"I wasn't addressing you, old man," the priestess snapped.
Jedidiah transformed his expression into the comically crestfallen look worn by mimes in Westgate. Joel was unable to keep himself from chuckling.
Jedidiah patted Joel on the back. "It's up to you," he said with a shrug. Then he whispered, "But I'd have another look at those teeth if I were you."
Joel met Walinda's gaze. The priestess smiled, showing her teeth. They were small, white, and perfect. They reminded Joel of doll teeth… unnatural. The bard shuddered. "I have to go," he said. He made a hasty bow and joined the others at the ship's rail.
From her chair, Walinda called out, "Four days, old man. Don't keep me waiting."
"Cat's Gate. I'll be there," the old priest called back. Beneath his breath he muttered, "Nag, nag, nag."
Holly giggled and even Jas smiled. The paladin unrolled a rope ladder down the side of the ship and began to climb down. Jedidiah followed as Jas fluttered into the air and settled near Holly. Joel climbed on the railing and looked back at Walinda. The priestess still sat in her chair, facing forward, soon to be left alone on a ship piloted by an undead priest of a dead god. "Do you ever get lonely?" Joel asked. Walinda turned her head to face the Rebel Bard. " know you will return to me, Poppin," she answered. Joel scrambled down the ladder. The moment the bard's feet were on the ground, the great ship rose into the sky and disappeared behind the mountain. "Worst inn I've ever slept in," Jedidiah said. "Can't think why Volo would recommend it."
"I can still sense the banelich," Holly said. "They're not too far off."
"No doubt they'll try to follow us from the air," Jedidiah said. "It won't do them any good." He turned to Joel and explained. "For reasons of their own, Holly and Jas have agreed to accompany us to the vale."
"Oh," Joel said. He could understand Holly wanting to see the vale. To her mind, it was another dale, a possible ally, a secret to take back to Randal Morn. The young bard wondered about Jas's reasons, however. He remembered the long conversation Jedidiah had with the winged woman the night before. He couldn't begin to guess what agreement she'd reached with Jedidiah.
Jedidiah knelt down on the ground and spread his cloak out before him. He sang a simple grace, and the air above the cloak shimmered blue. When the old priest had finished, two fat loaves of bread lay on his cloak. Jedidiah held out his arms, inviting the others to join him.
When they'd finished their breakfast of Jedidiah's bread, plus cold, refreshing water from the stream, Jedidiah said, "Time, I think, to go. Do you need to pull out the map?"
Joel shook his head. He'd studied the map so often on his trip north he had large portions of his route memorized… especially the route through the waterfall.
Joel stepped into the stream. The water was cold but bearable. He began to walk toward the waterfall.
"Why do I have a sinking feeling we're going to get all wet?" Jas groused. "I hate getting my feathers damp."
"Pretend you're a duck," Jedidiah teased.
"Are we going behind the waterfall?" Holly asked with delight, chasing Joel into the stream. "No wonder Lord Randal's men couldn't discover how to get into your vale."
Jedidiah and Jas followed the bard and the paladin up the stream. The streambed was slick with small, rounded rocks. Closer to the waterfall, Joel discovered a chain beneath the water and picked it up. It was fastened to something behind the waterfall. The bard handed the end to Holly, and they used it to steady themselves as they pulled their way through the strong current until they came to the curtain of water.
The bard and paladin stood just behind the falls, looking out, as Jedidiah and Jas came through.
"Isn't it beautiful?" Holly asked, pointing back at the sunshine rippling through the waterfall. "Very," Joel agreed.
Jedidiah picked up a rock and sang a quick scale, imbuing the stone with a luminous glow.
Behind the waterfall was a cavern. The floor was covered with sand. Footprints ran from the back of the cavern to the waterfall. One set was booted; the other was unlike any print Joel had ever seen before-shaped like a dragon's, but smaller than a human's. "Whose tracks are these?" Holly asked. "The swordswoman Alias and one of the saurials," Jedidiah said.
They followed the footprints back to a staircase cut into the rock. It was a long climb up the stairs. They had to pause to rest twice. At the top of the stairs, they came out into a cave looking out over a valley. "Is that the vale?" Jas asked. Jedidiah laughed. "We've miles and miles to go yet." The cave contained a little shrine to Tyr, god of justice. Bits of ash from burned paper dusted the tiny altar before the god's statue.
They rested again before they followed the path that led from the cave down the opposite side of the mountain. The path stayed beneath the trees, skirting the edge of any clearings, or, if the trees thinned on an especially rocky slope, the trail passed through tunnels cut into the mountainside.
Jas smiled with satisfaction. "I hope that witch wastes lots of time trying to spot us from the air," she said.
They traveled along the path all morning, stopping only once to pick raspberries. By noon, they'd reached their goaclass="underline" Finder's harp symbol, carved into the gray rock of a cliffside and painted white with a solution of lime. Etched into the cliffside just below the symbol of Finder was the outline of an archway. Jas knocked, pushed, pried, and tapped all about the outline of the archway but could discover no opening.
"It's solid rock," the winged woman insisted.
Joel nodded. He warmed up his voice with a scale, then, with a nod from Jedidiah, he began to sing a marching song the old priest had taught him. The song described the trail so far and asked Finder to unravel an easier path for the rest of the journey. It had two verses and a refrain. Jedidiah joined in on the refrain.
Joel closed his eyes and smiled as he sang the second verse. The weariness of the past few days seemed to drain away. He felt calm, as if he and Jedidiah were singing a drinking song in a tavern in Berdusk. The sounds reverberated from the cliffside, amplifying their voices until they rang throughout the mountains.
Joel repeated the refrain alone, adding a little dance step, which never failed to amuse Jedidiah. Holly applauded.
Jas looked expectantly at the wall, but nothing happened. "Well?" she asked. "What's the problem? Were you off-key or something?"
Jedidiah snorted. "You may no longer be a groundling, my dear, but you are a barbarian. Off-key indeed!" And with that, the bard walked straight into the cliff face, disappearing into the rock like water into sand. He poked his head back out. "Don't dawdle. The door won't last forever."
Jas, Holly, and Joel plunged through the stone. When they emerged from the rock, they found themselves surrounded by fog. Jedidiah's light stone lit only a tiny area around them. Holly, off to one side of the others, stumbled and nearly fell in the thick fog. Jedidiah pulled her back toward the light. "Stick to the path," he said, indicating the trail marked by lines of glowing yellow stones. "No telling what might happen if you wander off."
Joel started off down the path, eager now to reach hi” destination. Behind him, Jas muttered a dark curse. Joel turned around. Jas's wings had transformed. In place of the pink-feathered, eaglelike appendages were four planes of clear membranes like a dragonfly's wings. They glowed softly.
"Jas, your wings… they've-"
"— changed. Yeah, big deal," Jas muttered. She glared at Jedidiah. "We aren't underground at all, are we? You didn't tell me this would take us into another plane,' she complained.
"We're in another plane?" Holly asked, awestruck.
"The borderland of the ethereal plane," Jedidiah explained. "One of the saurials, a wizard named Grypht, created the gates and the path. Do your wings transform every time you travel to a different plane?" the old priest asked Jas curiously.