The hare poked its head out of the long grass and, finding none of the usual predators, emerged cautiously onto the dirt track that served the Connor's farm. It paid little heed to the girl kneeling some distance up the path. She had her arms outstretched to point at the hare as it turned away from her. Quickly she pulled her right arm back curling her fingers and angling her body as though drawing a bow, while continuing to point with her left. As her right hand came level with her shoulder, a glowing silver arrow flashed into existence parallel with her left arm. The hare's reaction was just too slow as Brigid loosed her psionic shaft to sink into its neck, killing it instantly, before vanishing.

Lowering her arms, she stood and walked over to the dead creature. The arrow had cauterised the wound, so there was no blood. Picking up the hare, Brigid returned up the path to the small sack that had been concealed behind her, and placed her prize on top of the other animals she had killed during the morning.

It was a reasonable haul, with a few rabbits, a couple of squirrels and of course, the hare. Her mother would be pleased, as much for Brigid's safe return as for the meat. Not that there was much to threaten the twelve year old, even in the nearby forest, but Mhairi Connor worried about her children. Much of the meat would end up in the stew pot before lunch, although the hare would have to wait for another day.

Halfway to the house, Brigid heard a rapid footsteps behind her, and a voice called out "Race you!" She immediately started running without bothering to see who it was. Liam did this every day and usually won, despite being five years younger and half Brigid's size. When he concentrated, his legs moved almost quicker than the eye could follow. That was his Talent, as Brigid's was the silver bolt. She wasn't surprised that he overtook her, only that he was actually running backwards. He was getting faster every day, and now he was just showing off.

She was tempted to loose a bolt at the ground just ahead of him, to put him in his place, but decided against it. Even if she could time it perfectly, which would be tricky with his speed, he would almost certainly drop the basket of fruit he had been sent out to pick. The main thing in Brigid's favour during these races was Liam's endurance, or lack thereof. He could only maintain his speed for about a minute before dropping back to his normal speed, when Brigid's longer legs could easily cut the distance between them, such that she typically arrived at the house at most a few seconds after her brother.

She realised it wouldn't be like that today when Liam winked at her, turned around and doubled his speed, rounding the last corner to the house within moments. It was still more than a hundred yards ahead of Brigid, with the house fifty yards beyond that. Liam would probably reach home before she got to the corner, but she still sped up as much as she could. Turning the corner, she almost fell over her brother, who had stopped and was staring open-mouthed to one side of the path. Coming to a standstill, Brigid followed his gaze, and froze in astonishment.

Visible through a gap in the trees lining the path was a circular area, cleared of the long grass that covered the rest of the field, containing something that hadn't been there when they passed this way just a few hours ago. A grey stone pillar, nearly fifteen feet tall and three wide, adorned with several raised symbols, resting on a base of seven coloured stone tiers. Something about it called to Brigid, as another symbol formed near the top of the pillar. She snapped out of her trance as Liam stepped toward the column with his hand outstretched. Instinctively, she grabbed his arm and pulled him back behind her.

"We don't know what it might do if we get too close," she said with concern. After a moment's thought, she handed him her game sack. "Take these to mum, then run and find father. He'll know what to do."

She barely noticed her brother run toward the house, absorbed as she was in her study of the strange artefact. She approached cautiously to the edge of the cleared area, noticing the white stone where there should have been mud. Walking around it, she saw that the symbols seemed to be placed in some kind of pattern, although there was far more space than symbol. Halfway up the pillar was a thin horizontal groove, all the way round it. There were more symbols above the line than below it, and she wondered if that was significant.

Reaching her starting point, she backed onto the path and sat down, facing the pillar. She waited patiently. It was a skill she'd picked up thanks to her regular hunting. Her hands twitched, wanting to loose a bolt into the pillar, but something told her it might not be a good idea. Before long, a falcon flew down and landed beside her, shifting into a tall red-haired man. Brigid stood and turned to her father.

"I didn't go nearer than the edge of the grass," she said. " I didn't let Liam get even that close before I sent him to find you."

"Good girl," replied Sean Connor, known to all in the district as Red. He patted his daughter absently on the shoulder as he turned to the pillar and studied the odd markings.

"I've not tried to shoot it, either. I can feel how powerful it is."

