Chapter 16

Their business in Pencairn concluded, the party set out once again. They gave their farewells to King Telurin and his brother Prince Kiliimar, as well as to Quainen, Kelenir, Berethir, and the various other friends and acquaintances they had made during their stay.
      Leaving the Penthrad they travelled through the main city to the western gate where they left Pencairn behind. Then south-west they rode, along the curving shoreline that in time would lead them to the southward-projecting peninsula of Arvalla. Their destination was Valassea, an Elven city at the very tip of the peninsula. Here they would collaborate with the Elven King, Caelebrin, to organise the conference where the Allies would meet to discuss their assault on Tath.
      Before leaving Pencairn Raavan had seen to it that messengers were sent forth to all the other kingdoms of Entira which they had not had time to visit, imploring their respective leaders to attend the conference that it was hoped would be convened in just over two months’ time. Riders were sent to Koronandor; to the Dwarvenholts of Tolor and the Belling Hills; to the Elves of Merethir Forest as well as those of Avonside and Avalesse; to the wizards at Aberlaven; and to the men of Arenya, of whom there were far fewer than in Pilinon, yet who still constituted a valued ally.
      Though it seemed to the Elflings quite a sizeable alliance, Raavan feared that the numbers of warriors that could be arrayed in battle against Silgoth were far fewer than had been brought to bear against the Deathlords of old. The eastern kingdoms had long ago been virtually depleted of their war-making capacity and most of the other nations fell also far short of their former might. Certainly, the time was not ideal for making war on a powerful opponent such as Silgoth, yet there was no choice: the enemy must be confronted, and soon. All that was left to decide were the details, and that, it was hoped, would be accomplished soon at Valassea.
      They camped along the coast that night. Lying on their bedrolls in the open air they listened as the endless stream of waves lapped the shore not far away, and in time the pleasant sound lulled them all to sleep. Talen had dreams that night of sailing on the ocean in a great ship with tall kings and lords and gallant warriors toward some faraway land. When they landed at the distant shore, however, the sky clouded over and the host disembarked to fight against a cruel horde of horrific monsters that fought on even after their heads were cleaved from their bodies. This dream did not last all the night, however, and mostly he dreamed of floating with Dannadar and Falco in a small boat along the coast of Pilinon, where there were many tiny islands bearing strange monuments. On some of these they found various relics, such as ancient scrolls with strange warnings and bits of incomprehensible advise. Exactly what was written on any of them, however, Talen could not remember in the morning when he awoke.
      After cold waybread and hot tea they continued their journey along the coast and came once again around mid-morn to the great forest of Arvalla. They entered the forest travelling somewhat south of east but then turned mostly south after a time. Though their steeds were well-rested they were forced to move at rather a slow pace as the forest was especially thick in this region.
      When eventually the forest did open up a bit they still could not improve their pace, for now they were in a wooded bog and often they had to pick their way through its muddy shallows. That afternoon the skies clouded up and it began to rain. They spent the rest of the afternoon slogging through the muck, frogs croaking all about them, but little else making any noise whatsoever. Once again the forest showed them that it had many faces, and this one was rather sombre indeed.
      It took them quite some time to find a relatively dry place to make camp that evening. They set up the tarpaulin and crowded beneath it, for the rain still was coming down between the trees and what their leaves did catch they eventually let drip down their branches onto the party below. There they lay listening to the toads sing their chorus into the night, and though it was not an unpleasant sound they found themselves wishing they could instead lay under the stars on the beach listening to the ocean waves.
      The next day they saw that they were indeed emerging at last from the bog. Soon they encountered a tiny stream flowing more or less southward and this they followed for some time. Soon the wood began to take on the sort of strange, dreamy quality that they had experienced during their journey along the Tyalume, though as always the character of the forest did not remain constant, but rather changed imperceptibly as they travelled through it.
      The sun came out that day and they began to see some late blooming flowers, opening apparently in response to the rain. What surprised all of them however was the way in which these remarkable flowers bloomed: amazingly, they opened fully-flowered in a single pop! when the sun struck them. Though the companions found this very strange, in time they became quite used to it so that they no longer were startled every time they heard the sound, though as always they remained alert, for the forest was a strange and unpredictable place, and also they had not forgotten that even flowers can be dangerous.
