Into the Forge

Chapter 24

Laric slammed clenched fist into palm. "Vash! Modru blocks the ways so that the High King cannot unify his forces and bring them to bear."

Phais frowned. "The gap, it is wide; mayhap we can steal through in the night."

Ralk threw up a hand of negation, saying, "Nay, Lady, a full Horde holds the gap, and worse yet, they have a Ghath among their ranks."

Loric and Phais drew air in between clenched teeth.

"What is it?" asked Beau. "This Ghath thing, I mean."

"A Draedan," gritted Loric.

"A Gargon," growled Ralk.

"Oh, my," breathed Beau, turning to Tip. "One of those fearcasters."

Tip groaned and looked up at Phais. "If we are to deliver the coin, we've got to find a way 'round. Does it mean we must ride back across Gunar and up to Ralo Pass? Cross over if it's not blocked? Ride another thousand miles west looking for a way into Tugal?" Tip jumped to his feet. "Is this the way it is always to be, that we are driven south and west when we want north and east?"

Ralk looked at Tip. "Tell me, Waeran, is the delivery of this coin important?"

Tip took a deep breath and let it out. "I don't know. It seemed so to the Kingsman who bore it. Before he died at my mill he gave me the charge to see that it was carried to King Agron."

Ralk cocked an appraising eyebrow. "You are a miller, eh?"

Surprised by the question, Tip nodded, then plopped back down.

"A good and honorable craft," said Ralk. His gaze swept over all of them, then he turned to Raggi. "Raggi, da skal vad dek gein va Chucah. "

Raggi's eyes flew wide. "Det ta a Chakka na."

"Ne va net."

Raggi bowed his head. "Ma da taka."

Now Ralk turned to Tipperton and the others. "There is a way to go across the Grimwall, a way known to few who are not of the Chakka, yet Raggi will show you the way. But should you choose this path, you cannot take your horses, for only ponies are small enough to go through, and even then it is a squeeze."

Phais looked at the ponies and then the horses. "We will trade ye our three horses for three of thy ponies."

Ralk blanched and pushed out his hands, as if warding a blow. "Nay, we cannot, will not. Were we merely to use your steeds as pack animals or as dray horses to draw a wagon, then yes, we would trade and trade gladly. But we have no ponies to spare, and those we do have are needed to bear us throughout much of Gunar, and horses we will not ride."

Phais shook her head. "I do not understand."

Ralk leaned forward. "We are sent by Okar, DelfLord of the Red Hills, to scout out the strength of the enemy within Gflnar, for there will come a time when Chakka will attack this Horde standing in the gap."

"In spite of the Gargon?" asked Tip.

Ralk nodded. "Okar has sent for a Mage. It is said that they know of ways to deal with the fearcasters.

"In the meanwhile we are to ride the land at their back and see if they hold more forces arears. And that, Lady Phais, is why we need our mounts, for we must cover much ground in the coming days, then ride back unto the Red Hills with news of what we find."

Phais shook her head in puzzlement. "But thy mission would go swifter from the back of a horse."

Ralk shook his head. "Hear me, Lady Phais, in the name of Durek, no Chak will ever ride a horse."

Tip looked 'round to see Raggi nodding in agreement and whispering translations to Bolki, that Dwarf nodding as well; and Tip had no doubt that Vekk and Born would concur if asked, though for the moment those two stood at distant guard.

"Why not?" asked Beau, but Ralk merely looked at him and did not reply.

"Then thou art saying that if we use this secret way, we must walk across a reach of Valon." Phais's words were a statement and not a question.

"Aye," confirmed Ralk. "That I am. Unless of course you can find mounts in Valon to ride. Yet I fear that most of that land is abandoned, for a Ghath stands at the western door, and who knows what strides within the margins of that realm?"

Phais looked at Loric and Tip and Beau, then said, "Even walking we can reach Darda Galion ere we could go the longer way around, assuming that way is not enemy-held as well."

"Darda Galion?" Beau frowned.

"To get fresh steeds from our kindred," explained Loric.

"But wait," protested Tip. "What if the Horde has moved on?"

Ralk cocked an eyebrow.

"I mean," continued Tip, "if they've pulled out, say to attack someplace south-"

"Pendwyr," murmured Loric.

"Yes, such as Caer Pendwyr," agreed Tip, "well then, we'd be taking a long walk for nought."

