a record.
A message left behind.
A final piece of knowledge from a man who had spent forty years studying the valley.
One of the young men carefully traced a carving with his finger.
“What does this mean?”
Martha climbed slowly onto the roof.
She looked at the words.
Then she touched them gently.
“My husband wrote that one.”
“What did he mean?”
She was silent for several seconds.
Then she pointed toward the mountains.
“That.”
The young men followed her gaze.
Beyond the village, the North Forest had been
