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On the far side of the mountain, up on the slopes, I saw five contestants. Three were fighting each other while the other two were scrambling to get away from a Beira.
Looks like we aren’t the only ones to figure out the first part of the riddle.
Those five plus Njall and I made seven. I knew that another seven were dead. Which meant that there were still five unaccounted for, either dead or still in the forest somewhere.
I was startled when Njall pulled me back farther into the trees and led me away from the other contestants, our weapons drawn and ready. We tucked ourselves behind thick bushes, scanning the slopes for the best path to the top. The other contestants put a damper in our original plans.
Njall’s voice was a whisper. “Why is there no grass on the shadowed side?” He tilted his head.
An odd question for a time like this.
“The island is probably farther north than our continent. The sun’s light can’t reach the other side, so the plants can’t survive when always cast in shadow.” I wasn’t sure what he was getting at, but I could tell that he was contemplating a new plan.
Njall squinted at the mountain. “I think we should stay on the shadowed side during our assent. It’ll be harder to climb up with the loose rock rather than the grass, but it’ll also be harder for the others to spot us. The last thing we want is to have to fight anyone off under time constraints.”
“Agreed. We can stick to the edge of the shadows, using it as our guide. And once night falls, we can make our way to the other side.”
He shook his head. “No. We should use markers of some kind, sticks perhaps. Once the light dies out, the shadow goes with it. We won’t be able to see our path if we rely on the edge of the shadow as a guide.”
I stilled.
‘Once the light dies out, the shadow goes with it’
His words rang through my head.
I gasped. “That’s it.” I glanced at my arm, the smeared words were faded from sweat and dirt but still somewhat legible.
What light brings to life yet dies in darkness.
Always cast in shadow.
Once the light dies out, the shadow goes with it.
I dropped my bow and grabbed his face, his eyes widened with an incredulous look. “Njall, it’s the shadow of the mountain.”
He arched a brow. “Yeah,” he drawled.
I released his face. “No, you don’t understand.” I grinned, my voice a raised whisper. “The riddle! You have to have light to see shadows and they disappear in darkness. It’s not plants, it’s the mountain’s shadow.”
I shook my head, I couldn’t believe I didn’t think of this sooner. It made perfect sense.
Njall looked at me like I was crazy. Perhaps I was, but this whole godsdamn thing was crazy.
“Think about it, something that reveals a path is on the dark side of the mountain and can only be seen in darkness.” I was practically beaming. “Trust me. Please.”
Njall hesitated for a moment before nodding. “I trust you.”
We waited in the forest until darkness fell before we made our way around to the other side of the mountain. The base was so large that it took a couple hours of non-stop running. We didn’t know where we were supposed to go. And we still didn’t even know what we were looking for. Njall was taking a big risk, blindly following me.
We were running so hard that my legs felt numb, and my side was cramping. Sweat trickled down my back and I regretted wearing thick, leather pants. I couldn’t think of anything, my concentration solely on keeping my legs moving.
“Kya,” Njall whisper-yelled from behind, and I skidded to a stop on loose gravel.
Panting, I looked back to him and raised my bow, ready for whatever would come. But Njall wasn’t in a fighting stance. He was staring at the mountain, his mouth gaping.
“Look,” he breathed.
My gaze drifted to the towering rock. My mouth gaped and I nearly fell backwards. The entire side of the mountain was covered in soft, gold glowing swirls and lines embedded in the rock—not all that different from our marks. A triangular shape at the top came to a point, the bottom section was covered with crosses, a curving line through it. All of it encircled in a familiar shape.
