After the jaguar attack, they seemed to run into fewer animals. They were still fighting their way through the forest, but it definitely felt like they were running into less trouble.
They lingered at the side of the stream for less than an hour, eating a bit of jerky and some stale crackers. If they didn’t reach Hidden Falls village soon, they would need to hunt again to replenish their supplies. Caelan couldn’t say that he was excited to eat any meat that was raised in the Ordas. It was bad enough they were drinking the water. He didn’t know what kind of influence the Goddess of the Hunt held on the land, but he had no interest in pressing their luck more than necessary.
Picking their way upstream, Caelan closed the distance between himself and Rayne. The sound of the water was growing louder as they went.
“Do you think this is tied to the Whitgami River?” Caelan inquired.
“It’s possible that it is one of the river’s branches,” Rayne replied. “It’s a shame that we don’t have any accurate maps of the region.”
True. Based on the story that Lore told them, the last time people had openly roamed the area that was now the Ordas, the gods had been free as well and running amuck. The various kingdoms hadn’t even been formed yet. To his knowledge, the only part of the Ordas that had been clearly mapped was the small area where the train line ran, connecting Erya and Caspagir.
As they came around a bend, Gilea said something in a rather excited tone and waved her hand in front of her.
They all looked up and stopped cold. An enormous waterfall rose several stories into the air. Millions of gallons of water poured off the edge and landed in a thunderous crash on the rocks below while great plumes of white clouds rose up to shroud the bottom of the falls. Sunlight danced on the water droplets, creating a shimmering rainbow.
“That’s magnificent,” Drayce breathed.
“Beautiful,” Caelan agreed. He tore his eyes away to gaze at Rayne. “I’m guessing this is the Hidden Falls for the village in question.”
“That would be my assumption as well.”
Gilea excitedly motioned for them to continue walking, moving closer to the falls. Their progress slowed considerably. While they were no longer fighting the thick undergrowth, the bank was covered in sharp, jagged rocks that were wet or covered in moss, making them incredibly slick.
“Huh,” Rayne said, suddenly stopping as he stared up at the falls. “I guess my Rosarian isn’t as strong as I previously thought.”
“What’s that mean?” Drayce demanded.
“It means that I don’t think I translated Gilea correctly. I don’t think her village is Hidden or Veiled Falls. I think it’s Hidden Behind or Hidden Within the Falls.”
Eno placed a hand on Rayne’s shoulder, drawing his eyes up to him. “We’re going behind the falls?”
Rayne took Eno’s hand before Gilea could make a noise and lifted it to his lips. He smiled sweetly as he brushed a kiss across his lover’s battered knuckles. “It looks that way.”
The young woman might have shot Eno a bit of side-eye, but she said nothing as she continued to lead them up the bank to a narrow opening between the rock cliff and the pounding water to a cave.
“Man…I really hate caves,” Drayce whined while shifting his backpack around to dig for his flashlight.
When Drayce stood to clip his flashlight to the front of his shirt, Caelan came up behind him and pressed his face into Drayce’s sweaty neck. They all smelled horrible and were perpetually covered in dirt, but that didn’t stop him from wanting to hold Drayce. “But I thought you liked being with me in the dark.”
Drayce chortled. “Alone. I like having you alone in the dark. We’ve got too much of an audience right now.”
“And your audience appreciates your restraint,” Rayne grumbled.
“Besides, I thought dragons liked caves,” Eno taunted.
Drayce turned in Caelan’s arms and glared at Eno. “We do not like caves. We like flying in the sky. We’re not…bats.”
Caelan laughed. “You also like comfortable couches and pizza.”
Drayce grinned broadly at him. “I’m a dragon of simple tastes.”
Rayne groaned and got them moving again. No one—other than Gilea—was particularly excited about entering another cave. Not after what had happened in the last one. They could only cling to the hope that Safa wasn’t waiting at the end of this cave. They followed Gilea inside, the bright beam of their flashlights bouncing along the walls.
The ceiling was blissfully high and the walls spaced wide enough that they could comfortably walk three abreast. Overhead, there was the occasional skitter and cry from the bats that inhabited the cave, but there was nothing else waiting for them.
As far as Caelan could guess, they walked less than half an hour before the darkness of the cave was pushed back by the sun. A short scrabble uphill on fragmented rocks brought them to the outskirts of a sizable village filled with people dressed similarly to Gilea, in animal pelts and rough woven cloth.