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I shoot him a look. “You sound like my horse.”

His brow furrows. “What?”

I give a small laugh. “Nothing. Yes, of course I do. We haven’t come all this way only to turn back again when we’re so near.”

He stares up at the hill. “If the Mage is in there, they’ll be living in total darkness. No light can get in. Think what that can do to a person.”

“Can the Mage even be considered a person? I’m not sure. I think they might be something else entirely.”

He grimaces. “They say the Mage has all of the world’s knowledge. How is it possible to have that sheer volume of information inside your head and not be completely insane?”

A shout comes from the west side of the hill. Ruarok and I exchange a glance, and then we hurry in the direction the shout has come from.

Balthorne is waiting for us. “We’ve found something.”

I step closer for a better view.

The entrance to what appears to be a deep cave is hidden by hanging green fronds of moss and weeds. A tangle of briar bushes, their spines long and sharp enoughto go straight through a man’s foot, should he stand on one, also protect the cave from being seen.

“This is the only entrance?” I ask Balthorne.

He nods. “That we’ve found.”

I stand at the mouth of the black hole and stare into it. “I should do this alone.”

Ruarok steps closer. “No, Taelyn. It’s not safe.”

“What is, these days?”

I don’t understand fully why I feel I need to be alone, but something deep inside of me knows. Perhaps it’s magic—mine or the Mage’s.

Beyond the foliage is pure darkness. It’s as though even the faint rays of daylight out here are unable to penetrate the black. If I step inside, will it swallow me? What if I can’t find my way back again?

My heart feels like it’s in my mouth. Fear leaves me dizzy, but I can’t back out now. We’ve come all this way, and, besides, what choice do I have? If we go back, I’ll be abandoning Askos to the rot, and what kind of ruler would that make me?

I force one foot to lift and take a tentative step toward the cave. The sooner I’m in and find the Mage, the sooner I’ll get back again, and then we can all go home. I lift my arms to protect my face from the thorns of the bushes and duck my head to push through their scratchy branches.

A part of me wants one of the men to stop me, but no one does. I tell myself that’s because they respect my choices, and that’s a good thing, but the coward in me hopes one of them will grab me and refuse to let me go any farther.

I take one more step, and then another, and a third. Cold, damp fronds of vegetation brush past my face, and Ishiver. It was cold outside, but in here it’s close to freezing. I wrap my wings around my body to form a kind of cocoon and pull my cloak tighter. I grip it at my throat and reach forward with my other hand to try to find the way. I’m concerned I’ll bump my head against a low hanging piece of the cave roof and knock myself unconscious, but, so far, the way has been clear.

The skittering of many sharp little legs comes from high on my right. In my mind, I see the creature the noise might belong to—a multilegged centipede, perhaps, or a huge, hairy spider with fangs as long as my little finger.

Now my shivering morphs into a shudder.

I keep going.

How far into the hillside have I walked now? In the soupy black, I’ve lost all sense of time and distance. It’s as though Ruarok and Balthorne and all the others no longer exist. There is only me and the cave. When will this end?

I fight the urge to turn and run back the way I’ve come, straight into Ruarok’s arms.

I catch my breath at the thought of him. I can’t let myself be distracted now, and he is my worst distraction.

Placing one foot in front of the other, I carry on.

Ahead, there is finally a change in the darkness. I’m unsure what it is at first—it’s not full light, but a loosening of the black around me, so it no longer feels so oppressive.

A crackle and snap—a noise I recognize—filters through to my ears. Then I see the flicker of light. A fire is burning.