The land around them was empty and featureless: a rolling sea of tall grass. After two hours of riding, a hulking blackness rose from it in the hazy distance. By the time they had reached it, the sun had sunk beneath the horizon, and its glow made the sky red as blood. A black wall loomed up before them, massive and impenetrable. It rose to a height that Daerufin could only guess as being over three hundred feet. They came to a halt, and when all grew still about them, they heard the early night wind whispering amidst the tall grass.

"You are come to the boundary of our city," said Gawaith. "You will not see the like of these trees anywhere else in Overworld. Their height and girth are unmatched by any other. They have protected our people here for many ages against the onslaught of the Enemy."

"Magnificent," breathed Davídea. "Quite astounding."

Each tree had a single massive trunk with no branches except at a great height, where they fanned out delicately. As they got closer, Daerufin saw that the trees were spaced very close together and placed alternately in two rows so that a man could not pass between them. In some places the trunks were so closely spaced that they had grown completely together.

"How do we get through?" Daerufin asked, eager to get inside. The constant thudding of the many hooves on the turf had made his head ache, and he was very tired.

"We must ride further south," answered Gawaith. "There is no gate here, alas. The entrances are few and far between, for the city is very great."

copyright 2000 Kenneth E. Harding