The baby curled his hand around his father’s finger and smiled up at him, but the intense ache in the man’s heart choked off his response and he found himself frowning instead. The infant’s joy was replaced by a trembling cry and the man fumbled inside his cloak, pulled out a small stone hammer, and laid it on the infant’s bare chest.

  The baby’s slender fingers wrapped around the smooth handle, then a soft glow from the base of the hammer illuminated the infant’s face, his cries ceased, and the child fell into a peaceful sleep.

  The man held the child closer to his chest. If only he could be as calm. The thought of returning home without his son was tying him in knots. The plan seemed sensible at first; leaving the hammer here with his son until he was old enough to return and lead his people. Now, he found himself fighting the urge to retreat through the portal door and close it forever behind him.

  He pushed the idea aside. Giving in to his fears would only lead to disaster for both worlds. There was no choice but to leave his son behind in this strange world, with its wide-open spaces and searing heat.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  He scanned the vast plain toward the ridge of hills on the horizon. Somehow the people his son was to stay with had taken the pointed homes of their settlement away from the base of the hill, leaving only circles of stones behind. Where had they gone, and would their leader even arrive in time for their meeting? He had observed the man astride a long-legged beast that shook the ground as it ran. Surely that creature could bring the leader back now to fulfill their arrangement.

  The baby stirred and the man rocked him gently in his arms. Turning his infant son over to a people he had observed only from a distance did not bother him, for the hammer had assured him their leader was a man of honor.

  The first harsh rays of a new day glinted off the polished stone hammer and bit at his face.

  His plan had failed. Disappointment mixed with a sense of relief as he hugged the child to his chest and stepped back into the circle of rocks behind him.

  As he turned toward the open door, he heard the drum of distant hoof beats.