The Brega path tsc-2

by Dennis McKiernan

  The farther west they went the less finished the passageway became. Now they occasionally came upon splits and fissures in the floor; most could be stepped over, but at times Perry had to spring across, though none of the others did, being taller than the wee buccan. At one point they passed a broad tunnel merging from the right. Its worn floor bespoke heavy travel throughout the ages, yet whether it was smoothed by Rucken feet or by the Dwarves before, they could not telU The timeworn track continued on in the passage the Seven followed, and once again their speed was considerable.

  They had gone this way for a time when Perry noted that Bane's jewel was beginning to glitter more strongly; but whether the danger was before them, or overtaking from behind, or coming from the side, they knew not. "Ahead lies the Round Chamber," announced Perry. "It has many entrances and exits to hide us. It is not far. Let us make for it."

  Swiftly they strode forward at a pace set by the Warrow^. Bane's flame continued to grow. Finally they came to the gallery Perry had spoken of: it was another huge room, as most of the chambers in Kraggen-cor seemed to be; this one was circular, and there were many portals along its perimeter, some delved, some natural clefts. The chamber was empty, but Bane's blade-jewel now glittered brightly. "We know not which way the danger comes," said Kian, "but chances are it will issue from one of the delved ways and leave by another. Let us choose one of these unworked cracks to slip into to remain undetected. Perry, be prepared to sheath Bane's blue light."

  The Seven found a natural fissure with undisturbed dust carpeting its level floor; they slipped into the cleft and waited

  with lanterns tightly hooded. Bane's glow grew to a cobalt flame that ran along the bitter edge, and Perry sheathed the blade. The Squad could see torchlight bobbing up the south passage they had just come from: the danger had been overtaking them from behind. A large company of Rucks jog-trotted out of the tunnel and into the great, round room. They loped to the center of the huge chamber. A command was snarled by the Hlok leader, and the company halted. Another contmand, and the Rucks broke from their ragged ranks and flopped to the stone floor. They were staying.

  Lord Kian drew back from the cleft entrance and turned to the companions he could now dimly see by reflected torchlight. Before Kian could speak softly, Bonn stepped out of the darkness at the back of the split and motioned Kian to him. "This crack is a dead end," the Dwarf whispered. "We cannot get out."

  They watched the Rucks for six taut yet somehow dreary-hours. During that time the maggot-folk had quarreled, cursed, and snarled; several fights had broken out among them, only to be stopped by the raging Hlok lashing the squabbling Rucks and anyone nearby with a great, cracking whip. The maggot-folk had gluttonously eaten a grisly meal of some unknown flesh: hunkered down, slobbering and drooling, and throwing splintered bones into the darkness beyond the torchlight after cracking them open and tonguing out the marrow. At last, however, the Spawn had finished their gruesome repast and then had resumed quarreling and cursing, casting lots, shoving one another, bickering.

  "This is awful," whispered Perry to Lord Kian. "We have got to get out of here. We've lost too many hours as it is, and we must be on our way. Can't we slip through the shadows and out the far north door?"

  Lord Kian, sitting on the floor with his back to the wall, grimly shook his head. "Look closely," he breathed, "they are athwart al! our paths, both to the west and around the chamber to the east and north. We have no choice buj to wait them out."

  Another hour went by; then mere was a great hubbub in the chamber as a second Hlok-Ied, torch-bearing company of Rucks loped through one of the west portals and into the vast

  room, halting aflank the first band. "Where've you been, Plooshgnak, you slime?" snarled the first H!6k, cracking his whip. "We've been stuck here waiting for your snot-wart hides too long. I ought to run some maggot holes into your stinking guts with a hot iron."

  "Aw, shut your snag trap, Boshlub," snarled the Hlok leader of the second band. "We're not the last: Gushmot's not here, blast his pus-rot teeth."

  The two Hloks were cursing each other and arguing violently when, moments later, a third company of Rucks galloped into the chamber. The Hlok leader of this band seemed enraged with the other two quarreling Hloks. "Ngash batang l amp;kiQh glog graktal doosh spturrskrank azg!'' he howled in the foul, harsh Sluk tongue. "Gnar skrikef" At mention of Gnar's name, Plooshgnak kicked a seated Ruck, and Boshlub cracked his whip onto the back of another and snarled orders. The first two Ruck companies fell into ragged ranks, jostling' and elbowing and grumbling. With a crack of Boshlub's lash, all the Rucks loped out through the northeast corridor. And the Round Chamber was left in dark silence. '

  After a moment, Perry unsheathed Bane. The blue light coldly flamed from the jewel and down the blade, but as the Seven watched, it grew dimmer. "Let's go now," urged Perry, "before any more maggot-folk come to this way station."

