I woke up deeply refreshed and intensely eager to walk the road. A swift sunrise fueled our sense of urgency. We ate quickly and broke camp. As we pulled up each stake and washed each utensil, I wondered if everything we did was for the last time.

While we climbed up from the valley toward the city on the hill, I could see hundreds of people on the hillside, some sitting in lawn chairs outside their cabins, binoculars in hand, some with easels and paintbrushes. Several pointed at us, waving their arms, as if discussing the comings and goings on the road.

“Why do they discuss the road,” I asked Shad, “and make paintings of it … but not walk it?”

“It’s safer. Less at stake, for the moment. But where is the reward?”

I pointed at the City of Light, so close now it dominated the horizon. “It isn’t a picture to paint,” I said. “It’s an ocean to dive into, a galaxy to explore.”

Suddenly I heard a voice whisper seductively, “Don’t go there; don’t fall for the self-righteous lies of the city of hypocrites; go back to the great city of human achievement, where the road is broad and the opportunity for self-advancement endless.”

I shook my head and talked back to the liar, whom I could not see except in my mind’s eye.

“Save your breath, Pretender. I won’t fall for it. Your voice is soothing, but I hear the hiss—and your smell betrays you.”

I shifted my sack of stones and reached into my pack for the TravelGuide. I listened carefully to another voice, stiller and smaller but far more powerful and true.

By midmorning we could see the city’s gates. Between us and them we saw a flag hoisted high, with bars shaped into a gold crown. At its base, mounted on her great blood bay, sat the young woman in black and with her a platoon of the King’s army, camped by the road, standing around a raging bonfire. We approached cautiously.

“Welcome, travelers,” said the girl. “We meet again. You are about to enter the city. Present to us your gifts for the King.”

“Gifts?” Malaiki asked.

“Yes. The stones you picked up in the riverbeds.”

My heart pounded. I put down my worn sack, just over half-full. Though I’d often tried before, for the first time in the daylight I managed to open it.

I pulled out a stone. It glimmered in the sunlight.

“It’s gold!” I said. I reached back into the sack. “Silver! A ruby. Look—two diamonds. An emerald! And this one … I’ve never seen anything like it!”

I was vaguely aware of the others shouting. I looked to see them rifling through their bags, holding up precious stones in the rosy sunlight.