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Back Daughter of Eden
Chapters (68)
  1. Title page
  2. Dedication
  3. Part I
  4. One
  5. Two
  6. Three
  7. Four
  8. Five
  9. Six
  10. Seven
  11. Eight
  12. Nine
  13. Ten
  14. Eleven
  15. Twelve
  16. Thirteen
  17. Fourteen
  18. Fifteen
  19. Sixteen
  20. Seventeen
  21. Eighteen
  22. Nineteen
  23. Twenty
  24. Twenty-one
  25. Twenty-two
  26. Twenty-three
  27. Twenty-four
  28. Twenty-five
  29. GAIA YOUNG. SUBJECTIVE IMPRESSIONS.MISSION DAY 20. 20:25 MT.
  30. Part II
  31. Twenty-six
  32. Twenty-seven
  33. Twenty-eight
  34. Twenty-nine
  35. Thirty
  36. Thirty-one
  37. Thirty-two
  38. Thirty-three
  39. Thirty-four
  40. Thirty-five
  41. Thirty-six
  42. Thirty-seven
  43. GAIA YOUNG. SUBJECTIVE IMPRESSIONS.MISSION DAY 22. 20:05 MT.
  44. Thirty-eight
  45. Thirty-nine
  46. Forty
  47. Forty-one
  48. GAIA YOUNG. SUBJECTIVE IMPRESSIONS.MISSION DAY 25. 15:30 MT.
  49. Forty-two
  50. Forty-three
  51. Forty-four
  52. Forty-five
  53. Forty-six
  54. Forty-seven
  55. Forty-eight
  56. Forty-nine
  57. Fifty
  58. Fifty-one
  59. Fifty-two
  60. Fifty-three
  61. Fifty-four
  62. Part III
  63. Fifty-five
  64. Fifty-six
  65. Fifty-seven
  66. Fifty-eight
  67. Also by Chris Beckett
  68. Copyright page

Fear changed to hope. In middle of the cold and dark, people suddenly felt light and warmth inside them, like they were trees whose roots had found some new warm place deep down in Underworld, just at the moment their lanterns were starting to fade, and their trunks beginning to grow cold.

‘It’s quite true,’ Leader Harry called down to the waiting guards as he hurried by. ‘Earth really is here! Tell everyone that passes, but stay on watch here until I come back through.’ And to one group of guards at a place where five different strands of the great path all came together, he called out: ‘One of you, ride to the High Valleys and give them the news,’ and he pulled off his headwrap so they could see his face and know for certain who it was that was speaking to them.

Of course, the guards would have liked to leave their fires at once and head straight to Circle Valley, but they knew better than to go against what David Strongheart’s son had told them. One guard from that group by the five paths climbed onto a buck and rode off towards Tall Tree Valley. The rest threw more wood on their fire and waited for Leader Harry’s return.

But they were smiling and laughing now. They hugged each other, they squeezed each others’ hands, they told each other they couldn’t believe that in the generations that had passed on Eden, theirs was the one that had finally heard from Earth. One of them got out a jug of badjuice and shared it round, and presently they began to bellow out ‘Come Tree Row’ as loud as they could. It echoed off the cold black cliffs that were hidden away in the darkness above them, and a stone broke free, clattering noisily against the rock until at last it hit the snow and fell silent once again.

The path was busy busy. Those guards’ friend was riding towards Tall Tree Valley. Harry and his men were pressing on towards Wide Forest. All those little pale beads of grey light were still making their way along that long long necklace that had David’s Path as its string. Far off rockway, more beads of light were climbing up onto the Dark on the Shortcut, and over the top, and down again into those little bowls of life we call the High Valleys.

And over above Davidstand, where David’s Path came down to meet the many paths that criss-crossed through the shining trees of Wide Forest, a new group of people was starting the climb up to the ice and snow.