"Rondan, what's she doing in there?" An annoyed voice from outside chimed in. Another short, stocky boy tried to enter. "You can't be in our tent!"
"Don't worry. She's leaving."
"Who is she?"
"Out of the way, Drey—" Rondan pointed for his tent-mate to go back the way he'd come in.
Ciara felt trapped. And something definitely hissed from some sort of far away force. No one reacted. She shook her head. Only she'd heard it.
"Who's in there?" A girl's voice spoke, as she joined them outside. She was still laughing and breathing hard from racing a fourth younger boy. "What's going on?"
"I don't know. Look out. They're coming out—" Drey tried to move everyone back as the campers now all streamed into the clearing.
"Another girl! Yes! I knew things would even out, if I stayed."
"She's not in our Circle, Sadie." Rondan tried to herd Ciara outside further by pointing toward the stone at the entrance to their camp.
"What!" Sadie sounded concerned and disappointed. "Are you lost?" The girl had freckles and light colored hair and looked like someone who spent most of her time smiling. "Oh, well. I can take you. But you'll have to wait. Rondan, leave her alone."
Sadie pulled her satchel around from her back to make some room in it. She hurried to place some fresh leaves on top of her mug full of berries, then fit the whole thing carefully under the flap and wiggled it to make sure the precious meal would stay best, upright.
Rondan's pointing arm went back to his side, and Drey and the other boy grouped in beside him, but they all waited for Sadie.
This girl gets along with anyone, Ciara thought, glad for the help.
"Come on!"
"Can I come with you, too?" The younger boy sounded like he already knew the answer.
"Cal, no. You stay here."
"Caluu, give it over. You owe me half of your cupful." Dray pushed him teasingly. But Rondan just stared after the girls as they walked out of the camp.
Ciara hurried beside Sadie, who chatted happily, telling her about the day's exploits at a stream lower down. The whole student camp had obviously been learning something Ciara couldn't yet comprehend.
She couldn't ask Sadie either, as the other kids were now passing. They stared, on their way back to their own tents—some flopped down, too tired to care. Others whispered.
"We should go to the 'Spike', but the 'Vault' is lots closer." The girl began huffing again in a low climb upwards, the way Ciara had come down. She chose a path that cut across the terrain to the left, rounding the mountain. It was lumpy but more or less level and wound through much shorter grass and alpine flowers. This, thankfully, was not going to be uphill.
"TJ will be back!" Rondan's voice shouted after Sadie across the distance.
"Tell him we're going to check the library. I'm not missing pie!" Sadie returned in an echo, then giggled. "Come on."
"Hey!" Rondan retorted. His voice rang even louder. "You have to put your berries in to get some."
"They can go on the top!" Sadie started to run, with one hand on her bag. "Over here," she motioned to Ciara.
On the path, it was hard to keep up, but Ciara's head hurt much less by the time they rounded the grassy plateau growing from soil between fallen stones—centuries old—amidst the steepest side of the tallest cliff face.
"See!" Sadie pointed up to the top, while Ciara had to grab hold of a rock slab to look.
Ciara could now make out what must be the front side of the fortress, not the back that she'd staggered away from before.
"There's the Spire."
It was magnificent.
"We call it 'The Spike'. You probably know that."
"No."
"Wow, you're really new. Don't worry. Livara will help you. Her name's Livara Quek. She's 'Libree Liv'!" Sadie talked fast and pointed to a shack that stuck out from the face of the mountain.
I wouldn't have noticed anything there! The Library Vault sat weathered and hidden, tucked into the cliffs, a long drop below its upper Spire crown. The sight of the Spire front from this angle made Ciara gasp. All that was missing were the jewels that should have been there.
Its beautiful! Ciara could just make out lines of Spire pillars, peaks and step edges, far above. It was obviously built to welcome eagles and possibly sky gods, or mountain goats and things from old myths. No one could approach the face of the cliffs from the front—not that Sadie could see. What a lot of effort to go through to build something for show that's not going to be used.
"Don't let the drop scare you. It looks worse than it is, but there's a sort of a wall when you get closer to the doors, so you can't fall over. You'll see it." Sadie glanced at her with a delighted smile. "I'm glad you're here—even if you're not in our circle." Then, Sadie ran back down the path. "Ask for a map!"
≈≈≈/