Moon Shimmers(86)

“We go now.” I stood. “We head out now, and climb as far as we can, as fast as we can. I can’t give you a reason other than my intuition tells me that the sooner we get there, the better. I’ve had this feeling that we’ve been watched all along, and I still have it. I don’t want to wait and give whoever might be out there a chance to catch up and perhaps wait to ambush us.”

“Then we go now. Can you give us any guidance as to where we’ll find the cave?” Delilah asked.

Keth smiled—faintly, but it was a genuine smile. “I can do that. It’s going to be hard for you to miss, actually, but without our permission, you’d never make it there. Anyone who attempts to scale the mountain from here on up either has our permission or they never return.” He held out armbands—silver strips of material with a blue tip.

“You each will wear this. That signifies you’ve been given our blessing. Many have attempted to forge the material, but we make this weave ourselves and it possesses an auric energy that reads true only to itself. We can tell a forgery a mile off, and that is one factor intruders don’t count on. We read energy from a distance. So keep these tied to your right arms at all times. It won’t give you a free pass with the guardians of the mountain, but it will prevent any of our monks you might meet along the way from destroying you.”

I cringed, waiting for Smoky or Shade to say something all blustery, but neither said a word, simply accepted the bands without comment. We tied them around each other’s arms, making certain they were firmly bound.

“What happens if somebody tries to cut this off of us?” I asked, fingering the material, which seemed deceptively fragile.

“Try. You, Delilah, try cutting the band off her arm.” Keth pointed to Delilah’s dagger.

Delilah frowned, but obliged, sliding her blade beneath the material and attempting to cut through it. But nothing happened. The material resisted the blade, even though I knew she kept it honed to a fine edge.

“Why won’t it cut?”

“We charm the bands. No blade may cut them save for our own crystal daggers. So go and be safe. Return if you can. And when you find the diamond, remember—you may take it, and only it. Anything else in the mountains belongs to our order.” With that, Keth motioned for us to follow him, leading us out of the other door that exited the room. “We never allow true guests to exit by the front door. Only those who are cast out leave that way. You come in the front door, and exit through the back. That means you’ve been accepted by the Order and may return in the future.”

Their customs didn’t seem very different than those of a number of cultures in Otherworld. In fact, the monks didn’t seem nearly as fearsome as I had originally expected them to. But as we left through the back door, we entered a yard where several of the monks were training.

As we watched, they circled one another, feinting and throwing in turn as though they were tossing a ball back and forth. When they hit the ground, their bodies left imprints in the hardened soil—the force they were using was so great. Yet they each stood, never diverting their focus, never crying uncle or even showing a flicker of pain on their faces, although I saw enough blood and bruises to convince me that broken bones had to be involved.

Keth led us beyond the training, to the end of the enclosure that circled the monastery. He opened the gate and pointed to a dirt track cut into the mountain that began a long, lazy spiral up toward the peak. It was steep and narrow, and there were no guard rails or handholds. The track made me dizzy just looking at it, so I turned away, trying to keep my balance.

“It’s a long way up. You’ll climb the mountain through the night till morning. By the first crack of dawn, you should be near the Cavernica Redal if you encounter no dangers and take only moderate breaks. Whatever you do, take nothing other than the diamond, and dragons—do not shift into your natural forms. I have had sandwiches prepared for you, and I wish you well.”

I hoisted my staff. It was time to put it to use. Shade took the bag of food and draped the strap over his shoulder. We accepted fresh canteens from Keth, and then, he stood back.

“May the gods see you safely up and back. There’s nothing more my Order can do for you—not until you return. Your armbands will keep you safe from any of the monks on the mountain.” And with that, he turned and walked away, not looking back.

I sucked in a deep breath. “Smoky, will you go first?”

He nodded. “If you are sure?”

“I’m sure. Let’s climb.”

And so, we did.





Chapter 15