What did she remember about Lodi’s Pass?
For starters, the cavern was the closest to the Badlands so its original keeper would probably have been doubly paranoid about keeping unwanted visitors from trespassing. They would have done a very good job of hiding the symbol.
If Shea had been the keeper, she would have hidden it somewhere high and not easily seen from the ground.
Trenton finally reached the small outcropping Shea had taken advantage of to rest on. His breath was coming in pants and his skin was soaked in sweat.
“Why is this so hard?” he asked, catching his breath. “I don’t remember the sky villages being this hard to get to.”
“We’re at a higher elevation. It makes breathing and physical activity more difficult. Also, the soul tree had easy hand grips that could be used to climb. This requires a different kind of strength. It can be taxing on the body.”
Trenton nodded. “Wait, where are you going?”
“Up. I think we need to get higher.”
Shea concentrated on her next hand grip, hauling herself up and placing her feet carefully. They really should be doing this with ropes and anchor points, but she was too impatient to wait, and they weren’t going that high.
“I’m going to remember this the next time I have you in the training ring,” Trenton shouted after her. When she didn’t answer, he used the wall to stand and started up. “I’m beginning to think Fallon and Caden have a grudge against me.”
Shea paused where she was, brushing at an oddly shaped rock in front of her. It wasn’t the symbol, but it was something. It was oval with a raised etching on it. Using one hand to anchor herself, she placed her feet carefully on the side of the rock before she set her other hand on it and brushed away some of the moss that had grown over the years. It turned just barely under her hand.
“I think I may have found something,” Shea told Trenton.
“Good. Then maybe we can get down off this cliff.”
Hm. The symbol was a series of lines that pointed up, but if she turned it as far as it would go, the lines pointed to her right. She looked where they pointed and saw another knob very similar to this one.
“Go back down to the outcropping we were just on. I want to check something out.”
“You know I’m supposed to go with you.”
“I have to climb sideways, and I don’t know where this leads. You sure you want to do that?”
Trenton looked where she motioned. A low curse reached her.
“Just do what you have to do and don’t worry about me,” he told her.
Shea rolled her eyes. Men and their stupid egos. If he fell off this cliff because he reached muscle failure, she wouldn’t bother to care.
“Suit yourself,” she said before making her way, hand over careful hand, to the knob she thought might point them in the right direction.
It wasn’t until several knobs later, after climbing and then descending several feet of the cliff that she found what she was looking for. The knob she’d turned pointed directly down. Shea moved so she could get a good look.
There below her, on a rock outcropping, the top of which could only be seen from the spot Shea currently clung to, was the circle with the wavy line inside of it. The outcropping in question was sandwiched between two other rocks that jutted out from the cliff sheltering the one with the symbol. She would have to descend between the two mammoth rocks to get to the column with the symbol.
“Found it,” she shouted back at Trenton where he was resting on a ledge several feet away.
“Finally.”
She began her descent. She was almost to the first rock when there was a shout from below.
“Eagles. The eagles are coming.”
Shea looked up, her heart in her throat.
Trenton leaned over the side of his ledge. “Get to the symbol and open the cavern.”
She clung to the side, her face upturned. He was a sitting duck where he was. The eagles could snatch him right off that ledge.
“Go, I’ll be right behind you.”
There was nothing Shea could do but listen. She climbed faster, stopping only for the briefest second to make sure that Trenton was following her. His face was a mask of concentration as he descended as fast as he could.
Shea was in the shade of the two rocks, her handholds suddenly cool under her hands. She was still several feet up when the sun was blocked by a giant pair of wings. An eagle’s head thrust between the crevasses, the beak closing inches from Shea’s face.
A loud squawk sounded and then the head withdrew only to be replaced by another bird’s, this one smaller with a cream-colored head that shaded to gold near the neck. It had several brown spots around its neck and chest. Using its smaller size, it darted inside, its beak growing larger and larger as Shea watched in horror. She yelped and jerked back as the hard beak brushed against her. That jerk was what saved her, the bird snapping at air as Shea fell the last few feet to the rock pillar.
She landed hard, the breath exploding out of her. No time to hurt. She needed to get moving and protect herself. Rolling to her side, she crouched as she looked above. The eagles both tried to thrust their heads inside, only to get in each other’s way. The bigger eagle flared its wings and let out an ear-piercing shriek. The smaller one answered its challenge with a full-throated cry of its own. It dived to the side, the bigger one following with another shriek. They circled above, intent on a furious battle as they dived at one another.
Shea didn’t question her luck, grateful that the two were more concerned with defending their territory than picking her off.
She turned back to the symbol below her—a circle filled with another circle and bisected by the wavy line. She’d found what she was looking for, now she just needed to make it work.
The eagles above broke off their aerial battle, disappearing as they dove at the ground below. Shea hoped the Trateri out there managed to evade them long enough for her to figure this out.
According to the story that Shea could remember, the entrance responded to the fire of the great eye and the blood of the chosen children. The second part should be easy enough. Whatever made her a pathfinder should open this thing. The first part though—what in all the Broken Lands was the fire of the great eye. Was it fire? That had to be too easy.
“You figure this out yet?” Trenton shouted down at her, his head peering over the side of one of the stone monoliths.
“You’re alive?” The question popped out of Shea before she could censor herself.
“Not for long if you don’t get this thing open.”
“I’m working on it.”
“Work faster.”
Shea dragged her foot across the stone, brushing away any debris that had accumulated over the years. The symbol itself was in pretty good shape, the white paint showing no sign of erosion or damage.
“Shea, you need to get this open.”
“I told you I’m working on it.”
She looked up. Trenton’s face was tilted away from her, but something very close to fear covered the part she could see.
“No, you need to get it open now. There’s a black cloud in the sky coming from the Badlands, and I’m pretty sure it’s not the kind filled with rain.”
Shea grumbled to herself. A bright flash of light near where Trenton crouched caught Shea’s attention.