Part 14; Evergreen and Silver; The River Allantuin

More about Part 14; Evergreen and Silver; The River Allantuin

On and on they trudged, deeper into the wood's snow-blanketed depths once more, keeping a northward course as Evergreen had instructed them. To their great satisfaction, they were met with no more blizzards, nor yet by any strange beasts of the forest. They all took turns riding on Silver.
The three had just rounded a bend in a narrow path they had found, banked on both sides by heavy foliage, when Shaiya, who was sitting on Silver at the moment, gave a cry.
"Listen! I think I hear water."
Arani and Kahle looked at each other, then at Shaiya, and then pushed ahead until they to about a 20 foot wide clearing, ending to the banks of a stream. The clear waters seemed only to trickle by, though the space between the banks hinted at it having been a full river at one time.
"Water!" cried Arani in a hoarse voice, for they had long since been without.
"Water, indeed," Kahle answered, and in the blink of an eye, all three of them were on their knees, taking gulps of the deliciously cool liquid, for, much to their surprise, it was not icy cold like the rest of this place, and it had a strange, sweet taste to it. And then they noticed that there were several small patches of grasses peeping up from the heavy blanket of snow that led down the banks and even unto the streams edge.
"What sort of water do you suppose this is?c Arani asked, puzzled at its apparently defiance toward the winter of the rest of the wood.
"I don't rightly know," responded Kahle.
"It must be the River Allantuin of which the Queen told us," Shaiya piped up.
"But this is only a stream," reasoned Arani.
"Do you not see how the banks are? Surely this was a river at one time, and has now nearly dried up!" Shaiya insisted.
"It is possible," Kahle now agreed. "Perhaps Evergreen haa not seen it in quite some time."
"Well, now all we must do is follow it," Shaiya said excitedly.
And so they did.