Abasio nodded. “The same earthquake that split off Etershore pushed the Icefangs higher.”
Bear went on, “And is said to have elevated the Heights of Ghastain, yes. Small streams begin in the cliffs and in the mountains, streams that run into the valley of the Wold from the north, the east, and the west, joining together to become Woldswater Running.”
He moved his stick to the middle of the square and ran it southward. “The Woldswater continually gains strength as it flows south . . .” He made a circle with the stick. “And here, near Wold’s southern boundary, is Lake Riversmeet, where the Woldswater is joined by the river Wells. The Wells rises in many small streams on the Heights of Ghastain and flows into the King’s Highland, which is like a tilted platter, higher on the north and around the edges. Over the ages the Wells has cut through the south edge of the highland and has meandered about, creating a wide, fairly flat and fertile valley almost a third of the way down through the eastern heights . . .”
Precious Wind said, “The people of Wold usually call it the Valley of the Wells, or sometimes the Eastern Valley. From there the Wells drops down to meet the Woldswater and from there it runs west to the sea.”
“Which is not so far as it used to be,” said Abasio. “I’ve been told the waters rising has brought it a good way east of Wellsport. The onetime swamps of Marish are now an ocean inlet.”
Bear stared at him silently for a moment. “You have good informants.”
“As I’ve said, people travel, they spread the news.”
Bear returned to his lesson. “Now we come to the duchess. Not far south of the river Wells begin the lands of Altamont, rising toward the south, where Alicia occupies the Old Dark House.”
“Not a castle?” Xulai asked.
Precious Wind answered, “It is a gard, or fortress as they’re named here, but it’s called the Old Dark House by anyone who knows anything about Altamont. Those lands were owned by the Old Dark Man for a hundred years or more.”
“The Old Dark Man?”
“He was called a wizard, a warlock, a devil. His people feared him. He was seldom seen. When he was seen, people said he was eight feet tall and thin as a rail and black as night, with a long, gray beard. The Old Dark Man.” Precious Wind pinched her lips together. “Some say Mirami was his daughter. Some claimed it was Alicia who was his daughter, but he had disappeared years before Alicia was born. She didn’t actually leave Ghastain to live in the Old Dark House until she was a good deal older.”
Bear went on, “The east part of Wold, beyond Woldswater Running, is mostly farm country until it gets to the eastern edge where the cliffs rise up. One section of the cliffs, near the river, is where the only road ascends to the valley above, a region now occupied by refugees from the islands conquered by the Sea People.”
“Yes,” said Abasio. “I’m told the refugees roost like swallows! I heard about them on my travels. I even met a few who had come up the fjord and were hunting in the forests to the north. Odd folk, but pleasant enough. Is the area they have settled part of Wold?”
“It should be,” said Precious Wind. “It’s north of the Wells, which is sometimes considered to be the line between Wold and Altamont.”
Xulai murmured, “Justinian, Duke of Wold, says the line is farther south than that.”
“It may well be.” Precious Wind shrugged. “More interestingly, the plunge of the Wells over the cliffs gives Wold possession of the greatest waterfall in the world.”
“Before it falls anywhere,” interrupted Bear, thumping charred marks on the floor, “it has to wind about a good deal through the whole length of the Eastern Valley.”
“Beyond which lie the Great Stony Mountains and the grasslands where I was born, and such of the endless forests as have not been swallowed by the sea.” Abasio sighed. “I have heard much of that area but have never seen it.”
Precious Wind mused, “You’ve seen the north. We’ve been told there is nothing but forest, trees going north and east as far as anyone has ever traveled, and west through scattered islands around the north end of the seas.”
Abasio nodded. “Well, that’s mostly true, but as I said, it’s full of trails that are well used and there are many little towns, fisheries on the rivers, farms with sheep and cattle on the heights. The monsters I saw in the east have not come there. The northlands have only normal dangers: wolves, bears, some particularly large and vicious eagles, and occasional bands of cutthroats who would rather steal sheep than raise them.”
“Which doesn’t concern the king,” said Bear. “He seems to be living happily on the Highlands of Ghastain.”
Xulai looked up. “This is the same Ghastain that Huold followed?”
Precious Wind said, “Ghastain was a semi-mythical warrior. When Ghastain overran this part of the world—I do not say conquered, for there was no real force to oppose him—he called it Norland, because it was north of Ghastain’s homeland. On most old maps, Norland begins far north of Kamfels and stretches south far past Elsmere. On the west, it extends from beyond Etershore and the Great Dune Coast farther east than anyone has a map for. ‘The Heights of Ghastain’ is merely a label identifying the huge, high tableland included in that area. King Ghals claims to rule all the territory of Norland, but, in fact, he actually holds only that small part of it included in the King’s Highland, or, if one is generous, the part of the tableland north of the Eastern Valley. Holding all of Norland would