      Now the forest became stranger still. The stream on their right had grown steadily into a deep creek, and now and again when they happened to glance over at it they would see a hideous reptilian head watching them with great, bulging eyes. As soon as any of them spied it, it would disappear beneath the calm surface, yet the head continued to appear mile after mile, and though it was wondered by some whether this was one creature which followed them or many creatures which all looked the same, none could say the which of it for sure.
      Rather more alarming was that as the creek widened into a small river they began to see crocodiles in the water and along its banks—crocodiles with big teeth and watchful eyes. Though the uncouth beasts made no attempt to assail the party as they rode by, any attempt to approach the river was invariably accompanied by a ferocious hissing and snapping of jaws, so that in time the party allowed themselves to wander away from the watercourse entirely.
      In the early afternoon they came to a clearing several miles wide which contained a number of small ponds with lily pads floating on them. Around the pools ferns grew thickly, punctuated here and there by a lone apple or pear tree. Coming to the largest of the ponds they decided to pick some fruit and have a brief lunch out in the open. As they sat eating on the soft turf Talen saw soaring high above them what appeared to be a large eagle. The bird hung nearly motionless in the air for some moments before drifting southward on a high breeze.
      It seemed that Raavan was just about to tell them something about the eagles of Arvalla when staring out into the pond he abruptly stopped himself, for there the companions could now see the head and shoulders of an unclad woman rising gracefully from the water. She was beautiful, with long flowing hair, and when she had approached to within a respectful distance she began to sing to them. Soon the bare-breasted lady was joined by another, and together they sang in harmony while effortlessly treading the water. When they had finished they turned and dove again into the pool, and it was then that the company could see that these were in fact mermaids , for their lower half was that of a large fish, with a powerful tail that propelled them quickly into the depths of the wide pond. Though the companions found this very interesting and would like to have seen more of the lovely water nymphs, as they had finished their lunch Raavan urged them onward, for their business in Arvalla did not include the wooing of aquatic ladies.
      When they entered the wood again they saw that the trees now were much larger than before. So thick were some of the great boles, in fact, that doors and windows opened onto little cottages that had been carved out of their interiors. All the doors were painted bright red, with a brass doorknob, and they always were quite short, as if for use by children or people of Elfling size or perhaps a bit smaller. Of course the company were much intrigued by these, yet as they never saw anyone coming or going at these tiny abodes they could not be at all certain as to the identity of the inhabitants.
      Soon the forest became very thick once again, and now the tangle of branches and leaves virtually blinded them so that they were induced to dismount and lead their steeds on foot through the bewildering arboreal webwork. To make matters worse they began to encounter snakes, either solid black or banded red and yellow and generally occuring together in writhing masses that themselves wriggled and rolled about like strange, tentacled creatures. These ‘snake balls’ as Dannadar called them began to occur with such frequency that it was impossible to avoid them. As Alatar suggested that the animals appeared to be mating and would likely ignore the companions they pressed on.
      It was not long, however, before the party unavoidably ventured too close to the writhing reptiles and began to sustain angry bites from them. Fortunately when one of these snakes bit them in the leg all they felt was a strong, dull pinch, for the snakes had no teeth. Raavan explained that the Elves had long ago bred the toothless snakes to render them harmless to people.
      The others found this an astounding revelation and several of them felt compelled to single out one or two of the creatures to see with their own eyes that the reptiles indeed lacked teeth. When they saw that it was so   some of them laughed, either because they found the idea of a toothless snake somewhat ridiculous or because the constant gumming of their fingers in the animals’ mouths was rather ticklish.
      But once they started laughing they found that they could not stop, and soon they all were doubled over on the ground holding their stomachs in pain and trying vainly to fight off the overwhelming sense of hilarity which had seized them. Presently some of them noticed that they had tiny darts protruding from their skin, yet as they plucked these from their bodies and wondered idly at their origin they continued laughing all the while, for their mirth seemed to have no limits, even if it also seemed to have no rational explanation.
      Eventually the laughter subsided and they resumed their trek, now rather embarrassed by their merry outbursts. In time Raavan informed them all that the darts were cast by an inhabitant of the wood known as a wood faerie , also called a wixie , and that the poison on their darts, while toxic to many smaller creatures such as frogs, instead caused uncontrollable feelings of gaiety in people.
