Free Valley of the Ancients: Book Three of the Restoration Series by Christopher Williams Page A

meet a bad end.
    Whether or not Abner knew a way to the other side of the mountains was still unresolved, but the old man quickly impressed Flare with his knowledge of the area. He deftly led them around gorges, drop-offs, and other obstacles that would have had Flare backtracking and getting lost.
    It was still several hours before noon, when they stopped at the base of a shear cliff. The mountain at this point looked like an immense smooth wall that ran both north and south.
    Stopping in his tracks, Flare looked around, the freezing wind biting into the small patches of skin that were exposed. "What now? How do we get around that?" He motioned towards the cliff.
    Abner was in the lead of the small group, but he stopped and turned when Flare spoke. His face was covered with a white cloth to help keep him warm. "We don't get around it," he called, "we get over it."
    Scanning the side of the mountain, Flare searched for any sign of a trail, any sign of a way up the mountain. Seeing none, he looked back to Abner, "How?"
    Moving close, Abner pointed. "See there, where the mountain appears to be cracked."
    Crack was an accurate description of the break that Abner was pointing towards. The southern part of the mountain appeared to be pushed slightly farther eastwards and jutted out just a bit more than the northern side. The whole "crack" was rather rough looking.
    Flare swallowed hard, "I see it. What about it?"
    "We climb it," Abner said simply. It was hard to tell with the white cloth over his face, but he had to be smiling.
    "Are you crazy?" Flare asked, looking back to the mountain. "That's impossible."
     
    "Sadah and I traveled this way less than a month ago. Surely, if she can make it than you can too."
    "How long does it take?" Flare asked, looking at the top of the mountain. It was covered in snow and the wind was whipping the snow around, making the mountain top look like it was covered by a thick cloud.
    "It would take less time if you would quit asking so many questions," Sadah said from behind them.
    Abner didn't say a word, he just looked around Flare at the girl and she dropped her eyes to the ground. She looked appropriately cowed.
    "We do not have to climb the complete way to the top." He pointed to a spot that was maybe two thirds of the way up the side of the cliff. "There's a cave in the side of the mountain, and in the back of that cave is a tunnel through to the other side."
    Flare sighed deeply. He still wasn't looking forward to the coming climb, but at least it wasn't as bad as he had thought.
     
    For a while, the going wasn't that bad. The crack in the mountain was rather wide at the bottom and narrowed the higher up it went. At the base, the crack was nearly ten yards across and Abner led them to the left side where they started their climb. Sadah followed the old man and then disapprovingly, Flare brought up the rear.
    Initially, the going was easy and he began to feel better about the ascent. It started out similar to steps, with the height of the steps irregularly spaced. In truth the "steps" were the jagged pieces of the crack.
    The wind started getting more noticeable and several times Flare stopped moving until a particularly powerful gust passed. He just stood there with a death grip on the rocks as the wind whipped his cloak around him. After the third time of the wind trying to dislodge him from the rocks, he glanced down. Immediately, he wished he hadn't. He had not realized how high they had already climbed. The ground seemed so far away. His mouth instantly went dry and his hands began to sweat.
    Breathing deeply, Flare yanked his gaze off of the ground far below and turned it upwards. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths, willing himself to stay calm. He had been in some high places before, but never on the jagged edge of a cliff.
    Forcing his eyes open, Flare realized with a start that he could no longer see Abner and Sadah. They had just been here a moment ago. It was impossible for