“Maybe nothing. Do you see the ledge?”

“I see a ledge. So what? Couldn’t even hold four of us.”

“Look at the south end. There’s a path…”

“Okay, I see a path. And?”

“Well, the path goes behind that overhang and doesn’t come out again. Why would there be a path that doesn’t go all the way to the top? Or come down to where the river was?”

Emrallie grunted. “What’re you thinking?”

“Maybe it goes into a cave that we can’t see because the entrance is behind the overhang.”

“Huh. It’s possible.” Emrallie shrugged her pack off her shoulders. “One way to find out.”

“No, wait, Em, let’s wait for the others. It’s such a long shot. And anyway, how’re you going to even get to the ledge?”

“Watch me.” She untied the rope she always wore around her waist and gave the end to Sorrel. She checked her knots and sank her palms into a patch of sand to improve her grip. “Five metres. Nothing.”

“Wait, Em, suppose…” Sorrel had not finished speaking before Emrallie was off the ground. She hung onto a narrow rock ledge with her fingers, her feet planted flat against the rock face, legs almost straight, moving sideways like the crabs that used to live on Bana’s waterfront, inching higher with every step. One of her footholds gave way and she hung from her arms for a few seconds. “Guata!” she yelled. She found another foothold and kept climbing.

In less than five minutes she was sitting on the ledge. “Told ya!” she shouted. “I’m gonna find a place to tie the rope, in case I have to come down in a hurry. Then see what there is to see.”

Rashelope came up. “What’s happening? What’s all the shouting about?”

Sorrel pointed. “Emrallie is checking out that path – maybe it ends in a cave.”

“How’d she get up there?”

“She climbed.”

Rashelope whistled in admiration. “Even if there’s a cave, we’ll never get everybody up there.”

“She took a rope up with her.” Sorrel showed her the end of rope she still held.

“Smart.”

They stood watching Emrallie’s small figure as she began to climb the path. She progressed in bouncy, effortless strides, holding on a few times with her hands. Then she disappeared behind the overhang.

“If she comes back right away, there’s nothing there,” Rashelope said.

Sorrel murmured her agreement. Slowly the other members of the band joined them on the narrow path. They were all panting like canines and bathed in sweat. The sun was just beginning its retreat up the cliffs. “It’s Emrallie,” they whispered to each other. “She climbed up there.”

“I can’t do that,” Lichen said.

Then they heard Emrallie whoop again from behind the overhang. “There is a cave,” she yelled. “And it’s huge. And I think it’ll take us out of here!”