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Tavi took one look at the thirty odd feet between hi at Fade&039;s pack He jerked the flap open and grabbed the first thing his fingers could reach, though all the squir made him twist and spin on the rope He squinted up as best he could and then flung it at the Marat above hie A hunk of cheese s for a round below

Kitai blinked at the cheese and then at Tavi, his face twisting into a scowl Doroga hadn&039;t stopped lowering the rope, and so the cut the Marat had begun had already descended out of his reach Kitai steadied hiainst the cliff face, then reached out with his knife and began slicing at the rope again "Foolish, Aleran Kinder if you fell, broke a leg, and had to turn back rather than be devoured by the Keepers"

Tavi scrambled in the pack and found cloth wrapped around several biscuits He grabbed the first and hurled it at Kitai "So I could be eaten by your people instead?"

Kitai scowled, not deterred this time A biscuit bounced off his outstretched arm "We would at least not eat you alive"

"Stop that&039;" Tavi shouted He threw another biscuit, to no effect A thick strand of the braided rope parted with a whining snap, and Tavi&039;s heart lurched as the rope spun and swung froround He&039;d never be able to fall that far without hurting himself, possibly too badly to continue

Another strand parted, and Tavi swayed wildly back and forth, his heart ha with excitelance down (fifteen feet, or a little more?) He slipped his foot out of the loop at the bottorey rope, and as quickly as he could, he slipped down the rope, gripping with his hands, and letting his legs swing below hi his legs swing out far beneath him

The rope parted with a snap Tavi plu the rope fro hiht have been little her than the roof of the stables, and he had jumped from there several times-always into mounds of hay, true, but he had made the jus loose, to fall, roll if he possibly could

The fall seemed to take forever, and when Tavi landed it was a shock to his ankles, knees, thighs, hips, back, all in rapid succession as he tu wildly out and slapping doith him, and his breath exploded out fro, di the loop in the end of the rope in his fist

He regained his breath in a few ruous facts as he did First, there was no snon here in the chasnificance of it hadn&039;t quite registered on hiround It ar hiround beneath hiers felt pleasantly war his chilled fingers recover from the cold wind that had frozen the as though being prickled by thousands of tiny needles, but the sensation faded after aathered hi about uncos

What was beautiful fro and a little disturbing The waxy growth, the croach, grew right up to the stone walls of the chasm and stopped there, but for one place he could see, where it had crept up the walls, evidently to engulf a lone and scraggly tree trying to grow frolowseveral ghostly weak shadows on the glowing floor of the forest Beneath the croach, the shadowy outlines of the trees themselves reminded Tavi uncomfortably of bones beneath flesh

Tavi heard a scrabble on the wall and turned in time to see Kitai drop the last dozen feet to the floor of the forest, landing soundlessly, absorbing the shock of landing on both feet and on his ar for a reenish in the quiet light of the croach His gaze darted left and right, wary, and his head tilted to one side, listening, focused on the lambent forest before him

Tavi&039;s teer that e himself He rose and stalked silently toward Kitai Tavi tapped the Marat on the shoulder, and when Kitai turned toward him, he balled up his fist and drove it into the other boy&039;s ribs as hard as he could

Kitai flinched, but didn&039;t h to evade the blow Tavi pressed his advantage, jerking the Marat&039;s arain in the same spot, as hard as he could Kitai fumbled for his knife, and Tavi shoved hi onto the glowing surface of the croach

Kitai turned his opalescent eyes toward Tavi and pushed himself up with his hands "Aleran," he snarled, "enerosity is wasted on you If you want a Trial of Blood, then-"

Kitai stopped abruptly, his eyes going wide

Tavi, prepared to defend hie in the Marat Gooseflesh rippled up his araze down-to his own feet

Soht of the croach seemed to have spilled onto Tavi&039;s boots He frowned and peered closer No When he had landed, one of his heels must have driven into the croach and broken its surface like a crust of drying oo was

within the wax, it had splashed droplets onto the leather The droplets gJowed, pale and green

Tavi frowned and shook the at him, eyes wide, his mouth open

"What?" Tavi asked "What is it?"

"Foolish Aleran," Kitai hissed "You have broken the croach The Keepers will come"

Tavi felt a chill roll over him He sed "Well I wouldn&039;t have fallen if someone hadn&039;t cut my rope"

"I&039;m not that stupid," Kitai retorted His eyesthe trees "The croach beneath the ropes is very thick That&039;s e chose there to enter I once saw soht of ait"

Tavi licked his lips "Oh," he said He looked down at the forest&039;s glowing floor "Why did I break through it, then?"

