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Date Posted: 17:04:18 04/14/03 Mon
Author: Leila, Gelan, Adaron, & Brage
Subject: Continuing through Drimmen-deeve
In reply to: Gelan, Leila, Adaron, & Brage 's message, "They go within" on 16:59:42 04/14/03 Mon

So after but six hours' respite, once more they took up the trek. From the Bottom Chamber they took a southeasterly exit that curved away to the east as they followed the course of the corridor. Now the floor rose upward as they tramped on, and still crevices and tunnels bore away to the left and right. Three miles they marched, and Adaron stopped where a large corridor came in from the south. He stood unsure and spoke with Brage, but the lore of the Dwarf was of little or no help. They stepped southward along this large corridor to enter a great side hall, and Adaron shook his head and led them back out to follow the eastward way instead. Still the passage sloped upward and curved to the north, and along this section there were no side tunnels nor crevices cleaving away. Three more miles they strode, to be confronted by four passages: the left way was wide and straight and sloped downward; the right-hand passage, too, was wide, only it bore on upward; the two middle ways were twisting and narrow, one bearing up, the other down. To the immediate left a stone door stood open. Each way did Adaron study long before shaking his head and speaking softly. "I cannot remember."

"No matter which of the four you choose, they all lead to Ravenor. Look and see." And Brage lifted his hand and pointed at the rock around them. Here is the black granite of Aggarath, what you call 'Grimspire'." He was talking to Leila of course. "While there is the rudden stone of Ravenor, what you call 'Stormhelm'. Here we leave the dark rock of Aggarath to trod the rust red of Ravenor." The Dwarf set the lantern down and crossed his arms over his chest, rocking back on his heels. "Though we have come twenty-one miles under the rock of Aggarath, still we must stride twenty-five or thirty miles more beneath the red stone of Ravenor ere we can walk in the open again."

Off a few paces, Adaron spoke up, though his words were soft and nearly under his breath. "Twenty-five or thirty miles if I can find the way, but much longer if I cannot."

Leila lifted a hand to rub her nose back and forth against her knuckle before she sneezed. Who knew that rock dust caused allergies? "Perhaps we should go the way that will take us the farthest from the Gargon on our journey, whether or not it is longer than the others. If it does not yet know we are here, then there is no reason that it needs to find out now."

"Ah," answered Brage. "But we do not know where the Gargon dwells at the moment. There is not a hall in Kraggen-cor that he does not stalk." And after a nod from Adaron, Brage picked up his lantern and led them through the stone through* open door into a small chamber no more than twenty feet square, with a low ceiling--the first small room they had seen in Kraggen-cor. "Oi!" exclaimed Brage, holding up the lantern. Centered in the room, a great chain dangled down through a narrow, grate-covered square shaft set in the ceiling and passed through a like grate placed in the floor, the huge links appearing out of the constricting blackness above and disappearing into the darkness of the strait shaft below. Brage examined the iron-barred grille set in the floor. "'Were. This grate is loose, and though at one time it was anchored firmly in the stone."

"And so what are we to assume by that? Other than something had loosened it." She thought for a moment. "But that is not such a surprise really, the Gargon has walked these halls for centuries."

"I do not know the purpose for the shaft and the chain, and why the iron bars...Air shafts, window shafts, shafts to mine ores, well shafts for water, holes to raise and lower things: these I understand. Yet this construction is beyond my knowledge, though other Chakka could, no doubt, explain its purpose. As to the bars, all I can guess is that they are set there to keep something in."

Now Adaron entered the room, just as Brage had finished his explanation, giving a comment of his own, his features stoic. "Or to keep something out."

His features were always stoic. "If they were made to keep something in or out it either got out or in, and I do not think it is a good idea for us to stay in this room lest it be not far from here."

Well Gelan had planted himself on the floor and was busy with a bit of mian and water. "Let us take a bit of food and rest while Adaron decides." Then he looked to the Elf. "Could this be the Lost Prison that held the Dread?"

Adaron 'humph'ed silently, shaking his head and gesturing at the stone door and iron bars. "No, Gelan King. Such a flimsy construction would not hold even a determined Ruch, much less thwart the power of an evil Vulk."

Brage's jaw was set and he visibly bristled. "Elf, this room was crafted by Chakka; you exaggerate when you say it could not hold an Ukh . . . though you speak true of the Ghath."

And Leila...oddly enough, just giggled outright. Such a proud people were the dwarves, as well as the elves, the personalities did not always seem to match.

Adaron turned to arch a brow at the giggling Gypsy before returning his attention to Brage. "I stand corrected, Drimm Brage, and I apologize for my errant mouth." Adaron lightly bowed to the Dwarf, for that was all he would give, and Brage inclined his head in return. Adaron then spun to go to Gelan and take a seat next to him, pondering the question of the four corridors: "This I think: Neither of the two middle corridors should be our path, for I know that long ago I trod not their narrow, twisting ways. But as to the far left or right, I cannot say which one we should follow."

