The irascible old feline was now accepting the food I offered as eagerly as Darga, which told me he was finding nothing to hunt. Yet for all we had reached tainted ground, there was still life. I saw a few birds flying in an arrow formation very high at midday one day, and another day, a firelizard sliding into a crack, its movements sluggish in the cold. Most of all, I worried about Gahltha, for although I had seen several patches of the scabby brown lichen he had previously nibbled at, he now ignored it so that I knew it must be tainted. My own supply of food was dwindling, too, since I could not replenish it by foraging. Water might become a problem as well, for Darga had rejected the last two pools we had passed.
Wherever Maruman was taking us, we had better arrive soon.
At dusk, the ridge road came to a sudden end at the edge of a great dark pit. Darga stopped short of it, sniffing the way ahead, and finally he went down from the road and up the side of the mountain to the east some way before turning to head north. Twice that night he stopped and conferred with Maruman, and listening in to their exchange, I learned that there were patches of taint ahead that could not be avoided, but that clean ground lay beyond them. Maruman bade him lead us across it, avoiding the tainted ground as much as possible, and Gahltha insisted that Maruman and I ride. His hoofs would give him some protection. I was worried about Darga and nagged until he gave in to my insistence and allowed me to bandage his paws using the strips of linen from my healing kit.
Fortunately we had not been moving along the side of the mountain for more than half an hour when Darga announced that we had got beyond the tainted area. I was relieved and prayed that the taint in them had been slight, but only time would tell. At least none of us had begun to vomit, and it had been dark enough for me to see that the ground about us was not glowing.
The following morning we were still making our way along the side of the line of mountains running to the east of the ridge but there was no longer any sign of a road. The sky was heavily overcast and by midday it began to rain. At first the rain fell only lightly and since there was nowhere to take shelter on the sloping flank of the mountain, we did not stop. By afternoon it was falling more heavily and there were distant rumblings of thunder. Maruman alone was dry because he had climbed inside my coat when the first spits of rain fell, but I did well enough. My waterproofed coat and hood kept my upper body dry and my boots kept my legs dry to the knee. Indeed, the warmth of the cat’s body, our plodding progress and the grey dullness of a day curtained by rain had a soporific effect so that I drifted in and out of a light doze as the stormy afternoon wore on.
Whenever I woke properly, I saw Darga’s dark form ahead, indistinct in the ever-falling rain.
At last Gahltha stopped and bade me get down. Only then did I discover that we were partway down a scree slope. I had no sense of direction and the rain and dull light prevented me making out where we were. I saw in Gahltha’s mind that he had made me get down because he had feared to stumble on the loose stones with Maruman and me riding on his back. The rain fell steadily and there were still dim flickers of lightning, but the full force of the storm was falling beyond the western peaks. The diffused grey light made it hard to guess the hour. I thought it was mid afternoon, yet it might just as well be closer to dusk. It was impossible to see how far the scree slope ran, or what lay at the bottom.
I turned to look at Darga, and found him gazing down the slope without making any move to go on. Before I could speak to him, Maruman wriggled until I opened my coat and let him out. Leaping lightly down onto the wet stones, he shook his paws fastidiously, emanating disgust, then he set off, taking the lead. That he did so told me that the scree was not tainted, though how he had learned this from Darga I did not know. They had not had any exchange that I had heard.
Then it struck me sharply enough to bring me wide awake that we might finally have reached the place where Jacob fell. I was careful to shield my speculations and the surge of hope that we were about to find Cassandra’s key as Darga set off after Maruman and Gahltha followed.
‘I guess we go down,’ I muttered, marvelling at how beasts could act without so much as a single word to explain or justify their actions to their companions. The sound of my voice startled me, and it occurred to me that there might never be any cause for me to speak aloud again, if my only companions were beasts. But then I thought of the futuretellings that had shown me with Dragon in the Red Land. Yet my curiosity had little real force. Somehow the journey through the mountains had taken on its own compulsion and for the last few days I had hardly thought of Jacob or Cassandra’s key.
