Amanda docked the long boat in what looked like a spare berthing. She didn’t see a name or a number or anything that would indicate the spots were assigned, and most of the boats nearby were of a similar sort. The waves jostled them, lifting them up and down, causing them to tug on their ropes. The sun was well up now and the water sparkled a pretty mix of blue and green. The weather was warm, much warmer than Little Rock usually was this time of year, and warmer than the last few days had been. They must have travelled a decent way north in the night, or perhaps Scarlett was just situated one of those elemental weather pockets.

  Amanda jumped from the boat to the dock ladder, holding the mooring line as she climbed up the few short rungs to the boardwalk. Once there, she easily tied the rope to the ring with a bowline knot. After committing to memory where she had left the boat, she set off in the direction Neko had given her.

  When she reached the section where the narrow boardwalk connected to a much larger one, lined with shops, a man stepped in front of her.

  “That’ll be 3 coppers for the docking fee.”

  “Docking fee… right…” It wasn’t much but the problem was that Amanda didn’t have any money on her at all. “Do you take I.O.Us?”

  The look he gave her suggested he didn’t.

  “Right, well, err, you see…” Amanda stepped to the side and half turned back toward the boats. Then she ducked under the man’s left arm and took off running.

  She didn’t run for very far. 3 coppers likely wasn’t enough to chase someone over. Besides, she’d left the boat, which was probably worth a lot more. She’d need to get it back but she’d figure that out later.

  The direction she’d run wasn’t toward the warehouses that Neko had pointed out. Those were further down the coast, nearer to where the larger ships were docked, and past what looked like the more touristy area. She was currently headed inland toward the city. Hopefully she could still reach the warehouses by doubling back around a bit further away from where she’d left the boat. Then she could look for Serena’s warehouse from there. She could already see that it wasn’t going to be as easy as she’d imagined though. Scarlett was considerably bigger than Little Rock and the warehouse district looked like it went on for quite some distance.

  She soon reached what appeared to be the main promenade. The boardwalk turned to red brick and the far side of the street was lined with dozens of shops and cafes with chairs and tables spilling out across the pavement. She couldn’t see anywhere for cars to go, not that she was too surprised. Cars had only made their way into Little Rock in recent years but Little Rock was more spread out. Here even the streets beyond appeared to be narrow enough that they were designed more for walking. She did however see several motorcycles, some with carts and trailers attached to the back, as well as one horse and an open-top carriage.

  She wasn’t sure how close they were to the mountains. She hadn’t seen any in the distance, only a few hills. Back when the world had first been spliced in two, dragons had been more common everywhere, now it was only the cities near the mountains that tended to worry about them as much. Not that there weren’t exceptions. Too much metal in one place would still draw them and this was obviously an older city, likely built back when dragons had frequented the plains more or perhaps it was one of those places rumored to have formed out of the dust of the cities of the old world.

  It was said that when the world had been spliced, some cities in the new world existed from the moment it was created. Amanda had never been sure how much truth there was to that. It was the sort of thing spoken about in hushed whispers and mentioned in the same conversations as the Guardians, the supposed powerful witches who had split the earth in two and who even now ruled the world from the shadows. Who, if you were naughty and misused your magic would make you disappear from existence. Given the sort of things Amanda had done with magic, she didn’t believe a word of them. They were likely nothing but stories to scare small children into behaving.

  Many new cities had been built based on designs from the old world, an eclectic mix of architecture with adaptations and adjustments made where needed until few could tell what had once had purpose and what had simply been for aesthetics, what had been human designed and what had been added by witches. Amanda knew little of the old world beyond descriptions of what the witches had endured at the hands of the humans. Every child was taught that, even though the war had ended hundreds of years ago and the relationship with the few humans this side of the splice was relatively peaceful. Even though human tech and products were regularly smuggled between worlds, reverse-engineered or simply sold, it was important that no one forgot what the humans had done. Demonstrate an ability to create and control fire back in those times and a witch would have been swiftly drowned.

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  Unfortunately, such a thing was exactly what appeared to be occurring right now only several metres down the street from where Amanda stood, only this didn’t involve any humans.

  In the middle of the road, causing a split in the surrounding foot traffic all of whom seemed oblivious or uncaring to what was occurring, stood a very large man holding a smaller man by the foot while a third man, continually doused him in the face with torrents of water summoned from the air.

