Free Diamond Bonds by Jeff Kish Page B

destination, he sets her on her feet.
    Finishing off the rest of Era’s drinking water, Di’s eyes grow wide as she takes in the sight of a massive gorge right on the path.  “My, how beautiful!” she exclaims.  “It looks like the road carves a path right through that hill!”  The path runs alongside a river with cliff walls towering on either side, providing relief from the seemingly endless stretch of hills.
    “Don’t get too excited,” Jem warns, “because we’re not going down there.”
    Di frowns.  “But, if not down there… then where?”
    A sadistic grin spreads across Jem’s face.  “We’re going up there!”  She points to the west side of the hill, indicating the travelers will be hiking off the trail to go over the valley.  “We’ll need to wade through the river here as well, while it’s still narrow.”
    Di’s jaw drops at the thought of both wading through water and then climbing the highest hill yet today.  “Why would we do that?   Why wouldn’t we take the easy path?”
    “Bandits,” Era answers.  “They love that terrain.  It might be unlikely, but it’s not worth the risk of an ambush just for the sake of taking a nice stroll.”
    Di slaps her forehead and glares at Era.  “You’d better be planning to carry me up that mountain .”  She stomps down the hill, enjoying gravity’s help one last time.
    Era laughs as he and Jem follow.  “I was already planning on it, princess.”
    “And stop calling me princess! ”

 
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 5
     
    “Amazing!”  Di can hardly believe her eyes as the trio emerges from the woods to find a location overlooking the gorge.  “Truly amazing.  It makes all that hiking worth it!”
    Era hunches over, sapped of his strength.  “How much hiking did you even do?  I carried you most of that way, including across the river!”
    “I’ve never seen anything like this in all my life!” Di exclaims, ignoring Era’s remark.  The gorge spans a wide distance, and the rumble of the river below echoes off the canyon walls.  Di creeps to the edge and looks down, spotting the path that would have otherwise carried them through the area.  The ridge slopes at a steep angle, all the way to where the path and river lie below.  “I guess I’m happy we didn’t stay way down there.  I wouldn’t have seen this view!”
    “Well, hurry and take it all in, because the whole point in coming this way was to remain inconspicuous,” Jem reminds her.  “We need to stick to the other side of the tree line.  Don’t forget what we said about bandits loving this terrain.”
    Di looks back with a sly grin.  “The big bad bandit girl is afraid of bandits?”
    “I’m not a bandit!”  Jem insists with a huff.  “Or a thief, or anything , so stop trying to label me.”
    Di looks back down the slope.  “But why do bandits love this terrain?  There’s no way they could ambush anyone on that path from way up here, is there?”
    Era steps next to Di and looks down.  “It is steep, but I’ll bet I could skid down it if I wanted to jump a caravan or something.  There’s a gentle grade at the end.”  Di frowns at the thought of intentionally jumping off the ledge.
    “If there are bandits around, we’re not doing ourselves any favors by sitting out in the open like this,” Jem insists, motioning for them to come.  “Let’s move.”
    Di sneaks one last peek at the view before ducking back into the underbrush.  They hike in silence as she silently tallies how much further to her home.
    “Yeow!  Stupid bugs,” Era yelps as he smacks the back of his neck.  “Something just bit me!”
    “More like stupid woods ,” Di mutters.  “I’m sick of trees and branches and leaves and bugs.”
    Era pulls a small object around to see.  “Uh… Jem?”  Instead of a bug, he holds a feathered dart.  “I dunnn thinnnk…”  With that, he stumbles and collapses to the ground.
    “Era!” Di shrieks.
    The experienced