  A glance around the great room revealed only utter blackness; no light of torch could be seen flickering through any portal. The Seven eased open the hoods of their Dwarf-lanterns a bit, to let narrow shafts of radiance illuminate the way. Swiftly the companions crossed to the north tunnel and entered the passage.

  The way became narrow in places, and at times chasms bore off to the right or left, and the company would walk along the shelved precipices. Fissures opened to either side, and Perry continued to make the choices dictated by Brega's instructions. The Warrow had fou,nd no surprises in the path, for the Brega Scroll was accurate and detailed. Yet though he had not been surprised, he was astounded by the sizes of the chambers they had passed through: the East Hall at Dawn-Gate had been two hundred yards in length, two hundred in width; the Mustering Hall at the Deep was a mile long and half that wide-according to Brega, who had seen its extent by the light of raging flames as the drawbridge over the Great Deep burned by Elf-set fire; the Great Chamber was a half-mile long and a quarter-mile wide. Enormous, the rooms were enormous. And the number of halls, tunnels, fissures, cracks, and additional passages leading away to other reaches of Drimmen-deeve indicated that the delvings of Kraggen-cor were intricate beyond imagination, for what the comrades had seen was incredibly complex and colossal-and they had seen but a minuscule portion oHhe whole.

  Again,the way sloped downward, and wide cracks appeared in the floor. Now Perry had to leap over three- and four-foot-wide crevices; considerable jumps for one who was only three and a half feet tall. The Squad came to a narrow shelf on the face of a precipice; a chasm yawned bottomless to their right. They edged for scores of paces along the wall above the rift before coming again to a wide ledge. The chasm narrowed as they walked onward, and soon they were once again striding through an arched tunnel.

  They had walked, leapt, scrambled, and sidled for three hours since leaving the Round Chamber, covering some six miles. At last they came to the Grate Room, a small round chamber to the north side of the main passage. Behind them the cavern split four ways: the left-hand way was wide and led down; the two middle ways were narrow and twisting- one up, one down; and the right-hand way was the one whence they had just come down. Before them the passage ran on downward, heading for the still-distant Dusk-Door.

  "We are yet one and twenty miles from our goal," announced Perry, "but! think we must rest and eat before going on. Let us tarry in the Grate Room for a while."

  Lord Kian and the others agreed; they were indeed weary, for hiding in a crevice from squabbling Rucks had been nearly as tiresome as would running from a pursuing Spaunen Swarm. "Take care not to step onto the old grillework," cautioned Perry as they stepped through the door, "for it is corroded and may crumble, and you would fall into the shaft it covers, said by The Raven Book to be in the center of the chamber floor."

  The room they entered was perhaps twenty feet square with a low ceiling-certainly the smallest chamber they had seen in Kraggen-cor. Centered in the room, a huge rust-stained chain dangled down from a narrow, grate-covered square shaft set in the ceiling, and passed
through a like grate placed in the floor, the mighty links appearing out of the constricting blackness above and disappearing into the darkness of the, strait shaft below. Avoiding the rust-worn grille covering the ebon hole, Perry, along with the others, flung his pack down to be rid of the burden. He took some crue, and leaned back against his soft bedroll and sighed. After a bit he asked, "What is the hour, Shannon?"

  "It is nearly the middle of the night," answered the Elf. "We have just eight and forty hours before Durek tries the Door."

  "Two full days," stated Kian. "One to get there, and one to work on the Door. It is well that at Durek's Council we put aside a day in our plan to account for delay, for we have used it, and used it all. Now let us hope we meet with.no further mischance, else we will not arrive in time to aid Durek."

  Borin snorted in exasperation, "Had we come to the Roupd Chamber just a quarter hour sooner we would not have been forced to sit in that dark crack for seven hours listening to stupid Okhs bicker. May such mishaps elude us in the future."

