The flagship’s burning tarps raced upward toward Saul, Olivia, and Luther. Air streaked with clouds rushed around them. Saul swept one arm out beneath him, focusing his spark and the link he had just made to the aleph splinter. The splinter responded.

  Tall grasses formed just beneath them, built on a floating plain that spread out through the clouds. The three of them spiraled away from one another and landed in the grass, having only fallen a few yards. Saul hit the ground standing. Olivia rolled and bounced up beside him. Yellow thistles stuck in her hair and plastered her coat.

  Luther thumped down before them, also finding his feet. He glared at Saul. “This world is mine, kid.”

  The plain spread out around them. Saul shaped the edges so it formed into a nearly spherical planetoid a few hundred yards across. He glared at Luther. “Looks like the world thinks differently.” The sphere on which they stood sank toward the flagship below. All around them, more planetoids swept together in storms of dust and solidified.

  The darkest clouds began to break up, and the lighter ones opened. Rain began to fall in the growing world. Saul raised his arms and laughed. The little planets began to move in a circle around a churning whirling ahead of the flagship. Saul decided the whirlwind was not going to be unique in this new universe. It all happened with such ease.

  Luther gripped the hilt with one hand. He lunged at Saul with the other palm outstretched. Olivia leaped between them, stun gun jabbing at Luther’s chest. He pivoted with one foot on the grass. She pushed off in the opposite direction. Each of their strikes missed the other.

  Saul fell into a crouch. His hands found the earth and roots at his feet, eager to shape the new world. As Olivia fended off Luther’s attacks, he bent his mind to growing other plants from the soil. First a tall stalk, thick as a tree trunk, sprouted between Luther and Olivia. They both jumped back. Olivia’s back brushed Saul’s chest. Her scent and the scent of the broken grass in her hair sent a bolt of inspiration to his mind.

  The stalk before them opened in ridges. Sweet smelling air vented from its sides as the stalk continued to grow upward, first to ten yards tall, then to twenty, then to thirty. More stalks sprouted and reached outward, growing until they entwined with other stalks extending from other planetoids.

  Luther hopped onto one of the stalks that stretched from the side of the planetoid and intersected with that of another nearby. Bright stars gleamed overhead, through tangled branches that shot from each of the massive stalks that grew on each planetoid. Luther ran across a massive strand of grass thicker than a tree-trunk, beneath countless glittering white lights. Saul raced after him and leaped onto the same stalk.

  A wave of dizziness hit Saul as he caught a glimpse of the flagship climbing toward them from far below. The tangled spherical forest threatened to engulf the ship, but Saul willed the branches not to crush it. He imagined tunnels through the warped branches that would serve as thoroughfares for flying denizens from pigeons to eagles to dragons.

  No sooner had his mind run over the birds and beasts of the air, he heard a cry. A flock of wings swarmed past, newborn birds with hoods over their eyes like his sentry pigeons back in Kerenger. He stumbled to a stop in the center of the horizontal stalk. Olivia charged past him, stun gun in hand.

  “Wait, Olivia.”

  She skidded to a stop nearby. “What’s wrong?”

  “Don’t just chase him alone. He’s too powerful right now.” Saul thrust out his signed hand, palm up. Rain drops fell into his palm.

  Leaves sprouted from the twisted branches that grew from each great stalk of vertical grass. The new universe would not have great empty spaces. No, it would be full to the brim with life. Saul waved his painful, burnt hand. Great cats sprang into being throughout the new world. Black of fur, with silver claws, they spread out to hunt the birds and the smaller animals that formed along with them.

  Makers that made one child at a time would never know the glory of causal creations. That which must be followed the things he dreamed of. A roar echoed through the sky.

  Fresh-smelling clean air burst forth from all along the length of every great growth of grass. Though the world was dark except for a few stars, warmth came from within the planetoids. Magma welled up from within some while others merely simmered with hot water inside.

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  Olivia looked around, mouth open in wonder. She glanced at Saul. “How much of this is you?”

  “All of it,” he murmured. “I’m becoming a worldmaker.” In truth, if not in title.

  The flagship reached their level, flying through the open tunnel formed between the branches and small planets. A webwork of plant-life joined the small worlds. More life forms spawned and lurched and sprang forth from the aleph’s power, mostly undirected by Saul’s will. A familiar hawk shriek resounded as the deck of the ship drew level with Saul’s strand. Hush.

