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

them to have climbed out of his sight that quickly. Just then, Abner's head popped back into view.
    "You coming?"
    Blinking in surprise, Flare guessed that Abner and Sadah were resting on a rock shelf. The idea of taking a break was exciting, but he wasn't sure how much he would like looking out over the edge of the mountain. "Yeah. Be there in a moment."
    In no time, Flare reached the small landing and pulled himself onto the rock shelf, quickly scooting away from the edge. The landing was small and cramped, a jagged piece of rock hung out horizontally, giving the shelf a ceiling that was just three or four feet high.
    Panting, Flare just lay there, enjoying the respite.
    "Afraid of being this high up?" Sadah asked, her tone containing the merest hint of glee.
Flare chose to ignore her. "How much higher do we have to go?" he asked of Abner. The old man also lay on his side. It was rather cramped for a grown man to sit without hitting his head on the overhanging rock.
    "Higher? No higher." He pointed behind Flare, "There's our way through the mountain."
    Surprised, Flare looked around to see a small black hole in the rock behind him. Maybe two feet wide, maybe. "I thought you said there was a cave."
    "It opens up a few feet in and you can stand. The best part is that it goes all the way through."
    "Master!" Sadah blurted. Both Flare and Abner turned to the girl but she was looking out over the edge of the cliff.
    Thankful that he was still lying down, Flare slid a little farther over to the edge and looked down. It was a long way to the bottom, but it was easy to see what had spooked Sadah. Several black shapes moved across the open area at the base of the cliff. Even with his superior elven sight, he couldn't discern the shapes clearly.
    Closing his eyes, Flare forced his body to relax and concentrated on his breathing. After a moment, his eyes opened and he directed his spirit forward to investigate who was following them. He had a suspicion as to who it might be, but he had to know for sure.
    Flare's surroundings appeared almost to recede and the surprise almost made him lose control of his spirit. It wasn't that his surroundings had changed, but instead his perception altered. Abner and Sadah were still lying there on the rock shelf beside him, but they seemed farther away and things looked less colorful, like they were graying out. The overall affect was a little bit disconcerting, but for some reason he wasn't scared, it was like he knew things were all right. Even though he knew it was bright and sunny, everything now appeared dark, like it had quickly gotten overcast or the sun was going down quicker than it should have.
    One thing shown brightly in his vision, it was something that hadn't been there just a moment before. An opaque white cloud hung directly in front of him. He was confused as to what the cloud meant, but then he looked down and saw that the cloud was connected to his chest. The cloud seemed to be attached to him. Is that my spirit? Flare thought in wonderment. Sorcerers used their spirits to influence the physical world, but he had never seen it like this before.
    The spirit cloud continued to hover directly in front of him as he considered what he should do. Finally, he hesitantly nudged his spirit down the mountain.
    Fast as lightning, the cloud shot down the slope, all the while one end remained attached to Flare's chest.
    The cloud reached the base of the mountain and spread out like a fog covering the ground. It wound through the rocks and the few bushes that managed to grow here. In no time at all, the six men approaching the mountain were surrounded. They continued to move forward, taking no notice of the strange fog that enveloped them.
    Before, when Flare had used his spirit to search things out, it had never been like this. This was definitely new. Even though he knew he was still lying on his side, next to the other two, he also felt like he was walking amongst the six men at the base of the