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I get to my feet."We've waited too long. We must go on."
The incense pots fume in reds and blues as we enter the long hall of faded frescoes. The wind blows dried rose petals into a spiral that rises and falls. For a moment, I am besieged with doubt. How could this wreck of a place possibly be the source of all magic in the realms? Perhaps my vision was wrong, and I am looking in the wrong place once again. Asha steps forward like a mirage. She places her hands together and bows. I return the gesture. She smiles.
"What do you offer us?" she asks.
"I offer myself," I say."I offer Hope."
Asha smiles. It is a most beautiful smile."I am your servant."
"And I am yours," I answer.
"Are you ready to bind the magic?"
"I think so," I say, suddenly afraid."But how?"
"When you are ready, you must step through the waterfall to where the well of eternity waits." "What happens then?"
"I cannot say. There you will face your fear and perhaps come through the other side."
" ^Perhaps' come through?" I say."It isn't certain?"
"Nothing is ever certain, Lady Hope," she says.
Perhaps. It is such a thin shield of a word.
"And if I do come through?"
"You must choose the words for the binding. Your words direct the course it will take. Choose them well."
;It shall have to do," she says, pulling it from the quiver. She slings the bow over her shoulder."I'm ready."
We follow the path through the jungle growth till we reach the base of the mountain. "Why are we going this way?" Felicity asks.
"We're going to the Temple."
"But this is the way to the Caves of Sighs." Felicity says, voice filled with disbelief."Surely you're not suggesting . . ."
Ann is astonished. "But it is just caves and some old ruins. How can that be the Temple?"
"Because we haven't seen it the way it really is. If you wanted to hide your most valuable possession, would you not hide it in a place where no one would think to look? And why not have it guarded by those everyone assumes have no power?"
"Offer hope to the Untouchables, for they must have hope," Ann says, repeating Nell's words. "Exactly," I say. I point to Felicity and then to Ann. "Strength. Song. I am Hope. Lady Hope. That's what she kept calling me."
Felicity shakes her head."I still don't understand."
"You will," I say.
We make our way up to the narrow, dusty road that leads to the top of the mountain, where the Caves of Sighs wait. I have to stop along the way to rest.
Felicity steadies me against her shoulder."Are you all right?"
"Yes. Still weak, I'm afraid."
I look up, shading my eyes with my hand. It seems so far to the top.
"Gemma! Felicity!" Ann shouts. "Over there!" She points down to the river. The gorgon barge is making speed toward us. Pippa's climbed up into the crow's nest. The wind whips her black hair behind her like a silken cape.
"Pippa!" Felicity calls, waving.