"Tip's right," said Beau. "We must make certain that the gap is still held."

Ralk shrugged. "They were still there yester."

Tipperton's face fell. "Oh."

"Nevertheless," said Loric, "Sir Tipperton's advice is well taken. We should see that what was true yester still holds true on the morrow."

Phais nodded, then turned to Ralk. "Given that the gap is yet held, we will accept thine offer to lead us a different way, for we have little choice elsewise."

"Aye," grunted Ralk, "your choices are spare. Even so, I must have your word to keep the way of this path most private."

"Wouldst thou accept a pledge unto Elwydd?"

"Indeed."

"Then in the name of Adon's daughter, Elwydd, I do so swear."

Now Ralk looked at Loric, and he repeated the oath… as did Tipperton and Beau.

In the early morn, Raggi slowed the pace, for they were nearing Gunarring Gap, a choke point in times of peril, for here the Ralo and Gap and Reach and Pendwyr roads all merged to feed through the breach. Wide left of the combined Ralo and Gap roads they fared, wide to the north a mile or more, riding in furze and whin and pine and out of sight from the road, to remain unseen by any foe who might happen along that way.

Wide they rode in the gorse, and even wider now, for as they neared they could see trails of smoke wafting upward from the direction of the pass, as if many fires burned.

And Tipperton found his heart hammering and his stomach clenched in apprehension. And he looked at Beau to find that buccan, too, ill at ease, unsettled.

" 'Tis the Gargon, wee one," said Phais. "We all feel the pulse of his dread."

Now Raggi shushed them with a finger to his lips and guided them all to the backside of a hill that would overlook the passage through, where they dismounted and made their way through deep heather and a scattered growth of scrub pine and up to the crest, moving the last few feet in a crouch, all of their breathing quick with anxiety.

They lay on their stomachs and peered at the slot afar, and Tip's heart clenched and Beau groaned, for thousands of tents and campfires and animals penned in corrals filled a gap stirring with folk. And here and there black flags flew, bearing red rings of fire. In the center stood a lone black tent, a broad space all 'round, and with his heart Hammering Tip knew without asking that therein resided the Ghath.

Phais sighed and turned to Raggi. "Lead on to thy hidden path, Raggi, for Modru yet holds the way."

Northeasterly they fared for three days, an arm of the Gunarring looming on their right, its dark jagged peaks stabbing upward into the crisp, clean air. Yet spring was full upon the land, here in the last week of May, and in the lengthening days fragrant blossoms flowered, grasses grew, and late buds unfurled on awakened trees to join foliage green and splendid. And water seemed to run everywhere, down from the slopes of the Gunarring, pellucid bournes bearing pure drink outward to quench the thirst of the foothills and the plains beyond. And animals scurried upon the slopes, some burrowing, others freezing in alarm as the riders fared past, hoping in their stillness to remain unseen. And birds sang in the meadows and the trees and upon the high rock above, mating, nesting, engendering life. And nowhere in this eternal cycle of renewal was any acknowledgement of the vast war that had come.

Nigh sundown of the third day, Raggi turned easterly, and they followed him in through the hills and to a high aspen grove on the slopes of the Gunarring, where they made camp amid the trembling leaves.

"Thou canst take our steeds back unto thy comrades and use them as pack animals," said Phais, "for I would not abandon them unto the wilds."

"Even so, Lady Phais," replied Raggi, pausing in the sharpening of his axe, "when my squad comes this way again, we cannot take the horses through."

"Mayhap in thy scouting thou wilt find someone with need," said Phais, turning now to Loric. "Hast thou aught to suggest, chier?"

Loric frowned, then said, "Nigh the Alnawood lies a barony, at least 'twas so long past-in the time of Fallon the Fox, ere the destruction of Rwn. Mayhap it still exists."

"Fallon the Fox, the trickster Bard?" asked Tipperton.

"Aye."

"Why, there must be a hundred songs about him, and many of his sire and dam."

Loric nodded but did not speak.

"Delon the Bard and Ferai the Ferret and Fallon the Fox their son. And now I discover they lived in the Alnawood right here in Gunar. Oh, but I would like to go there, and go there now." Tipperton looked at his lute, but did not take it up. He sighed and then rubbed his fingers across his cheeks, and they came away wet. "Oh, Loric, is this the way it always is in war? That we are driven to choices we'd rather not make? Impelled down dark paths by circumstances not of our choosing?"

