The Speaking Stones

A natural wind-organ — frost-split rock pillars on the exposed shoulder below the pass that the dusk wind plays into the 'speaking' that names the region's dread.

Stand here at dusk and you hear what turns the tribes back — a low, almost-word that the wind makes through the split pillars, never the same phrase twice. The Stoneborn say it is the mountain's memory of the day the Wright broke. The Korl say it is the pass warning you it is closing. Neither has ever been able to prove it is anything but wind and rock, and both keep believing anyway.