Fall; or, Dodge in Hell - Neal Stephenson Page 0,212

those parts,” she announced. “And nothing here requires you.”

She gestured toward the Garden, where preparations for the Feast were being made. Certain inhabitants of Town had been brought up to the top of the Pinnacle and given leave to dwell in small habitations around the circuit of its walls, within the sphere of warm air and golden light that crowned the pinnacle of the mountain. Of lesser stature and power were they than the souls of the Pantheon, but content to dwell in that humbler estate and to make themselves useful in whatever way suited their natures. Thus some of them scoured the mountains for the minerals and crystals Thingor required for his forge, while others roamed abroad gathering herbs and fruits for the Table. Longregard had helpers who found their station flying, swimming, and rambling about the Land, noticing all that was afoot and bringing to her news of events she might otherwise not have known. Ward had, one and two at a time, drawn to his side a score of souls who found satisfaction in patrolling the borders of the blessed space atop the mountain and standing aflank its gate. Wild souls too had come there in numbers that had exceeded the expectations of Egdod. For in his roamings up and down the Land he had encountered several such, and come to know them. When spying some stretch of seacoast or confluence of rivers where the waters swirled in greater-than-usual complexity, or observing like patterns in the wind, or when a great tree rose above all others on the skyline of a mountain, or a crag distinguished itself for beauty and elaborate form on the crest of a ridge, he had learned to go thither and patiently abide until the soul of the place had made itself known to him. Some of the wild souls had awoken and taken root and assembled these manifestations in utter solitude, not knowing that other souls existed until they spied Egdod. Others had awakened first in Town and struck out on their own after finding that the society of the place was not to their liking. Some inhabited single blades of grass, others were mountain ranges, one was the west wind and one was the eastern sea. It stood to reason that for any one of them Egdod knew of, there might be many he had not discovered. Somehow, though, word of the Feast had spread among them. Many arrived in those days who were new to Egdod and to the Pantheon, and the Garden became tumultuous with their rude society.

“Very well,” Egdod agreed, “what news from the north?”

“It is easier to show than to speak of,” said Longregard, “and if you will guide me through the dangerous currents of the storm we can be there sooner than I could put it into words.” She took to the air without awaiting a response, obliging Egdod to follow her.

After they had gone some distance north, Egdod surged past her and led the way into the deepening maze of currents and cloud banks along the southern fringe of the storm. As they got farther in, they dodged through places where lightning bolts snaked and forked from cloud to cloud as if a hundred Egdods were amusing themselves with Thingor’s bright armaments. Once, twice, and then a third time Egdod sensed a change in the air and swooped close to Longregard to shelter her in his wings from a sizzling blast.

They broke out at last into the eye of the storm. This was a thing that came and went, and roamed like a wild soul over the Knot and the Stormland that extended northward from it. But most often it was centered about the Fastness, and that was where they found it today.

The situation of the Fastness itself—the castle that Egdod had built at the heart of the Knot—was simple enough. Disregarding all of its towers and complications, it was a walled square, built on a ledge. A range of mountains arched over the top of it, and twisted as it did so. Which made no sense; but it had to be thus because of errors Egdod had made, eons ago, in the shape of the Land and the courses of its rivers.

The ledge gave way to a cliff and the cliff dropped straight down into chaos. The Fastness was built right up to the brink. Its wall on that side merged seamlessly into the cliff face, so that Egdod, when he stood on its