"From a distance, it appeared to be mist," the Mouse confirms. "But when we came close to the border, it seemed instead that all the color had been leached from the sea and sky. And a few meters beyond that, a darkness impenetrable to the eye."

The tangle somewhat subdued, he lifts the comb to run its teeth carefully through the long golden lock of her hair. "Our captain, Drinian, advised we not proceed. But I, in my desire for honor and adventure, shamed the King into ordering us ahead and into the darkness."