      Eventually the forest did open up a bit and the ‘snake balls’ became much less frequent. However, the companions had still to endure occasional attacks from the wood faeries and the infuriatingly risible effects of their little darts. At these times they would have to stop for several minutes at least while some or all of the members laughed so uncontrollably that they could no longer keep hold of the reins. Sometimes one or two of them would fall from the saddle to lay on the ground in the agonising throes of unbridled hilarity.
      When eventually they left the wood faeries behind they had to contend with another, equally annoying creature called the Simiak. Whole troops of these furry animals would swing from branches in the tree tops, yelling obscenities at the companions and showering them with their dung, so that they had to bathe in a stream before retiring that evening, and they even set up the tarpaulin over their bedrolls, though it did not rain that night.
      When finally they left the annoying Simiaks behind the forest again took on a very lovely aspect, with linyar and eruil trees that acted as supports for great hanging sheets of flowering vines and other epiphytes. It was here that they began to spy the occasional timber wolf. Though the Elflings were initially fearful at such sightings on account of the tales they had heard of the depredations of packs of ferocious wolves on livestock and even on lone Elflings, Raavan informed them that the wolves of Arvalla were not to be feared but were only the spies of the Elves, informing them of the presence of strangers in the forest.
      It was at about this time that they also began on occasion to hear the sounds of music echoing faintly in the woods. The sound was as that of a lone piper, though they could never agree on the direction from whence the music came. Also, the songs of birds became very strange in this part of the forest, consisting largely of shrieks and strangely random whistlings. The latter had the peculiar property that many of the notes were repeated by the bird more softly after two or three other notes in the melody had elapsed, so that the birds’ songs seemed to have their own built-in echo by way of this peculiar song structure. When Talen noticed this he began to wonder whether the birds had purposely added these extra ‘echo’ notes to augment the natural reverberations created by the forest, though why they would do so he could not fathom.
      On their fourth day in the woods the land became very hilly. Early in the morning they entered a clearing which was bordered on one side by high cliffs. Looking up they saw that set within one of the cliffs was a broad ledge which supported an enormous bird’s nest. Beside the nest stood a giant eagle busily preening his brown feathers. Raavan bade the party approach the cliff, and when they were below the ledge he called up to the eagle: Kily-kily-kily-kily-kily-kily!
      Hearing this call the eagle looked shrewdly down at the companions far below. Glancing then at the Elflings Raavan asked them to unstring their bows and throw them some distance away, which they readily did. Once this was done the eagle glided gracefully down to another ledge just a short distance above the party. Then he spoke to them in a deep voice that hinted at long years of acquired wisdom.
      ‘You are not Elves,’ observed the eagle with mild interest.
      ‘No,’ answered Raavan, ‘we are travellers who seek the aid of the Elves. I am Raavan, a wizard of Aberlaven in the Seawall Mountains. I am a friend of Airus, whose eyrie is in those mountains.’
      ‘I see,’ said the eagle. ‘I also see that you are friends of the Unicorns.’
      Glancing down at the imprint on his hand Raavan replied, ‘Yes, indeed.’
      ‘Very good,’ said the eagle. ‘Now, what is it you desire of me?’
      Raavan replied, ‘We have great need to speak with King Caelebrin. Have you seen him recently?’
      ‘I saw him four days ago,’ replied the eagle, ‘on the western shore: some sixty miles from the place the Elves call Valassea.’
      ‘Thank-you ever so much,’ replied Raavan.
      ‘You are very welcome,’ said the eagle as he jumped into the air and flapped his way back up to the higher ledge where he continued preening. Airi was glad to see him go, for the much smaller owl had been hiding on the back of Windaris behind Raavan, and was nearly shivering with fear.
      The companions continued their trek southward. Raavan suggested that they might as well head directly for Valassea. When they arrived there they would be able to enquire directly from the Elves as to the king’s current whereabouts and track him down from there. He explained to the party that King Caelebrin had many royal cottages spread throughout the peninsula and that he liked to move between them during the summer months. Obviously this made him a bit difficult to locate at times, but Raavan was confident they would find him within a few days.
      Soon after re-entering the woods they began to hear the echoes of the distant piper once again. This time, however, it increased in volume till they were certain the source of the music lay just ahead. Sure enough, after travelling just a short distance they encountered a green-clad Elf with bow and quiver strapped to his back and a silver flute in his hands. As he played he marched forward toward the party and following behind him came a veritable army of grey squirrels hopping along with their bushy tails bobbing in tow. There must have been hundreds or even thousands of them. Though the piper clearly saw the travellers he continued on as if to pass them by without greeting. Once again Airi became highly roused, though this time his motivation was hunger rather than fear, yet he obeyed Raavan’s command to stay put while the squirrel army approached.
