It was an impressive effort. By now the Elven fortifications were more than forty feet high and a dozen feet thick at the narrow point in which they had been established. Ladders and walkways gave the defenders access to the ramparts on the near side; sheer walls with no hand- or footholds confronted attackers on the far. Higher up on the cliffs, crevices in the rocks had been turned into defensive bastions, as well. Any attack force coming down the length of the pass would be vulnerable from three sides and have no cover whatsoever. It seemed as if the Elven position was impregnable.

But Pan didn’t like close places, always preferring to be out in the open, and he knew that he wouldn’t want to be a defender stationed here in this narrow place, no matter how safe it seemed.

Their guide took them over the wall and then led them ahead through the pass to where Tasha was visible working with other Elves on a set of snares and traps that would serve as perimeter defenses.

“Panterra Qu!” Tasha boomed out with obvious pleasure as he caught sight of the other. “Well met, brother!”

While Tenerife shouted down greetings from his perch high up in the rocks, the big man hurried over to the newcomers. “Little sister, too!” Tasha grinned, but the grin fell away when he got close enough to see the girl’s milky eyes. “Shades, what’s this? Your eyes, Prue! What’s happened here?”

He embraced the boy and then the girl, holding the latter much longer and tighter and whispering softly to her. For a moment, Pan thought the big man was going to cry, which would have been a first for him. But Prue said something back, and from Tasha’s reaction—holding her at arm’s length for a closer look at her eyes—it could be assumed that she had told him she wasn’t as blind as it might seem.

Giving Panterra a puzzled glance, he took them both in tow and led them over to where Tenerife was already climbing down to join them. They went through the same thing with the latter once he saw Prue’s eyes, but she quickly calmed him down and then Tasha moved all of them ahead into the pass where they could be alone.

Settled back in a depression in the cliff wall, standing in a loose knot, they gave one another anxious looks.

“Well, here you are,” Tenerife began, giving Prue yet another hug. “Safe and sound in spite of our fears. Welcome back.”

“Tell us what happened to you,” Tasha demanded. “You’re not really blind, you said? But you seem so. Your eyes say you are. Tell us everything.”