leading guide and Taurus the rearguard.

After crossing the chasm that separated the hall and the entrance
tunnel, we came to the long defile that formed the latter and passed
through it swiftly, the lofty archer guards remaining as stern and
immovable as when I had first come through. We then came to the winding
stairs that occupied the hollowed innards of a massive and ancient tree,
of which kind many were to be found in Daem, being at least fifty feet
thick and 700 feet high, such gigantic trees that were never seen
elsewhere, yet constituted the whole forests of the northern lands. I
found that the stairs were as long as I had remembered, taking us a
great while to ascend to the top of the tree, and when we had made it,
we, especially myself, were dazzled by the effulgent light of midday.
After having been out of the sun's reach for the last few days I was
completely unprepared, though the shock helped me by curing me of the
disillusionment that comes from not seeing sun, moon, or stars for any
length of time. Taking a rest for a few moments on the seats on the
platform, we collected our strength. After our brief repose was
completed, we set off again with renewed vigor across the treeway on
which I had first come to the Canitaur's fortress. You will remember
that the road was made by the securing of five or six foot platforms to
the intertwined branches of those great trees, over which one could
travel with ease and be safe from exposure to those below by the thick
foliage that grew on the trees and was carefully manicured for that very
purpose.

Soon we reached the first platform I had seen, which we had come upon
from below, but we did not descend there, instead keeping on by the
treeway in the direction from which we had come that night, that being
southward, towards the lake, the savanna, and the Zardovian capital,