The Coral Kingdom - Douglas Niles [32]
"I know I was never under water," Pawldo inserted. "That's the kind of thing I tend to remember!"
"The crossing is not quite impossible," Hanrald announced. The earl had wandered over to the streambed, and now he gestured to the ground at his feet. "There's a ford here-not very obvious or well used. In fact, it looks as though someone doesn't want it to be found!"
The others joined him, and they all saw that several flat rocks had been placed to form steps leading down into the stream. A ridge of gravel several feet wide barely visible under the water, led to a similar avenue on the opposite bank. The ford itself looked to be no more than three feet deep, though much deeper water approached, and flowed away from, the spot.
"That's it!" Robyn cried. "We crossed here-or at a ford just like this! I remember the steps leading up out of the water."
"You might be onto something," admitted Lord Pawldo.
They quickly mounted, and the horses needed little urging to enter the cold, slow-moving, water. They crossed in single file and soon emerged onto the far bank.
"It doesn't look nearly so steep from here!." the princess noted. The slope still climbed away from them, but at a much more gentle angle than before. It looked as if they would have no difficulty walking, though she still doubted that they could ride. Still, she urged her horse forward, and the animal climbed smoothly up a gradual incline. The waterfalls that had trickled downward had disappeared, though the river remained deep and regal beside her. Then, in a flash, the princess understood.
"The river! It comes from here. It looks like a trickle from over there, but this is the real valley! That ravine we followed before is just a little side stream!"
In moments, the excitement of the truth propelling them, they moved forward at a trot, climbing the slowly ascending valley on a much better trail than the illusionary diversion they had followed earlier. It turned out to be an even more gentle grade that Alicia had perceived from this side of the stream. The farther they progressed, the more normal the valley around them became.
As they rode, however, Robyn dampened their joy somewhat with an explanation of the spell she had used to find the path. "It was a very strong emanation of evil," she told them. "We have to proceed with caution."
They rode with unsuppressed urgency, fearing what they would find, yet eager to make the discovery. They crossed the highland ridge, and finally the shimmering vista of Synnoria opened before them. In the distance, they saw the blue lake in the center of the main valley, the city of glass gleaming in the sunlight on a verdant island. A wooded side valley passed before them, and the trail dropped steeply toward its floor. They urged the horses down the path at a dangerous pace.
As they plunged lower, Robyn remained alert for any of the seductive effects of Synnoria she had encountered before. But the wind that blew past her ears seemed mundane, and nothing like magic twinkled in the shaking branches of the trees. If anything, it seemed as if they rode into a place of oppression and fear.
When they came to the trail of splintered trees, many of them more than an armspan in girth, the damage seemed like a monstrous effrontery to this place of beauty. They rode at a gallop now, unspeaking, following the spoor left by something of tremendous proportion and horribly destructive in its passage.
Finally they broke from the enclosing trees, and several of their horses reared in sudden fright. Pools of water, churned to mud, dotted the field. Thousands of colorful fish flopped helplessly in the mud, suffocating. Across the meadow rose a thing that, at first, Alicia mistook for a small domed building.
Then the building moved.
* * * * *
Talos and Malar relished the rampage of the Elf-Eater, vicariously feeding their evil natures on the killing and destruction wrought by their pet. The two gods were well pleased, but for different reasons-Talos, for the blow struck to the