Dennis McKiernan: The Brega path

The first part, Trek to Kraggen-cor, told of how the hearts of Peregrin Fairhill and Cotton Buckleburr, two of the Wee Folk-the Warrows-were stirred to excitement as rare visitors, a Man and two Dwarves, came on a mission to Sir Tuckerby's Warren in Woody Hollow in the Boskydells. Perry, the present curator of the Warren, was asked to show the visitors his copy of The Unfinished Diary of Sir Tuckerby Underbank and His Accounting of the Winter War, a chronicle more commonly known as The Raven Book.

The Dwarves were seeking to glean from the 'Book whatever detail it held of Kraggen-cor, the ancient undermountain homeland their ancestors had fled more than a thousand years earlier when the dreaded Gargon was inadvertently set free. But the Gargon had been slain during the Winter War, and the Dwarves now sought once again to take possession of their ancestral Realm.

But Kraggen-cor remained infested with Spaunen-evil maggot-folk that had begun once more to raid and pillage nearby steads, and to slay the innocent.

Enraged, the Dwarves planned to invade Kraggen-cor to root out the evil; but their knowledge of their ancient homeland was fragmentary at best. However, 231 years in the past, during the Winter War, four heroes-a Man, an Elf, a Dwarf, and a Warrow-had passed through Kraggen-cor from Dusk-Door to Dawn-Gate, and their tale was recorded in The Raven Book. Hence, to increase their knowledge of the ways in Kraggen-cor and thus improve their odds in the coming struggle with the Spawn, the two Dwarf visitors,"Anval and Bonn Ironfist, guided by the Man, Lord Kian, had come to the Boskydells to read the account for themselves.

The Raven Book did indeed contain the tale of the Four

Who Strode Through Kraggen-cor, but the story was of marginal help to the visitors. Oh, the tale did yield valuable information, telling that the condition of the two known ways into Kraggen-cor would make the invasion most difficult: On one side of the Grimwall Mountains, the western entrance- the Dusk-Door-may have been broken and buried under tons of rubble by a hideous Kraken living in a black lake warding the portal. And on the opposite side of the Grimwall, the eastern entrance-the Dawn-Gate-appeared all but impossible to invade because the drawbridge over the Great Deep had been burned by the four heroes during their escape more than two centuries agone; and to try to win over that virtually bottomless chasm in the face of an enemy army seemed an insuperable task. Yet, although the visitors had learned of the chief difficulties they would initially face in the invasion, The Raven Book had not given them what they sought: step-by-step knowledge of the heroes' trek through Kraggen-cor- knowledge needed to wage a War upon familiar ground.

On learning of this need. Perry showed the visitors a scroll said to have been recorded years after the Winter War by one of the four heroes-Brega the Dwarf. The scroll detailed the path the heroes had taken on their perilous journey through the undermountain Realm. Anval and Borin authenticated the scroll, for they saw that it contained secret Dwarven marks; further, they vouched for its accuracy, saying that the Dwarves have a special gift: once they have trodden a path, it is within them always.

But Dwarves must actually tread a path in order to master it; they are no better or worse than others at memorization. And the Brega Path was long and complex; and for Anval or Borin to have to memorize it for the Dwarves to invade Kraggen-cor would take months-time the Dwarves could ill afford; for the strength of the Spawn had continued to grow, and each night they extended the range of their murderous raids.

Yet all was not lost, for with Cotton's help, Perry had been studying the scroll, and he had committed the path to memory; and as a stripling, Perry had always wanted to be caught up in an adventure, and at last an adventure had come to him. Hence, even though Perry felt unprepared to accept the role suddenly thrust upon him, the buccan nevertheless volun leered to go with Anval and Borin and Lord Kian to rendezvous with the Dwarf Army and guide them along the Brega Path.

Impelled by friendship and loyalty, Cotton, too, answered the call to adventure.

Thus, Perry, Cotton, Anval, Borin, and Lord Kian all set forth upon a long journey to Landover Road Ford to meet the Dwarf Army, even then on the march from Mineholt North toward Kraggen-cor.

During their journey the two Warrows, under Lord Kian's tutelage, began training at swords, for they would need to defend themselves should they become caught in battle.

Weeks later, having overcome time, distance, flood, landslide, and hunger, the five comrades rendezvoused with the Army.

Durek, King of the Dwarves, held a War council, and meager though it was, all the information gleaned from the journey to the Boskydells was reviewed. During the Council, Cotton revealed that he, too, held the steps of the Brega Path within his memory, thus could also serve as a guide. Hence, full of unknowns, two strike plans were settled upon: The first called for the Dwarven Army, with Cotton as their Brega-Path guide, to cross the mountains and march to the Dusk-Door, where they hoped somehow to avoid or defeat the Krakenward, if there; to remove any rubble under which the Door might be buried; and to enter Kraggen-cor via that portal if it would open. But, because the Dusk-Door may have been broken during the Winter War, and because the arcane hinges could onJy be repaired from the inside, a second strike plan, coordinated with the first, was called for: here, a squad of seven persons, including Perry as the Brega-Path guide, was to journey to the Dawn-Gate, somehow cross the Great Deep, and if possible penetrate undetected through the Swarm of maggot-folk and traverse the full length of Kraggen-cor to the inside of the Dusk-Door to make repairs if needed-if the Gatemasters in the Squad had the knowledge to do so.

Following these two uncertain courses, the Army marched away toward the Dusk-Door while the squad embarked for the Dawn-Gate.

Perry and the Squad rafted down the Argon River toward their goal, at last settling in at a riverside campsite to wait for time to pass in order to match schedules with the Army. While encamped they were attacked by a Hlok-led band of Rucks and nearly overwhelmed. Yet in the nick of time the Squad was rescued by Ursor the Baeran, a giant of a Man, by Shannon Silverleaf, an Elf, and by Shannon's Elven Company. Even so, two of the Squad's Gatemasters were lost to the mission: Tobin's leg was broken, and Barak was slain. Hence, but one Gatemaster, Delk, remained to perhaps repair the possibly broken hinges when and if the Squad ever reached them. Yet it was decided that the mission must go forth, even though the loss of Tobin and Barak was a severe bfow. It was also decided that Shannon and Ursor would join the quest, once again making the Squad seven strong.

Meanwhile, on their own mission, Cotton and the Army had marched into a mountain blizzard and had been trapped for days. Yet, after an exhausting dig-out, followed by a long forced march, they arrived at last at the Dusk-Door. And all the while, Cotton had borne with him a small silver horn: the Horn of Narok-the Horn of the Death War-a token deeply feared by the Dwarves, for it was a relic of Dwarven legend, a legend foretelling of a great unknown sorrow to befall the Dwarves.

Indeed the Door was covered by a huge mound of rubble, and the work to remove it began. But at sundown the Krakenward attacked, devastating the ranks of the workers. After a desperate all-night struggle, by axe and sword and Atalar blade, and fire and hammer and drill, and water and stone, the Army at last defeated the Maduk, breaking the dam and draining the black lake and casting huge stones down upon the Monster. Even so, the creature had buried the Door under even more rubble, placing the rendezvous with the Squad and the entire invasion plan in grim jeopardy.