Port Usnach, place of legend and intrigue. Called by men of the sea, ‘One Road Port.’ One could not travel north through the Sea of Winds, for fear of being driven into the black cliffs. The only way was down the coast to the southwest by ship where they traded with the people of Athlethan and Don Cluana.

The port had not seen a sailor since the Dark Lord’s domination of the Deep Lands, his power had attracted the pirates of the outer world.

“Where are we to go now?” asked Ardan. “You have fulfilled this part of your destiny, how do you know what to look for now?”

Tuatha pulled the sword from its new sheath. The ancient Riangbra text stood out and caught his eye.

It was forbidden to read Riangbra text. Its words so holy and prophetically true that to read it was to foretell the future.

“We are off to Dun Emain.” Said Tuatha with conviction.

“But it’s only in Myth that it exists,” said Ainnle, “How are we to find it without a guide?”

“The sword is our guide,” he said and turned, the sword outstretched, the writing grew bright, it shone as though subject to the brightest sunlight.

The sword pointed upriver.

“It is to the north we go. To the river my friends, after we have a night’s rest. The river Sleive will take us to the paths to Dun-Emain.”

Next morning, they approached an angler and asked to rent one of his sail boats. He agreed that they could use it, and he would retrieve it later when he next went upriver. With the newly acquired skiff, fully equipped with sail and oars, hey set off the bank of the river Sleive.

They sadly farewelled their faithful mounts, hoping they would see them again. The horses would be left behind in a small village on the edge of the Sleive swamp, as were the leather saddles, safely in storage. The horses would be well cared for, as they had given money to one of the villagers and instructed to take them back to Port Usnach, to the house of the three brothers. Perhaps they would be required for a return journey. But Tuatha knew not what their fate would be.

The owner of the boat told them that the river joined to the Great Barrier River, which would take them almost to the northern side of Mt. Dagemar.

“We are not going back there,” said Tuatha, “We will be crossing the Forbidden Ranges. We are going north.”

The man shook his head, staring at them as if they were quite mad till they were out of sight.

The wind was offshore and blew them with some speed upriver. The landscape changed gradually, and it became more mountainous. The river had etched its way deep into the base of the mountains, so the ride upstream was still in relatively slow-moving water. By midday the next day, they finally reached the larger Great Barrier River. Then the wind stopped, and the river began to take them back downstream.

“Well lads,” said Tuatha. “Our luck is gone, out with the oars.”

They all groaned.

“I was beginning to enjoy this trip,” said Naoise.

The river was so slow and wide that it made the rowing easier than they expected. However, they had only travelled fifty furlongs by the end of the day.

“I could walk faster than this, with less effort,” muttered Naoise.

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“You could walk faster maybe, but not in these mountains. You would only climb one hill and valley in a day. And look at those rocks, the leather of our shoes would not last out the day.”

As they passed close to the bank, they could see Tuatha was right. The rocks were jagged and volcanic. Nothing grew to soften the harsh landscape.

“Between the rocks are hidden dangers too,” said ardan. “Death serpents and rock pythons twenty foot long. I think we should be glad we have this boat.”

Naoise shared with Tuatha his knowledge of the area. “The Great Barrier ranges and the Sleive swamp prevent us and the “deadly winds” on the sea prevents us. Yes, I guess this is the only way. Other than leaving Port Findabair and travelling around the coast to Muirthemne, but that would take a cycle at least. Then there are the forbidden ranges, which are impassable, so you need to travel by ship again through the Pass of Erc. The difficulty in going east makes Dun-Emain the mythical place that it is.”

“Up this river to the Usnach Falls. Then the mountain pass,” said Ardan.

“That’s correct,” said Tuatha. “From what I learned from reading history, the only way into Dun-Emain is under or through the mountains, but I fear we will get lost unless we find a guide.”

The river began to narrow, and they could see the water was flowing faster. A stiff wind began to blow, and the large sail was filled, and they began moving upstream relatively quickly. They all felt relieved.

“If this wind stops again, we will need to find a place to pull over and sleep,” said Naoise.

However, the wind continued all night. At one stage it did have a lull and as they began to search for a place to stop, the wind picked up again. This time it was stronger and slightly more southerly, so they needed to hold the rudder, so as to prevent them from being pushed into the bank.

They had all taken turns at watch through the night, and it was in Ainnle’s watch that he heard the first sounds of the Usnach Falls.

It was in the early morning light that they all saw they had entered a large lake and in the distance the mist from Usnach Falls rose into the glowing dawn sky.

“I think we should go to the base of the falls and from there we travel on foot,” said Tuatha.

As the first sun rose higher, the Emain Mountains took shape to their right.

“Over there,” exclaimed Ainnle. “The lake bank is clear, and it looks like a plain that leads to the mountains.”

“He is right, that is our exit,” said Tuatha.

After landing the boat, they sat down to eat the food they had purchased in Esclarmonde, small cakes of bread made from rye and mixed with dried fruit. “We are going to run out of food quickly if we don’t ration it,” said Tuatha. “We need another source for sustenance, if we are going to make it into Dun-Emain.”

“I could do with a tall cup of Aetherclaw juice right now,” grumbled Naoise.

“Just a jug of Trias ale for me would do nicely,” said Ainnle, licking his dry lips.

The plain ahead of them was flat and covered in grass. The occasional jagged rocks stood up like monuments, as far as the eye could see. As they began walking, narrow tracks became visible, and they joined other tracks like rivers all joining and heading one direction, growing wider the more times they joined.

“I think this may be the path to Dun-Emain,” said Ardan.

“I doubt it. This is more like a sheep track to a watering place or a shelter,” said Tuatha. “We have not gone far enough yet.”

The sun finally came into view over the top of the ranges lighting up the lake behind them that glowed brilliantly causing them to shield their eyes.

Looking back, they could see that in fact the land was not flat but rose slowly up towards the mountains. They were now some distance higher above the lake and they could see that by some amazing freak of nature the lake was almost perfectly round.

“I wonder what caused it to be so round?” exclaimed Ainnle.

“In the Chronicle Prophetica there is record of Esclarmonde being destroyed totally by a disastrous event. A colossal ball of fire was seen in the distance, coming from the stars, and it grew dark over Esclarmonde for a year. It happened when Sennol Uathach erupted, and Mac Roth came into power for the dark cycles. My guess is that it is where the fireball from the stars hit, then it filled up with water over time.”

The day grew closer to the end and the second sun sank into cloud that had suddenly appeared. The mountains now dominated most of their view. The darkness increased, and so did the foreboding feel that the black mountains gave them. The high spirits they had were now gone. Their steps became trudging and difficult. They all stopped when distantly they heard the howling of wolves, and their spirits sank even lower than they had been.

“I’m not comfortable, and I’m tired. We need to find a place to stop and build a fire,” said Tuatha.

There was a howl that sounded particularly close, then some others joined in. Ainnle stopped and looked back, “That is not a lone wolf. Sounds to me like it might be a big pack.”

They nervously glanced at each other. To the left was a dark line that might have been trees, to the right was a small cluster of hillocks.

Tuatha pointed at the row of trees. “The hills won’t provide cover; I suggest we try to see if we can find some wood for a fire.”

They made their way quickly towards what proved to be the entrance of a forest. At the edge of the line of trees they made camp and built a fire, stockpiling the wood to last all night.

Ardan went to look for food and water. They could hear a stream and Ardan was sure there would be some kind of animal they could kill for food.

The howling was still distant, but getting louder.