Magnificent, yes, but still an obstacle. She pushed on the pair, which failed to notice. “Worth a try, right?” She patted the surface as if it were a great and friendly beast, a mammoth watchdog guarding her treasure. Pushing was the only option, as there was no handle or ring to pull on. In addition, she saw no hinge hook, lock, or bolt.

Beautiful but vexing. This must be the work of dwarfs.

Spotting the markings chiseled into the walls around her, any doubts about dwarven involvement were abolished. She had seen the same symbols at various other sites of interest—the secret ones—but only in the dwarven Belgric Kingdom. They were always chiseled, and with such depth, precision, and clarity, that Farilane felt confident of their Belgriclungreian origin.

Farilane knelt, set her lamp on a shelf of stone that appeared built for just that purpose, and pulled the notebook from her belt. Her field book, as she called it, was no bigger than her hand and comprised one hundred and ninety-two pages bound in a battered and stained leather cover that was closed by a rawhide wrap tied to a stick of sharpened graphite. Multicolored scraps of paper bookmarked important sections. First, she verified that the markings on the walls were the same as those she’d seen elsewhere. Farilane had taken the time to copy the entire set of twenty-five symbols into her book. A quick comparison proved her right. The markings were known as the Orinfar, wards that were supposed to defend against magic. Dwarfs were a superstitious lot. Performing sleight of hand and card tricks carried the oddly severe punishment of having every other finger removed.

Second, she flipped to the green tag and read the words she’d copied seven months ago: Behind the Gates of Knowledge lies the truth.