Last Bastion

The image was wavering but smooth, cool, as if Dakshana stood on the surface of a serene lake. Chadstone allowed himself a faint smile at the awe that settled over her features, because that was precisely what she was standing on, a larger version of a scrying bowl. The magic, though it would sting her, would tell the truth, that what she saw was real. What she saw was Srina, lying on the ground in that cave, the last bastion of the mortal realm on which the girls had stood. Then Srina was awake and running toward trees, toward home.