Loric took a deep breath, then said, "Most of life's roads have unknown ends, yet in war more of the ways are perilous. That we are driven down these dark and deadly paths instead of choosing a brighter lane is a tyranny of war, an affliction forced upon us by the foe."

Raggi spit on his whetstone, then took it again to his axe blade. "The sooner they are dead," he growled, "the sooner we can return to paths of our own choosing."

"This is the way," said Raggi, pointing at the stony path leading up into the enshadowed Gunarring steeps. "The horses cannot go farther."

It was early morn, with the sun yet to rise above the peaks though dawn was well past. Raggi had had them prepare their backpacks, and then he'd led them to the far edge of the aspen grove, and now they looked upon the narrow way before them.

"We call it the Walkover," said Raggi, "though in Chakur its name is va Chuka. Twenty miles it extends, twisting and turning, and near the top you will find a long, low, constricting tunnel. Even were the path not narrow, this corridor would still bar horses. Cha! Well-fed ponies at times find it difficult to squeeze through."

Beau looked up the way, then shifted his shoulders to settle the pack he carried. He glanced at the others and said, "The day isn't growing any shorter, and the sooner started the sooner done, as my Aunt Rose would say."

"Thine Aunt Rose had the right of it," said Phais. She turned to Raggi. "I thank thee, my friend, for thou hast guided us well. Would that we could fare onward together, but thou hast thine own mission to follow just as we have ours. May Elwydd light thy way."

'At this benediction Raggi's face broke into a smile, and he replied, "And may the hand of Adon shield you all."

"Bye, Raggi. Take care of that cut like I told you," said Beau. Then he turned and started up the way.

"Take care, little Waeran," said Raggi after him.

"Fare you well," said Tip, and hitched his lute strap into a better position.

"And you as well," replied Raggi as Tip set off after Beau.

"Chdkka shok, Chdkka cor, Raggi," said Loric, adding, "ko ka ska."

At these words Raggi's eyes flew wide, for few other than the Chakka knew the Dwarven tongue, and yet here was an Elf who had just spoken to him in Chakur.

Loric cast Raggi a grin and a salute as the Dwarf stood mute, and then Loric turned to catch the Waerlinga.

"May thine axe remain sharp, my friend," said Phais, last, starting to turn.

"My Lady, should our paths cross again, it will be an honor to serve you and yours," replied Raggi.

Phais turned back and without a word kissed him on the cheek, then set off after the others.

With gnarled fingers Raggi touched his cheek where she had kissed him, and his eyes glistered as he called after, "Can it be done, I'll find a home for the horses."

With Loric leading and Phais following, they walked up the slope to the first twist along the narrow way, and Loric paused and looked back. Raggi yet stood at the edge of the aspens, watching. All waved, and with two hands Raggi raised his axe overhead. Then Loric and the others passed 'round the bend and out from Raggi's view.

With a sigh he turned and stepped in among the trees, and all about him the aspen leaves trembled in the shadows of early morn.

All that morning they wended upward along the slender path, the way steep at times and at other times relatively flat and rarely sloping down. But always it was narrow, strait, stone rising up about them or falling away sheer. Here and there tenacious grasses and scrub pines and mosses clung to crevices in the rock, and now and then they would see a cascade of flowers clinging to the lichen-spotted stone. The air became crisper the higher they went, and from time to time they came to places where ice yet clung stubbornly to enshadowed clefts.

"My, my," said Beau at a particular stretch, "no wonder horses can't come, and it's a marvel that ponies do."

Tip nodded in agreement. "I'm of a mind that even the Dwarves must have to sidle along, given the breadth of their shoulders."

And still they twisted and turned and gained ever upward, pausing now and then to set down their packs and rest their weary legs.

"Ungh," groaned Beau at one of the stops, "I'll be sore on the morrow, you can stake your life on that."

"I'd rather not, Beau," replied Tip. "I mean, just going on this little sojourn of ours to Aven, well, we've already staked our lives quite nicely, and I don't care to add something as trivial as sore legs to the wager."

"Oh, don't say that, Tip."

They sat in silence for a moment or more, and then Beau said, "Lor', but I also could use a week or two in a comfortable inn. This walking about and living on jerky and mian and sleeping on the ground isn't for me. And I wouldn't mind a good barrel of beer, too."

