Again Perry caught his breath and gritted his teem in fear for a companion's safety, for Lord Kian clambered down into the black abyss on the dangling bridge; while it swayed and jolted against the sheer wall, the Man hauled the far loose ends of the anchor ropes up out of the darkness and secured a light line to them. That done, he then climbed back up and out, bringing the line with him. Once oat, he used another of their grapnels to pitch the slender cord over to Ursor, who fetched the heavy anchor ropes up to the far side where he and Shannon ran them onto the ancient winch. Then, with a grinding claner of gears, Ursor began hoisting the bridge up out of the chasm, back toward its original position.
Up on the ceiling, Borin had worked his way to a place where, once again, he was above the Broad Shelf. Fixing a jam and ring in a crack, the Dwarf payed out a line; and slipping it through the snap-ring, he used the rope to free-rappel to the wide stone floor. With a flip of the wrist, he pulled the free end of the line through the ring above to come piling down. And as Anval coiled the rope, Borin removed the tackle with the remainder of the rock-nails and jams and snap rings and restored them all to his pack along with his ropes. As Borin closed his backpack, Ursor finished his task at the hoist: the bridge was once again in position, with the brake wedge in place. All the extra lines were untied and repacked. Then the rest of the Seven queued up to cross the gulf.
When Perry's turn came he clutched the hand ropes with all his might, for the Great Deep fell sheer and bottomless below him, and a cold chill rose up around him from out of its depths. He felt that the bouncing bridge would collapse again, and its swaying frightened him. He had been amazed at how casually Lord Kian had climbed down the bridge when it was dangling free and swinging beneath the undercut. He also felt that Ursor's hand-over-hand trip above the yawning chasm had taken unimaginable bravery and dexterity. And Borin up on the ceiling, hanging by narrow straps from small iron cubes or thin iron blades driven into crevices, or Shannon swinging by a slender line over those dreadful depths, well, it was all quite beyond Perry's courage and skill to do.
And now he was having trouble just putting one foot in front of another on a bouncing, swaying, narrow rope-and-board span above an endless fall into a gaping, black depth; and in his mind's eye he once again saw the Rucks plunging to their doom. Hey! This won't do, he thought, now don't you freeze in fear out here; after what all the others did, you've just got to cross over this awful black pit. And cross it he did, trembling and clutching, but moving ahead all the time. He was greatly relieved when he stumbled onto the other side, nearly falling to his knees when his feet came off the bounding span and met the hard, unyielding stone.
Last to cross was Delk, who strolled over as if the narrow bridge were a broad highway.
After retrieving the arrows from the dead Rucks, the Seven dragged the corpses to the lip and flung them into the Deep, pitching the Ruck weapons after. Perry threw a fallen torch into the gulf, and as it fell, a smoldering spark caught, and it burst into flame; and Perry watched its guttering light as it tumbled end over end. His sight followed it for what seemed to be an endless time as it slowly became a tiny speck, of luminance plummeting down and down, untjl it disappeared; whether it plunged beyond an outcropping to be seen no more, or fell at last into a stream at the bottom, or blew out, or simply became too small to see, Perry could not tell. He shuddered at the awful depths involved, unable to imagine their limits and not wanting to know. Again he drew back from the edge in fear.
With one last sweeping look. Lord Kian saw that all overt" evidence of the battle was gone. "I think no one will discover that we were here. Even the blood is cleaned up well enough so that only close inspection wilt show that any was spilled. The Spawn simply will be presented with the mystery of a missing company, and some guards that disappeared. Gnar may think that they deserted. The main evidence of our passage lies in the unguessed depths of the Great Deep."
"Not all," grunted Borin. "The rock-nails and jams are in
place on the wall and roof. But they are small and dark and
should go unnoticed. Even if discovered, mayhap the Squam
will think them an old dead end, for they go nowhere."
"Let us be gone, then," declared Lord Kian, "for we can do no more here, and we must away ere we are discovered. — Perry."
