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.It was fastened to something behind the waterfall.The bard handed the end to Holly, and they used it to steady themselves as they pulled their way through the strong current until they came to the curtain of water.The bard and paladin stood just behind the falls, looking out, as Jedidiah and Jas came through."Isn't it beautiful?" Holly asked, pointing back at the sunshine rippling through the waterfall."Very," Joel agreed.Jedidiah picked up a rock and sang a quick scale, imbuing the stone with a luminous glow.Behind the waterfall was a cavern.The floor was covered with sand.Footprints ran from the back of the cavern to the waterfall.One set was booted; the other was unlike any print Joel had ever seen before—shaped like a dragon's, but smaller than a human's."Whose tracks are these?" Holly asked."The swordswoman Alias and one of the saurials," Jedidiah said.They followed the footprints back to a staircase cut into the rock.It was a long climb up the stairs.They had to pause to rest twice.At the top of the stairs, they came out into a cave looking out over a valley."Is that the vale?" Jas asked.Jedidiah laughed."We've miles and miles to go yet." The cave contained a little shrine to Tyr, god of justice.Bits of ash from burned paper dusted the tiny altar before the god's statue.They rested again before they followed the path that led from the cave down the opposite side of the mountain.The path stayed beneath the trees, skirting the edge of any clearings, or, if the trees thinned on an especially rocky slope, the trail passed through tunnels cut into the mountainside.Jas smiled with satisfaction."I hope that witch wastes lots of time trying to spot us from the air," she said.They traveled along the path all morning, stopping only once to pick raspberries.By noon, they'd reached their goal: Finder's harp symbol, carved into the gray rock of a cliffside and painted white with a solution of lime.Etched into the cliffside just below the symbol of Finder was the outline of an archway.Jas knocked, pushed, pried, and tapped all about the outline of the archway but could discover no opening."It's solid rock," the winged woman insisted.Joel nodded.He warmed up his voice with a scale, then, with a nod from Jedidiah, he began to sing a marching song the old priest had taught him.The song described the trail so far and asked Finder to unravel an easier path for the rest of the journey.It had two verses and a refrain.Jedidiah joined in on the refrain.Joel closed his eyes and smiled as he sang the second verse.The weariness of the past few days seemed to drain away.He felt calm, as if he and Jedidiah were singing a drinking song in a tavern in Berdusk.The sounds reverberated from the cliffside, amplifying their voices until they rang throughout the mountains.Joel repeated the refrain alone, adding a little dance step, which never failed to amuse Jedidiah.Holly applauded.Jas looked expectantly at the wall, but nothing happened."Well?" she asked."What's the problem? Were you off-key or something?"Jedidiah snorted."You may no longer be a groundling, my dear, but you are a barbarian.Off-key indeed!" And with that, the bard walked straight into the cliff face, disappearing into the rock like water into sand.He poked his head back out."Don't dawdle.The door won't last forever."Jas, Holly, and Joel plunged through the stone.When they emerged from the rock, they found themselves surrounded by fog.Jedidiah's light stone lit only a tiny area around them.Holly, off to one side of the others, stumbled and nearly fell in the thick fog.Jedidiah pulled her back toward the light."Stick to the path," he said, indicating the trail marked by lines of glowing yellow stones."No telling what might happen if you wander off."Joel started off down the path, eager now to reach hi” destination.Behind him, Jas muttered a dark curse.Joel turned around.Jas's wings had transformed.In place of the pink-feathered, eaglelike appendages were four planes of clear membranes like a dragonfly's wings
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