The Gossamer Plain by Thomas M. Reid Page A

was completely magnanimous, pact or no, and he desired no spies in his midst as he began his journey to reach the Lifespring.
    “Your father asked you to accompany me? His offer is most generous, but where I travel, you do not wish to follow.”
    Myshik smirked. “My father instructed me to keep a close eye on you in the event that you would not accept his invitation.” The half-dragon paused, as if weighing his next words carefully. “I would do his bidding, but I do not relish a game of chase with you. I know you have little reason to trust me, despite your new alliance with our clan, but I am most curious about the great Kaanyr Vhok, commander of the Scourged Legion. I could be of great assistance on this journey of yours, as I hope I have already proven,” he said, hoisting his axe for emphasis. “Please consider permitting me to accompany you. It would be something of an honor.”
    “There’s nothing I can do for her,” Zasian said, rising to his feet. “Whatever poisoned her is beyond my ken to assuage.”
    Vhok looked down at Lysalis, who opened her eyes and stared up at the cambion with trepidation. Then he looked at Myshik again. “You do not even know where I’m going. You’re not prepared for this journey, believe me.”
    “Indeed,” the half-dragon replied. “I am at a disadvantage, but I believe I can hold my own if you give me an opportunity.”
    Vhok sighed and pondered the offer for a moment. With Lysalis near death, he was short a member of his expedition. Very well, he silently decided. He has proven formidable enough to take a chance.
    Drawing his sword, Vhok took hold of Lysalis’s right hand and sliced it from her arm. The fey’ri screamed in pain and passed out.
    The cambion removed a ring from one of her fingers and handed the magical band to Myshik. “Put this on, then,” he said, dropping the hand beside the maimed sorceress.
    The half-hobgoblin took the ring from Vhok and examined it carefully. A set of four stones—ruby, emerald, sapphire, and garnet—had been inset into the gold band.
    “What does it do?” he asked, appraising the ring with a critical eye.
    “It keeps you from being turned into a cinder as we cross through the Everfire into the Elemental Plane of Fire,” Vhok replied.
    Myshik’s eyes grew wide for an instant, then he nodded and slipped the ring on his clawed finger. The band immediately adjusted to fit perfectly.
    “I am ready,” he said.
    “So it would seem,” Vhok replied, wondering how long the half-dragon would survive. “Let’s go.” Turning to Zasian, the cambion said, “Lead the way.”
    The priest nodded and moved to the end of the outcropping, where it hung over the churning river of lava. He stood there a moment, surveying the maelstrom of fiery liquid below and twisting a ring, identical in design to the one Vhok had given to Myshik. He selected a spot and jumped off the perch. Zasian fell into the molten rock and disappeared beneath the surface.
    Vhok and Myshik followed.
    Aliisza found herself floating. Nothing surrounded her but a formless gray void. Up and down held no meaning. She was weightless, drifting. She thought to unfurl her wings, to fly in some direction or other, but strangely, the sensation of having wings was absent. She knew where they should be, knew how to control them, but they seemed to be… gone.
    The alu tried to remember how she came to be there. Her
    head swam. She recalled a struggle; she had been injured. The mace! Aliisza remembered the priestess, and the weapon she wielded. It had come right down on her head. There had been a deafening crack of metal on bone, a blinding flash of light, then… nothing.
    Is this the Abyss? the half-fiend wondered. Am I dead? No, that cannot be. I have no soul. I cannot exist beyond my body.
    A flash of blinding light filled her vision, and Aliisza gasped and flinched. Something else had arrived within the void, and it hovered near her, a presence. It was cold and hot at the