Page 25 of Secrets of Graves and Gold

My heart leaps. “Is that…?”

I do leave Toast then, though only to clamber through the clinging shrubs and over jutting tree roots as quickly as I can. A twig scrapes across my palm, but I barely feel the sting.

I come to a stop in front of the trunk I spotted, and a smile stretches across my face.

Somehow or other, a massive birch ended up growing on a slant. Its papery white bark makes it stand out like a slash against the trees behind it.

It looks as if the tree leaning against it was struck by lightning in a storm. The charred trunk toppled to the side—and caught on one of the birch’s boughs. The pale tree holds the dark log against it in an arboreal embrace.

The tops of the trees veer past each other, stretching off into the forest. Forming a shape like a mismatched X in the midst of the woods.

Alek comes to a stop beside me with a breathless laugh. “The crossed trees. We head to the left from here?”

Of course the scholar would have memorized all of Kosmel’s directions the moment I shared them.

I nod, my spirits lifted despite my fatigue from the climb. “I don’t know how much farther it is from here. But I don’t think we can miss a whole waterfall.”

I turn to scramble back to Toast, but Stavros has caught the reins to lead both stallions up together. As the former general studies the crossed tree trunks with a wary expression, I give my steed’s jaw a good scratch in apology for temporarily abandoning him.

We head left through the brush. Fading sunlight filters through the trees and sets off glints amid the vegetation.

I pause to examine a particularly glittery spot and find the rocks jutting from the soil are flecked with some kind of sparkly mineral.

“Mica,” Alek says, and pauses. “The peak must be coated with the mineral to shine the way it does. You don’t usually see deposits quite that big.”

Casimir pats a nearby tree. “It’s a godly place. Some of them enjoy a certain grandeur.”

I wouldn’t have thought Kosmel was one of those, but then, this mountain might not be his domain. He was sending me to seek help other than his own, after all.

A pang of hunger ripples through my stomach, but we’re too close to our goal now for me to suggest another stop. As if sensing my mood, Stavros pulls out the apples we liberated from an orchard we skirted yesterday evening and passes them around so we can eat while we walk.

As we tramp onward, the daylight stretches farther with the sinking of the sun. Where the trees briefly thin, Stavros surveys the landscape beyond the mountain: mottled fields and forestland with a few isolated buildings in the distance.

“No sign of soldiers on our trail,” I say.

He smiles grimly. “No. But gods only know what the scourge sorcerers have been up to since we left.”

The uncertainty gnaws at me too. How long will whoever else makes up the Order of the Wild wait before they unleash more of their horrific magic on Florian… or the rest of the kingdom?

Kosmel knew that stopping the conspiracy was my greatest concern. I was under the impression he was awfully concerned about the scourge sorcerers himself.

Surely wherever he’s sent me, it’ll help us in our mission to stop them?

The trek along the side of the mountain is less strenuous than climbing upward, but we walk long enough that the ache in my calves spreads all the way up to my hips. The sunlight starts to dwindle completely.

I’m just debating suggesting we camp for the night when the warble of tumbling water reaches my ears.

I tug Toast faster. “I hear the waterfall!”

We hustle the horses along until we come into view of the stream that courses down the side of the mountain. Right in front of our path, it careens in a sheer drop maybe ten times my height before pooling on a rocky ledge a short distance beneath us and gurgling onward.

Stavros steps forward to splash some of the water on his face and then cup it to his mouth for a drink. We haven’t had fresh hydration since the creek where we filled our canteens this morning.

I follow suit, shivering in delight at the chilly liquid rinsing the sweat from my skin. It’s too cold for a full shower to be appealing, but the gulp of icy water I swallow snaps me back to total alertness.

I step back from the waterfall as the other men take their turns refreshing themselves. A faint tingle seeps through my awareness at the same time.

My body stiffens as I take in the sensation.

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