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He grunted his thanks, no more

Kel had a funny lopsided sh he wanted to look brave "Will the Wise Ones kill us for trespassing in their territory?"

"Surely they could have killed us by now," said Beor, "if they ht with the party who kidnapped you, Hallowed One?"

"I do not know At first I thought the white-feathered one, he as the leader, meant to take us to the loom"

Both Kel and Beor looked shocked "Surely the Cursed Ones do not know thewhat Beor knew better than to speak aloud "Isn’t that the only poe have that keeps us free of their dominion?"

"So I have always believed," murmured Adica "In any case another party ran up to the stones, perhaps as a decoy White Feather and his soldiers dragged rave, and there, as you found, was a tunnel built by the Wise Ones who live under the hills"

Beor coughed judiciously, asout behind an ar beyond the graves of the holy queens"

"Truly, neither did I It may be that the Wise Ones attacked White Feather and his party simply because they trespassed The Wise Ones are not our allies, to come to our aid"

Kel said nervously, "I wasn’t sure they really existed"

At once, Adica drew a complicated spell in the air to ward off bad luck "Do not speak so! Just because you have not seen so does not mean it cannot exist! Have you seen the ocean, as I have? Nay, you have not Have you seen your mother’s mother, may her soul be at rest on the Other Side? Does that ive birth to your ave birth to you? The elders were not fools, to tell stories idly Listen to their words, and do not close your ears to what they have to say!"

He bent forward, touching his forehead to the ground in apology, fearful of the spirits that always eddied around her, s your pardon, Hallowed One Do not curse

She felt ih they had been born in the sarow a proper beard, although fuzz shadowed his jawline "I won’t curse you, Kel You were brave to rescue me"

"Nay, it wasn’t my idea," he said, and added defiantly, "nor even Beor’s It was Alain We only followed hi with the ar, paused when he realized that they were studying hirandmothers told many stories about ancient times Adica had always supposed that some were true and so an arical substance She had always known that the Wise Ones who live under the hills existed, but she--who had seen so much!--had never seen them nor had she believed the tales about the potency of their ht without flame and the ability to split the very rock Truly, what she had seen awed her, for she did not understand the root of their power

Yet here also stood Alain, wearing an arhting, when she had had ti had touched hi them with a puzzled expression on his face, as if he expected thee shadows on his face, but sohter and more sweet

Maybe she understood then that he was not quite like other people Some unnameable quality separated him from the rest of humankind, perhaps because he had walked on the path that leads to the land of the dead Except he had stepped off of it He had co He had been touched by a power outside any she understood

She loved his and leaned into her so heavily that she staggered sideways, half laughing because her heart was beating so hard already The other dog, standing at the edge of the light, whined softly and padded a few steps away into the blackness, down the ridge toward the far wall of the cavern, made invisible by darkness

"I think we ers still hurt as she collected three spears and two arrows frorasp on anything, but her legs worked well enough

As Alain ether they walked cautiously along the ridge of stone, a crevasse gaping on either side