[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

been carrying only a couple of modest backpacks, which could have held little
more than the necessities of the journey. The tools and equipment required
for
their work must be waiting up there near the god's stable, somewhere on the
higher slopes of the mysterious mountains.
All that was very logical. Still, Hal could not keep from wondering whether
the
pair of artisans might possibly, even now, be carrying with them the gold
they
were going to use. How much they needed would of course depend on how many
shoes
needed replacement this time round. That was something an outsider couldn't
even
begin to guess; Hal supposed old shoes of gold could probably be melted down,
reformed, and used again, just like those forged of common blacksmith's iron.
How hot did a fire need to be, to melt gold? Not nearly as hot, he thought,
as
that required to make the darker, tougher metal flow.
But of course if magic was heavily involved, everything about the metal might
be
different. Possibly it could even be lighter in weight? But no, the fragment
in
his own belt pouch was solid and heavy enough.
If only he could contrive to get a look inside the packs of Andvari and his
Page 85
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
companion, while the gnomes were sleeping at midday!
How many Horses did Wodan own? Baldur had said something about there being
only
ten Valkyries, which seemed ridiculously few, according to the legends . . .
but
maybe that meant only ten in her particular group, or squadron . . .
Baldur spoke to his companion sharply, asking if Hal was about to fall asleep
as
they walked.
"Not yet, lad, not yet."
"What're you thinking about, then? You seemed a thousand miles away."
"I am trying to imagine the glories of Valhalla."
It was around midafternoon, on their first day of tracking, when the men
reached
the spot where the two gnomes had evidently gone to earth at dawn.
Hal put out an arm to hold back his companion. Hal whispered: "Wait a minute.
That looks like a little hut." It was a small, crude construction of stone
and
wood, its only windows mere chinks between stones and logs. A larger hole at
one
end looked as if it might serve to let out smoke, and indeed when Hal sniffed
he
could detect traces of fragrant smoke, blended with fainter odors suggesting
cookery.
"They're likely still in there now," he whispered.
"So what do we do?"
"What can we do? Wait till sunset, when they'll set out again."
Withdrawing a short distance down the road, Baldur and Hal made their own
cold
and uncomfortable camp only some fifty yards away, not daring to start a fire
that would give away their presence, though Baldur assured his companion that
gnomes had a reputation for being observant only in matters connected with
their
craft.
Shortly after sunset, they heard a muttering in gnomish voices, and presently
Page 86
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
the sounds of people breaking camp and getting on the road again.
Hal waited an hour this time before he thought it was safe to build a fire.
When in the morning of their second day on the trail Hal and Baldur resumed
their advance, their meager tracking skills were helped enormously by the
presence of a light snow fallen overnight. The thin white cover on the ground
made it ridiculously easy to track the pair they were following; Andvari and
his
companion had indeed been in the little hut, they had indeed come out of it
and
marched uphill, and they seemed to be making no effort at all to conceal
their
trail.
At one point Baldur caught a glimpse of flying sun-shadows on a low cloud,
and
pointed them out to Hal, who looked up almost too late to see anything at
all.
"Could it have been birds?"
"Far too big." Baldur sounded subdued. "They might have been Valkyries, but I
could not be sure."
Hal, who was not sure he had seen anything, was uneasy too. The last large
flying creatures he had seen had been the hideous Harpies, which still
sometimes
disturbed his dreams.
The road wound back and forth almost continuously, tending this way and that,
but always came back to point toward the mountains, which were still days
away.
Soon the river and the forest fell behind them, to be replaced by a more open
landscape that gave progressively less evidence of human occupation. Since
leaving the gnomes' village they had seen only a few human figures, and those
all at a distance, farmers and herdsmen evidently. Now the narrow road was
taking them steadily into territory even more sparsely inhabited, lacking all
signs of human presence. Close ahead loomed foothills, and beyond those were
high mountains, barren and unwelcoming in aspect.
Page 87
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Baldur confessed that he had never been this way before, and there was no way
to
be absolutely sure that Andvari and his companion were still following this
road. But no other range of mountains remotely comparable could be seen in
any
other direction. If Valhalla was anywhere in this part of the world, Hal
thought, it must be there, somewhere straight ahead.
After about noon on the third day, Hal and Baldur kept a more moderate pace
and
an even sharper lookout. It would not do to inadvertently overtake their
quarry.
They had no way of being certain how fast the short-legged Earthdwellers
might
be walking. Around midafternoon the men slowed their own steps even more, and
began keeping a sharp lookout for the camp the two gnomes would presumably be
making, in which to spend the day. Since they seemed to repeat this journey
fairly often, there might well be a series of small huts, conveniently
spaced.
Hal continued to be vaguely surprised that Andvari and his companion were not
riding or driving droms or cameloids. But Baldur continued to assure him that
such animals were practically unknown among the Earthdwellers.
"But somehow they have no trouble dealing with Horses."
"So it seems," the youth admitted. "Though I don't think they ride them.
Lucky [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]