Embraced on the north and west and south by an enfolding arm of the Grimwall Mountains, and on the east by the trail leading upward into Kaagor Pass, there lies a woodland of silver birch and trembling aspen and splendid high pine. It is modest as Mithgarian forests go, measuring but some forty miles north to south and thirty east to west, yet it sits like a jewel in a cup, a small treasure to be cared for, cherished, loved. It is the Silverwood.

It has existed for unknown millennia, here in this sheltered mountain bowl. And in the year that Arin camped in these woods-1E9253-the Drimm had just begun delving the Drimmenholt called Kachar at the end of a vale of the Silverwood along its northwestern flank.

This fact would not be mentioned at all but for what was to come. For in the year 3E1602, some four thousand one hundred twenty-four years after Arin passed along its eastern flank, in a war between Drimm and humans, this Silverwood, this precious jewel, would be all but destroyed by raging Dragon fire.

Hist," cautioned Perin, cocking his head to one side.

"What?" Biren stopped filling the canteens and looked at his brother.

"Hush," admonished Perin. "Listen."

They stood in the twilight silence of the Silverwood and from the north and west there came a faint tapping, nearly rhythmic, as of a hammer on stone.

" 'Tis no bird, my brother," said Biren after a while.

"Nor an animal," added Perin.

"Delving?" asked Biren.

Perin frowned and listened as the gloaming deepened. "If so, 'tis far off."

They finished filling the canteens, then stepped back to the campsite and told the others of the sound, and Arin looked at Aiko and asked, "What says thy tiger?"

Aiko shook her head. "She is silent, my Lady."

"Come," said Rissa, "I would hear this tapping."

They walked away from the sounds of shifting horses and ponies, following the twins back to the nearby snow-melt pool, where they stood quietly and listened, but all they heard was the soft purl of a distant stream.

"Hmm," mused Perin. "It is gone."

"Vanished," added Biren.

"Mayhap it was but sliding rock on the slopes," said Melor, glancing up at the embracing Grimwall. "The spring melt bringing it down."

"It seemed too measured," protested Perin, "purposeful."

"As of a hand at work," agreed Biren.

Silverleaf turned to Rissa. "Is there Drimmenholt nigh, chier?”

Rissa shrugged. "None that I know, Vanidar, yet it is long since last I was here."

"It could be Spaunen," growled Ruar. "They teem in the Grimwalls."

Again all eyes turned to Aiko, but she shrugged and said, "My tiger warns of no peril. If the Kitanai Kazoku are in these mountains, they are not at hand."

"Nevertheless," said Silverleaf, "I think we should build no fire this night… and our watch should be extra vigilant."

Melor turned to Aiko. "Does thy tiger sleep?"

Aiko shook her head.

"Good."

There was no moon in the darktide, not even a hair-thin crescent near dusk, and without a fire only the stars lighted the camp. But then the night turned chill and an overcast from the north drew entirely across the sky and not even starlight shone down. And so, even the Elves with their vaunted eyesight could see little in the resulting dark, and all the warders had to depend on their hearing as they each stood watch… all but Aiko, who on her turn listened to her tiger instead. Yet the night passed uneventfully, and no danger came through the blackness to threaten the camp.

Dawn found the Elves and Aiko breaking fast beneath lowering skies, the dark grey stretching from horizon to horizon. They ate in gloomy silence, none saying aught, but as they took their utensils down to the pool, again came the faint tapping from the distant northwest.

After listening awhile, "I deem it is delving," said Vanidar Silverleaf, "yet whether Drimm or Rupt, I cannot say."

"Shall we go see?" asked Perin.

"Whatever for?" queried Biren.

Perin shrugged. "Mayhap it is important."

"And mayhap not," replied Biren.

Rissa glanced at Silverleaf. "I ween our separate missions are more urgent than discovering some Drimm delver or aught else hacking away at stone. And though I would rather accompany Dara Arin on her mission, to do so risks failure of all. Hence, I say we have come to the parting of the ways: we to ride south and bear the words of Arin's vision to Coron and DelfLord and King; she and the cat who fell from grace to ride north-and beyond-to discover the one-eye in dark water and all the others entangled in her words… and to find the Jaded Soul."

Ruar growled deep in his throat and glanced across to Arin. "Would that I could ride with thee, Dara, yet to do so indeed risks all. I must agree with Dara Rissa-we have come to the parting of the ways."

Arin looked into the eyes of each of her companions, and one by one they nodded. And so, ignoring the tapping, they washed their utensils and returned to the campsite, where they saddled the horses and tied on their gear. They evenly shared out the remainder of the supplies and laded them on the ponies, two of which were given over to Arin and Aiko.

Rissa turned to Arin. "Thou hast the map, neh?"

Arin patted the breast of her leather jacket "Aye, Rissa, it is yet here."

Silverleaf glanced to the north and west whence came the delving sounds. "Take care, Arin, for Ruar is right: Spaunen teem in the Grimwall, and thou and Aiko are about to pass through."

Arin nodded and touched her sword and gestured at the bow tethered behind her saddle, and she waved a hand at Aiko's weaponry, too. "Fear not, for we are prepared."

One by one the Elves embraced Arin, and embraced Aiko as well, the Ryodoan's eyes flying wide at this show of affection, though she embraced them back. Then, as a cold draught blew down from the heights above, all mounted up and with hails of "Fare ye well" and of "Go with Adon" they rode their separate ways-Arin and Aiko into the teeth of the chill wind, up the trail and north, the others south and down, the cold at their backs.

As they entered the pass, Aiko looked up at the steeps to the left and right and at the strait ahead. "I like this not, Lady Arin," she growled. "It is a place of ambush."

"What does thy tiger say?"

"Nothing… yet."

On they rode and upward, beneath the leaden skies, the horses and trailing ponies maintaining a good pace. The pass itself was some twenty-one miles through, half up-slope, half down, and they planned to cross in a single day, for even at this time of year the nights were frigid and the days chill and sudden snowstorms could still rage at these heights.

On they fared, up and up, toward the dismal sky. The way was narrow and stone-strewn, the walls sheer and high, with dark crannies looming left and right; Aiko's gaze ever searched the gloomy depths, her weapons never far from hand. And still they went onward, at times riding, at times walking, at other times resting the steeds, or feeding them some grain, or watering them at pools of melt after breaking through a thin crust of ice. Yet always they stopped but briefly and soon took up the journey again, pressing ahead.

Now they came into an encloaking mist, where the clouds rode low as they drifted across the Grimwall, grey fog enveloping all. Vision was shortened, ten strides at best, and boulders lying in the slot ahead loomed dark and menacing. Steps were muffled on the mist-wet rock; iron-shod hooves seemed deadened though they trod on stone.

And onward pressed the pair.