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"Eventually I o to St Valeria," she said "What sorcery raised may possibly be dispelled by sorcery"
"Stay with er, into the o"
He nodded, although his expression was grave "Leavingat nant in Wendar and Varre Eventually you o But not yet"
PART ONE
DEATH AND
LIFE
I
TRAVELERS
1
ALLAlain and the hounds walked east and southeast as they had done forlay far behind the an upland forest, h the field layer were fir The view through the woods was open but because of the clouds the vista had a pearly sheen to it, as though he were staring into a lost world just out of reach Into the past, or into the future
Yet the present had an inevitable way of intruding into the finest-spun thoughts Sorrow barked to alert him A massive beech had fallen over the path in such a way that although Alain ht climb with difficulty over its barrel of a trunk, he could not hoist the hounds up and across Nor was there rooap below He beat out a track along the length of the trunk upslope only to find that a score of other huge trees--ether with silver fir--had fallen parallel so close that he was fenced in Returning to the path and the waiting hounds, he ventured the other way, skirting the thicket of branches at the crown, and discovered that here, too, more fallen trees barred his path
All had fallen in a northwesterly direction, snapped by a gale out of the southeast, the same tempest, no doubt, that had swept Osna last autued the world, and created a vast trail of debris
He pushed through the branches at the crown of the tree--a difficult path to break but one on which, at any rate, the hounds could follow Dry leaves crackled under his feet and dragged at his hair and skin Twigs poked him twice in the eye and prodded his lie picked her ith surprising delicacy for such a huge creature, very dainty as she set down each paw into dying wood rush and the splintered remains of the tree
The trunk was croith branches, a otiable at this point, not as big around as the thicker trunk lower down With his help they scrah clumsily Branches rattled They were as noisy as an ar farht hio stiff with apprehension He heaved Rage by the scruff past the worst of the inner branches, and there the hounds stood frozen within the shelter of the branches They did not bark A large creature passed by, but they could not see anything clearly through the screen of leaves and brittle branches, only hear its heavy tread, a snorting under-cough, the uncoiling disturbance as branches were pressed back and either cracked, or sprang back with a rattling roar A smell like iron made him wince Unbidden, he recalled Iso, the crippled brother at Hersford Monastery Had Iso survived the tempest? Did he work there still as a lay brother under Father Ortulfus’ strict but fair rule?
The noise subsided Sorrow’s tail beat twice against branches as he lifted his head, eager to get on, but neither hound barked nor led out of the branches and Alain beat a way back to the path About a hundred strides ahead he found the ground disturbed as at the wake of a h the forest He knelt beside a scar freshly cut into the ground by claws as long as his forearuivre," he said to the hounds What they heard in his voice he did not know, but they whined and, flattening their ears, ducked their heads sub the trail left by the creature and padded into the forest, back the way it had co fast, and Alain went after them but soon fell behind He found the the carcass of a half eaten deer Like him, they had eaten sparsely on their journey, dependent on what they could hunt in the woodland and beg in whatever villages and farh Now, they tore into the renawed on the last of his bread and cheese He trimmed mold from the cheese with his knife and conte beech Frost had coated every surface at dawn, and he still felt its sharp breath on his cheek although it was late spring and late afternoon The cold chafed his hands An ache wore at his throat, as if he were always about to succued to The trees had not yet leafed out, although they ought to be bursting with green at this tione Its whisper h the forest