James turns his attention back to Miko and sees him thrashing about. Stig has taken hold of his arms so he won’t hurt himself. As James reaches out his hand to take Miko’s, Jiron grabs his arm.
“What if he’s wrong?” he asks.
“It feels right,” is the only reply he can give. “Let go.”
Jiron removes his hand from James’ arm.
Now free of Jiron’s grip, James takes Miko’s hand. He takes a deep calming breath then sends magic through the connections of their hands and into Miko. Immediately it’s grasped by whatever has hold of Miko and he thrusts his awareness along the magical stream.
“Catch him!” hollers Jiron as James suddenly stiffens and begins toppling to the side. Brother Willim reaches him before he can hit the ground and then carefully lays him down.
Indicating where James has hold of Miko’s hand, Scar says, “Make sure the connection isn’t broken.”
“Why?” asks Jiron.
“It could be bad,” he explains.
“Bad?” exclaims Jiron. Coming to stand in front of Scar he shouts, “What do you mean, bad?”
“ It worked!” is all he can say when he all of a sudden is standing within a city. At a crossroads of intersecting streets, he looks first up one and down the other. Except for himself the place is deserted.
“ Miko!” he yells. Listening for a moment he fails to hear a reply. Then from the far side of town a bright light pushes back the gloom. Neither night nor day, the city seems to be in a place of in-between.
He breaks into a run toward the light. After what seems a very long distance, the street he’s on turns into a broad avenue. The bright light is coming from the end of the avenue. Hurrying toward it, he reaches the place where the street opens up onto a large courtyard. In the center of which stands a building, the building being the source of the light.
“ Miko!” he cries out. Again no reply. The light coming from the building is blindingly bright but he’s able to make out an open doorway at its base directly ahead of him. Shielding his eyes against the light, he crosses the courtyard quickly and passes through the doorway.