Dennis McKiernan - The Brega path

"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 shards 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.

"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.

A time passed, and the Seven could hear the Spaunen snarling and cursing, but the Sluk speech was being used, and so the comrades did not understand what was being said. For a moment it became still, and then a spate of black-shafted Rucken arrows hissed through the cleft to strike the far chamber wall and splinter on the stone. Then there came a great shout from the maggot-folk and a rush of booted feet: they were mounting a charge. One leapt in, only to be dropped by Ursor's mace. Three more hurtled through and were slain by Anval, Bonn, and Delk. More charged forward but stumbled over the dead bodies of the slain Rucks and were themselves dispatched. Once more the Rucks withdrew.

Just as it had been at the rope bridge over the Great Deep, the Spawn could only come at the Seven single file, and thus the Rupt could not bring their great numbers to bear to their advantage. No Ruck had yet reached the third rank of the defenders. Four warders alone could hold off an entire Rucken army, especially since the comrades flung the dead Spaunen one atop another to clog the entrance, forming a grisly but effective barricade.

An hour went by, and again the maggot-folk charged. Once more the defenders slew all that entered. This time the second rank killed but one Ruck; all the others were slain by Ursor and Anval. The bulwark of dead Spawn grew higher.

Bonn and Delk then stepped to the first rank, relieving. Ursor and Anval, who stepped back. Lord Kian and Shannon1 took over the second file. Perry, who had yet to engage the foe, felt useless, but he realized that in this battle the others were larger and more effective than a Warrow would be.