  Irene met Saul’s eyes from the deck. Fire burned at her back, keeping William from approaching. Hush’s talons clenched down on her coat’s heavy black collar. She reached up and gripped his talons with both hands. Hush pumped his wings and flew Irene to Saul’s side.

  “Where’s Luther?” she asked.

  “He’s on the run.” Saul peered through the tangled forest toward the center of the whirlwind. “I don’t know where he thinks he’ll go.” He extended his hand to Irene. “This world is ours.”

  She pressed her palm to his. He felt her spark close to him. “You’re cute when you’re inspired.”

  Another flock of birds flew past. William charged through the fire on the deck. He glared at the three of them on the branch. Saul shook his head and a gust of wind forced Luther to his knees. Even the exile mage’s strength was no match for a maker in the throes of an aleph splinter.

  Irene smiled. Saul sensed her presence extend in tandem with his. “Luther has no chance. I’m glad you’re with me, Saul.”

  He laughed. His hand clasped together with her warm fingers. Relief flooded him alongside the aleph’s power. “Me too.”

  William bellowed in rage. The flagship sailed higher so Saul could no longer see the deck. Olivia glanced at him and Irene. “Two of you should be enough to take Luther, right?”

  “He still has the hilt,” Irene said.

  Saul shrugged. “But we have its power.” He turned to Olivia. “From here on out, we’ll handle him. He won’t be able to control what he’s gotten from the hilt without maker spark and the training we have.”

  Olivia frowned at him. “You seem pretty confident.”

  Saul laughed out loud. “Of course, I am. An aleph splinter has intoxicating power.” Even as he spoke, a sliver of a thought poked his mind, from within the power he had taken, a hint of the beast that once called the power its own, Apahar.

  Olivia folded her arms. Irene turned to her. “Don’t worry. We have training he can’t match.”

  “I’m glad you think so.” Olivia shook her head.

  “He didn’t know what he was doing. He tried to shape the world without the gift or the expertise. The raw power is already fleeing him.” Saul grinned. Indeed, the presence Luther carried himself was dimming.

  Olivia nodded. “Alright, but I’m going with you. We need to be careful.”

  Irene raised her eyebrows in Saul’s direction.

  “Alright,” he said. “We all go.”

  Gusts carried leaves and strands of grass through the air around them. Clouds weltered rain across the ghostly grasses and dark branches of the new universe. They started across the bridge of plant-life, fighting the blasts of wind that blew alternately from every direction.

  The flagship reared up alongside them in the midst of the storm. Towers crawled with gern. The tarps were near completely gone. all too close to the stalk on which they stood. A set of light paws landed on the stalk behind Saul. Rult raced over to Saul and rubbed against his legs.

  “Saul, I made it!”

  Warmth filled Saul’s chest. “I’m glad you did.”

  A shout burst from the side of the ship. William stood on the edge, all color drained from his skin. Pale and bloody, he stared at Saul from the deck of the flagship. “You makers always betray us!”

  “And you’re a sore loser,” said Irene.

  Saul turned toward William. As long as any Rokarians remained in the new universe Hidria could easily learn about the city. Saul focused his will on the storm. He made a draft to blast the flagship backward, gern, exiles, and all.

  William’s good hand clenched down on the railing at the side of the flagship, but it seemed all he had the strength left to do was keep himself from being blown over the side.

  Exile magic always came from within each mage’s own taph, and once those reserves were exhausted it would take days or weeks to restore them. William howled.

  Olivia glanced at Saul. “I’m glad he’s over there.”

  Irene put her hand on Saul’s shoulder. He turned to her. “Help me drive the ships out of here. We can use the wind.”

  “With pleasure.” Irene closed her eyes.

  The wind on the ship picked up. The forward-most tower heaved and bent backward. The whole deck buckled. William’s eyes widened. Gern fled the vessel first. The crew raced to the six small escape craft located along the mid-section of the ship. William glared at Saul and Irene, but as the wind intensified, even he turned away. He lurched to an escape craft with a dozen other crewmen. The pole that suspended the blade under the flagship bent under the force from below. The scythe cleaved into the flagships aft thrusters.

  The vessel began to sink away before Saul’s eyes. He breathed in deep, then released through his nose. The wind matched his breathing for that moment. The flagship, now empty of life, tumbled backward end over end and hurtled toward the edge of the new universe. The escape vessels fought to stay upright in the gale.

  Irene opened her eyes. “That takes care of them.”

  Saul nodded. “Only one thing left to do.”

  He, Olivia, and Irene charged along the stalk to pursue Luther.