With the Warrow in the lead next to Anval, they started at a jog trot toward the black gape of the second tunnel on the right. Dwarf-lanterns were slightly unhooded and cast narrow phosphorescent beams to dimly light the way. The Seven entered the dark passage and started up the first of several flights of stairs that would lead to the Hall of the Gravenarch. Suddenly Shannon hissed, "Quiet! Shield the lights. Rupt below." The Elf s sharper hearing had detected the tramp of Rucken boots.
The lanterns were hooded and the company stood quietly, poised on the steps. Down at the entrance of the corridor, they saw reflected torchlight flicker by, and they heard the heavy tread of Spawn heading for the bridge. The companions had started just in time; it had taken seven full hours to get from Dawn-Gate to these steps, but fortunately for the Squad die band of maggot-folk now tramping to the bridge had come too late to thwart this initial thrust.
After the Spaunen passed, the companions started up the stairway once again, coming quickly to the top and continuing down the passageway. They ignored the side corridors and went on for nearly a mile and a half, climbing six flights of steps separated by long stretches of level cavern. They came to the base of the seventh flight, but the way was barred by large blocks of broken stone amid piles of rubble. " It is as I feared," said Perry. "The Raven Book teils that the roof collapsed when Brega sundered the keystone of the Gravenarch and nearly lost his life. We must now attempt to find a way up to the Sixth Rise above Gate 1-evel and come to a place where! again recognize the way. In this search a Dwarf should lead."
Delk Steelshank was chosen to go first, for in his youth he had apprenticed to a Tunnelmaster before he finally turned to the craft of gatemaking. He studied Perry's map with Anval and Borin, and then led them down two flights of steps to the first westbound tunnel; they strode along it for a half mile, coming to a corridor to the right with steps bearing upward. They climbed up the flight, and a level cross-passage bored away in both directions. Ahead they could see another flight of stairs going on up. They mounted these, then went ahead and up another flight. "Here, we are on the Sixth Rise, and near to the point where we were blocked," announced Delk, and Anval and Borin grunted in agreement. "Now it is merely a matter of closing the course to come to the other side of the blockage-or of coming upon something Friend Perry can reconcile with the Brega Path."
Hsst!" shushed Shannon, whose keen hearing again proved sharper than that of Dwarf, Man, or Warrow. "I hear another company of Rupt. They tramp nigh."
The comrades looked back down the way they had come and couid see the faint flicker of far-off torchlight bearing in their direction.
"This way-quickly," whispered Delk, and they bolted down a side corridor curving 'round to the east and south. Quietly they went, as swiftly as they could, the faint glow of their lanterns showing the way. They came to an opening on their left. They were about to pass it by.when more torchlight could be seen ahead of them. "We have no choice," hissed Delk. "There are Squam before us and Squam behind. Into this room."
Hurriedly, they stepped into a narrow, long chamber. A great pile of fallen stone blocked most of the room, ramping upward from the center to the unseen, distant wall, and there was no way out except the one door they had come through. They were trapped!
The Seven ranged themselves along the near wall.as the boots tramped closer. The Dwarf-lanterns were closed and the room plunged into darkness. All weapons save Bane were drawn and readied. They could now see the torchlight flickering up the passage and through the broken door.
Tramp! Tramp! The Spawn came onward.
Perry's heart thudded, and he grasped Bane's hilt, preparing to draw the blade should the maggot-folk come t
hrough the door.
Tramp! Tramp! They were now close enough for the Seven to hear the snarling and cursing in the Rucken ranks.
Tramp! Tramp! Perry steeled himself.
And then the Spaunen marched by the door and headed on up the passage.
Perry discovered that he had been holding his breath, and he let it out in a sigh of relief. But in alarm he immediately
caught it again as from the corridor there came a great cursing and shouting: the Rucken band going up the passage had met the band coming down, and they jostled and jolted and elbowed one another as they passed. Then the second band, still grumbling, marched past the room where the Seven were hiding.
When the tramp of Spaunen boot became but a faint echo, Perry slid shakily down the wall and sat on the floor. That had been entirely too close. They had narrowly escaped being caught between Rucken forces, and their mission had nearly ended after it had just begun. Perry's hands trembled and his breath seemed to whistle hoarsely in and out of his throat. But none of the others said anything and did not seem to notice.
Soon Delk cracked die hood of his lantern, and a faint glow lit up the ruined room. They sat awhile without speaking.