Tip nodded, saying, "Perhaps we'll find an inn in Valon."

Loric shook his head. "I would not count on it, my friends, for did not Ralk say that mayhap the foe strides across that realm?"

"Oh, I don't even want to think about that," said Beau. "Let's talk about something else."

Silence again fell among them, but finally Phais said, "Tell me, chier, what didst thou say unto Raggi in the Drimmen tongue?"

Loric turned up a hand. " 'Chakka shok, Chakka cor, ko ka ska.' In Common, that translates as 'Dwarven axes, Dwarven might, come what may.' "

"You speak the Dwarven tongue?" asked Tip, his eyes wide.

Loric grinned. "Aye. Chakur. I learned it long past from a Dwarf named Kelek. We were stranded for three summers on an island in the Bright Sea. He taught me Chakur; I taught him Sylva."

"You'll have to tell me that tale sometime," said Tip.

"One day, Sir Tipperton, but not now, for although we tarry, the sun does not, and we must press on."

Along with the others Tip sighed and stood, lifting his pack and settling it into place, then slinging his lute as well. But before they set out he said, "Alor Loric and Dara Phais, we've known each other a goodly while and I have a formal request to make."

Both Lian looked at him questioningly, for seldom did he address them by their titles.

"It's just this: you insist on calling us 'Sir Tipperton' and 'Sir Beau.' Well, I've had enough of it. And though Beau's a splendid healer, I'm just a plain miller, so from now on I'd rather you drop the 'sir' and simply call me Tip or Tipperton"-he glanced at Beau and found him nodding vigorously-"and perhaps call him Beau. But if you do insist on some kind of formality, then please save it for very special occasions"-Tip gestured about-"and living on dirt and eating rations isn't what I'd call special."

Phais looked at Loric and, at his nod, turned to the Waer-linga. "Agreed, Sir-agreed, Tipperton; agreed, Beau. Mayhap in court we will speak of ye as Sirs, but thou dost speak true in that living on dirt and eating field rations certainly is not special."

Beau laughed, then said, "Not special unless 'specially bad' qualifies."

Grinning all, and with Loric leading and Phais trailing, they set off upslope once again.

"Lor'," said Beau, his voice sounding hollow in the darkness of the narrow way, "Raggi was right. A fat pony couldn't make it. Why, I can reach out and touch both sides."

Though the Warrows walked upright, in the lead Loric stooped low as he made his way through the natural rock tunnel. Bringing up the rear, Phais did the same.

"Huah," grunted Tip. "Not only a fat pony but a tall one as well-neither could make it through… and as I said before, given their shoulders the Dwarves would have to walk sideways."

They rounded a turn and ahead an arch of light showed they had come to the end, and shortly they emerged into the sunlight.

"Two furlongs, I make it," said Loric, ere any could ask.

"Why don't the Dwarves enlarge it?" asked Beau. "I mean, with their skill at carving mountains-"

"Because," interjected Tip, "were it made wider, it likely would become a well-known route. This way the Dwarves keep it hidden. Besides, if they were being pursued, here just one Dwarf could hold off an army of foe." "Oh," said Beau, enlightened, as on down the slope they fared, the path now heading down the opposite side, though crags and bluffs and massifs stood in the way of Valon.

As the day grew toward evening and they took up the trek again, Beau's eyes widened. "I say, Tip, I just thought of something."

Tip looked at Beau, a question in his eyes.

"Just this," said Beau. "Dwarves are not men."

Tip frowned. "And…?"

"Don't you see: 'Seek the aid of those not men,' she said, did Rael, 'to quench the fires of war.' Well, we were aided by the Dwarves-Dwarves who are not men. Perhaps their aid will mean the quenching of the fires of war."

Now Tip's own eyes widened at the thought. "But Beau, that assumes the rede she spoke was meant for us, and I don't see how that can be."

"I don't see how it can be, either, bucco, but let's keep it in mind just in case. Remember, a small event in one place can cause great catastrophe in another; all things are somehow connected, you know."

Tip shook his head but made no reply as onward they pressed down the way.

Down they strode and down, and came to a place where at last they could see out across the land ahead, out where a vast grassy plain swept to the horizon and beyond. Yet Tip gasped in dismay, for in the far distance a pall of black smoke curled into the afternoon sky.

Upon Valon burned War.