The Witch Woman's Prophecy

44 | The Mountain Pass |

The mountain pass narrowed as we drew near its end. High red-brown rock walls pressed in on us on both sides, and in the gap above the clouds were softened by the reflected pink light of the setting sun on the other side of the mountains. The pass was littered with shards of broken stone, and our journey was interrupted several times by the clattering of rocks tumbling down to smash apart on the floor of the pass. Each time, my heart jumped up into my throat as I pictured being crushed beneath falling boulders.

Our slow progress was torture to me, I was so desperate to see what was at the end of the pass for me to take to Basata, but it was not worth risking spraining or breaking an ankle for the sake of arriving there slightly sooner.

Naamiya took my hand to steady herself when the pass was almost blocked by a rockfall. I thought at first that it was because she needed me to help her climb the pile of rocks, but she carried on gripping it even after I had helped her over. Her hand was warm and firm in mine, and a bubble of happiness rose up inside me at the thought of her wanting my touch.

The pass twisted up through the mountains until it narrowed to a point where the walls above us almost touched each other as it passed through a single giant rock that was cleft in two. Soni was several strides in the lead and was almost through the gap when she abruptly threw out her arms and slammed her palms against the rock on either side of her.

'Stop!' she yelled and took a careful step backwards, feeling with her foot before she put her weight on it.

Naamiya and I had both stopped the instant she had cried out and Naamiya dropped my hand. We held our breath as Soni turned and made her way back to us.

'The path falls away on the other side of that rock. We can't go any further,' she said.

Our faces all wore matching expressions of dismay. How could we have come so far and be denied our goal at the last moment? How would Basata feel if I was unable to give her whatever it was that she so desired? The thought of seeing sorrow in her golden eyes made my own eyes sting with unshed tears.

'Perhaps we can catch up with Hericle and his men if we turn back now,' said Naamiya. 'We've tried everything, you can't blame yourself.'

'No,' I said. 'I'm not giving up. Not after everything we've been through. There's something important here. I know it.'

I turned and made my way to where the path disappeared between the rocks, pressed my hands against them to steady myself, then took a deep breath and looked down.

My stomach roiled as I took in the drop below me and dizziness almost made me loose my grip on the rocks. Part of the cliff had sheered away at some time in the life of the mountain; there were fragments of darker stone lying at the base of the cliff. My head swam as I looked down at the drop below me and for a breath I felt as though I was falling, even though I had a firm grip on the rocks on either side of me. A stone dislodged by my foot spiralled down through the air, and I heard it smash into the ground below a breath later. If Soni had rushed headlong through the split, she too would be lying at the base of the cliff dashed into pieces.

I muttered one of Kershel's finest curse words, then clenched my teeth together. I had come so far and now I was not going to be able to give Basata the gift she needed. My heart sank and I felt like kicking the rock beside me.

Keeping a tight grip on the rocks on either side of me, I looked out to the right but saw nothing except sheer rock above and below me. I cursed in my mind, glad that Soni and Naamiya could not see my expression. I turned to the left and there it was.

A ledge.

I let out a huge sigh of relief. We could continue, but not now as darkness was falling and this side of the mountain was in shadow. The pull of Basata's need made me groan at the wait. All I had to do was to go to the end of the ledge and I could make her happy.