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that had evidently been maturing in him for a long time; possibly even for
most of his lifetime. Immediate argument would not help, and might hurt. He
decided to say nothing more.
Both Brian and Dafydd seemed of the same opinion. Aragh either had no
opinion, or else he felt that whatever Giles wanted to do was up to Giles and
of no concern or interest to him. For all Jim knew, Aragh might approve of
what Giles had in mind. That attitude would fit with this savage age that held
them all.
When their dimple was in deep darkness from the sun setting behind the hill
at their back, and the woods below were hardly more than blurs in the
twilight, they decided to move forward. Jim had decided that Aragh should take
the lead, so that the sensitive instrument of his nose would not have
interference from the smell of the humans with him. Together, they moved down
toward that section of the woods' edge where they thought the entrance to the
path might be. The walk was easy down the treeless slope, and the footing was
sure enough.
When they reached the edge of the woods they only had to search for a few
yards before they came across an entrance that seemed to be the one Sir Raoul
had described. It led directly into the tangle of trees before them.
The entrance fitted the minutely detailed description Raoul had given of it.
There was a freshly broken twig at the end of a branch, pointing outward from
the woods, that was supposed to be a sign not merely that the path was
correct, but that the individual they were to meet would be looking for them.
Close up, however, the wood was even more forbidding than it had been from a
distance. The trees, most of them, were as low as apple trees; but showed no
sign of fruit and only little gnarled excrescences by way of leaves. Their
branches were sharply angled. They ran not more than six inches in any
direction before making a sharp turn to a new one; and the elbows of those
turns narrowed to a spike which, while not quite a thorn, was equally sharp.
The three knights instinctively drew their swords as they entered single file
behind Aragh. Glancing back from the head of the line, Jim saw that even
Dafydd had drawn the long knife that fitted into a sheath on the high side of
his left boot.
Once within, they were in fairly complete darkness. Although as their eyes
adjusted, the last light of the sky gave them some faint illumination. It was
all they had until a little later on, when the nearly full moon which had
risen even before the setting of the sun rose above the brush and sent its
rays among the trees.
Aragh moved confidently ahead. Jim followed him almost by feel at first. Then
it occurred to him that he could improve his own ability to see how they were
doing. He wrote on the inside of his forehead:
ME?DRAGONSIGHT, DRAGONSCENT, AND DRAGONHEARING
Immediately his vision improved to that which he would have had in his dragon
form. It was not a tremendous improvement, but it was better than he had been
able to see as a human. In addition, he could now use his nose to a
certainextent, even as Aragh was using his to make sure he stayed on the path.
Not that there was any lack of reminders for anyone who traveled that path.
It was no more than three feet wide; and any incautious movement could brush
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an arm or leg against one of the trees. Such casual contact almost certainly
brought one up against the pointed branch-elbows, and the scratch that
resulted seemed to have the ability to cut through fairly thick cloth or
leather.
Still they continued; and the only thing easing their way was the fact that
as the moon rose and brightened, the path itself became very much clearer. Jim
switched back to his human sight, temporarily, just to check how well his
two-legged companions were seeing.
He was a little shocked at what he discovered. Without his dragon sight, with
its adaptability to distance and darkness, even the face of Brian right behind
him was nothing more than a blur. He turned forward again, just in time to [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]