The company reached the beginning of the woods and followed Skint into the trees. Now Redden had a clearer view of the cliffs and could see how the peaks were jammed together in a series of jagged spikes very likely formed by a cataclysmic upheaval in the distant past. The cliffs appeared to form an impassable wall, an impression that became more of a certainty as they exited the woods and found themselves at their base.

Skint pointed. “Over there. I wouldn’t have seen it at all if I hadn’t been searching for wood to make the boy’s splints and caught a glimpse of its reflection.”

Redden looked, but didn’t see anything.

But Skint was already moving away with Khyber Elessedil right on his heels, leading the company around a cluster of boulders to where a narrow split opened into the rugged face of one of the larger cliffs, a shadowed opening that caught just enough of the misty light filtering down from the heavily overcast sky to illuminate a shimmering ribbon wedged within the rock. Redden squinted, trying to decide what he was looking at. The ribbon had the look of a waterfall, and yet it didn’t seem as if that was what it was. Everyone studied it for a few minutes, but no one was able to decide.

Redden moved a few steps closer, up to where the Ard Rhys was standing with Skint and Garroneck.

“I still can’t make out what that is,” the Gnome was saying.

“Nor I,” she answered him.

“I don’t like this, Mistress,” the big Troll rumbled. “It doesn’t feel right.”

Redden didn’t like it, either. He glanced around at the others, and on most faces found a mix of uneasiness and uncertainty.

“Let’s have a closer look,” the Ard Rhys announced.

The members of the company moved forward with Pleysia and Oriantha bringing up the rear, watching over their shoulders for anything that might be coming up on them from behind. The advance was stealthy and cautious, and no one spoke as they neared the shimmer. Shadows closed about them, cast by the high walls of the split. A peculiar positioning of the shimmer within the wedge allowed sunlight to play over it even when it seemed to reach no other place within the gloom. Redden tried to fathom how this was possible but failed to find an answer.

Khyber walked right up to the glittering light with Skint and Garroneck close behind. It was clear by then, even to Redden who was near the back of those assembled, that the shimmer was not water but light that gave the appearance of water. The Ard Rhys motioned for everyone to stay back as she studied the light, then probed it with magic conjured through a series of intricate hand movements.