They found an old camp. There were two tents crushed into the ground, the material torn, tattered and moldy. Other signs of habitation were scattered around: a rotting saddle, some cooking utensils rusted into the soil, a bow without its string. They dismounted and explored the camp for a while, kicking things over and trying to make out what had happened to the owners.

“They didn't just leave,” Lulah said. “There's too much here that anyone would have taken. They must have been killed or taken by force.”

“Perhaps they went to climb?”

Lulah shrugged.

They moved on another few hundred steps before making camp. Lulah quickly lit the fire and produced food she had brought along from the previous night. The meat was not as fresh and the herbs not as fragrant, but neither of them felt like being left alone. The light from the fire darkened their view of the Divide until it was a huge looming blankness that swallowed sound and sight.

“How do we climb?” Lulah asked.

“We'll find something to help us.”

“How do you know?”

Ramus shrugged. He knew she sensed the movement because they sat close to each other, sharing warmth and comfort. “There's no alternative,” he said. “We haven't come all this way to turn back now.”

“We should have brought some of the climbing equipment.”

“As if Beko would have let us.”

Ramus stared into the flames and wondered what nightmare he would share with Nomi tonight.

BUT THERE WERE no nightmares, because Ramus did not sleep.

When morning came, and the sun rising in the east smeared itself along the Great Divide, Lulah jarred awake from a troubled dream. Ramus had been keeping the fire alight all night, and they shared the last of the stored food.

“We'll find stuff to eat as we climb,” he said.

“Or something will eat us.” Lulah stretched and strolled away to find somewhere to piss.

An hour after heading off, they came across another old camp. This one had been larger than the first, though without tents or cooking equipment. There were skeletons, though. At least six of them, though some were so tangled and twisted together that it was difficult to tell exactly how many people had died here. There were no signs of arrows, bolts or other weapons, and when Lulah examined one of the skulls she found what she thought were claw marks across the cracked dome.