Wildling by Greg Curtis Page B

with every step it had felt like ten. It had taken them most of the afternoon as well.
    All of them were exhausted. The horses too he'd wager. And some of them were still recovering from the beatings Rodan had given them. Marian's gift as a healer had helped, but the beatings had been severe and the long hard journey through the rugged land had done them no favours. Even Dorn though fully healed, was a long way down on his normal vitality. Rodan's attack had very nearly killed him and recovery would take time.
    So when they'd finally reached the plateau at the end of the shale lands and found firmer footing they'd decided to call it a day and set up camp. That had been hours before, and since then none of them had done much at all. Save that was to complain. Lorian was good at that. But finally Dorn had decided to shake some of the aches and pains out of his legs and had wandered up to the terraced edge of the plateau to look down at what awaited them. The forest. The last part of their journey.
    “Shite!”
    Dorn was surprised when he reached the edge of the terrace and looked out across the distant forest leading to the temple beyond. Not by the fact that there were others heading the same way. He'd expected that. But by how many there were. It was nearly evening, people were settling in for the night, and lighting their camp fires. It was a good time to spot them. He'd thought to see a few. He hadn't thought to see fifty or more.
    “In a pig's ear!”
    Though he hadn't heard him join him, Petran was beside him, seeing exactly the same thing he was, and by the sounds of things just as surprised.
    “That's got to be sixty camp fires. And if each camp has seven people like us that's over four hundred people.” He whistled in awe.
    “ More,” said Davith, joining them. “That's four hundred people just in the forest plain ahead of us. More will already be at the temple and more behind us. It could be over a thousand.”
    He was right Dorn realised. They were still one, maybe two days travel from the temple, and what they could see in front of them was only the flat forest plain leading to it, not the temple itself. The chances were that many people were already there ahead of them. And equally others were still following them. The land behind them had been rough and filled with small hillocks and shallows. Without being able to find a true high point they hadn't been able to see who else was nearby. But some afternoons they had seen the smoke rising from distant camp fires.
    “I can't see the temple,” Petran said. Neither could Dorn, but he wasn't surprised by that. A temple no matter how grand could surely not be seen in the middle of a forest at least a good day’s travel away. But was that even the most important part of what lay ahead? Because beyond the temple, perhaps as little as five or six more leagues north, lay the unknown land of Terris Lee. Unknown because no one had ever come back from it.
    Many wondered who or what lived there. Possibly more monsters as in the wastes. Some claimed there were dragons. But maybe there was another race of people living there –  even the glowing people. It would explain where they'd come from and perhaps why they were sending them to Balen Rale. But it was only a guess. No one who had ever tried to find out who or what lived in Terris Lee had ever returned. People had made it through the Eteris mountains to the central wastes. And a few had survived to bring them terrible tales of the creatures that called them home. People had wandered to the southernmost tip of the dusky elves realm, and brought back tales. They had travelled to the islands to the east and the west of the world. But no one had ever returned from Terris Lee. There were no stories. That troubled him. It particularly worried him that they were so close to that land.
    “What do you think?”
    “ I think we add our fire to the rest and enjoy another night under the stars.”
    Petran was right. It was the