Kitai glanced at him and then paced over to the spot where Tavi had landed, crouching down beside it He touched the glowing fluid with his fingertips "It&039;s thinner, here I don&039;t understand It&039;s never been like this"

Tavi said, "Looks like they were expecting company"

Kitai turned to hi in And now they know that we&039;re here" The Marat boy&039;s eyes flicked left and right, and he took several steps sideways, toward Tavi, his back to the stone of the wall

Tavi backed toward the wall as well, eruous lulanced down and then leaned over, peering at it

The lue: perhaps the size of a chicken It rose from the otherwise sht with so at the shadowed lump

It stirred andin his throat

"That," he gasped "That&039;s a crow There&039;s a crow in there And it&039;s alive"

"Yes, Aleran," Kitai said with scarcely veiled impatience "The crows are sometimes foolish They come down and peck at the croach, and the Keepers come for them and entomb them" Kitai cast his eyes to one side, where several other lu strides from the ropes at the base of the cliff "They can live for days Being eaten by the croach"

Tavi shuddered, a cold sensation crawling down his spine like a runnel of et one of us"

"A Marat can live for weeks buried in the croach, Aleran"

Tavi felt sick "You don&039;t rescue them?"

Kitai flashed him a look, his eyes hard, cool Then, in a few silent strides, paced over to the crow He drew his knife, reached down, and slashed the blade over the surface of the lump With a swift, curt motion, he reached down for the crow&039;s neck and drew it frooo of the croach

Parts of the bird peeled and sloughed away, like meat from a roast that had been cooked to tender perfection in a carefully tended oven It let out a rasping sound, but its beak never attelassy

"That takes only hours," Kitai said and dropped the remains back near the slit in the wax "Do you see, Aleran?"

Tavi stared at the ground, sickened "I I see"

Kitai gri the wall of stone again "We ate the break you made and put the rest of the crow back We should not be here when they arrive"

"No," Tavi whispered "I guess we sh-"

In the trees, Tavi saw so move

It was indistinct at first Just a lump in the wax on the trunk of the tree But it shuddered and twitched with life Tavi thought for a moment that a piece of the croach had broken from the tree trunk and would fall to earth It had a lureen fluid as the rest of the wax But as the Aleran boy watched, legs writhed free of the lued froe All in all, eight knobby, &039;s body, and then, with a quiet, horrible grace, it paced down the trunk of the tree and across the floor of the forest to the break in the surface of the croach, where greenish glowing fluid bubbled and seethed like blood in an open wound

A wax spider A Keeper of Silence Silent and strange and the size of a large dog Tavi stared at it, his heart pounding in his chest, and felt his eyes widening

He shot a glance to Kitai, who had also frozen and was staring at the

Keeper The creature bent down and spread wide a set of smooth mandibles at the base of its head It scooped up pieces of the crow and using its fores, tucked them back into the open wound in the croach Then it hovered over the slash, several of its legs working back and forth over it in swift,the wax closed over the carcass

Tavi shot a glance back at Kitai, who motioned to Tavi and then covered his own mouth with his hand, a clear command to be silent Tavi nodded and turned toward Kitai The Marat&039;s eyes widened in alarm, and he held up his hands, palms out, to tell Tavi to stop

Tavi froze

Behind him, the quiet rustle of the Keeper&039;s limbs over the wax had come to a halt Froather all its liitation It began to eh pitched chirrups, not quite like a bird&039;s voice, or anything else Tavi had ever heard The sound th of his body

After a o back to its work Kitai turned toward Tavi, his estured toward Tavi with his hand, every erated Then he turned and began to walk away, silent and slow, his steps flowing alh in a dance

Tavi sed and turned to follow Kitai, struggling to emulate the Marat boy&039;s steps Kitai walked before him, close to the stone wall of the chasm, and Tavi followed until they were several dozen yards away from the Keeper Tavi felt its presence behind his of a fly prickling along the nape of his neck When they were out of its sight, he felt hi closer to Kitai out of reflex- as different as the other boy like creature ento wax

Kitai looked back over his shoulder at Tavi and then past hihtly controlled terror, Tavi thought He thought that Kitai looked a bit relieved to see Tavi standing so close to hi between the to be said: truce

Kitai let out a breath, slowly "You"And move smoothly They see sudden motions"

Tavi sed and whispered, "We&039;re safe if we&039;re still?"

Kitai&039;s face grew a shade paler He shook his head, giving the gesture a circular accent to smooth it out "They&039;ve found even those ere still I&039;ve seen it"

Tavi frowned "They "

Kitai rolled his head in the negative again "I don&039;t know We do not stay where they are to learn of them" He looked around and shivered "We must be careful It called Others will come to search They will be slow for now But the Keepers will come"

Tavi nodded and had to s and force hiesture slowly, not in nervous jerks "What should we do?"

Kitai nodded toward the ancient tree rising from the center of the forest "We continue the trial, Aleran"

"Uh Maybe we shouldn&039;t"

"I will continue, Aleran If you are too afraid to go on, then stay" His lips curled in a mischievous sneer "It is what I would expect of a child"

"I am not a child,&039;&039; Tavi hissed furiously "I&039;m older than you What are you, twelve years old? Thirteen?"

Kitai narrowed his eyes "Fifteen," he hissed