Much of it was a strange, mirroriike black that reminded him
of coal. He scooped up a small piece out of curiosity and stuck
it in his pocket.
Then abruptly the mountains split apart before them, and they
stepped out onto the rim of me Valley of Shale. It was little more
man a broad, shallow depression strewn with crushed stone that
glistened with the same mirrored blackness as the rock Par had
pocketed. Nothing grew in me valley; it was stripped of life.
There was a lake at its center, its greenish black waters moving
in sluggish swirls in the windless expanse.
Cogline stopped momentarily and looked back at them.’ “The
Hadeshom,” he whispered. “Home for the spirits of the ages,
for the Druids of the past.” His weathered old face had an
almost reverent look to it. Then he turned away and started them
down into the valley.
Except for the huff of their breathing and the rasp of their
boots on the loose rock, the valley, too, was wrapped in silence.
Echoes of their movements played in the stillness like children
in the slow heat of a midsummer’s day. Eyes darted watchfully,
seeking ghosts where there were none to find, imagining life in
every shadow. It was strangely warm here, the heat of the day
captured and held in the airless bowl through the cool of the
night. Par felt a trickle of sweat begin to run down has back.
Then they were on the valley floor, closely bunched as they
made their way toward the late. They could see me movement
of me waters more cleady now, the way the swirls worked against
each other, haphazard, unbidden. They could hear the rippling
of tiny waves as they lapped. There was the pungent scent of
things ageing and decayed.
They were still several dozen yards from the water’s edge
when Cogline brought them to a halt, both hands lifting in cau-
tion. “Stand fast, now. Come no closer. The waters of the
Hadeshom are death to mortals, poison to the touch!” He
crouched down and put a finger to his lips as if hushing a child.
They did as they were bidden, children indeed before the
power they sensed sleeping there. They could feel it, all of them,
a palpable thing that hung in the air like wood smoke from a
fire. They remained where they were, alert, anxious, filled with
a mix of wonder and hesitancy. No one spoke. The star-filled
sky stretched away endlessly overhead, canopied from horizon
to horizon, and it seemed as if the whole of the heavens was
focused on the valley, that lake, and the nine of them who kept
watch.
At last Cogline lifted from his crouch and came back to them,
beckoning with birdlike movements of his hands to draw them
close about him. When they were gathered in a knot that locked
them shoulder to shoulder, he spoke.
“Allanon will come just before dawn.” The sharp old eyes
regarded them solemnly.”He wishes me to speak with you first.
He is no longer what he was in life. He is just a shade now. His
purchase in this world is but the blink of an eye. Each time he
crosses over from the spirit world, it requires tremendous effort.
He can stay only a little while. What time he is allotted he must
use wisely. He will use that time to tell you of the need he has
of you. He has left it to me to explain to you why that need
exists. I am to tell you of the Shadowen.”
“You’ve spoken to him?” asked Walker Boh quickly.
Cogline said nothing.
“Why wait until now to tell us about the Shadowen?” Par
was suddenly irritated. “Why now, Cogline, when you could
have done so before?”
The old man shook his head, his face both reproving and
sympathetic. “It was not permitted, youngster. Not until all of
you had been brought together.”
“Games!” Walker muttered and shook his head in disgust.
The old man ignored him. “Think what you like, only listen.
This is what Allanon would have me tell you of the Shadowen.
They are an evil beyond all imagining. They are not the rumors