  "Ah, but there is the rub," smiled Shannon. "Perhaps all mishaps, accidents, or calamities could be avoided if only we knew when, where, or how they were to come about. Then we simply could be at a place a moment earlier or later or not at all; or we could change the how of things by moving, rtie rock that otherwise would be stumbled over; or we could tarn the blade a different way so that a finger would not be nicked; or we could do a multitude of other things to avoid all problems. But alas! it is not ours to know the morrow, and so only reasonable steps can be taken to turn aside misfortune. Of course, if we did know the future, life would be safe-but unspeakably dull."

  "Mayhap the next time there will not be so many Grg," growled Delk, running his thumb along the blade of his'axe, "and we can solve the problem with a few quick strokes, disposing of the evidence in nearby cracks and crevices." Anval and Borin grunted in agreement.

  "Let us rest an hour or so," suggested Lord Kian, whose thoughts were focused on their mission, "then press on westerly toward Dusk-Door. While we tarry, we will again use Bane as an early beacon of danger.''

  At the mention of Bane, Perry sat up, startled: he had unconsciously sheathed the sword when he had taken off his pack. Quickly he pulled the blade free-and its jewel was silently shrieking, Spawn! the cobalt blaze blasting throughout the room as all the company started up. At that same moment the stone door of the chamber swung wide, and a torch-bearing Ruck poked his head through the opening and looked in upon the Squad. ' 'Waugh!'' he squalled and jumped backwards anrffled down the western passageway.

  Lord Kian sprang to the portal and looked along the corridor. "The foe is upon us!" he barked, swiftly stepping to his pack. "We musf fly from here!"

  The Seven scooped up their weapons and packs and bolted through the door. They could hear the Ruck skreeking and see the bobbing firebrand as he ran to meet the distant torchlight coming up the west way. Kian quickly turned and scanned the four eastern passages. "There! See! Torchlight also comes down the corridor from the Round Chamber!"

  Once again they were caught between Rucken forces; this time, though, the Seven had been detected. There were three ways left to flee.

  "Swift!" barked Kian, "is there any reason why we should not take the left-hand way? It is wider and we can go faster." He looked at each of the companions, and they said nothing. "So be it! Delk, you lead, for again we must leave the Brega Path. Let us fly!"

  They sprang into the left-hand tunnel and fled downward along the sloping floor; deeper they went under the mountain. The way was broad, but there were no side passages, and so they had no choice but to flee onward.

  They had run but a short way when from behind they heard a raucous homcail, its blat echoed down the passage after them. There was an answering call, as if one Rupt force were signalling the other. Perry felt like a hunted fox, with braying horns and snarling dogs driving after him.

  As they ran, Perry became aware of an unwholesome odor hanging faintly on the air. "Lord Kian," he panted, "I just remembered. The Raven Book, Gildor. When the Deevewalkers came through Kraggen-cor, Gildor said he did not like this left-hand way, for it had the smell of a great viper pit, and so they turned back and instead took the other of his two choices. Now I smell something, something unpleasant-as if we are running toward a foul place.."

  "We cannot turn back, or even aside yet," rasped Kian, "for surely the Yrm are now on our trail, and there have been no side passages."

  On they scrambled, downward, ever downward, down to the very roots of the mountain and beyond, and Perry felt as if he could hear the burden of the stone groaning above. At last they came to a cross-junction: The main path went straight, but within one hundred feet the corridor plunged under water. The fissure to the right bore upward. The crack to the left had a level floor. Neither the fissure nor the crack showed any sign of being delved. Delk turned down the left way. "It bears westward, where lies the Door," he stated, and onward they fled.

  The crack under the mountain twisted, turned, rose, and plunged. Perry lost all sense of direction, and he felt as if they had been fleeing for hours. A wide ravine had been following along on their right, bordering their way from the moment they had entered this tunnel; up from its depths rose the churning sound of tumbling water. On they ran along this rough path, scrambling up ledges, leaping wide cracks, sidling along narrow shelves, sliding down rock-strewn slopes.1 Behind, they could hear horn blats, at times faint, at other times loud and echoing. Bane continued to blaze with a bright blue flame. Shannon estimated that the Spaunen were no more than a half mile behind, and gaining.

