“Ah, of course.” Thero stepped in beside him and found himself looking at the section of wall that had fallen away. In the eye line of the skull, something glinted with the unmistakable color of gold against the naked stone. Threading his way through the formations, Thero brought the light to bear on the rock face and saw what appeared to be the remains of a rod of gold set into the stone. Something made of gold had been affixed to the wall long before the dripstone formed, then had apparently been dislodged in the rockslide. Reaching up, he pressed his fingers to the rough surface of the metal and gasped at the rich echo of Aurënfaie magic still contained there. With it came the hazy vision of two people, a man and a woman, standing exactly where he was. There was no dripstone around them, just the deeper darkness of the cave. He could not make out their faces or who they had been, but the impression of their presence was clear. He pressed his hands to the damp stone on either side of it.

“A Great Seal was here!” he said. “It must have sheared off when the rock face fell. Help me look through this broken pile of stone.”

“Thero.” Alec’s voice was low, but charged with emotion.

The wizard turned and found Alec facing a tall, amorphous black figure. It was only a few feet from his friend, but it was not a dra’gorgos, though he guessed Alec wasn’t so certain, given the way he was clutching his amulet. As the three of them stood there, the deep, troubled sigh echoed around the chamber again, and seemed to emanate from the very stones themselves.

Thero pointed to the skull and asked in Aurënfaie, “Is this yours?”

The dark figure wavered a moment, then faded away. “What was that?” Alec managed, and Thero could hear his voice shaking. “I believe that may have been your sad ghost.”

“That’s what I think, too.”

“If he meant to harm you, he’s certainly had adequate chances to do so.”

“So what does that mean? He didn’t claim the skull.”

“I don’t know. Some ghosts communicate with the living, while others ignore them.”

“This one spoke right next to my ear last time, so I think he was trying to communicate something.”

“Ah yes. His ‘Nölienai talía’—”

A sudden raw scream echoed horribly around the cave, and with it a sudden gust of wind that buffeted their faces.

“Aura Elustri málreil!” shouted Alec.

The wind stopped, and in the silence that followed they heard a muttering just below the threshold of hearing, then the words “Nölienai talía.”

Thero’s sphere of light went out, plunging them into darkness.

“Thero?” whispered Alec.

“That shouldn’t have happened.” Thero cast another ball of light and found Alec looking wide-eyed and nervous.

“Should we get out of here?”