The horses were uncooperative about crossing it but they forced them through. On the other side they had to stop and build a large fire, for they were in danger of freezing to death. The snow grew thicker that night, swirling about them and building up drifts in the hollows.
The other side of the lake made Menish wonder if building a barge might not have been a better idea. The country was much steeper. The mountainsides plunged directly down into the lake leaving only thin stretches of broken rock beneath the cliffs. Many times they had to swim the horses across channels. It was hard on the beasts, and hard on the men. The water was cold and the weather was bleak. The snow still fell heavily. But, when Menish looked out over the water he decided that this was still the better choice. The cliffs sheltered them from the worst of the wind but out on the lake they would have no such protection. There the waves were whipped up by the wind and Menish doubted if they could have built anything that would stand such rough weather.
They pressed on miserably, sometimes hoping for another hot stream, but mostly just trying to get this leg of the journey over with. Once they found the road again, for there was said to be a pier on the other side of the lake, the way would be easier. But this part was sapping their strength. Even Althak looked pale and grim, and Menish had never seen him tire before.
When, at last, they found the road they almost missed it in the snow. The pier was broken like the one on the other side and, covered with snow, it was hard to distinguish from the surrounding rocks. The road led up into a valley but it, too, was white with snow. It was only that Althak noticed an upright stone a short distance up the valley and went to look at it. He came back shouting with joy.
“We've found it! This is the place!”
“What's the stone?”
“It's a stone like the Kruzan, it guards the road I suppose. But this is the road. You can see the line of it down to the water. That must be the pier, there.” He pointed and they went to see. Sure enough, there was the pier with a hard, stone way leading from it towards the standing stone. It was not like the track they had been following on the other side of the lake. This road was more like the ones in Relanor.
To celebrate finding it at last they decided to camp that night near the pier. They made a huge fire and gathered closely around it. The weather was still cold but it did not snow that night.
Sometime during the night they were wakened by a strange noise.
“Wolves!” said Grath.
“Not wolves I've heard before,” said Althak. “They sound more like hounds.”
“What's the difference?”
“Wolves howl, hounds bark. That's a bark.”
“Wolves bark as well,” said Hrangil, drawing his sword.
“They don't bark when they're near prey,” said Althak.
“Perhaps we can continue this discussion some other time,” interrupted Menish. “There's something out there and it may like man flesh.”
“I'll go and look,” said Althak. “I know it's not a wolf.”
The sky had cleared during the night and the moon was one day past full. Althak climbed out of his blankets and walked off into the darkness. The glow of the fire reflected off the jewelled belt Menish had given him for a time, then he disappeared from view. They waited, listening.
A few moments later he returned with a broad grin on his face.
“Wolves indeed! Come and see these ‘wolves’ of yours, Grath.”
They all followed him down to the lake shore. Before they reached it he bade them walk quietly and they crept across the snow to the edge of the lake. The barking sound came from the rocks near the pier.
“There, see? On that big rock. You can see him in the moonlight.”
On one of the large rocks lay a rounded shape with a tiny head. From it came the barking sound.
“What is it?” asked Azkun.
“It's not a wolf,” said Grath. “It doesn't look dangerous.”
“It's a seal,” said Althak. “It's harmless. They can bite you if you're not careful, but they can't move quickly on land.”
“Is it a fish that lives on land then?”
“I think so. It breeds on land and hunts in the water. It has fins rather than legs so it must be a fish. I've seen them on the Vorthenki coasts. They hunt them there for meat and their skins are warm to wear.” He grinned. “You'd not like the meat I think.”
So Menish forbade them to kill this one and they returned to their camp. For the rest of the night the seal serenaded them.
The next day the road, once they knew it was there, was not difficult to follow and it was wide and flat. It led them up through the valley and through a deep gorge. There was snow everywhere until they crossed a pass that led them steeply downwards. Late in the afternoon they found themselves standing on high mountain ramparts.
This side of the mountains swept up abruptly from a vast, green plain that stretched away as far as they could see. The country was perfectly flat and densely forested. Just as they had at the lake shore the mountains here plunged down in high cliffs to the plains with no foothills to break them. This time, however, they had a road to travel on. It led them down the cliffs in long zigzags that took them all the following day to negotiate.
At last they had reached the land of Gashan.
Chapter 24: The Forest
Gashan reeked of foulness and evil. The forest they had seen from the mountains turned out to be a stinking marsh covered with twisted trees. It was much warmer now that they were away from the mountains, but that only contributed to the smell of the place. To Azkun it seemed alive with malice and, although Tenari was left in Meyathal, he felt as if the Monnar were watching him again.
The road they followed formed a stone causeway that led them safely across the marsh of the forest floor. It was just as well, for the marsh looked treacherous, and was certainly pathless but for the way they travelled. At times it gurgled and bubbled, emitting sickening odours. They all wondered privately if this was caused by the monsters that were reputed to infest these lands. Grath suggested that the causeway, solid though it seemed, might be actually floating on the marsh and that their own passage was the cause of the disturbance in the swamp.
Nevertheless they were uneasy. The gurgling of the marsh, rustlings in the trees, and distant animal cries seemed to be disturbances in a deep, watchful silence. As if something brooded in the mud beside the causeway, something hungry for man flesh. Even the trees, twisted, misshapen things hung with moss, leered claw-like over the road, threatening them.
But the road was firm and solid, leading them safely above the mire. It was Althak who asked who had actually built it.
“No one knows,” replied Hrangil. “When Gilish III chased the Gashans back into their own land he found this road here. He also found the city of the Gashans that he called Gashir. He didn't think that the Gashans could have built either the road or the city.”
“Perhaps it was the Monnar,” said Grath.
Hrangil looked at him with scorn. “As if the Monnar could do such a work as this!”
“Were they not, then, worthy foes of Gilish?” asked Menish, a trace of sarcasm in his voice.
“In matters of war they were mighty foes. But all their arts and power were directed at making war, not building.”
“Why it is so warm here?” asked Althak peering up at the angle of the sun. “We must be further north than Deenar, I think, and it would have snow by now.”
“We had snow back in the mountains,” said Grath. “But I don't know, this is strange country to me. Though the trees are similar enough.”