With that the boys turned and scurried back into the woods, as Duncan was left to wonder at their words.

He and his men put on the shoes and secured the climbing ropes over their shoulders, and as Duncan put them on, he realized how much he would need them.

They all turned to ascend the mountain when suddenly another man rushed forward from the woods, dressed in rags, perhaps in his thirties, with long greasy hair and yellow teeth. He stopped before them and looked nervously from man to man before he addressed Duncan.

“I’m a tracker,” he said. “I know the best routes to Kos. All who ascend trust me. Hike without me, and you hike at your own peril.”

Duncan exchanged a look with Seavig.

Seavig stepped forward casually and laid a hand on the man’s shoulder.

“I thank you for your offer,” he said.

The man smiled back nervously, and Seavig, to Duncan’s shock, suddenly pulled a dagger from his waist and stabbed the man in the gut.

The man groaned and keeled over, slumping to his feet, dead.

Duncan stared down at the body, stunned.

“Why did you do that?” he asked.

Seavig raised his boot and pushed over the man’s body until he was lying on his back. He then kicked the man’s shirt, and out clinked several gold coins. Seavig reached down and held one up—and Duncan was shocked to see the insignia of the Pandesian Emperor.

“A man of Escalon once, perhaps,” Seavig said. “But no longer. The Pandesians paid him well. If we had followed him, we would all be dead right now.”

Duncan was amazed, never expecting such treachery here.

Seavig threw the Pandesian gold back down to the ground.

“These mountains,” Seavig said, “hold more danger than one.”

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Kyra plummeted through the air so fast she could barely catch her breath, the icy mist of the waterfall engulfing her as she tumbled end over end, her screams drowned out by the roaring waters. Down below she could faintly make out Leo and Dierdre, landing somewhere in the huge clouds of white foam, could see their bodies tumbling as they went gushing down the rapids of the River Tanis. She had no idea if they had survived the fall—but it did not look good.

Kyra saw her life flashing before her eyes. Of all the ways she might die, she had never expected to die like this. She looked down and saw a group of boulders at the base into which the water landed, sending up waves of foam. She also dimly saw a narrow opening between the rocks; if she could land there, then maybe, just maybe, she would not break her neck when she landed, and have a remote chance to survive this.

She flailed and twisted, contorting her body as best she could, doing whatever possible to aim for the crevice.