Gelan questioned Brage. "Does your lore speak aught of this fourfold split, Brage?"

"Nay, King Gelan." Grunted the Dwarf.

"Then Lord Adaron, you must choose one of the two ways and hope we come to something that you recognize." Responded the High King.

Leila was still laughing, though tried to hide it by putting a piece of the mian in her mouth and holding it there, head bowing to stare at her lap. At least the waybread kept her laughter silent. Honestly, she was not even sure why she was laughing anymore. It hadn't been all that funny, if it had been funny at all.

It was just at that moment that a rush of dread would inundate all their hearts, causing even the High King to gasp. Adaron and Brage also blenched. But then, just as suddenly, the fear was gone, leaving racing hearts behind.

She too gasped then...nothing was funny about that for sure. "What was that?!" she hissed in a whisper.

"He knows!" Adaron cried and lept to his feet. "The Dread knows we are in his domain and casts about, questing for the spark of us."

"The Ghola," spat Gelan, "they've borne the word to him." Brage's eyes were wide.

"We must get out!" He cried. "We must get out before he finds us!" In haste the Dwarf shouldered his pack and stepped to the door, holding high the lantern, Adaron and Gelan hurrying after.

Leila stumbled to her feet also, hurrying after the three men. "But we know not the way to go..."

They stood before the four passages. "Which way, Lord Adaron?" asked Gelan quickly.

"We cannot delay. You must choose." With tense features and without hesitation he replied: "Then let it be the leftmost, this way is widest."

Not very comforting, but that was the way the four plunged into the darkness at a full on run, for they had not time to spare. It was fortunate that the Dread had not found them on the first night, else they would not have had the strength to go much more than a slightly fast walk. Down through the tunnel, twisting this way and that they ran, yet it never seemed to end. Twenty-five or thirty miles Brage had said...and that was only if Adaron had chosen the right path. She knew there was no way they could run that far at their current pace, but the most important thing for now was to put distance between them and the Gargon that was hunting them.

Since Leila was the smallest she had set the pace, the longer legs of the males matching her stride as they hastened down the sloping corridor. And Adaron withdrew flickering Red Bale from its scabbard and bore the sword in the open, its werelight to warn the four should Spaunen come near. A half a mile they went through the smooth-walled carven tunnel but Adaron's steps began to slow as if he were reluctant to press onward, yet Bale's scarlet blade-jewel glinted but lightly. Another furlong they paced, and then the Elf stopped altogether. Despite the fairness of the Elf, his face was visibly white. "We must not go further this way." he gritted.

Brage had pattered on but a few more steps before he spun about. "But the path is wide and smooth," growled the Dwarf, pointing to the open passage before them. Ocean blue hues locked upon the smaller form of Brage.

"We walk toward a foul place," Adaron respond. "It has the stench of a great viper pit, though no vipers in it dwell." And in the air, if one concentrated, they would smell the faint reek of adders hanging on the air.

"If there are no vipers in it, then what is there to fret over? If we are going to continue this way, then we must go now, if we are to go another then the same applies, though I do not see any other tunnels around here, and we are going to be in a might of trouble if we backtrack to find another path."

A bead of sweat trickled down the side of Gelans cheek and the back of his hand lifted to wipe it away. "What is it, Lord Adaron? What makes this fetter?"

"I know not for certain, Gelan King," the Elf's features yet pale. "yet when I strode the battlefields of the War of the Ban, it clung to where the Gargoni had been. We must turn back." he then gave a glance to Leila, for she had been against such a move.

"This is suicide," she said simply before she turned and began to stalk back from where they had come. They hadn't listened to her before, why would they start now?

The look had been enough to silence her for the rest of the journey until she was asked to speak again. Better would it be to go where the Gargon had been than where it would be. They had stopped after the fear-caster has woven its seeking spell over them, and she looked between Adaron and Gelan, awaiting the next move.

Up the passage they strode. Swiftly along the carven tunnel they went, but slowly its character changed: the walls became rougher, less worked by Dwarven tools. And then a small crack appeared along the floor and swiftly widened to become a chasm to their left, yawning black and bottomless; the floor they strode along narrowed, becoming a broad shelf lipping the fissure; and then the shelf constricted to a narrow ledge, and they sidled for scores of feet along the wall, the gulf yawning below them. At last they came once more to a wide floor. At that moment dread fear again shocked through the four as the Gargon tried to sense them, his questing power coursing though the stone halls of Black Drimmen-deeve. Upward sloped the way, and wide cracks appeared in the floor, three-and four-foot-wide crevices. But finally the floor smoothed out, and once more they strode through an arched tunnel, and after three hours of walking, leaping, sidling--going some six miles in all--they came to a great round chamber, and they stopped for a rest.

