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Tavi&039;s teeth chattered together, and he hugged himself beneath his cloak, as he and Fade were shown out of the tent they had been kept in He wasn&039;t sure if it was the cold that made him shake, or the sense of raw exciteer to move and burn away the chill of the winter in motion

"M- behind the silent fora Great white flakes drifted down in a calone froht before, to a soft, heavy carpet as deep as Tavi&039;s ankles He slipped on a thin patch where the ice was barely covered, but Fade reached forward and caught his shoulder until he could regain his balance "Great"

Doroga turned back toward the "It is," he said "The snow and the darkness may help more of the Keepers to sleep"

Tavi frowned at the Marat headman "What Keepers?"

"The Keepers of the Silence," Doroga said

"What&039;s that?"

"You will see," Doroga said He kept pacing through the snow, until he reached an enora went to the beast and gave no visible signal, but it knelt in any case and let hi to take a step up and seize the braided cord dangling froa swarmed up it easily, and then reached down to help Tavi and Fade up behind hiant hauled itself lazily to its feet, h the snow For a tih the warmth of the beast and the riders on either side of him had chased the chill away, Tavi still shook Excitement then He felt hiswe&039;re supposed to be getting," Tavi began

"The Blessing of Night," Doroga said

"What is it?"

"A plant A rows in the heart of the Valley of Silence Within the great tree"

"Uh-huh," Tavi said "What good is it?"

Doroga blinked and looked back at hi"

"Valuable?"

Doroga shook his head "You do not understand theof the word in this," he said "Fever Poison Injury Pain Even age It has power over thereater value"

Tavi whistled "Do you have any?"

Doroga hesitated Then shook his head

"Why not?"

"It grows only there, valleyboy And only slowly If we are fortunate, one person returns every year with so"

"Why don&039;t you send a looked back at him for a moment, then said, "We do"

Tavi blinked, then sed "So, uh I guess so happens to the ones who don&039;t coa said "Their bite is a deadly venom But they have a weakness"

"What weakness?"

"When one falls, the Keepers swarm the fallen All of them They will not pursue anyone else until that one has been devoured"

Tavi gulped

"This is the trial of ht You will go into the Valley of Silence and return before dawn"

"What if we don&039;t come back before dawn?" Tavi asked

"Then you will not coa nodded "At night, they are slow Quiet No one escapes the Valley of Silence while The One fills the sky with light"

"Great," Tavi repeated He took a deep breath "So where is your son?"

Doroga blinked up at the sky and then back to Tavi "My what?"

"Kitai, Your son"

"Ah My whelp," Doroga said He round before thes Kitai"

"He&039;s not riding with you?"

Doroga rehting with you? Hanging around with the Horse Clan?"

Doroga growled in his throat, and the gargant beneath them let out a rumble that shook Tavi&039;s teeth

"Never reat tree and back?"

Doroga guided the gargant down a long slope and pointed forward "See for yourself"

Tavi strained to look over Doroga&039;s broad shoulders, finally resorting to planting a foot on the broad back of the gargant bull and half-standing, with Fade steadying hi slope of land, dappled in patches of shadow next to round, ice-covered boulders, the land fell off and down as abruptly as if soed out an inverted doe rose all around the precipice, which was a circle that stretched so wide in the falling snow that Tavi could not see the reenish light licked up at the edges of the pit froant plodded closer, Tavi could see its source

The bottoed into the earth, was covered with a valley of trees-trees the likes of which Tavi had never seen before They rose up, their trunks twisted and gnarled, stretchinghands of a drowning ht Tavi squinted and peered, and it took his eyes athe trees was so luht soht coating of soelatinous-looking e of the precipice, Tavi could see that the growth had runnels and areas that looked as though bubbles of air had been trapped beneath it, and for all the world looked like melted wax had been dripped over the surfaces of the trees, but for the desperately reaching branches high up in them, layer upon layer, until the whole resembled some fantastic, bizarre work of art As far as he could see, in the faint light of the gloax, those odd trees writhed and twisted, their branches and trunks hung in festoons and swirls of the waxy growth

At the heart of the scene stood a single, ancient tree, barren trunk lifting high, dead branchesto hold to scale, Tavi thought that the spire of ancient, dead wood had to be huge

"The Wax Forest," Tavi said, quietly "Wow They didn&039;t say it was so pretty"

"Danger," Fade said, quietly "Danger, Tavi Fade will go"

"No," Tavi said, quickly "I&039;m the one who spoke I&039;a "Right?"

Doroga looked back at Tavi and then glanced at Fade "Too heavy," he said

Tavi tilted his head "What?"

"Too heavy," Doroga repeated "His weight will break the surface of the croach The wax It will alert the Keepers as soon as he steps on it Only our whelps or a small female can enter the Valley of Silence and live"

Tavi sed again "Right then," he said "It&039;s got to be me"

Fade frowned, but fell silent

The gargant&039;s slow-seeround quickly and carried thee of the precipice There, Tavi saw Hashat standing beside a large, pale horse, the wind tossing their white s soht gleale brooches on her sword belt

Over to one side, seated at the edge of the precipice, near a couple of luh s The wind pressed his hair back from the slender, stark lines of his face, and he had his eyes narrowed to slits against the drifting flakes of snow

Tavi scowled at the other boy, and his face stung for a

Doroga nodded wordlessly to Hashat and clucked to his gargant The great beast let out a snort and rolled to a stop before lowering itself ala tossed down the saddle strap and used one hand to steady himself with it as he slid down Tavi followed suit, as did Fade

"Doroga," said Hashat, co "Are you ready?"

Doroga nodded, once

Hashat said, "Word is abroad The wolves were leaving, as I left to bring Kitai here They attack with the dawn"

Tavi drew in a little breath and looked at Fade The slave looked worried, though his eyes weren&039;t focused on anything He just stared out over the Wax Forest

Doroga grunted "Then this will decide it If the Aleran prevails, we avoid the struggle"

"Atsurak will not be happy with you, Doroga"