Read King of The Murgos for Free Online Page B

quenched their fire with water from the icy brook, and rode on down the steep slope, following the course of the tumbling stream through the white-trunked birch forest.
    Durnik fell in beside the mute Toth as they rode. "Tell me, Toth," he said tentatively, eyeing the frothy white water pitching down over mossy green boulders, "have you ever done any fishing?"
    The huge man smiled shyly.
    "Well, I've got lines and hooks in one of the packs. Maybe if we get the chance ..." Durnik left it hanging.
    Toth's smile broadened into a grin.
    Silk stood up in his stirrups and peered on ahead. "That storm isn't much more than a half-hour away," he told them.
    Belgarath grunted. "I doubt that we'll make very good time once it hits," he replied.
    "I hate snow." Silk shivered glumly.
    "That's a peculiar trait in a Drasnian."
    "Why do you think I left Drasnia in the first place?"
    The heavy bank of cloud loomed in front of them as they continued on down the hill. The morning sunlight paled and then disappeared as the leading edge of the storm raced high overhead to blot out the crisp blue of the autumn sky. "Here it comes," Eriond said cheerfully as the first few flakes began to dance and swirl in the stiff breeze moving up the ridge toward them.
    Silk gave the young man a sour look, crammed his battered hat down lower over his ears and pulled his shabby cloak tighter about him. He looked at Belgarath. "I don't suppose you'd consider doing something about this?" he asked pointedly.
    "It wouldn't be a good idea."
    "Sometimes you're a terrible disappointment to me, Belgarath," Silk said, drawing himself even more deeply into his cloak.
    It began to snow harder, and the trees about them became hazy and indistinct in the shifting curtain of white that came seething up through the forest.
    A mile or so farther down the hill they left the birch trees and entered a dark green forest of towering firs. The thick evergreens broke the force of the wind, and the snow sifted lazily down through the boughs, lightly dusting the needle-strewn floor of the forest. Belgarath shook the snow out of the folds of his cloak and looked around, choosing a route.
    "Lost again?" Silk asked.
    "No, not really." The old man looked back at Durnik. "How far down this hill do you think we're going to have to go to get below this?" he asked.
    Durnik scratched at his chin. "It's sort of hard to say," he replied. He turned to the mute at his side. "What do you think, Toth?" he asked.
    The giant lifted his head and sniffed at the air, then made a series of obscure gestures with one hand.
    "You're probably right," Durnik agreed. He turned back to Belgarath. "If the slope stays this steep, we ought to be able to get below the snowline sometime this afternoon—if we keep moving."
    "Well, I guess we'd better move along then," Belgarath said and led the way on down the hill at a jolting trot.
    It continued to snow. The light dusting on the ground beneath the firs became a covering, and the dimness that had hovered among the dark tree trunks faded as the white snow brought its peculiar, source less light.
    They stopped about noon and took a quick lunch of bread and cheese, then continued to descend through the forest toward Arendia. By mid afternoon, as Durnik and Toth had predicted, the snow was mixed with a chill rain. Soon the few large, wet flakes were gone, and they rode through a steady drizzle that wreathed down among the trees.
    Late in the afternoon the wind picked up, and the rain driven before it was cold and unpleasant. Durnik looked around. "I think that it's about time for us to find a place to stop for the night," he said. "We'll need shelter from this wind, and finding dry firewood might be a bit of a problem." The huge Toth, whose feet very nearly dragged on the ground on either side of his horse, looked around and then pointed toward a dense thicket of sapling evergreens standing at the far edge of the broad clearing they had just entered. Once again he began to