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" Ar, so you actually fought with Vulgs, and killed some, too," said Arbin as they
strode toward the gaping, tunnel-like hole arching away into the Spindlethorn Barrier
toward the Spindle River and the ford. "Good show. Gilly, over in the third squad,
he thought he might've seen one about two or three weeks ago, but he wasn't certain.
Here now, let me ask you, are they the great brutes we've all heard about?"
"Nearly as big as a pony," answered Tarpy, "though who'd want to ride one, I
can't say."
"Asking a Vulg for a ride would be like begging a Dragon to warm your house in
the winter," snorted Danner. "He'd warm it, all right right down to the very ashes."
"Are you saying that the only way you'd get a ride from a Vulg is on the inside?"
Arbin asked.
"Perhaps, Arbin, perhaps," responded Danner, "though I don't know what they
ordinarily eat. The ones we met seemed to kill just for the joy of slaughter."
"Wull then, I don't believe I'll ask a Vulg for a ride," said Arbin, "or a Dragon to
warm my house, either." He led them into the Barrier.
Although the day outside was bright, the light sifting through the entangled
Spindlethorn to the roadway fell dim unto the eye, and the sounds of the Warrow
encampment faded away and were lost. Only the muffled footsteps sounded within,
and Tuck had visions of walking in a dagger-walled cave.
"They say in the summer when the leaves are asprout that torches are needed to
light the way through, just as if it were night," said Arbin, looking at the tangled
thorn-weave overhead. He had shown them the brands set in rows at the
entrance wooden stakes, with oil-soaked cloth layered over one end, to be used as
torches for wayfarers to light their way through at night. "In autumn, when the leaves
fall, they make a roof in places. Snow, too, can pile up and make solid ceilings
overhead here and there. But sooner or later, leaves or snow, it works its way
through, and the road must be cleared at times."
On they walked, through the wan light, a mile, then two. Ordinarily they would
have ridden ponies to their posts, but first-timer Thornwalkers always were taken
afoot, to get the "feel" of the passage. At one place, Arbin pointed out sections of a
large movable barricade, now set to the side, made of Spindlethorn. "There's one of
the barriers. I suppose we'll be putting it in place one of these days, and start
warding it, now that there seems to be trouble Beyond, Outside. It's one of several
Thornwalls that we can put up, though only two, one on each side of the ford, are
actually in place now." Arbin pointed ahead. "Ah, look, the end is in sight."
Ahead they could see an archway of brightness, where the daylight shone at the
end of the Spindlethorn tunnel. Shortly they came to the Beyonder Guard barrier,
and with shouts of greetings all were welcomed by ten Warrows warding there. At
roadside, a string of ponies stood, munching grain from nosebags. Arbin explained
to the guards that they'd come to see the river and beckoned the three to follow him,
slipping through the thorns of the barricade where it was slightly ajar. "This here is
the aft-guard. Over there is the fore-guard, where there's another wall like this one,
just on the other side of the river, just inside the tunnel," he said, as he led Tuck,
Danner, and Tarpy out blinking and watery-eyed into the daylight.
All told, two and a half miles they had walked, and had come at last to the edge of
the river, the shallows of Ford Spindle. Wide it was, and ice-covered, although here
and there, both upstream and down, dark pools swirled as the river rushed and
bubbled over and around upthrust rock, the churn keeping the water ice-free.
Across the ford they could see the mouth of the tunnel as it continued on through
the 'Thorns growing on that side, where the Barrier reached another two miles before
the Realm of Rian began.
Out onto the ice Arbin led them, to stand at river's center. They looked up and
down the frozen length to where it curved away beyond seeing, a white ribbon
wending between two looming, fifty-foot high, miles-wide walls of thorn. Overhead
slashed a bright blue ribbon of sky, impaled upon the long spikes, tracing the course
of the waterway.
"It's a wonder, ain't it?" asked Arbin, pointing both ways at once, his arms flung
wide. "Kind o' gives me the shivers." Tuck had to agree, for a more formidable
defense he had yet to see. "Come on, buccoes," said Arbin, "I'll show you the
fore-guard."
On they went, over the ford to just inside the tunnel, where they came to another
barrier. Ten more of the squad stood at this post, the barricade shut, though a small
crawlway twisted through, with a barrier set to drop and plug it. Ponies stood near. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]