They hired a guide – an old rogue-looking traveller – to lead them into Eswerld. None of them knew how to find Tao Village and time was short. The guide was a talkative fellow, but never asked them too much of their business. He talked an awful lot about the desert, and about Eswerld and his journeys there. He hobbled along enthusiastically though, and scratched his patchy white beard, muttering to himself as he gazed towards the border between the two countries.
The man was under the impression that they were tourists, although they had never told him that directly. “Not sure what interest ye have in ol’ Tao Village, not much to see, seeing as you lot are sight-seeing. But ye may go as ye please, I suppose. Lot o’ noise round those parts lately, or so I’ve heard.”
Once again the hours of their journey blended into days of seeing nothing but sand and weeds, and swaying gently side to side upon their horses. They didn’t see the wall until it was right upon them, as they climbed over a bank of sand and gazed in surprise as it loomed over them. The wall trailed on north and south, burrowing deep into the distant horizon; part of it had been broken, however, though not completely. The stones were worn and cracked as if they had fallen under hundreds of years of torment.
“Since when has there been such a wall here?” asked Sam. “I mean, I knew the way into Eswerld had long been blocked, but I didn’t know about any wall!”
“Of course not,” said the guide. “I hear the people of Haswhald like to keep to themselves, huh? The wall was built a few hundred or so years ago, back when the people of The West started expanding their empire. Those at Eswerld wanted to prevent the Westerners from conquering further, but legends tell of other spookier things that they wanted to keep out!”
Victor looked at Sam, and they both realised that Mr. Silver would have unleashed the monsters at about the same time as the great Western conquest.
“The holes you see there were caused by old siege engines, I think,” said the guide. “Back then there was a lot of fighting between Eswerld and Sudostris, but now they fight no more. I think they prefer to talk each other to death! Hah!”
He took them under a small deserted gate. It was cool beneath the wall. They stepped through and gazed upon the golden expanse of Eswerld, which remained a desert for as far as they could see. Great islands of stone floated amongst the pale-yellow dunes. Upon one of these islands was a cluster of buildings, far off in the southeast.
“There, upon the hill,” said the guide. “That is Tao.”
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