“What?” Terry said. “Why not?” she was uncomfortably aware that she sounded like a child.

“Well,” Arabelle responded in kind, in the patient voice of a parent, “because I’m trapped here.”

“But you have flying magic!” Gregor said!

“Floating,” she corrected. “Sure, I can float down to the ground, but what good would that do—with just my magic wand? I do float down, to gather things I want in the forest, but the real source of my power has been taken from me, and my exit is blocked.”

“Who has taken your power, and how is your exit blocked?” Terry asked.

“Let me start from the beginning,” Arabelle said. “About 200 years ago, I came up here to study. Like many others, I’d heard of the fabled suncaves, and I wanted to see them for myself.”

“This was the time when the clerics were coming up here, too, to search for them,” Maurice said.

“Oh, yes,” she said, “but I wasn’t a cleric. I was—I guess I am—a royal magician.”

Terry looked at Maurice out of the corner of her eye to see how he would take this information.

“I guessed it,” Terry said, “based on your clothing.”

“Yes,” Arabelle said, “and, of course, I know your family. Though I’ve been trapped here since your grandfather’s time.”

“You—you’re a royal magician?” Maurice said.

“Isn’t that great, Maurice?” Gregor said.

“Ha, ha,” Maurice said. “This is war. I’ll fight with anyone against—what did you say his name was? We never say it—we refer to him as the cleric who went north. Names have power.”

Arabelle shrugged. “I don’t think it matters much anymore. It’s Zyzzyva. That’s not his cleric name, of course—he chose something wizardly when he came up here to study.”

“Did you—know him? Are there still many wizards up here?”

“I’m not sure,” Arabelle said. “We keep to ourselves, mostly. There’s always a trickle of clerics and magicians who come up, trying to get to the next level, and the appeal of the suncaves is unmistakeable.”

“They don’t even tell the clerics about them anymore,” Maurice said.

“Hm,” Arabelle said. “That makes sense.”

“Didn’t you like being a royal magician?” Terry said.

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“It was all right,” Arabelle replied, “but I could only work for the queen, and I felt like there was so much more I could learn if I came up here. And I did! Before Zyzzyva locked me in, I was able to achieve some powerful magical goals. I was learning so much, and every 50 years or so, I would go down the mountain and teach the royal magicians what I knew. In exchange for the loneliness, I had great knowledge and strength.”

“Wait—Zyzzyva locked you in?” Gregor said.

“Yes—he became jealous of my power. He could tell I was more clever than he was, and what had taken him so long to learn, I could knock out in half the time. Also, I didn’t come up here with a resolution to be evil, the way he did. The mountains have such a bad reputation because of him, and I guess because of the ancient wizards. It’s actually quite beautiful and peaceful here, if dangerous at times. It is dangerous. Nature is always dangerous.”

“I agree,” Terry said, thinking of their walk last night—even though they’d had to fight off so many mountain wraiths, she didn’t feel like the land itself was evil. There were just dangerous creatures who walked there.

“So Zyzzyva conjured a mountain wraithlord, and put him at the head of my suncave. He also stole my platinum wand, and gave it to the wraithlord. Now, my magic is severely curtailed. I have a nice little wand, and I have my floating spells. I can still study, and I can still do magic, but I am not much help to you. I can float you all down, though, and maybe you can find someone who is better equipped to fight. After all, there’s usually a tuft of mountain grass in every suncave. This isn’t the only one with a bit of grass growing upside down.”

“I want to fight with you, Arabelle,” Terry said firmly.

“Terry’s our leader,” Maurice said. “If she wants you, we do too.”

“What do we have to do to get you out of here?” Gregor said. “Whatever it is, we can do it.”

Arabelle sighed. “Oh, it’d be so great to get all my powers back! I worked really hard to become an excellent wizard—though I still consider myself a royal magician with wizard-level skills. I love the royal family,” she said, addressing Terry. “It’s exciting to me that you’re here. But to fight the mountain wraithlord is no easy task. And I can’t help you. I can defend myself, but all of my attacking power is locked up in what the wraithlord has stolen from me. It’s more than just my platinum wand.”

“What else is it?” Terry said.

“Oh, you’ll see,” she said. “I don’t want to talk about it too much. It seems like counting the eagles before they’re hatched.”

“Ugh,” Gregor said. “Too soon.”

Arabelle ignored this. “Do you really think you can defeat the mountain wraithlord?”

“Absolutely,” Terry said. “We conquered the forest wraithlord.”

“That was the first time we all worked together,” Maurice said.

“It was, wasn’t it?” said Gregor.

“And we’re only stronger, now,” Terry said. “Where is it?”

“If you leave the suncave by that door,” Arabelle said, “you will go down a long corridor that feels like any regular old, cold, cave. It will be pitch dark for about 100 steps, then you will see a bit of light. That’s the regular cave entrance. There, the mountain wraithlord perches on my special gifts, guarding me and making sure I can only do the smallest magic spells. Ooh, I just hate him!”

Arabelle’s eyes filled with tears. “You all came into my life in such a strange way,” she said. This morning I was thinking of floating down to the forest floor and picking up some mushrooms for a stew. And this afternoon—well—you’re telling me I may have my powers back.”

She dashed away some tears with her long sleeve.

“It’s too much,” she said.

“Don’t thank us yet,” Terry said. “How does everyone feel? You ready?”

“Let’s all drink a healing potion,” Maurice said, rummaging through his bag.

“No, no! Don’t waste yours. Drink mine!” Arabelle insisted, and they quaffed her healing potion. Hers was just a bit more powerful.

“Are we ready? Let’s go,” Terry said, and they exited the suncave via a rough-hewn wooden door and entered the damp darkness of the outer cave, ready to face the mountain wraithlord.