A Beforetime saying that Garth or maybe Louis Larkin had once told me floated into my mind: Let sleeping dogs lie lest they wake and bite.
The rain had begun to penetrate the shoulders of my coat and I wondered glumly how I was to get it or my boots dry in such weather. I might convince Maruman to stop and let me light a fire but I had too little wood left to dry anything and besides, it was all soaked. As if in response to the thought, I seemed to feel a warm gust of air. Shrugging at the fancy, I squinted against the rain, trying to see what lay ahead. This time I could just make out two enormous steep mountains that intersected to form an impassable barrier. I did not believe that Maruman would have led us to a dead end without reason, and the only reason that made sense was that this was where Jacob Obernewtyn had fallen.
At the bottom of the scree slope was a hollow filled with boulders and broken stone that had obviously fallen there from the surrounding mountains. Maruman was now gliding from stone to broken boulder and then he went up a tumble of rubble mounded at the foot of the cleft formed by the two mountains and vanished from sight. Only when I followed him did I see that there was a gap between the mountains that had been blocked by the rubble. Beyond it was a long, narrow ravine. It was very dark, but as we joined the cat in the ravine, intermittent flashes of lightning far overhead were bright enough to illuminate the way.
Maruman set off, and we walked for several hours until, without warning, the way forked. One branch went east and the other north. Maruman unhesitatingly took the eastern passage, which ran steeply downward. I was riding now, for after we had got over the rubble blocking the ravine, Gahltha had insisted upon it. Again he refused my offer to get down. Before long the ravine widened out and flattened into a stony apron which was split by a fissure that grew from a mere crack at the nearest point to a wide crevice that ran away out of sight. There was daylight enough remaining for me to see that it was full of dark, jagged rubble, but then a bright flash of lightning lit the whole area and even as the air reverberated dully with the stony rumble of thunder, I saw with utter astonishment that it was not rubble in the fissure but foliage!
Maruman leapt down from Gahltha. I got down too, feeling as stunned as if one of the coercers had hit me on the head in a practice bout. Maruman turned to Gahltha and sent, ‘You cannot come further, Daywatcher. Go back along the ravine and take the other path. It will bring you to the Skylake. Wait for us there.’
‘What are you saying?’ I cried.
Maruman ignored me, keeping his yellow eye fixed on Gahltha, and I suddenly found myself remembering the way Gavyn and Rasial had gazed at one another on the farms, seeming by their very intensity to be communicating. After a long moment, the horse gave a neigh and tossed his head in a gesture of acquiescence. Maruman sent, ‘Go swift/safe, Day watcher.’ Then he bade Darga and me tersely to follow and without waiting for a response he padded to the narrow end of the fissure and leapt into the foliage.
I glared at Gahltha. ‘I am not leaving you.’
‘You must/will go with Marumanyelloweyes, ElspethInnle,’ Gahltha sent. ‘He will guide/lead where it is needful. I will go by the other way/wait for you at the Skylake.’
I was startled by the strong formal cadences of pure equine mindspeech he was using, and understood from it that, for the first time, the stallion was speaking not as my beloved companion and friend, but as Daywatcher to the Seeker. And all at on
ce I was sure I would find Cassandra’s key and the remains of the Beforetimer Jacob Obernewtyn in the impossibly fertile fissure before me.
Gahltha reared up in farewell and then turned and trotted back along the ravine. It wrenched my heart to see him go, but as soon as he was out of sight, Darga padded down to the fissure and looked back at me.
I went to stand beside him, wondering at how such a crack had formed. The edges of it reminded me of ground that had been eroded by heavy rainfall, but it was formed in rock and where had enough earth come from to support such luxuriant growth? Was this the remnant of yet another Beforetime construction destroyed by some weapon that had been unleashed on it during the Great White? Darga caught the thought and assured me that he scented no taint, but Pavo had told me that not all of the weapons used by the Beforetimers left indelible poisons in their wake.