Perry was taking a careful sip of water when he noted a portion of a dark rune-mark on the side wall, hidden by rubble. Picking up the lantern, he stepped over to look at the ebon glyph. It was neither Common nor Elvish but, rather, it was Dwarvish. The buccan pushed some of the shattered rubble away from the top of the pile, revealing the whole of the runes written in some black ichor, now dried: TPVB2I
Perry looked on for a moment, puzzled. These glyphs were familiar. They were in The Raven Book somewhere. The Warrow frowned in concentration. It was… it was… "Hoy!" Perry exclaimed, "This is Braggi's Rune! I know where we are!"
CHAPTER 2
FLIGHT UNDER THE MOUNTAIN
Perry's announcement brought Lord Kian to his feet. The Man stepped to the wall and took a. Brega-Path map from his jerkin and spread it on the floor before the Warrow. "Where?" asked Kian. Perry squatted and adjusted the lantern to illuminate the chart as all the comrades gathered 'round.
"Right here!" proclaimed the buccan jubilantly, stabbing his forefinger to the map. "This room is the Hall of,the Gravenarch, Braggi's Stand. See? Here is Braggi's Rune." Perry touched a glyph on the wall beside him, then gestured about. "And this rubble around us, it is where the ceiling collapsed when Brega broke the keystone." Perry peered through the dimness at what could be seen of the extent of the room. "Somewhere should be sign of Braggi's ancient battle: broken weapons, shattered armor, the long-dead remains of the combatants; but I guess it is now buried 'neath the fallen rock."
The Warrow looked 'round at the faces of the other members of the company, eerily shadowed by the lantern on the floor. "Yonder, under that wreckage, lies the eastern hall-door," he continued, "and beyond it lie the blocked stairs where we were turned aside by the fallen stone. We've come a long way to be standing only a couple-hundred paces from where we started."
"Aye. I knew we had come nearly full circle," grunted Delk, and Anval and Bonn nodded silently in agreement, "but the foul Squam drew my attention elsewhere."
"Since now you know where we stand, Perry, it must mean we can set forth," growled Borin.
"Yes," replied Perry, "for here we are past all the fallen 28
rock, and once more we are upon the Brega Path. Our way to Dusk-Door lies there." Perry pointed to the broken portal and through to the hallway they had fled.
In two strides Ursor stepped to the door and cautiously looked out into the corridor, then turned to the comrades. "The way is clear," he rumbled.
"Then let us go forth at once," urged Lord Kian. "Crossing the Great Deep, finding our way lo this Rise, and eluding the Yrm has caused great delay, precious time we can ill afford."
The Seven stepped out through the portal and look the left-hand, way, travelling the Brega Path in reverse. Swiftly they went south through the passage and soon came to the Great Chamber, a huge room in the Drimmeh-deeve. They peered put of the corridor and into the vast delving. No Rucken torchlight was seen; the chamber was dark and empty. "To the right," whispered Perry, "across the wide floor and out the passage at the west end, nearly one-half mile away." ~~ In haste they sped across the stone floor to the far west end and sallied into the passageway there-and none too soon, for as they entered the shaft, Shannon, bringing up the rear, again whispered, "Hsst! The lanterns." The lamps were quickly shuttered. As the companions stood in blackness, far behind them in the huge chamber a Rupt company bearing burning brands marched out of the south corridor, across the wide floor, and entered the north passage. When the torchlight disappeared, the Seven resumed their trek.
The corridor gently sloped downward as they went. The "way before them was broad and swift, and there were no side passages. Perry knew that this would be one of the most dangerous traverses along the Brega Path: over the next Five miles this passage had no side corridors to bolt into should Spawn come. But in this passage Perry unsheathed his Elven sword. "Here 1 will carry Bane in the open," the Warrow declared, "to warn of approaching maggot-folk if its blaze grows." The blade-jewel flickered a faint blue, telling of distant danger. And the companions strode on.
