by Matt » Tue Oct 25, 2005 8:36 am
The warband follows as Minna ascends the trail and makes for the ledge nearly one hundred feet above. The narrow rocky trail means climbing in spots, but in most it’s just a steep incline. Each man carefully picks his way, using the rockface for handholds and grateful when the trail moves inward a bit and there are large boulders between the warband and the slope below. Minna moves with the assurance of many trips up and down the trail.
Soon they reach the ledge, and the warband marvels at the natural defenses of the place. From below, it can scarcely be seen, but a few men in its rocky ramparts could hold off many times their number. Above the mountain rises in a sheer cliff, impossible to climb. Here and there are bits of scrub and other vegetation, eking out a precarious existence in the thin layer of soil. The ledge itself is deep, and folds into an open fissure in the rock - and the darkness of a cave. In the center of the ledge is a firepit. Minna points to the cave and says, “The Holy Hermit dwells within.”
Minna enters the cave, the warband following, and traces her way a few yards down the darkened passage. Presently, a glow appears and soon the group can see a fire. The cavern is a bit smoky, although not dangerously so - whatever natural ventilation the caves possesses is clearly inadequate. The cavern is sparsely furnished with only a palette for a bed, shelves carved into the rock and stuffed with pottery and bundles, and a small cord of wood stacked to one side. Another passage leads further into the mountain.
Before the fire sits the oldest man anyone has ever seen. A wizened, wrinkled, ancient with wisps of white hair still seated here and there on his bald pate, and a beard which is long but spare. His flesh is papery thin, and clings to his bones as if there were nothing between them. Beside him on the ground is a gnarled staff and a small bag, and around his neck on a leather thong is a single claw, black with age. He looks up, his brown eyes clear and bright, and watches serenely as the warband enters the cavern. He does not speak.