Battle Mage: Aquila (The Souls of Wrath Book 2) by Peter A. Flannery

Author:Peter A. Flannery [Flannery, Peter A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blackheart Books
Published: 2024-12-14T00:00:00+00:00

The Hidden Valley

After leaving the villagers, Viridian followed Bjorn back up the slope, where one of the scouts was waiting for them.

‘What is it?’ he asked. ‘What have you found?’

‘Better to show you,’ said Bjorn as the scout led them further onto the plateau before following a complicated route to circumvent a whole series of deep crevasses. After the better part of an hour, they reached a cliff face that appeared impassable until the scout ducked into a deep crevice, the floor of which sloped all the way to the top of the cliff. From a casual glance, the crevice was almost invisible, and Viridian wondered how the scout had even found it until the man pointed to the rocks.

‘I almost passed it by until I noticed this,’ said the scout.

Looking down, Viridian could see that parts of the natural slope had been cut into steps.

With his curiosity mounting, Viridian followed the scout as he ascended the concealed path. The top of the cliff led onto a great expanse of level grassland that continued for half a mile.

‘This looks grazed,’ said Viridian as he noted the short-cropped grass and the abundance of what looked like sheep droppings.

‘This is nothing,’ said Bjorn.

More intrigued than ever, Viridian followed the scout until the grassy terrain terminated in a huge crevasse at least thirty yards across. This was far bigger than any they had passed before. However, directly in front of them, the crevasse was spanned by a strip of land almost eight yards wide. Unlike the shaky land bridge near the shepherd’s hut, this crossing looked solid and permanent. To either side of the land bridge, the huge chasm stretched away into the distance.

‘How far does it go?’ Asked Viridian.

‘We don’t know,’ replied the scout. ‘We’ve followed it for about four miles but it just keeps going. It’s almost like it splits the entire mountain range in two.’

‘And this is the only way across?’

‘The only way we’ve found.’

‘But it’s solid,’ said Bjorn. ‘You could drive a cartload of stone over there, and it still wouldn’t budge.’

‘So, what’s on the other side?’ asked Bjorn for he knew they would not bring him all this way just to show him another crevasse.

‘Just wait and see,’ said Bjorn as he led Viridian across the land bridge.

Reaching the far side, they found themselves on a wide wedge of land between two gurgling streams. Flowing to either side, the streams tumbled into the crevasse in two sheer waterfalls.

‘There’s a bridge,’ said Viridian as he spotted a manmade arch of stone.

‘Yes,’ said Bjorn. ‘And there’s another one further up the path.’

After crossing the bridge, Viridian could see that the two streams flowed from a single river that issued from a gully between two rocky hillocks that rose up to either side. The path wove back and forth before reaching a second bridge that crossed the river as it tumbled down the steep rocky hillside. Beyond the bridge, the path continued to climb in a series of slopes and steps

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.