Quickly they marched, and the road gently curved right and left and right again as they walked downward. They trod between vertical walls beneath an arched roof. Occasionally they saw runes carved along the passageway but took no time to examine the glyphs for their message. Again the corridor curved left. As Delk had informed Perry some time back, Dwarves often shaped a natural passage into a delved road, and this ^corridor with its many gentle curves seemed to be one of those. Brega had called this path the Upward Way, but of course to the Seven it was a downward way, for Brega had gone in the opposite direction.
At last they came to another huge cavern. "This is the Rest Chamber, so named by Brega because of the stone blocks like seats scattered across the floor," said Perry, pointing at one of the square-cut giant stones. "Yet I think we should not pause here, for our goal is distant and our need to press on is urgent. Yon lies our course: to the west side and out we go. Ahead, about seven miles hence, is a chamber where we may rest."
Again they resumed the trek, and soon passed out of the room and back into a corridor. Perry spoke once more: "From here on we will have side fissures and passageways to hide in should Spaunen come; but by the same token, there are more places from which maggot-folk might fall upon us. So stay ready." Bane's rune-jewel still flickered faintly, but the danger was too distant to concern them, and they marched secure in that knowledge.
This time the corridor was less delved, more like a natural cavern: though the floor was smooth, the walls and ceiling were but lightly worked by Dwarf tool and had a rough look. The broad shaft continued to wind downward, and there were many lateral splits cleaving off into the darkness.
They marched down to the west for nearly three more hours, coming at last to the chamber foretold of by Perry. "Brega called this the Broad Hall," stated the Warrow, "but I say iit is a dining hall, for I am hungry-and weary. Lord Kian, I suggest we eat and rest. It has been a long day, though I don't know exactly how far we've come nor what time it is."
"We have walked nearly sixteen miles in the caverns," declared Delk, "fourteen on the Brega Path and two to bypass the fallen stone at the Hall of the Gravenarch." Anval and Bonn nodded their agreement, for the distances and directions were emblazoned in their Dwarf memories.
"Though I am not certain," rumbled Ursor, "I think the day outside has fled, and the Moon rides the eventide. It is my guess that it is now near the mid of night."
"It is two hours beyond midnight, and the Moon sinks low in the west," corrected Shannon with a certainty the others did not doubt, for though days, weeks, months, and even years seem to mean little to Elves, and they appear to note only the seasons, still they know at any moment where stand the Sun, Moon, and stars.
"Well, no wonder I'm hu
ngry and tired," sighed Perry.
"So are we all," agreed Lord Kian. "Perry is right. Here we will eat, drink, and rest. We stand the same order of watch as before. Bane shall be our silent sentinel."
Perry hungrily consumed three crue bicuits and drank a s/nall amount of water; on their next long march they should reach the "safe" stream that flowed through the Bottom Chamber, seventeen miles to the west, but til they did, water was to be conserved. The Warrow then plumped his pack into a pillow and, settling back, fell instantly into slumber. Bane, leaning against a block of stone, softly glinted, whispering of far-off enemies.
Four hours later, Ursor awakened Perry for his turn at guard. Again, to stay awake, the Warrow slowly paced back and forth in the dim light cast by the barely cracked Dwarf-lantern. He watched Bane, but it changed not. Finally, his tour over, he went to rouse Shannon Silverleaf.
The Elf sat quietly with his back against a wall, and his tilted eyes glittered in the lantern light, for the sleep of Elves is strange and wholly different from that of Dwarf, Man, or Warrow-if indeed Elves sleep a genuine sleep at all. It is said that in their Lands twilight rules, and the days pass not, and slumber never visits. Legend would have it that some mortals have become ensnared in this timeless existence. Yet these legends of Lands where time's hands stand still, these legends would seem to fly in the face of the Elves* "knowing" where stand the Sun, Moon, and stars. On the other hand, many would say that Elves' "power" over time proves that they live in twilight and sleep not. Still, it is recorded in The Raven Book that Lord Gildor said that though Elves could go for many days without true slumber, even they must sleep at last.
But when Perry approached the resting Elf, Silverleaf stood ere the Warrow came nigh and indicated to the buccan that he should sleep.
In all, the company had rested for some eight hours when Delk finally roused the others. They ate a quick meal and sipped water, and then they struck out once more. Perry continued to carry Bane unsheathed, and still the faint blue flame spoke only of distant danger.
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