“Almost certain?” Heidel asked.
“You know, seventy-five percent. Give me some credit—that’s better than yesterday.”
We descended the mountain range and entered another flat expanse, although here, scrubby bushes and gnarled trees dotted the landscape.
“I’ve seen trees like this before,” I said. “In a vision Geth showed me. He’d chained Mochazon to a tree similar to these.”
I hadn’t thought about the pixie man, Mochazon, in a while. There was no telling where he was and what he was doing now. He’d had a thing for a girl named Miranda on Earth. Were they still together? Or did they have the same problem Kull and I had—one person with a life on one world, the other with a life on a different world.
Glancing at Kull, I couldn’t stop my heart from fluttering. He wore his hair in a low ponytail held with a black leather cord. His blue eyes reflected the purple-tinged sky. He kept his hand on his sword’s pommel as he walked, always on alert, scanning for threats. Although I was getting married to the man, he still baffled me. Sometimes, when we talked about politics, negotiating with elves, and building libraries, he came off as a cultured gentleman. Other times, he was a complete barbarian.
As the sun rose higher, we stopped for a quick lunch under one of the crooked trees.
“We’ll need to find water at some point,” Brodnik said. “My canteens are almost empty.”
“Mine too. But where are we going to find water in a place like this?”
“And if we do,” Heidel said, “how will we know if it’s safe to drink?”
“Hopefully, we’ll find this druid before we run out completely,” Kull said.
The sky darkened as clouds passed by overhead. The clouds looked strange, like wisps of black fog, reminding me of the Regaymor we’d seen last night. I studied the sky a moment longer just to make sure it wasn’t another group of them, but decided the clouds were nothing more than water vapor.
“Any idea how much longer until we find the druid?” Rolf asked me.
I held the staff with a firm grip, but only got the impression that we should keep heading north. “No idea. Hopefully not much longer.”
Heidel poured some water into a cup and placed it on the ground for Grace. The wolf lapped it up until she’d drank it all. I didn’t say it aloud, but I worried it might very well take weeks to find the druid. We would run out of water long before then. I hoped I was wrong.
We set out again across the desert with the sun overhead and the sand shifting beneath our feet. Wind rushed past, carrying grains of sand that blasted our skin. As the hours ticked by, the landscape began to change. Chalky white cliffs stuck up like the bones of a prehistoric creature. As the wind quieted, I felt the magic in the staff begin to hum.
I stopped, staring as the jewel on top glowed brighter.
“What’s happening?” Heidel asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe we’re getting closer to the druid.” The staff’s magic mingled with my own, painting a map in my head. I turned toward a gap in the tall cliffs. “I think we need to go that way.”
“You’re sure?” Rolf asked.
“Yes.”
“Let’s check it out,” Heidel said. We started forward when Grace whined. She darted ahead toward the cliffs, leaving us behind.
“Maybe she smells something,” Brodnik said.
“We have to catch up to her,” Heidel said.
“She’ll be fine,” Kull said. “She’s part grimwelt. She knows what she’s doing.”
When we reached the cliffs, we spotted a narrow trail leading between the towering rock formations. Taking the path, we walked through the gorge. Pebbles crunched underfoot. Hiking through the pass became a chore with the uneven ground and loose, shifting rocks. Wind blew with a shrill wail through the canyon.
When we neared the gorge’s exit, the staff’s magic tugged me forward with more intensity than before. As we stepped out of the gorge, a wall made of enormous bones blocked our path. They looked to be the leg bones of giant dragons, though I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen one large enough to have bones of that size.
The wall towered over us. I had to crane my neck to see the top.
“My goodness,” I said, looking up and shielding my eyes. “It’s enormous.”
“Can we climb over it?” Rolf asked.
“Possibly,” Kull answered. “But the question is, what’s on the other side?”
“And do we even want to find out?” Brodnik added.
“We can try to go around,” Heidel suggested. “Although it seems to stretch pretty far in either direction. It might be faster if we climb over.”
“I don’t think so,” I said, focusing on the staff. “The magic seems to be focused on whatever is beyond this wall, but it’s not pointing me over the wall. There’s something around it.” I closed my eyes, trying to decide exactly what the staff was communicating to me, but only felt that we should keep walking.
“Where should we go?” Rolf asked me.
“Around the wall,” I said. “I’m fairly sure.”
“Fairly sure?” Heidel asked. “I still believe it would be faster to climb over.”
“I disagree,” Kull said. “We’re safer to go around.”
Heidel eyed her brother. “You’re okay with sleeping in Theht’s temple but not okay with climbing over a little fence?”
“I would hardly call it a fence. Or little.”
“Can we just get moving?” Rolf said. He turned and started down a trail leading beside the wall. We followed in silence. I stared in awe at the wall. I’d never seen anything like it before. Who had built it and how had they accomplished it? I reached out and felt a trace of black magic in the bones, but since I knew so little about the enchantment, I couldn’t decide the function of the spell.
“Be careful,” I told the others. “There’s a spell in this wall. It may
