The Gods in Anger (Omaran Saga Book 4) by Adrian Cole

Author:Adrian Cole [Cole, Adrian]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Publisher: Open Road Media Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Published: 2014-04-01T00:00:00+00:00

14

The Ravensring

It seemed for a time that the way onward was to be barred, but after a while, when the silence had become as dense as the forest, there came a sudden gusting of wind over the tops of the trees, and a creaking of boughs as if they had filled with invisible beings. Sunlight angled down between two of the greatest trees and it seemed then that the barrier had been no more than a conspiracy of shadows, for there was a way through, a trunk-lined corridor winding downwards as if into a vast lodge.

Thus the company began the march into the Deepwalks, picking its way carefully over the roots and knuckles of stone. Aumlac warned them all not to use a sword or knife on the vegetation, for fear that the forest would seek reprisals. Brannog and Ruvanna led the Earthwrought, their faces grim; the little people did not feel the oneness with the earth and stone that usually came as a second nature to them. Instead it was like a darkness, deep and brooding, closed off from them, though it sensed their every step. Aumlac’s folk were similarly cut off from the rock, as though it studied them but returned nothing of its thoughts. But it was the trees that had the strangest effect on the company. They rose up majestically, their fantastic branches twisting this way and that, clustered with bizarre growths, festooned with clumps of rich green moss and lichen. The higher branches interwove like the crossbeams of a palace, not quite blotting out the sunlight. In places the forest was gloomy, chill, but now and then great shafts of sunlight cut down to its floor, and in them danced a thousand motes, creating a shimmering haze in which butterflies flashed and the air was thick with drifting seed. The undergrowth varied: in places it was thick, for huge fronds speared up, higher than some of the trees that were common in the eastern continent, and in other places the forest floor was all but bare, though cluttered with branches like snapped bones and scattered mounds of leaves. The company followed what seemed to be a dried-up stream bed, the land veering downward from the high ridge of Sea Scarp like a tunnel underground. It was an illusion, a trick of the trees, but the impression remained one of menace, or at best, one of being manipulated.

A number of sounds in the undergrowth made it clear that there was much life in the forest, but very little of it showed itself. Creatures scurried along the branches high above, almost invisible, and birds could be heard flapping far above the highest banks of leaves. Aumlac confirmed that Skyrac and his companions were somewhere above, keeping near to the party, but the green verdure made it difficult for him to communicate with them.

The company had been moving deeper into the endless trees for a number of hours, when Wargallow called a halt. They were in a widening

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