  The water elemental was shouting at the dangling man. “You cursed fire folk think you can pull that shit in my city! Well, let me teach you some manners!”

  The dangling man got enough of a break from the stream of water to splutter and cough before the other was at it again with another stream.

  Nearby a younger woman begged. “Please. Let him down. It was just an accident.”

  “Accident! I’ll show you an accident,” cried the water elemental as he dumped yet another torrent onto the man’s face.

  The man seemed to be struggling less now, almost not at all.

  “Please. You’ll drown him.”

  “Well he should have thought about that before selling this dangerous garbage. The new law is clear! This city will be fully electric by the new year. What your father sells is treason! Even worse, that he attacked me with one!”

  Amanda slowed down as she got nearer the scene. It appeared others in the street were keeping a further distance and their eyes averted. One glance at the table was enough for her to decide she couldn’t just pass on by through. Candles. Every spare space on the table in front of the shop was covered in brightly, beautifully made oversized candles. A few of them were scattered on the ground in front of the table.

  “It wasn’t an attack. It just fell off the table because he bumped into it.”

  “He tried to set me on fire!” screamed the water elemental.

  “It wasn’t even lit,” argued the girl.

  The elemental raised his hand to summon his water again.

  Amanda had had enough. “Oi! Leave him alone!” she commanded.

  The elemental blinked in surprise as he saw who it was that had told him to stop. “Don’t you know who you’re speaking to?”

  She stuck her chin out defiantly. “I don’t care. Put him down.”

  “This firestarter-” started the elemental angrily.

  “He’s not a firestarter. He’s just a candlemaker,” protested the girl.

  “He may not be but I am,” replied Amanda as she held out her hand and summoned a flame. “Now, put him-”

  The elemental dropped the man before Amanda even finished speaking.

  The candlemaker fell to ground with a loud thump and a groan. His daughter quickly ran to him.

  The focus of the elemental was now fully on Amanda. Her threat was a bluff but not an unreasonable one. She didn’t know the powers of the larger man but she doubted he had anything that could counter her fire. Plus, there were only two of them and she doubted either actually wanted a fight. More than likely, the bullies would just back away and go off to find weaker prey.

  She was wrong. She was very very wrong.

  Sirius wasn’t far behind Amanda by the time he reached the shore. He paddled much faster than she did and knew the currents and the quickest way in. He was almost at the docks when he saw her tie the boat off and watched which direction she went. He paid the mooring attendant for both boats and then he took off running, hoping that she wouldn’t change direction too soon. The walkways and alleys between the warehouses in Scarlett were like a maze, to say nothing of the streets themselves. Down near the marina, things were more open, but if she headed too far into the city or the warehouse district he would likely lose her very quickly.

  Luck was on his side, at least temporarily, for he found her easily. Unfortunately, it seemed no sooner had the woman set foot in Scarlett but she’d already found herself in trouble, and with no less than the local prince.

  Sirius arrived in time to hear enough of the conversation to get the gist of what had occurred and to see Amanda summon her fireball.

  His stomach sank. Fire in Scarlett was contentious on the best of days, even more so in recent years. Lighting a fire for cooking was one thing, ill-advised but accepted. Summoning a fireball on the other hand, was more than likely to land one in prison.

  Before Sirius could intervene and try to calm everyone down, the Scarlett Prince, who was dressed in blue and black silk finery, raised his hands and sent a giant wave of water flying toward Amanda.

  It was powerful enough that passersby who had previously been ignoring the goings on now scattered like mice. Although some could be seen watching from the shadows. The wave was meant to knock her off her feet. Sirius was sure of that.

  A large cloud of steam filled the street and when it cleared there stood Amanda, unharmed and not even a little wet.

  The prince’s eyes widened in fear.

  This was not going to end well.

  Sirius rushed forward, stepping between Amanda and the Prince. “Wait! Wait!” he cried.

  But it was too late.

  The price frantically snapped his fingers. “Guards! Guards!” he called in a panic.

  No sooner had Sirius reached Amanda’s side than the pair of them found themselves surrounded by over a dozen soldiers, all pointing guns in their direction.

  Bridging The Gap!