      ‘Greetings, good Elf,’ said Raavan. ‘May we ask—’
      He was cut off by the piper: ‘I am afraid I have no time to delay. We are on the war-path. The enemy awaits, and we are eager to engage him in mortal combat.’
      ‘War with whom?’ asked Alatar somewhat haltingly.
      ‘With the red squirrels of the north,’ shot back the Elf as he led his army forward. ‘The invaders must be repulsed. Back to the mountains they will go, or they will face our wrath...’ The piper continued his song and soon the army of bushy-tailed rodents had passed. The company stood watching for several moments after they were gone from view.
      ‘Now that’s not something you see every day,’ said Burak.
      ‘No,’ agreed Raavan, ‘nor even every hundred years, I’m sure.’
      Indeed, they saw nothing stranger for the remainder of the day, though they did note that squirrels seemed to have become entirely absent from that part of the wood, reinforcing the notion that their encounter with the piper had not been imaginary.
      Yet, on their fifth day in the woods things became stranger still, for not long after breaking camp they came to a sheer cliff face right in the middle of the woods. The cliff extended to either side, completely barring their way, and yet, when they followed the cliff around to the left or right they found that it continued without end, always curving concavely about them. After following it for some distance they were forced to come to the startling conclusion that they were surrounded by a circular inclosure of steep-walled cliffs. Just to make sure, they made a complete circuit starting at one point and going round till they came to the same recognisable place, without any break in the rock wall.
      Of course, this was rather a baffling state of affairs, as they all knew quite well they had not come down a cliff to enter the inclosure. Yet, try though they might to find a way out, they could not do so and they were forced to halt while Raavan tried to think of some recourse.
      ‘I think we have all gone insane from the strangeness of this forest,’ said Burak.
      ‘Arvalla is certainly very strange, Burak,’ agreed Raavan, ‘but we can’t let it get the better of us.’
      ‘I think it has got the better of us,’ said Burak. ‘This is certainly beyond me. Unless you can call your eagle friend and have him carry us out of here, I can’t imagine how we are ever going to get free.’
      ‘Just let me think,’ said Raavan. Then, apparently lighting on something, he announced: ‘Aha! We must find the section of wall that we encountered first.’
      Though none saw any utility in this they followed the wizard as he led them yet again round the enclosing cliffs. Eventually they came to a spot which all agreed looked to be the place where they had first encountered the rocky barrier.
      ‘Now,’ said the wizard, ‘we shall turn round and go straight back through the woods in the direction from whence we came.’
      ‘But that will just lead us straight into the cliffs on the other side,’ protested Talen.
      ‘Perhaps,’ said Raavan. ‘Let us try anyway.’
      And so they did. Turning round they retraced their original path in reverse and after a time they crossed a creek which they had seen before but which they knew could not lie within the inclosure, for neither end of it was encountered when they followed the cliff around in a complete circuit.
      ‘It looks like we’ve made it out again,’ said Burak.
      ‘I think so,’ said Raavan.
      ‘How did we manage that?’ asked the Dwarf.
      ‘I’m not sure,’ answered the wizard, ‘but let’s go a different way this time so we don’t end up in there again.’
      So following the creek toward the west they altered their course somewhat, heading toward the coast, which Raavan now reckoned was not very distant. They would instead follow along the coastline and so come to Valassea from the north-west, possibly encountering King Caelebrin along the way.
      Indeed, that night they camped on the western beach of the Arvallan peninsula and once again they were able to fall asleep to the soothing sounds of the ocean. The next morning they travelled for some distance along the beach, for they found that if they stayed high enough up on the beach they were able to move fairly quickly.
      The scene around them was rather breathtaking. The water was incredibly clear, the sandy beach nearly pure white, and the sky above a divine azure, with just a handful of wispy white clouds drifting by like islands in an aerial sea.
      In time, however, the shore became rather rocky and they decided to retreat into the forest once more where their steeds could find surer footing. Soon after this they began to hear distant drumming, not like that of a woodpecker, but rather more like the simultaneous beating of many hands on tall drums. The thrumming continued as they headed south just inside the forest till suddenly their horses refused to go any further.
