Free The Hunter by Rose Estes Page A

holding the savages at bay. Then he was speeding
     over the land that was verdant and green, with lush grasses and immense ancient trees. Tiny streams and wide rushing rivers
     crisscrossed the land, nurturing the abundant plant life, animals grazing on the thick grasses, their numbers vast and untroubled
     by the thought of man. Predators, their flanks as sleek and well fed as their quarry, lounged beneath trees and sunned themselves
     on rocks, oblivious and without fear. Nowhere was there evidence of man. If this land was the home of the gods, they did not
     hunt or farm the land. Did gods eat? The irreverent thought popped into Braldt’s head unbidden, but he received no answer
     and the images continued to fill his mind.
    Crossing the broad savannah they entered the foothills of the mountains that were normally but a distant blue smear on the
     horizon. The river that fed the fertile valley frothed and swept through a narrow gorge carved out of rock, not the familiar
     red rock that formed the basis of the city, butthe shining black rock from which the Council chamber and the Temple of the Moon were constructed.
    The vision continued, tracing the course of the river as it plunged down the mountain from the heights above. A brief glimpse
     showed the peaks of the mountains towering above them, capped with a blanket of whiteness.
    Braldt did his best to fix the images in his mind, picking out landmarks that he might recognize again when he and Carn were
     part of that same landscape. The voyage of the mind continued, ever upward, scaling sheer walls of rock over which the river
     plunged in foamy plumes of white, heights that no man but only gods could hope to ascend.
    Then the scene switched abruptly, showing another river course, this one empty and dry, although it was evident that water
     had recently filled its banks. This second course diverged from the first and rose in a southerly direction climbing the flank
     of the mountain and entered the mountain itself beneath a huge overhanging boulder. This boulder seemed to bear the entire
     weight of the mountain on its back.
    Braldt held his breath as his mind’s eye swept beneath the boulder, entering a darkness that was not shadow but the course
     of the riverbed, now empty and dry but for a narrow thread of water that trickled down the middle. Light appeared before them,
     magically illuminating the way, showing them the subterranean passage that the water had carved from the stone. And then abruptly,
     the passage ended in a fall of rock so dense that it sealed the course completely, allowing only the merest trickle of water
     to escape. Back and forth the image roamed, exploring the face of the rockfall, searching for a weak spot, and Braldt understood
     then what was wanted.
    Back they flew, back through the curving dark passage, back into blessed daylight, out from beneath the dark rock, back to
     the branch of the river that still flowed. Now they climbed again, higher and higher still to dizzying heights so that the
     land was small and insignificant below them, like a child’s toy until they came to a gaping hole in the very peakof the mountain from which the river arose, spewing forth under great pressure to begin its long descent to the land below.
     The vision explored this new mouth of the great river in infinite detail as though searching for a way to enter. But the river
     allowed no entrance, not even to the vision.
    The image dissolved and then re-formed to show another cavern, this one lit by priest fire that was contained in clear crystal
     orbs that hung from the black stone ceiling. It was obvious that the cavern had recently been inundated by water. But this
     was no mere cavern for it was filled with mysterious objects clearly illuminated by the steady glow of the priest fire. Objects
     that were unlike anything Braldt had ever seen. The vision skimmed over the wondrous contents of the room even though Braldt
     longed to examine them more