Chapter 518: A Fortuitous Encounter
Tala, Rane, and Terry set off across the rolling prairie once more a bit after noon.
It was still well before dusk—and they still had miles to go before they slept—when a small cloaking field rolled over them, revealing an even smaller craft with a single woman atop it.
The craft was an interesting one, seeming almost like a single board with a sail atop it, the controls incredibly simple, just a bar which the woman could manipulate to change the path it took.
The magic coming from the lower, sculpted board was almost natural in feel. Tala would have bet gold that it was crafted from floating tree or rock or the bone of a flying beast of some kind, and used essentially in its native state, rather than heavily modified as those that were implanted in larger crafts.
That was utterly unlike Sunnydale, which was kept aloft by clearly artificially induced artifacts. Sunnydale’s way was more powerful, true, but there was something… choppier about the results that Tala hadn’t even realized was present until seeing this new craft.
The sail was just as powerful, seemingly filled with magics of thrust and lift. After a moment, Tala realized that she recognized the material.
That’s cloud elemental fleece.
-Yeah, but it’s been processed into a different form and for an entirely different purpose.-
Tala could perceive a heavily protected, expanded space, anchored to the craft in a way that she didn’t quite understand with only a quick inspection.