Chapter Fourteen
The previous night, Ethan had reached hilly ground—the beginnings of the foothills that led to the mountains he would have to cross. When he woke up from his daytime sleep, he saw the river was narrower. He could now see the green line of the farther bank. The vegetation in that part of the country had also changed, perhaps due to the thinner, rockier soil. This worried him. His only source of food was the fungus grown by the creatures that infested a certain type of plant. He’d been forced to search long and hard for the plant the last time he’d eaten. If it didn’t grow in the mountains, he would have to find another source of sustenance.
Yet the fact that the topography of the land was changing was a good sign. The river was fed by tributaries from the mountains. The f
