8
Holbart's Pass
The land continued to rise as they rode to the east and north, rolling grassy hills that climbed on the front side more than they fell on the back side and often concealed copses of evergreens in the little valleys between them.
The road stretched ahead more or less in a straight line. It would have been easy to find even if it did not; the earth was packed solid by many years of travelers' feet, hooves, and cart wheels. And if worse came to worst, evenly stacked piles of pale stones rose on the road's edge at regular intervals. That was handy for telling distance as much as for keeping in the right direction.
They stopped for lunch beneath the canopy of a trio of pines that grew atop one particularly steep hill. Once the horses were unsaddled and given to graze, T
