So even now, even after being saved, she couldn't help but wonder—what would she have to give in return?
"Miss Fox, do you know that this mountain is a sacred place?" the leader of the deer tribe said. "I know you may have only heard about it from legends, but the truth is, this mountain is considered sacred because it is alive."
Roxanna tilted her head and blinked slowly because she couldn't clearly understand his explanation. "Alive? What do you mean by that?"
She looked around at the mountain. There were no green plants on the surface, no flowers, no trees, nothing that looked alive.
"Maybe it's hard to believe," he continued, "but the Golden Tribe has always believed that every mountain is guarded by a god, and the Golden Mountain is protected by a very special one.
"This god is said to be older than our tribes, older than our records, and even older than most legends. It doesn't show itself to people easily. Most of the time, it sleeps deep inside the mountain.
