Chapter 136

DALLIN REMEMBERED it. He remembered it all, and he looked at it now with that same strange double vision--the fear of the child he'd been calling to the fear of the man he'd become. He'd feared death then, and he'd feared for his people, feared the Old Ones and the relentless force of their combined power. There were so many other things to be afraid of now.

The way was dark and steep, narrow passageways and slick steps chiseled intermittently into the stone of particularly treacherous stretches. Cold at first, and growing steadily warmer as they descended. The ceaseless, faraway trickle of water eventually resolved itself into the song of the river as they neared the vert glimmer bleeding out into the tunnels from the mouth of Faedme.