For what seemed an interminable amount of time, they walked, navigating countless twists and turns. Ridge could swear they were going in circles. Just about the time he was ready to declare his choice a mistake and head back, the light became brighter. More and more sun flooded into the tunnel, and he quickened his step. As they rounded another corner, his father stopped suddenly.
“It’s just as I remember,” the earl whispered.
Ridge stepped out of the tunnel beside his father and looked down at the valley below in complete and utter amazement. It was perhaps the most beautiful place he had ever seen. And it teemed with life.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Ridge stared at the lush, green terrain surrounded on all sides by imposing mountains. That such a niche had been created in what looked to be such an inhospitable environment was astonishing. He could well see how the city had gone undetected for thousands of years. Or was it longer?
Rows of cottages lined the banks of a large lake. Livestock grazed the north end of the valley. The entire valley bloomed. Trees, flowers, plants, andpeople.
People moved about the village. Children played, shepherds attended the flocks of cattle and sheep, women gathered in groups, weaving and making pottery, men grouped on the edge of the cottages, cleaning fish and laying them out to dry, and other women waded into the lake, washing clothes.
He glanced around to see he stood on a rock shelf midway up the mountain. How were they to get below to the village? He began searching for a pathway down.
A sound to his left alerted him, and he held India closer, protecting her against any unknown threat. A smiling older man wearing a blue robe walked slowly toward them. White hair hung over his shoulders, and a long, flowing beard fringed his face.
He knew this man. He was one of the two men in the images that haunted him.
“Greetings,” the man called out.
Before Ridge could respond, the earl stepped forward. “We have need of a physician. Maximus Hadley, is he still here?”
The older man smiled. “Yes, of course. It has not been all that long since you left our city, Charles.”
“Twenty-six years,” the earl muttered. “We must see my father.”
“Yes, of course. Follow me.”
The man turned and walked down a worn pathway. Ridge started after him, following him around the turns and twists as they headed down the mountain.
Ridge shifted India until her head was tucked firmly in his neck. “Wake up, sweetheart. You would want to see this,” he murmured as he took in their surroundings. He wouldn’t contemplate the possibility that she might not awaken. Surely a shoulder wound wasn’t a life-threatening injury.
Her eyelids fluttered, and her dark eyes stared up at him in confusion. Then they clouded with pain.
He stopped in midstride. “India? Can you hear me?”
She winced. “Of course I can hear you. You’re all but shouting in my ear.”
He squeezed her tighter against him, his heart thudding in relief. “Do you hurt?” A stupid question, but he couldn’t seem to make his tongue work properly.
She nodded her head. “It hurts everywhere. What happened?” Then as if suddenly remembering the chain of events, her eyes flared in alarm. “And you? Are you all right?”
“I would be a lot better if you hadn’t taken such a foolish risk,” he said with a growl.
She nestled her head against his chest then froze. She pulled away again. “Where are we?”
“We should hurry, son,” his father said beside him. “She needs help.”
India’s mouth fell open. “Is this all a dream?” Fear crowded her expression. “Did I die after all? Is this some bizarre hallucination?”
“No, sweetheart. You are very much alive and I very much intend to keep you that way. I’ll explain everything later. Father is right. We must hurry.”
Ignoring the flabbergasted look on India’s face, he started forward again, hastening to catch up to the old man who was nearly down the mountain.
A few minutes later they walked through the line of cottages. People stopped in their activities to greet them, some openly rejoicing to see the newcomers. Ridge thought it odd considering the fact they couldn’t have had many visitors. But then the idea that there were actual people here far surpassed the notion of odd.
“Father,” the earl whispered.
