"This leads to the outer world," remarked Corpang. "I"ve occasionally been there by this pa.s.sage."
"Then that"s where it is taking us, no doubt. I confess I shan"t be sorry to see sunlight once more."
"Can you find time to think of sunlight?" asked Corpang with a rough smile.
"I love the sun, and perhaps I"m rather lacking in the spirit of a zealot."
"Yet, for all that, you may get there before me."
"Don"t be bitter," said Maskull. "I"ll tell you another thing. Muspel can"t be willed, for the simple reason that Muspel does not concern the will. To will is a property of this world."
"Then what is your journey for?"
"It"s one thing to walk to a destination, and to linger over the walk, and quite another to run there at top speed."
"Perhaps I"m not so easily deceived as you think," said Corpang with another smile.
The light persisted in the cave. The path narrowed and became a steep ascent. Then the angle became one of forty-five degrees, and they had to climb. The tunnel grew so confined that Maskull was reminded of the confined dreams of his childhood.
Not long afterward, daylight appeared. They hastened to complete the last stage. Maskull rushed out first into the world of colours and, all dirty and bleeding from numerous scratches, stood blinking on a hillside, bathed in the brilliant late-afternoon sunshine. Corpang followed closely at his heels, He was obliged to shield his eyes with his hands for a few minutes, so unaccustomed was he to Branchspell"s blinding rays.
"The drum beats have stopped!" he exclaimed suddenly.
"You can"t expect music all the time," answered Maskull dryly. "We mustn"t be luxurious."
"But now we have no guide. We"re no better off than before."
"Well, Tormance is a big place. But I have an infallible rule, Corpang.
As I come from the south, I always go due north."
"That will take us to Lichstorm."
Maskull gazed at the fantastically piled rocks all around them. "I saw these rocks from Matterplay. The mountains look as far off now as they did them, and there"s not much of the day left. How far is Lichstorm from here?"
Corpang looked away to the distant range. "I don"t know, but unless a miracle happens we shan"t get there tonight."
"I have a feeling," said Maskull, "that we shall not only get there tonight, but that tonight will be the most important in my life."
And he sat down pa.s.sively to rest.
Chapter 18. HAUNTE
While Maskull sat, Corpang walked restlessly to and fro, swinging his arms. He had lost his staff. His face was inflamed with suppressed impatience, which accentuated its natural coa.r.s.eness. At last he stopped short in front of Maskull and looked down at him. "What do you intend to do?"
Maskull glanced up and idly waved his hand toward the distant mountains.
"Since we can"t walk, we must wait."
"For what?"
"I don"t know... How"s this, though? Those peaks have changed colour, from red to green."
"Yes, the lich wind is travelling this way."
"The lich wind?"
"It"s the atmosphere of Lichstorm. It always clings to the mountains, but when the wind blows from the north it comes as far as Threal."
"It"s a sort of fog, then?"
"A peculiar sort, for they say it excites the s.e.xual pa.s.sions."
"So we are to have lovemaking," said Maskull, laughing.
"Perhaps you won"t find it so joyous," replied Corpang a little grimly.
"But tell me--these peaks, how do they preserve their balance?"
Corpang gazed at the distant, overhanging summits, which were fast fading into obscurity.
"Pa.s.sion keeps them from falling."
Maskull laughed again; he was feeling a strange disturbance of spirit.
"What, the love of rock for rock?"
"It is comical, but true."
"We"ll take a closer peep at them presently. Beyond the mountains is Barey, is it not?"
"Yes."
"And then the Ocean. But what is the name of that Ocean?"
"That is told only to those who die beside it."
"Is the secret so precious, Corpang?"
Branchspell was nearing the horizon in the west; there were more than two hours of daylight remaining. The air all around them became murky.
It was a thin mist, neither damp nor cold. The Lichstorm Range now appeared only as a blur on the sky. The air was electric and tingling, and was exciting in its effect. Maskull felt a sort of emotional inflammation, as though a very slight external cause would serve to overturn his self-control. Corpang stood silent with a mouth like iron.
Maskull kept looking toward a high pile of rocks in the vicinity.
"That seems to me a good watchtower. Perhaps we shall see something from the top."
Without waiting for his companion"s opinion, he began to scramble up the tower, and in a few minutes was standing on the summit. Corpang joined him.
From their viewpoint they saw the whole countryside sloping down to the sea, which appeared as a mere flash of far-off, glittering water. Leaving all that, however, Maskull"s eyes immediately fastened themselves on a small, boat-shaped object, about two miles away, which was travelling rapidly toward them, suspended only a few feet in the air.