  They had fled for more than five hours, covering just nine 3 miles, for the way was difficult, when at last they came to another junction in the cavern; it was only the second one they had encountered since their flight began. At this junction the water ravine ran on straight, but there was no footpath to follow; a cross-shaft confronted them: the right-hand tunnel passed over the ravine on a natural stone arch and ran on upward, disappearing around a curve; the left-hand way ran straight and down a gentle slope. Again Delk chose the-left-hand passage. "It turns back towards the Brega Path," he said simply.

  Though it was not an arched, smooth corridor, the chosen

  way was delved, for the walls and floor bore the marks of chisels, picks, and mattocks. "This is an old mine shaft," grunted Anval as he scurried over a large boulder blocking the way, "one delved deeper than any I have ever known; and from the smell, something was uncovered that would have better remained buried." All the time they had been running, the foetid odor hanging on the air had become stronger;.each of the companidns was now aware of the stench, though none knew what it was. But, odor or not, along the shaft they scrambled, for Rucken horns were sounding and faint torchlight could be seen shuttering down the passageway behind them: the maggot-folk were drawing nearer.

  The Seven fled down this shaft for something under an hour, going some four miles on a downward but more or less straight course. Abruptly the delved shaft narrowed, becoming a slot only wide enough to travel single file. In the notch the malodor became almost overwhelming, causing Perry to gag and catch his breath; he did not want to come into this stink, but the Spawn gaining behind left him no choice.

  As they edged along the cleft, Delk exclaimed, "Starsilver! Look! See the ore vein! This delving is a silveron shaft!"

  Perry could see the soft glimmer of silvery metal twinkling in the lantern light and running on ahead. And even though they were being pursued, the Dwarves paused long enough to reach out and touch the precious lode, for they had never before seen sitveron in its native state. This was the wealth of Kraggen-cor; in only two other places in Mithgar was silveron known to exist.

  Suddenly they came to what had been the last extent of the silveron shaft; but they could see that the end wall had been burst through from the far side: the stone was splintered as if some enormous force had blasted into the delf from beyond the wall.

  They clambered over the shard
s of rock and came into a carven chamber. This room was the source of the foul reek, but they could see nothing to cause the stench; it was as if the fetor exuded from the very stone itself.

  The chamber was long and rectangular; its far end was lost beyond the shadows. In the center was a raised stone slab, a huge block with a smooth top and carvings on the side. Here,

  too, were scrawled serpentine signs. Shannon Silverleaf held up a lantern and quickly scanned the glyphs. They writhed across the stone and looked somehow evil and foul, recorded in a long-lost tongue; yet the Elf was skilled at runes and rapidly deciphered the words: " 'Thuuth Uthor.' Ai!" Shannon sucked in a gasp of air. "This is the Lost Prison. The Draedan's Lair. No wonder the stone is imbued with a foul reek, for here, trapped for ages, was the Dread of Drimmen-deeve-the Gargon-trapped til the Drimma were deceived by Modru's vile gramarye and delved too deeply and set the Draedan free."

  "Trapped?" exclaimed Kian. "Trapped in this chamber? Is there no way out?"

  AH the lanterns were opened wide, and light sprang to the far end and filled the room. No archways were discerned, no black tunnel mouths gaped in the walls; only smooth stone, blank and stern, could be seen. No outlet, no portal of escape stood open before them, and behind, a hom blared loudly and they could hear the slap of running Rucken feet.

  CHAPTER 3

  THE WORDS OF BARAK

  "Quickly, Ursor, Anval, to the cleft!" barked Kian. "Bonn, Delk, flank them. Let no Spawn through. If we are trapped, then let it cost them dear to pluck us forth."

  Ursor sprang to the notch, shifting to one side, with Bonn warding his flank. Anval leapt thwartwise.the notch from Ursor, Delk at hand. Shannon and Kian quickly stepped to the third rank, and Perry took a place at Shannon's side. They could see torchlight wavering down the slot, and suddenly a Ruck burst forth from the breach, to be felled by Ursor's great black mace. A second Spawn came on the heels of the first, and Anval's axe clove him from helm to breastplate. A third Ruck Ursor crushed, and a fourth. The next Ruck threw down his iron bar and turned to flee but was pushed shrieking and gibbering into the chamber by those behind who did not yet know that anything was amiss, and AnvaJ smote him and the next with his blade. The maggot-folk finally stopped coming in as enough of those in the front ranks at last turned and shoved back through the press in the notch.