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“Not now,” he explains. “I wouldn’t dare. If by chance they had lost us in the forest, then all I would be doing is sending a beacon telling them exactly where we are. Besides, in the trees it’s hard to locate anything the way I do it.”

“Alright,” he says, somewhat disappointed.

“Go back to sleep,” James tells him. “I’ll be getting you up soon enough.”

Jiron nods as he returns to his blanket on the ground.

The following morning she again sets a quick pace. “I’d like to reach the beginning of the stairs before nightfall,” she explains.

“Why?” James asks her.

“There’s a good spot there to make camp and that will ensure we’ll be well rested when we begin the climb tomorrow,” she tells him. “It’s a long ways up.”

Jiron grins when James gives out with a groan, pats him on the back and then hurries after Aleya as she disappears between the trees.

James follows his friend and they quickly catch up with her. The downward slope leading to the floor of the valley is gradual and he finds it quite easy to navigate. At one point during the morning, they begin coming across blocks of stone that look to have at one time been part of a structure.

“There are ruins throughout this valley,” she remarks after passing several clusters of them. “Sometime way in the past there used to be a city here.”

“Wonder what happened to it?” James asks.

“Who knows?” she replies.

The path they’ve been following slowly begins to resemble a road of sorts, though it’s completely overgrown with vegetation. If it wasn’t for the fact it runs straight and is relatively level, he wouldn’t even have know it existed.

As they continue progressing further into the valley, the ruins become more pronounced. Aside from the moss covered stones they at first had encountered, they now begin to come across pieces of statues and other sculptures whose features have been worn away by time.

One large statue of what might once have been a man had long ago fallen across the road. They have to scramble over it in order to continue.

“This road we’re on leads directly to the beginning of the stairs,” she tells them.

At one point they must’ve reached what used to be the city center of that long ago town. From out of the vegetation on the side of the road, broken walls can be seen. None are very high but the number of them suggests this had been a populated place at one time. In what could’ve been the courtyard of a building of importance, they find what has to be the remains of a once exquisitely crafted fountain. It doesn’t look so much as worn with time as being smashed to bits with hammers or something similar. James wonders what could’ve happened here. Within what would’ve been several city blocks of the courtyard, other evidence corroborates the theory that this area was destroyed intentionally rather than by time.

About midday, she calls for a lunch break near a fallen column.

Glad for the rest, James settles down on the column while they have a quick bite. The rest break is all too short before she once more gets them moving. A little after noon they reach the bottom of the valley.

In the distance ahead of them, the stairs begin to be visible. At first a jagged line going up the side of the ridge, then as they move closer, they are better able to make out the individual steps.

It isn’t long before the road begins going up the other side of the valley. “It isn’t that far now,” she tells them. “About another couple of hours and then we’ll be able to rest before the big climb tomorrow.”

“Good,” huffs James. Going uphill is decidedly less easy than going down. He maintains the pace she sets and by the time they get to the campsite, his legs are feeling quite numb and it’s all he can do just to keep putting one in front of the other.

Jiron on the other hand seems completely unaffected by the rigorous pace set by Aleya. When they come to a small ring of stones which has served as a fire pit in the recent past, Jiron sets to collecting wood for the fire while James collapses on the ground. Aleya