The Magic Thieves by Serena Yates Page B

when their feet touched the ground. Wasn't that typical?
    "You did really well.” He smiled at the pale face when Elryk pulled back to look at him as if to check that he meant it.
    "I couldn't very well show less courage than you did when you went on your dive.” Elryk sighed. “But I'm glad it's over. For now."
    Kaythan followed the other man's gaze over to the column where the third piece of the Magic Key was hidden. Elryk was right. They'd still need a way to make it up there.
    "First things first.” He took Elryk's hand and started walking. “We need to get over there and then we'll deal with our next problem."
    They walked in silence for quite a long time.
    "Is it just me or does that rock pillar seem to be just as far away from us as when we started?” Kaythan frowned, shading his eyes against the glare of the sunshine to try and make a more accurate estimate of their progress.
    "It does seem as if we haven't made any progress at all.” Elryk sighed and sat down on one of the many smaller boulders lying around all over the place. “It makes a weird sort of sense, now that I think about it."
    "Huh?” This, he wanted to hear.
    "Since we're dealing with air magic, one of the ways the piece of the Magic Key can be hidden is height. Which is the obvious one, and that has quite clearly been used. But, there is another thing air magic can achieve, and that is a mirage.” Elryk frowned. “In this case, I can sense the object we're looking for, so we know it's there. I think there's an additional layer of protection, the mirage, which, because it's magical, makes the column unreachable on foot."
    "So, however long we walk, we'll never get there?” Kaythan nodded. “It seems to me as if this task is a lot more difficult than the previous ones. I wonder whether that is part of the plan?"
    Before Elryk could respond, there was a mournful squawk, followed by a second, louder one. Kaythan raised his eyes. Two black vultures were circling above their heads. Their glowing red eyes looked like burning coals, their sharp beaks were the size of hand-span long daggers. They were at least as large as horses and the powerful whoosh-whoosh of their beating wings fanned foul smelling air towards him that made him retch.
    "Do you think they're the guardians of this place?” Kaythan sure hoped not. How were they going to get information from birds?
    "If they are, I think we're in deep trouble.” Elryk swallowed. “We'll need to find a way to get them to help us."
    The vultures’ squawks got louder.
    "Can you please help us get to that rock formation over there?” Elryk sounded polite and pleading.
    "Finally.” The first bird's voice sounded scratchier than a needle on glass. “We were afraid you weren't going to figure it out."
    "We weren't allowed to help you until you spoke to us. The other contestants never figured that out, which is why we were a little late.” The second bird came closer, hovering right over Elryk while the first one came to hover over Kaythan. “Now that you have spoken to us, there's nothing to stop us."
    "There are other contestants?” Kaythan didn't like the sound of that. Hearing that the Xoh'kas might try to get into the temple of Tah'Muyd, and being confronted with evidence that they had apparently succeeded, was a different matter.
    "Yes, but they broke the rules. They jumped straight into this third chamber instead of starting with earth magic.” The first bird shook its head. “Unfortunately, what little we've heard about the Xoh'kas is consistent with cheating and being too arrogant to talk to mere birds . We don't think they stand a chance of making it very far, not with an attitude like that."
    Not that they need to collect all the pieces anyway. Getting hold of one would be enough to stop him and Elryk in their tracks.
    "Nysat warned us that the Xoh'kas were combing through the historical records to try and find hints about where the Magic Key might be hidden and how to find it.”