A couple of times they saw tumblers in the distance. Nomi was delighted. She'd heard mention of them before, but when Ten had spoken of them back in Long Marrakash, they had still struck her as the stuff of legend. Now, even from such a distance, she could make out their great rolling shapes, part animal, part plant, which would supposedly crush and consume anything in their path. They rolled south to north, against the slope of the landscape and the direction of the wind. The Serians kept a wary eye on them until they vanished, while Nomi watched with wonder.

The waterways became less common, and when they arrived at the final standing stones, they looked south and saw a shadow along the horizon.

“Clouds,” Beko said.

“Hills,” Rhiana said. “And shadowed valleys.”

Nomi shook her head and urged her horse forward. They passed through the shadow of the final standing stone, and the landscape before her was stark and bare. “Neither,” she said. “That's the Divide. A couple of days' ride, perhaps, but it's already there. Too far to see properly.” She looked up above the shadow and saw only the slate gray of distance.

The Serians were silent, letting Nomi look upon the target of her journey and think her own thoughts. But, in truth, all her thoughts were about Ramus. She wondered whether he was looking at this same sight right now, somewhere far to the east or perhaps closer. She looked that way, across the gently undulating land, and she closed her eyes and tried to imagine him looking back at her. But her visual landscape was a blank. It always had been; her imagination was limited, a trickle compared to Ramus's roar.

“We should camp here,” Beko said. “Beside the final stone.”

“I want to ride on and—” Nomi began, but the Serian captain gave her a stern stare.

“We have equipment to check,” he said. “We've all climbed sea cliffs before, but none of us have ever faced anything like this. We should eat well tonight, prepare ourselves to ride into the Great Divide's shadow.”

“I've heard things,” Noon said. “I've heard it said that the shadow is a curse, and once it touches your skin you're the Divide's meat forever.”

“I've met someone who defies that curse,” Nomi said. But still, it gave her a chill. There'll be something final about entering the Divide's shadow, she thought. Cutting off the sun. It'll be like leaving Noreela.

“This is the far extreme of the land,” Beko said. And Nomi thought, Please don't fall apart on me now. He looked at her and smiled. “What a voyage!” he said. “To the edge.”

Nomi smiled back. “It's only just begun.”

“How high can it be?” Ramin asked.

“Do we have enough climbing gear? Enough rope?” Noon said.