HE listened to the sound of hooves on the road as he faded in and out of sleep, when he glimpsed an image of white stone. It was only a flash, but it shone brilliantly like a white gem. He jolted upright.Mura rode at his side. “Well, good morning.” Gray rubbed his tired eyes. “I’m glad you’re awake, lad—I think you ought to see this.” The hermit raised his staff and pointed.Gray’s jaw dropped as he looked ahead. In the distance, sat a massive city of snowy white against a crystal blue sky. Towers like brilliant flutes shimmered, rising impossibly high, while long bridges suspended by mostly air stretched between the spires. A great alabaster wall surrounded the grand kingdom.Up and down the wide dirt road, murmurs of amazement rippled through the scattered villagers. The trail of refugees buzzed like a kicked bee hive.Immense, Gray thought, to seem so vast and tall from this distance. Clouds hung in the sky above. Their gigantic shadows not enough to darken even a pocket of the crystalline city.“What do you think?”
