India moaned softly in his arms, and he glanced down, joy flooding his heart.
“India? India, my love, can you hear me?”
She stirred restlessly in his arms, her face twisted in pain. Her eyes fluttered open briefly, then they closed and she went limp against him once more.
“We must hurry,” the earl said grimly. “I will explain everything later.”
Ridge looked ahead at the sheer wall of rock exploding from the ground skyward. His eyes searched out the pattern of the moon and followed the centerline down to the base of the mountain.
“It should be there,” he said with a nod of his head.
A small cave. He knew it would be there. He was beginning to not even question the images that danced in his head, the vivid remembrances he had of this area. And now to find out his grandfather had traveled this way. Suddenly everything began to make sense.
Shifting India gently in his arms, he walked in the direction of his gaze.
“Help me look,” he said to the others. “There should be an entrance, or doorway, or something that tells us which direction to go.”
“Perhaps you should set her down while we look,” his father suggested.
Ridge gripped her tighter against him. “She is fine where she is.”
They spread out as they neared the steep incline. Ridge’s eyes searched the rock outcroppings, the indentions, curves, the rivulets carved in the face of the mountain by countless rains and winds.
“Here!” Robby cried out.
Ridge turned to see Robby waving him over.
He and his father hurried to where Robby stood, and Ridge surveyed the area. At first he saw nothing but a large boulder-like formation, but on closer examination, he saw it shielded a small cave entrance.
His mind flashed. He saw an older man standing at the cave smiling back at him, motioning him forward. Was it his grandfather? CouldRidgehave also been here before?
He turned to look at his father, his mouth agape at the implications. How could the earl have kept something such as this from him? Spurned his interest in Pagoria for all these years?
The earl looked discomfited by Ridge’s scrutiny as if he knew well what his son was thinking. Remembering. Had his father been here as well?
“Is there room for us all?” Robby asked doubtfully as he stuck his head into the cave.
“Father should know,” Ridge said pointedly.
The earl looked down, unable to meet Ridge’s stare. “You remember.”
It wasn’t a question.
“I’m beginning to,” Ridge said. “How could you keep something like this from me?”
Robby looked between the two of them in confusion. “What the devil are you two going on about? And can’t this wait?”
Ridge looked down at India. “Yes, it must wait. We must find aid for her.”
They ducked into the cave, each having to hunker down to walk down the darkened passage. Ridge turned and moved slowly, not wanting to jostle India more than necessary. He had been here. His father had been here. How? When so many had searched unsuccessfully for centuries. How could he not have remembered something so important?
He must have been terribly young because the memories only came in snatches, brief, fuzzy images. But the man he had always seen. It could only be his grandfather. And his father acted as though his grandfather was still alive.
Farther into the mountain they shuffled. In the distance, Ridge could hear the plinking of water as it dripped onto rock. The air was cool, and it smelled musty and dank. He couldn’t see. He could only feel his way down the passage after Robby and his father.
After several minutes, the passage opened up, and high overhead, a small beam of sunlight shafted through a crack in the ceiling of the cave.
He looked around, his eyes adjusting to the dim light. They were in a small cavern, completely surrounded by a wall of rock and smooth limestone. Then his gaze lit on the far wall.
