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.While searchingthe beaches for firewood, Jaric found rigging among the tide wrack, and the weather-bleached timbers of ships.Autumn's warmth waned; the sky turned overcast and silvery as a fish's underbelly.On anafternoon that threatened rain the Kielmark beached the yawl on the farmost point ofFelwaithe.Chilled in his wet boots, Jaric wondered as he stowed sails whether the two ofthem would survive to need the small boat again.'My captains will spot her on the beach/ the Kielmark said, as if answering the Firelord'sthought.'One or another will pick her up.' He did not belabour the fact that such acontingency would be necessary only if they failed to return; instead, he squinted atclouds, adjusted his sword belt, and turned his back to the sea.Jaric followed, his fine hair stiff with salt crystals, and a knapsack of provisions slungacross his shoulders.Since the fells north of Keithland sustained neither forests forcover nor forage for horses, the final leagues to Shadow-fane must be crossed on foot.Kielmark and Firelord pressed forward through spiky stands of scrub pine, crosshatchedpatches of briar, and ravines of loose shale that crumbled and slid underfoot.By sundown,both thorns and pines thinned to isolated thickets.The soil became poor and sandy,pierced by sharp tongues of rock, and knee-high clumps of saw grass and fern.A finedrizzle began to fall.Grimly set on his purpose, the Kielmark seemed inured to the damp,though moisture matted his hair and soaked patches in the calves of his leggings.Jaric walked alongside with less confidence.Troubled by foreboding, and yearning forTaen's company, he felt every icy drop that slipped off the pack and rolled down his collar.The warded sword at his side chafed his hip like common steel, and boots blistered hisheels after weeks of barefoot comfort at sea.Still, he continued without voicing his fears.Day wore gradually into night, and fog cloaked what little visibility remained.Between onestep and another, ferny hummocks gave way to stone crusted with lichen.Beyond thataaTTnnssFFffooDDrrPPmmYYeeYYrrBB22.BBAAClick here to buyClick here to buywwmmwwoowwcc.AAYYBBYYBB r rpoint, as if a knife had divided the land, wind moaned over hills unbroken by any livingthing.'We've reached the borders of Keithland.' The Lord of Cliffhaven paused and rested hisback against a table of black rock.'Sailors say the whole of this world is barren, except forKeithland.I've seen oceans grow strange fish away from inhabited coasts.'Jaric slung off his pack.Inside he scrounged a hardened loaf of bread, which he hacked intwo with his knife; he passed half to his companion, who seemed to be listening to thewind.Explanations for Keithland's existence were many.Kor's priesthood claimed theDivine Fires had seeded lands for men to raise crops, and country folk said forests,meadows, and wildlife were themagical gifts of the Vaere.Whichever philosophy a man those to believe, none who beheldthe edge of the growing earth ever felt less than a shiver of dread.Mist and rain overhungthe rock like a shroud.The bread grew soggy in Jaric's hand; in disgust he tossed the lastbit away, then dragged the pack onto tired shoulders with a muttered curse at the weather.Sky'll be clear before midnight.' The Kielmarkadjusted his sword sheath, and shook his head.'You'llwish for dirty weather then.We'll stand out on thesefells like fleas on a whore's sheets, and Shadowfane'swatchtowers are manned by creatures with eyes on bothsides of their heads.'Jaric received this comment with a sceptical expression, wasted, because of thedark.'You've been there?'The Kielmark's teeth gleamed in a brief grin.'Never.But the fellow who told me wassober.''My sword to a bootlace he wasn't.' Jaric shook water out of his hair.'No sailor ever entersyour presence who isn't full of beer to bolster his courage.You've the reputation of ashearfish, all teeth and bite.''And a good thing that will be, if we meet Scait's four-eyed beasties in a fight.' TheKielmark pushed to his feet.Spoilingly impatient, he said, 'Are you ready?'They proceeded, and.the air grew colder.The breeze shifted northwest.Rain and cloudsgave way to a star-spiked arch of sky.The rock of the fells extended in all directions,windswept and deserted, except for a single gleam of scarlet near the horizon
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