Page 116 of A World Enough

Then she heard Davor shout, “Map Keeper, go through the portal.”

“He’s a desperate man,” Vorka said. “You’ll know what to do with him.”

“Vorka? What is this place?”

“A place where the First Ones created travel to any time and any space. A dangerous weapon in the wrong hands. Davor could go back in time, or space, or dimension, to change any mistakes he made, and make himself and the empire undefeatable. The First Ones trust you with the knowledge. Go through.”

When she did, Camber was hit with the sounds of millions, billions, trillions—she didn’t know how many—voices, all scrambled together.

She put her hands over her ears. Just like in her dream, there were portals on each side of the trackway at regular intervals looking as if they were hanging in the air. She could see vistas of planets, moons, empty space, people going about their business, and suns exploding, and the trackway appeared to go on into infinity.

The vistas were moving at a high rate of speed, making her dizzy. But unlike her dream, she pushed through the dizziness.

Then she heard Davor telling her to find a particular planet called Cresa. Working on instinct, she reached forwards with her hand, and it glowed. She tested her control of The Beyond by sweeping her hands this way and that.

Camber found, as she concentrated, she could see the vistas starting to slow.

One of the windows slowed, until just one planet appeared. It was a dusty red planet and looked devoid of life.

“That’s it,” Davor said, “that’s Cresa. Move it back in time until it has civilization.”

The other side of the trackway had numbers. She swept her hand backwards.

As she did, the red planet changed from dusty bare rock to a desert planet with sparse vegetation, to oceans and green plants and forests. Then buildings and monuments, and artificial light coming from the dwellings.

“Stop there.”

In her dream she’d been grabbed from behind and dragged kicking and screaming from the portal. This time would be different.

She opened a window on a planet behind Cresa, a planet lacking life. It was all sea and ice.

As good a place as any, Camber thought.

She didn’t really know what she was doing, but she trusted Vorka.

Camber reached out and lifted Davor, as if aided by an invisible power. He came kicking and screaming. Then she threw him into the portal with the sea and ice world.

He screamed as he flew past Cresa, where he’d wanted to go.

Then the screaming stopped.

She fell to her knees, and she was back in the stone circle. Brogan ran to her.

“Are you okay, Cam?” Brogan lifted her in her arms.

Morrigan and the rest of Camber’s friends, Margot, Jhosa, Ziggy, and Thane, came running towards them.

Brogan growled, and Morrigan told them to hold back a bit. “Let her check her mate.”

“Tell me you’re okay?”

Camber reached up and stroked Brogan’s face. “I’m okay, Wolfy. Help me up. Where’s Vorka?” she asked.

Morrigan answered, “They took her body and retreated to their ships.”

“How did you all get here?”

“Your Great Mother let us come through,” Ziggy said.