Gripping the rail, he forced himself to look over the edge toward the interlacing streets of Erenthrall below. The buildings looked completely different from above, roofs of all styles and varieties—slate, wood slats, curved clay tiles, flat with hanging gardens or trellises or strung with clotheslines. A few sported dove cotes, and birds wheeled beneath the ship, or fluttered from building to building beneath them as the shadow of the ship startled them. Through the smoothed and polished wood of the railing, Allan felt the ship shudder and he tightened his grip. Behind him, the ship’s captain muttered under his breath to one of the crew, “I don’t understand why it’s shuddering like that. It’s never done that before. We’ve had nothing but smooth sailing since the ships were launched. Head below with one of the Wielders and see if one of them can find—” The voice trailed off as the captain walked away, hands gesturing curtly.
