Five massive piers remained from the original attempt, pillar-like support structures on which the arches and roadbed of the bridge would have been laid. They looked like square towers set in a row across the canyon. They were so tall they appeared strangely frail despite their girth and solidity. The one closest to the ledge had collapsed, bricks broken and scattered over the floor of the canyon to create a partial dam that had allowed a pool of water to gather and then the river to run out in a cataract down the debris. The other four piers were intact. A rickety-looking rope-and-plank bridge connected the farther piers to the north rim.

Luviara said, “I’ve read about this. Incredible to see it! It’s said the Orchid Emperor spent one thousand seven hundred and sixty-five lives trying to complete it before finally giving up.”

“That’s a lot of lives before giving up,” said Elen. “Why try at all?”

Luviara glanced at the prince. “It is not my place to speculate on an emperor’s decisions. But the poets say it was pride. My apologies, Your Highness.”

He wasn’t listening, because he was conferring with Simo.

The captain said, “I see a rope bridge starting from the first intact pier. But it isn’t connected to this ledge. How are we to reach the bridge? It’s too far to jump.”

“Look down,” said Elen.

Four iron rings had been hammered into the rock face, two just below the ledge and the other two below the upper pair. A thick rope was secured to the right lower ring. This taut rope spanned the gulf of air between the ledge and the first pier, a distance of about twenty paces. But it wasn’t the horizontal distance. It was the hundred-ells drop that made the passage dizzying and daunting.

“Are we meant to shimmy across, one by one?” Simo demanded. “That will take too long, and might not even be possible with our equipment.”

“Only one person needs to shimmy,” said Elen, “and that will be me, or Novice Warden Kem.”

“Why him?” asked Simo suspiciously.

“He’s got the strength and balance to manage it. Also, he’s made this crossing before, not long ago.”

“You have?” said Ipis. “Oh, merciful Heavens, Kem. That looks terrifying. How brave of you!”

Kem’s expression warred between sullen anger that Elen dared to speak of him after her lifetime of lying, and the cocky youthful need to show off in front of people he wanted to impress so they’d accept him as worthy to be one of their number.

Nevertheless, he shot Elen a look. “Of course I’ll go.”

“Then go,” said Simo. “I, for one, would like to cross before our pursuers reach us, especially because the way the canyon curves means we won’t be able to see them until they’re right on us.”