Gelan leaned up against a wall and massaged his legs, yet his heart was filled with dire foreboding, for they had come six miles closer to the Dread. "If our tale is ever told, they will call us Walkers of the Deeves." He said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Ar!" growled Brage. "Deevewalkers we are but of us four, only I have long dreamed of striding the corridors of Kraggen-cor, and now it is so, yet I would have it otherwise. For I come not marching in triumph, but instead slink through furtively. And if I live to tell this journey to my kindred, this is what I will say: I have walked in Kraggen-cor, a bygone Realm of might; but its light is gone, and dread now stalks the halls."

Leila took a draught of her water, but she did not lean back, instead forward, stretching out her legs where the muscles were threatening to cramp up. "How much farther is it again?" she asked, the sound muffled by her position.

Gelan’s steel gray gaze lifted as he was about to respond to her but again the pounding fear washed over them, stronger now than before, and he straightened to his feet as if to fly; then it passed onward, and he unclenched his fists.

"It draws closer..." she lamented. "How far we have to go, and how quickly we must go there..." She looked to Adaron then, for he had not spoken since they had arrested their flight.

"I am not sure of the distance, for I am not sure of the way. Our goal it the Dawn-Gate, the only exit. And we must hasten to it." He answered her question simply, and did not look at her for he studied the corridors. Then taking Brage aside, they made a circuit of the round chamber, and he spoke softly with the Dwarf; and the eastward way was chosen, for its path was broad and worn by the travel of many feet. Forward they strode and the floor was smooth and level.

The shortest of them all, Brage stepped wiftly, walking next to Adaron. "Is there aught the Ghath fears?" He puffed.

Adaron shook his head. "Not that I know of, else we would use it against him. "He fears the sun." Spoke up

Gelan as he hurried up to walk behind Brage. "and perhaps he fears the power of Drego, yet niether of these are at our beck to stave off the Horror."

"What about Wizards? Elf Adaron, you spoke of them fending Gargons in the Ban War." Brage questioned.

Adaron merely shrugged. "The Wizards of Xian have not been seen since that time." And then they walked in silence, the lantern casting swaying shadows along the hall, its light revealing passages and arched openings to the side.

Oh, but Brage was not finished. The gears in his mind were turning, and the Dwarf appeared thoughtful, though grim due to the foreboding in his heart. "Is there aught that Drego fears?"

"The Sun," answered Gelan, "and Gyphon."

"Too, it is said that Drego loathes mirrors," added the Elf.

"Mirrors?" grunted Brage, surprised, bushy brows lifting.

"It is said that he sees something of his true soul cast back from the glass. And it is told that he cannot abide his reflection in a pure silver mirror, for then his image is stripped of all disguise and stands revealed before him; yet it is also said that those who have seen Drego's reflection in an argent speculum are driven mad forever." Adaron’s voice was soft as he explained to the Dwarf. The passage they followed curved to the northward, and their hard stride bore them along its wide level floor. They had come nearly two miles from the Round Chamber, as Brage had cubbed it, when Adaron held up a hand. "Hsst!" he
whispered sharply. "I hear iron-shod feet; and look: Bale speaks of Evil. Shutter the lamp, Brage."

Quickly, Brage snapped the hood down upon the lantern, and they stood in the dark hall listening. Ahead, they could hear the clatter of scaled armor and the threat of many feet slapping upon the stone. And the light of burning brands could be seen bobbin in the distance, growing brighter as a force of many came toward them.

"The Dread sends Rukha and Lokha searching these halls for us." said Gelan, his voice grim.

"Brage raised the hood of the lantern a crack and searched for an exit to bolt through. "This way." he whispered, and they entered a narrow corridor bearing eastward.

The hall they followed was but lightly worked and had the look of a natural cavern. And there were occasional splits and fissures in the floor; most could be stepped over, but at times the shorter two would have to spring across. They strode a mile and stopped to listen, and Adaron's sharp senses told them some of the Spaunen followed down the corridor behind. Onward the four continued, and further east they went, the more finished the passageway became. Adaron kept a sharp eye on Bale's blade-jewel; yet the red glimmer told that evil was yet distant, though each step they took caused the fear to increase, for still they strode toward the Gargon.

Again, pounding dread swept across them, causing Gelan to gasp. And when it passed, on eastward they went.

At last they came to a broad hall and cautiously peered in, looking for the flame of Rucken torches: the hall stood dark and empty. Brage threw the lamp shutter wide, and they saw by its glow that the chamber was enormous: nearly four hundred yards long, two hundred across. The four had some in through the west side.