"You can feel it?" Red looked sharply down at Brigid, who nodded.

"It's like when I focus my arrow, only more…," she paused, trying to find an appropriate word.

"I understand," Red cut off her thoughts. "I feel it too, but then I have the Talent for it." He glanced back at the pillar to see a new symbol materialise near the base. "Looks like I'm going to have to call Master Darius about this." He took a small crystal from his pocket and closed his eyes in concentration.

Darius Sanderson was the Conclave representative for the district. Although a Nomad, specialising in long range travel and transportation, he also had a gift for Telepathy and Metapsionics. He had created the crystal, and many others like it, to allow Red and his neighbours to communicate with him. Most only contacted the haughty psionicist when they need his services, or more usually, those of his assistant.

The mental conversation lasted only a few seconds before Red opened his eyes, laid the crystal on the ground and stepped away, drawing Brigid with him. The crystal also served as a locater, allowing the Master Nomad to easily teleport to its exact location, even if he had never been there before. Darius and Wilson arrived within moments. As usual, he wore the gold-trimmed cerulean robes of his rank and school, while Wilson was dressed in the silver-trimmed green of a Journeyman Egoist, or Journeywoman, in this case. Unlike her superior, she wore hard-wearing work clothes, since her job as a healer often called for her to work in fields and forests, rain or shine. In such circumstances, robes were highly impractical. Both Conclave members looked at the pillar whose presence had summoned them here, Wilson with curiosity, while Darius merely looked irritated.

"Master, that's -" Wilson started, before Darius cut her off.

"I know what it is, girl," he stated arrogantly. "What I don't know is what it's doing here, and why I wasn't notified." Without another word, he turned away from the pillar and his eyes lost focus. Red knew from past experience that the Nomad was telepathically contacting the Conclave, so he addressed his questions to Wilson.

"You know what this is? Is it dangerous?"

The Egoist shook her head. "It's not dangerous in itself. It's called a Portal Stone. They were created nearly two hundred years ago to travel to other worlds, but you can also use them to go to another Stone in this world if you know its address. But there haven't been any new ones in our world for over fifty years." She glanced across to Darius before continuing. "He's probably worried they won't be needing him here any more."

"We'll still need him," Red asserted. "And you. Elias would be dead now if not for the two of you."

"Other worlds?" Brigid asked, more to herself than anyone else, but Wilson responded.

"Yes. You know about the Dream Realm?" Brigid nodded. "Well, it's not the only one. There are other worlds like that, and this one, only they're different in some way. Each symbol on the top half of the Stone links to one of those worlds."

"How are they different?" Brigid asked.

"Could be anything," the Egoist replied. "Nomads wearing green instead of blue. Me being Master instead of Darius. There could even be a world where you're the greatest archer who ever lived."

"That's this world," the girl said, somewhat indignantly, bringing a broad grin to Wilson's face.

"Oops, my mistake. Sorry." Looking back at Darius, she was a little surprised to see him facing the pillar. Without speaking, he began to walk slowly around the Stone, never taking his eyes off it.

"What –?" Red started to ask, but Darius interrupted him.

"My colleagues are using my eyes." The Nomad's irritation was obvious. "It seems there were no plans for a Stone in this district. Which begs the question, how did it get here?" Completing his circuit of the Stone, he walked up to it and placed his hand on a recessed section a third of the way up. A glowing symbol appeared in the air just above his hand, which Darius, and presumably his colleagues, studied intently.

"This Stone's address," Wilson answered Brigid's unspoken question. "That's what you use to travel here, but it's supposed to be blue." The symbol was the colour of dried blood.

"Interesting," Darius muttered absently, before nodding in response to some unheard comment. Stepping away from the Stone, he turned to Red. "The consensus is that this is a reflection of a Stone created in another world. We should keep it under supervision in case somebody comes through. If so, we'd definitely like to meet them."

"That won't be difficult, Red replied. "It's in full view of my house, and there's always somebody home. But I'll set a watch on it anyway."

"Good." Darius beckoned Wilson closer. "We must return to the manor house. The Magister himself wants to see this Stone, and we should be on hand to greet him." Placing a hand on the Journeywoman's shoulder, he closed his eyes. Seconds later, they both vanished.