The Pathless on Paths---------Chapter VIII(5)

Shortly, Karrson found strength again and rose from the ground, though for a second his legs almost gave away again. He surveyed their surroundings. The treetops of the woods were now below them, a swimming sea of restless green as wind ran its intangible fingers over them, and the path they had sprinted up now ran away into the woods behind them. Before them, only a short way up, the slope began be recede, becoming much less steep, presumably nearing the top, which they could not see, as it was concealed behind what seemed like a wall. The wall seems to surround the top of the hill, enclosing within it a small settlement, perhaps. From afar it seemed to be of a brownish colour, though in places gray or perhaps silver was visible. A gate sat at the end of the path that led up to it, grim and tightly to. That, was they had been searching for since they emerged from the underground, and after days of tiresome wayfaring it now lies before them, merely a few hundred meters or so away.