Now when we had been two hours in the dark part of the Gorge, I smelled
of the dread and horrid stink that you do wot of. And surely a great
fear came upon me; for I perceived that we did come among the Monsters,
or that one came anigh to us. And I whispered unto the Maid that she halt; and we stood very husht a
while, and surely the stink did grow, and to be very dreadful in the
nostrils, so that I felt Mine Own Maid to shake somewhat with the fear
and disgust that this thing did make in us. And presently the stinking
did ease somewhat from about us; but whether there had gone past us a
monster Slug, I have no sure knowing; for there did be no fire-pit anigh
to that place; so that there was a great darkness all about. And surely there was a great slowness and wetness of the air, and dismal
drippings that made desolation in the silence; and the feel of strange
growths upon the boulders, as you do know, and oft an horrid slime and
dankness; and the stink to be everywhere, so that we knew a constant
disgust and fear. And alway the fumings of sulphur, that did seem, in
verity, to beat down upon us, utter heavy and sore upon our lungs. And so went we onward amid the smell that did be as of dead things; and
oft did we make pause and hark, and had a great care as we did go by the
dull fire-holes and fire-pits, that we should make no showing of
ourselves in the light. And sudden, as we did go by a great pit that burned very deep and red, I
reached back and caught Mine Own by the arm, and I set her gaze unto
the right side of the Gorge, which was beyond the fire. And the Maid
went very still, as she did see the thing that was there; for in verity
it was utter monstrous, and did shine very wet-looking in the light of
the fire. And truly it moved a little with the head, this way and that,
stretching through the dark and the shadows, as you shall see a slug to
move, and with no speed or sound, and nowise seeming heedful of aught. But yet did I fear that it smelled us, if this might be; and this, as
you shall think, to be a very natural fear. And alway, as I do mind, it seemed to go blindly somewise, or to have
that slow and strange moving that doth make one to think of a blindness;
but whether it did be truly blind, how shall I say; only that it was an
utter Monstrous Brute, so great as the black hull of a ship, and very
dreadful unto our hearts. And we moved not for a while, save that I pulled Mine Own down into the
hiding of the boulders of that part; and she to put her hand very
anxious unto me; yet not to be comforted, as I did half to think, but to
persuade me, lest that I go to some adventuring that should set me in a
surer danger. And this I perceived in a little moment, and loved her for
her care. But, indeed, I had no mind to aught, save that we come clear of that
place; and I watched the Monster, through places between the boulders;
and surely, in a little while, it swayed the great head very slow and
quiet unto the cliff that did make that side of the Gorge; and the Brute
set unto the Cliff, and began that it went upward with a strange moving
of muscles that did go wavewise under the wet and horrid-gleaming hide. And so, in a little time, it was gone quiet against the cliff, and the
head-part did be upward in the darkness above, so that it did be from
our sight. But the monster body did be plain for a great way, and was
seeming clung to the cliff, and to come downward out of the dark, as
that it did be a great black ridge of soft and dreadful life upon the
face of the cliff; and the tail was something less bulked, and to taper,
and did trail outward into the Gorge upon the boulders. And surely the thing did seem as that it slept, but that odd whiles the
tail did lift a little off the boulders, and curl somewise, and
afterward come down again upon the boulders, mayhap in this place and
mayhap in that place, as we did watch, all hid. And it was as that our sense and our Spirits did assure us that the
thing had no wotting of us; but surely our fears did nigh to equal the
comfort of this sweet reason, and to make us think otherwise. Yet, in a time, I made that we go forward together through the spaces
that did be among the boulders. And I went creeping, and the Maid to
follow likewise. And oft I did pause, and made a watching upon the monster; but truly it
moved not, save as I have told; and I kept a great heed upon the Maid,
that she follow alway close unto my feet. And in the end we came safe from that place where the monster did be
clung unto the great cliff in the night. And we went then for two great hours without adventure, save that once
the Maid touched me that we pause; for that something went by us where
we did be in an utter dark place of the Gorge, and no fire-hole anigh. And I knew that the thing did be near, even as the Maid toucht me. And
caught I the Maid in the dark, and thrust her under the side of a
boulder; and I crouched then before her, with mine armour, that I should
protect her from any Brutish thing. And the Diskos in my hand, and
afterward an horrid time of waiting. And the stink of that part of the Gorge grew very dreadful, so that it
did be as that we should not breathe, with the horror of the stink. And
there went past us some horrid and utter Monster, that made neither
sound nor anything, save that there seemed a strange noise that might be
the breathing of a great thing; but yet did be all uncertain, in that
the sides of the Gorge cast the sound this way and that, in an horrid
whispering of echoes; so that we did not know whether the sound be made
nigh to us, or afar upward in the eternity of the night, where I did
suppose the mountains to be joined over the Gorge in a monstrous roof in
that part. And presently, the strange noisings died in the upward height, and all
about us; and the utter disgust of the stink went from us; so that we
knew that the Monster had gone past us, and did make downward through
the dark Gorge; and mayhap then to some lone and dreadful cavern of the
world, as I did think. And, indeed, as I do mind, I had a sudden wonder at that time, and other
whiles, as it did chance, whether this way did be truly the olden way
that the Peoples of the Lesser Refuge did travel in the Olden Days. And
surely, as I did suppose, they had come some other way, or the Gorge to
be different and less dreadful in the far-off years. And this thing you
shall agree with me to be a reasonable thinking. And after that the Monster had gone a good while we went onward again,
and with a great caution; and dreading alway lest that we come upon that
Monster, in the darkness; but yet did we know by smell, and by all our
consciousness, whether that we came nigh unto one of the monster Slugs. Then, in the end of the fifth hour in the dark part of the Gorge, we
came by the mouth of that great cavern, upon our left; and you to
remember the same. And I made pause in the darkness, and had the Maid very gentle by the
arm, that she should look with me.