Softly Adaron spoke. "I remember this place, though then it was that we came in through the far north portal. Yes, and now our path lies there to the east." He turned to Leila, who had before asked more than once how far it was to the Dawn-Gate. "It is perhaps fifteen, perhaps twenty miles to the Dawn-Gate. I cannot say for certain which." Then he turned to Brage. "Drimm Brage, how far have we come?"

"Two and thirty miles from the Dusken Door," answered the Dwarf with a certainty that brooked no dispute.

"Then, if I can find the way," responded Adaron, "we are more to be fifteen miles than twenty from the distant exit." Out through an eastern portal they went, and entered a lightly devled corridor: though the floor was smooth, the walls and ceiling were but little worked by Dwarven tools and had a rough look. The floor sloped up and the corridor curved this way and that, once turning in a great long spiral upward. There were many side fissures cleaving off into the darkness, their ends beyond seeing.

"If I am right," said Brage, excitement rising in his voice, "Chakka lore calls this the Upward Way. It is part of the trade road through Kraggen-cor and runs from the Broad Hall to the Great Chamber of the Sixth Rise. That must have been the Broad Hall we just left. And though I know not the way, we indeed stride toward the eastern portal, for the spoken lore tells that the Great Chamber is just under two miles from the Daun Gate." Up they went, their hopes rising, but so, too, rose their fear, for the strode ever toward the Dread.

"Hsst!" Again Adaron shushed the others and Brage shuttered the lantern. Red Bale's flame grew, and the clatter of Rucks came toward them. They slipped aside into a crevice, hiding deep in its dark recesses. Bale was sheathed so that its ruby light would not give them away, and they waited.

Leila held her breath, squeezed in between Adaron and Brage. It felt like her heartbeat would be loud enough to give them away, and she barely breathed at all when she finally had no other choice. It seemed like an eternity that they waited there, but when the Ruckenhorde passed they were once more able to spill out of the crevice and continue quickly on their journey upward to the Dawn-Gate.

Just as Adaron was about to step out into the hall once more, voices reached his ears and he hurriedly rushed them back deep into the crevice. Speaking in the foul Sluk tongue, the voices were. And there came the tramping of feet once more, and the rattle of arms. Again torch light grew and passed the mouth of the crevice. And one of the Rucks stepped in to search the fissure, his burning brand held aloft! But before the Ruck could move further into the crack, a lash of dire Dread swept across them all, and a wail of fear rose up from the Rucks, and the one coming along the crevice shrieked and dropped the brand and covered his ears in terror. And then the surging horror was past, and the Ruck snatched up the torch and ran back to join the others, abandoning his search of this fissure. A snarling Holk amongst the Rucks flailed about with a whip and drove them back to their hunt. But they had moved beyond the crevice hiding the four and so found them not, as onward tramped the foul squad, ferreting out the other fissures as they went, their torch light fading in the distance.

"The Dread has foiled his own search," whispered a cramped Brage, his hands still trembling from the fear that had been cast upon them. "Yet it surprises me that his power whelms the Ukhs as well. Let us go ere other Squam come this way."

"To his fear casting, none are immune, perhaps not even Drego himself." Responded Adaron as he withdrew Bale and the blade-jewel's light faded as they watched, for the Rucken squad had moved on, passing beyond seeing.

"I really do not think it should concern us if Drego is affected by the fear-caster or not right now. We know that it affects us, and that is all we need to know right now. Quickly, we must continue, as Brage said, for the Swarm might again this way come."

Swiftly back out of the crevice the four stepped and to the east, and soon they came to another huge cavern, and great square-cut stone blocks were scattered across the floor. Brage pointed at one of the cubes. "I name this the Rest Chamber, for I think the girl's wee legs grow weary, and we can rest among these stone seats, and hide among them should searchers some." Not to mention that Brage did not point out that his legs were actually smaller than Leila's.

"Good advice, Warrior Brage," said Gelan, sitting upon the floor with his back to a stone, "for on our next leg I deem we must be prepared for swiftness, and rest is needed."

"Your legs are more wee than my own, good dwarf," she informed him, but certainly wasn't complaining as she unslung her pack from her back and found water, dropping down to sit against one of the stones. She stretched her arms over her head and sighed softly. It seemed as though they would never win free of this dreadful place…

Brage turned up his palms and looked to the Elf and Man.

Adaron did not respond.

Gelan only shook his head slowly.

And so, with Red Bale standing silent sentry, they sat in the Rest Chamber and took mian and water, and their hearts pounded in fear. According to Brage's measure, they had marched thirty-nine miles since leaving the Dusk-Door, and had taken but six hours' sleep in the Bottom Chamber and no more than an hour rest at their other stops. Drained, they sat in the Rest Chamber for perhaps another hour, gathering strength for the final dash to the Dawn-Gate, estimated by Lord Adaron to be less than ten miles.

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