Shea allowed a small smile to cross her face before she started searching again. There was nothing that stood out in the cliffs close to her. She turned and looked up. Could the original keepers of this entrance have placed the symbol higher up in the hopes that those not worthy would be unable to locate it?
Other entrances were concealed in small crevasses at the bottom of the cliffs or hidden under the long grasses that came right up to the edge in some places. This entrance had plenty of rocky outcroppings and crevasses to search but no vegetation that came close to the cliff.
What did she remember about Lodi’s Pass?
For starters, the cavern was the closest to the Badlands so its original keeper would probably have been doubly paranoid about keeping unwanted visitors from trespassing. They would have done a very good job of hiding the symbol.
If Shea had been the keeper, she would have hidden it somewhere high and not easily seen from the ground.
Trenton finally reached the small outcropping Shea had taken advantage of to rest on. His breath was coming in pants and his skin was soaked in sweat.
“Why is this so hard?” he asked, catching his breath. “I don’t remember the sky villages being this hard to get to.”
“We’re at a higher elevation. It makes breathing and physical activity more difficult. Also, the soul tree had easy hand grips that could be used to climb. This requires a different kind of strength. It can be taxing on the body.”
Trenton nodded. “Wait, where are you going?”
“Up. I think we need to get higher.”
Shea concentrated on her next hand grip, hauling herself up and placing her feet carefully. They really should be doing this with ropes and anchor points, but she was too impatient to wait, and they weren’t going that high.
“I’m going to remember this the next time I have you in the training ring,” Trenton shouted after her. When she didn’t answer, he used the wall to stand and started up. “I’m beginning to think Fallon and Caden have a grudge against me.”
Shea paused where she was, brushing at an oddly shaped rock in front of her. It wasn’t the symbol, but it was something. It was oval with a raised etching on it. Using one hand to anchor herself, she placed her feet carefully on the side of the rock before she set her other hand on it and brushed away some of the moss that had grown over the years. It turned just barely under her hand.
“I think I may have found something,” Shea told Trenton.
“Good. Then maybe we can get down off this cliff.”
Hm. The symbol was a series of lines that pointed up, but if she turned it as far as it would go, the lines pointed to her right. She looked where they pointed and saw another knob very similar to this one.
“Go back down to the outcropping we were just on. I want to check something out.”
“You know I’m supposed to go with you.”
“I have to climb sideways, and I don’t know where this leads. You sure you want to do that?”
Trenton looked where she motioned. A low curse reached her.
“Just do what you have to do and don’t worry about me,” he told her.
Shea rolled her eyes. Men and their stupid egos. If he fell off this cliff because he reached muscle failure, she wouldn’t bother to care.
“Suit yourself,” she said before making her way, hand over careful hand, to the knob she thought might point them in the right direction.
It wasn’t until several knobs later, after climbing and then descending several feet of the cliff that she found what she was looking for. The knob she’d turned pointed directly down. Shea moved so she could get a good look.
There below her, on a rock outcropping, the top of which could only be seen from the spot Shea currently clung to, was the circle with the wavy line inside of it. The outcropping in question was sandwiched between two other rocks that jutted out from the cliff sheltering the one with the symbol. She would have to descend between the two mammoth rocks to get to the column with the symbol.
“Found it,” she shouted back at Trenton where he was resting on a ledge several feet away.
“Finally.”
She began her descent. She was almost to the first rock when there was a shout from below.
“Eagles. The eagles are coming.”
Shea looked up, her heart in her throat.