      At this point they all dismounted, for nothing they did could convince the steeds to either move forward or even turn about and go the other way. As soon as they had got down from their horses they saw the reason for the beasts’ refusal to continue. Indeed, the poor animals were unable to budge, for a thick webbing of vines had climbed up their legs as far as their knees and thus held their feet firmly to the ground.
      Now both the steeds and their riders were anchored where they stood. When the travellers took out their daggars and tried to cut themselves free they found that the vines were so adamant that it took all their effort just to cut one tiny strand, and whenever they did so that strand was quickly replaced by five more.
      ‘Is it just my imagination, or does anyone else think that this forest doesn’t want us to reach Valassea?’ asked Burak.
      ‘The forest and the Elves that inhabit it are not overfond of visitors,’ said Raavan. ‘Most of the time that’s a good thing.’
      ‘I fail to see how this is in any way a good thing ,’ complained Falco.
      ‘I said most of the time ,’ repeated Raavan with slight annoyance.
      There was little they could do, though at the others’ insistence Raavan went through his considerable repertoire of magical spells to see if any were applicable to their current predicament. It seemed that none were. To make matters worse they soon were visited by the wixies, who in short order had them all doubled over in the throes of uncontrollable laughter. Though the little faeries left after a time, they eventually came back, and though the companions begged them to be merciful the wixies knew nothing of mercy and another round of painful hilarity was brought down on the unfortunate party.
      All the while the drums continued to beat in the distance. After a time the companions began to get weary of standing, though none dared sit lest the vines entangle the rest of their bodies and strangle or suffocate them. Eventually they became so bored that Talen drew his fife from his pack and began to play. He wove a slow tune to the tempo of the strange drums, the plaintive sound of his instrument now rising to create its own echo through the sparse understory.
      It was not long after this that a party of Elves carefully approached with arrows knocked and pointed in the direction of the unmoving travellers. When finally they had approached to within speaking distance Raavan greeted them in their own language. Only then did they drop their guard.
      ‘Well, what have we caught today?’ said one of the Elves. ‘Let’s see: a powerful wizard, a man, a Dwarf, three Elflings, an owl, and a fine group of steeds. A most impressive catch. How fortunate are we!’ At this all the Elves laughed, as did the companions, though somewhat nervously at first.
      At a word and a loud clapping of hands from the leader the plants released their grasp and retreated again into the undergrowth. The companions all were glad to move freely about once again and they paced a bit to stretch their cramped muscles.
      ‘Raavan the wizard,’ said the Elf leader, extending his hand to the foreigner, ‘I am Yquélen.’
      ‘I am very grateful to meet you,’ said Raavan. ‘We are searching for King Caelebrin, for we have matters of the gravest importance to discuss with him.’
      ‘Yes, we know,’ said the Elf. ‘We have been expecting you for some days now.’
      ‘You have?’ said Burak.
      ‘Yes,’ said Yquélen. ‘The King is at Avarde, just a few miles along the coast. We will take you to him at once, though it means abandoning our hunt for the Black Boar. We can always find him again. Come.’
      With that they led the party away toward the south. The companions led their steeds on foot, since the Elves were horseless. They saw then that several of the hunters bore large drums which were strapped to their shoulders, though they no longer beat them now that the hunt was postponed.
      Though the Elves were very friendly with the companions they seemed to have somewhat of a grim aspect about them. From their appearance and their comportment Talen felt sure that these Elves were every bit as skilled as hunters and warriors as were the Elflings. Also, they appeared to be very alert, seeming to look everywhere at once and Talen doubted whether even the slightest movement or sound in the forest would escape their attention. That these would be valuable allies against Silgoth there could be no doubt.
      In the mid-afternoon they finally came upon an Elven village located just inside the forest. Many fair faces did they see there, both of Elf and Elfess and also many fine animals, such as the colourful parrots which perched on the backs of chairs and on window sills. It was as fair and happy a place as the village on the Vorohallo, if different in subtle ways.
      Yquélen led them through the small village and then down to the beach where a tall Elf sat in the sand with his back against a great log, a fawn-sized Unicorn curled under one arm and another balancing on its hind legs before the Elf, who spoke fair words to the beautiful creature.
      ‘Caelebrin,’ said Raavan to the Elf as he turned round to face the party. ‘We must talk.’