The herdsman was quick to intercept him. “Do not touch it, my friend. I know you welcome the cold, but you have never experienced a cold like this. You may stand close, but make no contact, or your skin will freeze tight to it.” Listening, the shaggy face nodded understandingly, but even Ehomba’s warning could not mitigate the man-beast’s delight. He had been uncomfortably warm for a long, long time.
As cold continued to spill in vaporous waves from the sides of the frozen obelisk, it drove the hideous heat-loving inhabitants of Skawpane ever deeper into their holes and hiding places, leaving the travelers with the run of the central plaza and allowing them to relax a little. Already, the unrelenting torridity of the Blasted Lands was beginning to affect the newly forged frigid monolith. Beneath the baleful, remorseless glare of the sun, it started to melt. Immediately, water bags were unlimbered and their spouts carefully positioned to catch the rapidly increasing drip, drip. Ehomba allowed Ahlitah to lap from his bag.
“How is it?”
A thick, fleshy black tongue emerged to lick upper and lower jaws and snout. The big cat did not quite sigh with pleasure. “It is cold and wet and deliriously delicious, man.” Fierce yellow eyes regarded the weeping shaft longingly. “Are you sure it’s not safe to lick?”
“Not unless you want your tongue frozen to the column,” Ehomba warned him. “Be patient. It looks as if the cold is keeping away the horrid inhabitants of this dreadful town.” He glanced up. Cold, fresh, mineral-rich water was pouring from the pillar’s summit as the sun began to reduce it with a vengeance. What ran off onto the ground formed small puddles that evaporated before they could grow very large.