Lightning flashed again and once more thunder echoed around the faces of the mountains. The momentary brightness revealed that rocks were piled up at the narrow end of the fissure, and I climbed down them gingerly. Darga followed and we were enveloped in moist, green-scented heat that seemed to be flowing towards us from deeper in the fissure like a long, gently exhaled breath.
A hot spring or maybe several of them feeding into the fissure would explain the burgeoning growth, and the mountains rising steeply on all sides would protect the crevice from the wind and the worst of the snow. It was almost like a natural wintergarden or the rifts in the Sadorian desert lands where the Isis pools welled, allowing growing things to flourish in an inhospitable and hostile environment.
The noise of the rain had faded as I climbed down into the fissure and at first I thought it had stopped, but as we went deeper into the widening cleft, I became aware of it pattering on the thick canopy overhead. I could not see Maruman and was about to farseek him when Darga bade me lay a hand upon his head saying he would lead me to the cat. We moved together slowly through the soft, dense foliage, and it was impossible to believe that a few hours before I had been shivering with cold, ice in my eyelashes. I had shed my coat and vest and still I was dripping with sweat. The crevice widened and deepened as we went deeper into it. I could see very little but I trusted Darga to lead me truly. As we walked, I wondered if Jacob Obernewtyn had come here. I could no longer hear the rain or even the muffled rumble of thunder, the only thing I could hear was my own breathing and the sound of foliage shifting and moving above as we pushed through it.
Then I saw the unmistakable greenish-yellow glow of badly tainted matter ahead. I noticed Maruman sitting on a flat stone under a tree, tail lashing. ‘You are very slow,’ he complained, and then he sent imperiously, ‘Follow me!’ He rose and set off towards the deadly glow.
‘I have done nothing but follow for days,’ I muttered aloud, my stomach churning at the thought of having to walk on ground so tainted that it glowed. I did not doubt that I would heal, and maybe Maruman and Darga would as well, since neither of them emanated anything more than slight tension. But we would all be violently ill first, and that was no pleasant thing to anticipate. At least Gahltha had been spared, and belatedly I was glad Maruman had sent him away.
The greenish-yellow glow strengthened as we approached and my hands looked sickly white in it. I saw that there was a clearing in the trees ahead wide enough to admit rain and the grey light of the fading day, but it was not until I reached the edge of it that I saw it was formed about a large round pool of water. The glow of brightness was coming from the water, giving the veils of mist hanging above the rain-dimpled surface a strange eerie radiance that reminded me of an unconsciously created spirit-form.
‘Tainted water,’ I murmured.
‘No,’ Darga sent, and then I saw that he was right. Seen at this distance, the brightness of the pool was not the greenish-yellow of tainted matter, but a clean bright yellow. The green tinge had come from the golden light being filtered through the greenery hemming the pool on all sides.
The mineral odour and the heat rising from it told me I had been right in guessing that hot spring water lay at the heart of the mystery of the verdant growth and the moist heat, but I did not know what was causing the radiance. As I stepped into the open and knelt by the pool to look into it, I felt the touch of rain on my bare head and neck like the lightest caress of cold fingers. The water was so clear that I could see the pale whorls of stone along the edges and bottom of the pool perfectly. I drew in a breath at the sight of the thick clusters of small glowing creatures clinging to the stone. They looked like the same taint-devouring insects I had seen in the rift when first we entered the mountains, and yet how could these be the same creatures as those that lived on the dark, cool walls of damp caves and crannies in the highlands?
I reached out, intending to scoop one of them up to examine it more closely, but Maruman leapt forward and nipped my other hand hard enough to break the skin.
‘Maruman!’ I cried, falling back shocked.
‘If you put your hand in the water, the heat of it will strip the flesh from the bones,’ he sent.
I turned my horrified gaze to the pool, seeing that what I had taken for mist was steam. No wonder it was so hot in the crevice! I rose on legs that were not quite steady and moved back under the trees at the edge of the clearing, wondering how the taint-devouring insects could tolerate scalding water. The only answer was that, being amenable to adaptation, as Jak had proven, they had gradually changed until there was a strain of them that could live under water and tolerate a far hotter habitat than their ancestors.
