CHAPTER TWENTY

Meanwhile, Ithildin and Isilme together with the people they’re leading have already arrived at the deep ford they'll travel through with the hippogriffs and other animals, as hippogriffs can't fly during the wintertime. The rest of the pathway was almost completely obscured by snow, except steeples and towering trees. Beyond it, a track can take you to the wood's edge and the thick jungles bridge's entryway. But Ithildin had informed them that since the good spirits of the woods had abandoned it, it was now frequently used by the Lycans, and the mountain road itself, he was told, became tangled and extended to insurmountable swamps where the routes had long been forgotten. Its northern entrance always seemed to be far to the west of the Windy Mountain, leaving them with a long and laborious march south once they reached the opposite side.

The abandoned Meriel Kingdom's edge drew closer to the territorial boundaries of the lengthiest Fairy River south of the other hill,