- Ashmoor Over the Scar to Emberfall
- An Iron Car on a Chain
- Nobody Turns the Wheel
The Cinderline
Between Ashmoor and Emberfall lies the Scar, where the ground splits into glowing seams and a river of molten rock runs down to the sea. Nobody walks across it. Instead, a black iron chain runs from a squat stone tower above Ashmoor's beach, across the Scar, to a tower on the volcanic rock below Emberfall, and an iron car hangs from it, with a door, a bench and narrow windows thick with soot.
The price is scratched into the iron box beside the door, in a hand no one recognizes, and it is never quite the same two days running. A traveller drops the coins in, steps into the car, and waits. After a moment the chain shudders and the car slides out over the fire. The heat comes up through the floor and the windows glow orange for as long as it takes to boil a kettle. Somewhere a great wheel is turning, but no one has ever seen who turns it. The tower doors are always locked, the box is always empty in the morning, and the car always arrives.
The price is scratched into the iron box beside the door, in a hand no one recognizes, and it is never quite the same two days running. A traveller drops the coins in, steps into the car, and waits. After a moment the chain shudders and the car slides out over the fire. The heat comes up through the floor and the windows glow orange for as long as it takes to boil a kettle. Somewhere a great wheel is turning, but no one has ever seen who turns it. The tower doors are always locked, the box is always empty in the morning, and the car always arrives.