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After collecting enough wood to last through the night, Jiron builds a fire in the fire ring. They have a good sized blaze going before long and they sit and wait for the return of Aleya. From where their camp lies, they’re able to see the beginnings of the steps leading up to the top of the ridge. It must have taken some doing to carve them out of the side of the mountain like that. A level space had been cleared before the steps, seven tall spires of stone stand as sentinels.

The light slowly begins fading as the sun falls further behind the ridge to the west. After a half hour they begin to worry about her. “She should’ve been back by now,” Jiron says, concern in his voice.

“Yeah, she’s never taken this long,” agrees James.

Standing up, Jiron calls out. “Aleya!” When no answer is forthcoming, he says, “I’m going to go search for her.”

“I’ll go with you,” James says as he gets to his feet.

With Jiron in the lead, they head out of the camp, following the same general direction that Aleya had taken. Her footprints are readily visible in the soft dirt and they’re able to follow them quickly.

“Help!” they hear her cry from up ahead.

“That’s her!” exclaims Jiron. Knife in hand, he rushes forward with careless abandon, James right behind.

“Aleya!” he cries out as he races through the brush ahead of them.

A large log has fallen across the game trail that she had been following and without even slowing, Jiron vaults over it.

Aaaiiiiiiiieeeee!

James comes to a quick halt when he hears Jiron cry out. Coming to the log, he picks up a rock from off the ground and cautiously peers over the top. A steep ravine falls away on the other side and he sees Jiron picking himself up off the ground from where he landed after sailing over the log. Several new scrapes and cuts are testament to the haphazard way in which he landed on the far side.

Just beneath the log, he sees Aleya lying upside down on the edge of the ravine, her bow lying below her down on the bottom. From the angle she’s laying, it looks like her foot has gotten wedged in between some roots and hanging upside down like that, has been unable to free it.

“What happened?” James asks as he cautiously makes his way over the log.

Looking rather embarrassed, she says, “I was climbing over the log when my foot slipped in between these roots and I lost my balance and fell.”

Jiron comes up from the bottom and supports her shoulders while James works her foot out from between the roots. As her foot slips free, Jiron helps her to stand.

Testing it with her weight, she says, “I don’t think it’s broken.” They help her back up to the top after which, Jiron returns to the bottom of the raving to retrieve her bow. When he returns it to her, she gives him a smile and says, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” he replies.

“You didn’t hurt yourself when you flew over the top did you?” she asks.

“No,” he says.

“We thought you were in trouble,” explains James.

“I appreciate you coming to find me,” she says.

The light is starting to fade so she returns with them to the camp where they have another meal of cold, stale rations. Still, it’s better than nothing.

Chapter Twenty One

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Standing there the following morning at the beginning of the stairs with the seven stone spires rising around him, James looks with trepidation at the climb he’s about to embark upon.

Jiron comes up behind him and lays his hand on his shoulder. “It’s not going to be so bad,” he says.

“I hope not,” he replies.

Stepping upon the first step, Aleya glances to them and says, “There are several areas along the way where we can rest if you need to, but we really should try to make it all the way to the top by nightfall.”

Sighing, he says, “Lead on.” He approaches the stairs with Jiron beside him and begins the climb. Aleya takes the steps at an even and steady pace.

After only a hundred feet, he begins to feel the strain of the climb as his legs start protesting. And when they come to the first resting spot the builders had constructed for the