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Chapter One

In Which We Learn of the Village of Wall, and of the

There was once a young ain his Heart’s Desire

And while that is, as beginnings go, not entirely novel (for every tale about every young man there ever was or will be could start in a si h even he never knew the whole of it

The tale started, as many tales have started, in Wall

The town of Wall stands today as it has stood for six hundred years, on a high jut of granite amidst a small forest woodland The houses of Wall are square and old, built of grey stone, with dark slate roofs and high chie of every inch of space on the rock, the houses lean into each other, are built one upon the next, with here and there a bush or tree growing out of the side of a building

There is one road fro sharply up from the forest, where it is lined with rocks and sh south, out of the forest, the track becomes a real road, paved with asphalt; followed further the road gets larger, is packed at all hours with cars and trucks rushing from city to city Eventually the road takes you to London, but London is a whole night’s drive from Wall

The inhabitants of Wall are a taciturn breed, falling into two distinct types: the native Wall-folk, as grey and tall and stocky as the granite outcrop their toas built upon; and the others, who have made Wall their home over the years, and their descendants

Below Wall on the west is the forest; to the south is a treacherously placid lake served by the streams that drop from the hills behind Wall to the north There are fields upon the hills, on which sheep graze

To the east is more woodland

Irey rock wall, from which the town takes its naranite, and it cooes back to the woods once more

There is only one break in the wall; an opening about six feet in width, a little to the north of the village

Through the gap in the wall can be seen a large green meadow; beyond the meadow, a stream; and beyond the streaures can be seen, ae shapes and odd shapes and sone Although it is perfectly good razed animals on the meadow on the other side of the wall Nor have they used it for growing crops

Instead, for hundreds, perhaps for thousands of years, they have posted guards on each side of the opening on the wall, and done their best to put it out of their minds

Even today, tns eight-hour shifts They carry hefty wooden cudgels They flank the opening on the town side