Upon This World of Stone (The Paladin Trilogy Book 2) by James A. Hillebrecht

table is different!”
    “Good eye, girl!” said Adella, and Shannon beamed at the complement. “It’s been turned just a little bit, and that suggests Malcolm’s hand at work. Now keep your place and don’t move. Jhan, stay with her.”
    Obediently, both of the young folk stayed in position, making it child’s play for Adella to enter the side room and slip out of sight off to the right, secretly produce the wand, and mutter the command words, this time holding the thicker end and pointing the other at the table. There was a small burst of light that could not be completely hidden, and then the table shifted, forcing Adella to jump backwards as a surprisingly large section of the floor began to open. Jhan and Shannon left their posts and ran to see what they had found, Adella slipping the wand back up her sleeve at the last moment.
    Down inside the newly revealed space was a strangely shaped boat with mast shipped inside and a multi-colored sail around it.
    “A farsail, by thunder!” exclaimed Adella and jumped down into the vessel. “I knew Malcolm would have some simple way out of the fortress. I knew it, and here it is!”
    Shannon and Jhan exchanged confused glances, and finally Jhan said haltingly, “It’s a boat. A weird little boat out of the water.”
    “This boat doesn’t float on water, boy,” Adella answered, still examining the interior of the vessel. “It floats on air! Come and take hold.”
    The vessel was remarkably light despite its bulk, but it still took all three of them to lift it properly and carry it out into the main hall. Adella made a closer inspection here, and she quickly found what she sought: a small niche in the prow to accommodate a ball about the size of an ogre’s fist and a locked compartment in the bottom of the vessel.
    “What’s in there?” asked Shannon, peering over the woman’s shoulder.
    Adella glanced back at her and finally answered, “The farsail itself isn’t magical, and I’m not sure it could even float on water by itself, let alone the air. It needs a magical source which is always kept with the vessel. Unfortunately, this one is kept in a secure safe.”
    She tried to insert one of her picks in the lock, but as she feared, some force kept diverting the instrument from the hole, denying it access. These small magical vaults were often powered by the very item they protected, and no pick or simple opening spell had a chance of success. It required real magic.
    Reluctantly, Adella produced the wand again, pointed at the lock, and muttered the necessary invocation, and a small beam of power flashed out from the tip. The ray did not touch the lid, some power holding it back, but as Adella focused and bore down with her will, the beam creped closer and closer until finally it reached the lock. An instant later, the lid sprung open, revealing what looked like a glass sphere. Shannon, however, was staring at the wand with open wonder and growing suspicion.
    “Where did you get such a wondrous device?” she asked with narrowed eyes. “Is this wand another one of your ‘borrowed’ items?”
    Adella looked at her calmly for a moment before saying, “No. I won it in wager with the Wizard Trexler.”
    There was an odd ring of truth in the woman’s words, but Shannon frowned, still distrusting her. “What kind of wager?”
    “I bet that I could bury my sword in his belly before he could fry me with his lightning,” she answered evenly. “Now if you’re quite done with your moralizing, climb on board. We’ve many leagues still ahead of us.”
    Shannon blinked, first at the woman and then the boat, but she reluctantly climbed in with Jhan, relieved to find the little vessel was not as unstable as it looked. Adella carefully placed the glass sphere into its niche in the prow, and there was an instant burst of light, the entire vessel suddenly trembling with life. Adella quickly climbed aboard and seated herself at the tiller in the stern.
    “Never have