Suddenly, a wave of weariness flowed over me. I turned to look at Maruman. ‘Tell me where to find Cassandra’s key.’
‘Marumanyelloweyes knows nothing of that,’ he responded haughtily.
I stared at him incredulously and all at once I did not care that questions discomforted the old cat. I was weary of my ignorance.
‘Then why are we here?’ There was an anger rising in me, partly borne of exhaustion and partly from the fright I had just had. ‘Tell me or I will go no further.’
‘ElspethInnle need go no further,’ Maruman sent with sly triumph, eye glittering. ‘Now we/you wait.’
‘Wait here?’ I echoed, gesturing at the dark, dripping foliage and the glowing pool. ‘Wait for what?’
‘For the ones who will come,’ Maruman sent loftily, and he began to lick fastidiously at his wet fur.
That calmed me down since it could only mean that the Agyllian fliers would come for me, or maybe for the three of us. That would also explain why Maruman had sent Gahltha away, since the fliers could not carry a horse. But why had we not travelled more directly towards the ken in the first place, if that was to be our destination? Why bring me here?
I thought of Cassandra’s key and wondered if it might not be somewhere inaccessible, and so the fliers would be needed to carry me up to it. Then after I had retrieved it, they would bring me to the ken. The theory fitted the facts, as Gevan always required, yet how were the enormous birds to land in this narrow rift choked with trees? The only clearing opened over a boiling pool of water. Wouldn’t it have been better for the birds to come to us on the bare ridge we had traversed before descending the scree slope to the ravine?
‘How will they know we are here?’ I asked.
‘They know,’ Maruman said distantly. I sighed and gave up trying to get any information from the irascible cat who continued to lick his fur dry. Feeling the discomfort of my damp clothes and boots, I wished I had thought to get my tinder box from the pack before parting from Gahltha. I had seen plenty of dry twigs and branches lying under the trees where the rain had not reached which would have served as fuel and it was easily warm enough for me to have stripped off my clothes to dry them out. I wondered if I might be able to find some pieces of flint to strike a spark.
‘No fire,’ Maruman rapped out the thought. ‘It will anger them.’
I scowled, not sure whether to believe him. It was true that I had not seen the Agyllians use fire in all the time I had b
een at the ken, so perhaps the birds did fear it. That would be an irony, given the Beforetimers had called their ancestors flamebirds. Shrugging, I moved back under a tree where the ground was dry, hung my coat and the padded vest on a branch, and then pulled off my boots and socks. I sat down and leaned back against its smooth flank with a sigh, thinking I would rest a little and then forage for some food.
‘Sleep,’ Darga advised, coming to sit close by me.
I nodded, and suddenly I felt all the weight of my weariness after days of travelling. I closed my eyes, promising myself groggily that I would rest for a short time, and I was on the verge of falling asleep when I heard a long mournful howl that brought me wide awake, the hair on my neck and arms prickling.
‘Gehdra,’ Maruman sent. The beast symbol sounded familiar but I could not recollect its meaning. The old feline turned his single eye to me. ‘Do you think knowing the name of a thing will stop it eating you, ElspethInnle?’ he asked scornfully.
I bit back an angry retort, knowing it might have relieved my frustration to shout at him, but he was capable of retreating into an icy silence that could last days. ‘What does gehdra mean?’ I asked Darga instead.
‘It is the name of the wolves that dwell in the mountains,’ the dog sent. ‘Another name they have is ithlinn, which means “spirits of the ice”.’
‘Wolves,’ I murmured uneasily, and hoped the creatures had not got wind of us. The howling had sounded uncomfortably close. Of course the mountains had a way of distorting sound to make far things seem near and vice versa. In truth I was more worried about Gahltha, for he was alone and wolves liked the taste of equine flesh. For a time I sat listening but I did not hear another howl, and in the end I relaxed and again closed my eyes.
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