Dennis McKiernan - Into the fire

"Why not? I mean, if it is a firemountain-"

"The winds are wrong," said Bekki. "This rock dust comes from the west, whereas Dragonslair is far to the east of Kachar, east of Dendor, a thousand miles or more. Too, I am told the fire of that mountain does not burn, though wisps of steam are said to flow into the sky now and again."

"Oh," said Tip, now tying a cloth over his own mouth and nose. "By the bye, just why is it called Dragonslair?"

"It is said that Black Kalgalath holes up in that mountain," said Bekki.

"Black Kalgalath? Isn't he the greatest Dragon of all?"

"Mayhap it's Daagor instead," replied Bekki, now binding a cloth across his face.

"Daagor the renegade?"

Bekki grunted, tying a knot behind.

"I suppose that's neither here nor there," said Tip, his voice a bit muffled by the covering. "Instead, if this is caused by a firemountain somewhere downwind, just which firemountain could it be? Are there such in Gron? Rian? Or farther still in distant Dalara or even beyond in Thol?"

Bekki shook his head. "The only one west I have heard of is Karak on the Isle of Atala, but that is somewhere in the Weston Ocean and far, far removed from here-four thousand miles in the least. Too far I would think to be the cause of this."

Mouths and noses covered, Bekki and Tip donned their all-weather cloaks and mounted the ponies and began riding west through the drifting down dust, and after a while, Tip said, "Tell me, Bekki, what causes firemountains to spew?"

Bekki shrugged. "I know not, though some have said the earth shudders when firemountains roar, yet whether the shudder causes the roaring or the roaring causes the shudder, I cannot say."

They rode another mile before Bekki said, "I suppose the Stone Giants would know."

"Know what?"

"What causes firemountains to spew," replied Bekki.

"Oh," said Tip, brushing rock dust from his shoulders and thighs, a losing effort at best. "You know, until the Mages talked about them in Dendor, I always thought Stone Giants a myth."

"Not so, Tipperton. Not so," said Bekki. "Did I not say that First Durek was saved by the Utruni, the Stone Giants?"

Tip turned up his hands. "I thought it but a tale grown tall in the telling and becoming legend o'er time."

Bekki barked a laugh. "If that were so, then Kraggen-cor would not have been discovered."

"Oh?"

"Aye. First Durek-"

"First Durek? This is Breakdeath Durek, right?"

Bekki nodded. "Aye, we call him that. Deathbreaker Durek, too."

"Why do you call him 'Deathbreaker'?"

"Recall, Tipperton, we Chakka believe that after death, spirits are reborn to walk the earth again, some more often than others. The spirit of First Durek is one which breaks the bonds of Death often."

"Oh, I see. Well then, go on with the tale of the Stone Giants and Durek and Kraggen-cor."

Bekki cleared his throat. "First Durek was exploring in the Grimwalls when he was assaulted by a band of Grg. Howling in glee, from a high stone ledge they flung him into the Vorvor and-"

"Oh wait, Bekki, just what is this, um, Vorvor?"

Bekki growled and held up a hand. "Tipperton, I will never get through this tale if you keep interrupting."

Tip's fingers flew to the dust-laden cloth over his mouth as if to seal his lips, yet he still managed to say, "But, Bekki, you keep using terms I don't know. It's not as if you and I had the same schooling."

Bekki sighed. "Perhaps you are right, Tipperton. Perhaps I need tell it as do the Chakka Loremasters."

"Oh please, Bekki, and I promise not to interrupt again."

Behind the cloth over mouth and nose, Bekki smiled. Then, casting his thoughts back to his tutelage in Mineholt North, Bekki said, "On the northeast quadrant of the Quadran stands a mountain of blue stone- oh, not that it is truly blue, but it bears a tinge of that color. The mountain itself is known as Ghatan, or in the common tongue, Loftcrag.

"In a great fold of stone on Ghatan's southern flank stands the Vorvor, a whirling churning gurge deeply entwined in Chakka legend: there a secret river bursts forth from the understone of Ghatan to rage around a great rock basin and plunge down into the dark again; this is the Vorvor, a great gaping whirlpool raving endlessly, sucking at the sky and funneling deep into the black depths below.

"When the world was young and First Durek trod its margins, he came unto this place. And vile Ukhs, shouting in glee, captured him and from a high stone ledge they flung him into the spin, and the sucking maw drew him down. None else had ever survived that fate; yet First Durek did, though how, it is not said. To the very edge of the Realm of Death, and perhaps beyond, he was taken, yet Life at last found him on a rocky shore within a vast, undelved, undermountain realm; and First Durek strode where none else had gone before-treading through that Kingdom which was to become Kraggen-cor. But at last he came again unto the light of day, and it is said that Dailn Gate stands upon the very spot where he walked out through the mountainside.

"Many have wondered how he managed to live for days, weeks, even months in what to them is nought but a cold stone realm, and to them it remains an enigma. But the Chakka know that he was aided by the Utruni-the Stone Giants-for Utruni admire the work the Chakkakyth do in the undermountain realm, unlike that of the Grg, who destroy the living stone rather than enhance it.

"And so, aided by the Stone Giants, Durek survived to found the great holt of Kraggen-cor, the mightiest Chakka-holt of the five Chakkakyth and one of the few places on Mithgar where starsilver is found.

"Long have the Ukhs rued the day they cast Durek from that high stone ledge, for on that day the enmity with Squam began, more deadly by far than the ravening whirl of the roaring Vorvor."

With eyes wide, Tipperton looked at Bekki. "But Kraggen-cor has been a holt for millennia."

Bekki nodded. "Indeed."

Tip shrugged. "Are you telling me that something which happened thousands of years past still drives you and your kindred to kill Foul Folk?"

Bekki clenched a fist and gritted, "He who seeks the enmity of the Chakka finds it, forever!"

Tipperton shook his head in incomprehension. "I always thought old grudges must die last in the endless days of time."

"Strange will be the day a Chak forgives and forgets."

They rode in silence for a while, the grey stone dust drifting down and down. Finally Tipperton said, "Tell me if you can, how did Durek survive? How did he see in the darkness below? Do you know?"

Bekki shrugged. "As to how he did see, there is a glowing lichen which grows on some rocks nigh understone rivers. Too, there is a phosphorescent moss in some of the caverns. Kraggen-cor in places has both of these. We use a preparation, a leaching, of the lichen and moss to make the Chakka lanterns, wherein no fire need be kindled, nor fuel consumed.

"As to what he did eat: blind fish and water weed, the glowing moss, mushrooms-"

"Mushrooms?"

"Aye, they grow at times in the very same caverns where the moss is found."

"Oh. I see. -But wait. The fish. Did he eat them raw?"

"Aye," replied Bekki, "that and other living things, for he could kindle no fire."

"Other living things?"

"Blind beetles, spiders, wor-"

"Enough, Bekki," cried Tip, shuddering.

Bekki barked a laugh…

… and on they rode through drifting down stone dust under the darkling sky.

They came to the village of Gronkulle, nought but a hamlet on a rounded hill, all the buildings now covered with the stone dust, the town overall a pale grey. But both Tip and Bekki were glad of the village, for as they rode through the powder-covered streets and past dust-laden, canvas-topped wagons, they found it had an inn.