Just two more days until they met up and put an end to this madness, brought Sebastian and Jacob together and restored them to their proper bodies. Of course, Gus wasn’t going to last two more days. He finally snapped just after dinner, through which Jacob had complained the entire time. He gagged the man, wrapped him in silk ropes, and left him in the bottom bunk while Gus went out to the observation car. The land was dry, sand and dirt almost white, with very little vegetation, the three suns keeping things too hot for most growing things. That anyone had decided to live upon Brandish was in itself amazing; that the cities rose like beautiful, man-made gardens out of the largest desert imaginable, made it magical. Gus could see the towers and spires of T’ven in the distance. Somewhere among them was his Bastian, caught in Jacob’s body. He couldn’t wait to get there. He stayed long enough to have a stiff drink and calm himself, and then he returned to their small room, eyes going to the bunk where he’d left Jacob.
