buildings composed of arcs and spires. A weaving, braided pattern connected all the many rooms and walkways, so that from overhead I imagined it might look like a river delta. On the ground beneath the floating palace, which had a grand staircase connecting to the ground in front of a vast fountain, there were many stone-lined streams and fountains, and a vast garden of cool-hued flowers.

  “Watch out for the korrigans in the garden,” Cervis warned. “Never follow them if they attempt to lead you.”

  I dismounted from his back and stood next to the Stag, gaping about at the mystical estate in which I would now live.

  “Is this really where I will live?”

  Cervis regarded me with an appraising eye.

  “Welcome to your new home, Aster Fallowfall.”