men below, those on the point of attack, lessening their fear.'
A Ruptish horn blatted, the advancing Spawn stopped, and the Gargon roared in thwarted fury, echoes of rage ringing from the nearby hills.
The horn blatted again, and the advancing foe withdrew.
Yet elsewhere about the city, battle seethed and the slaughter grew, shouting men and yawling Rupt slaying one another.
Time passed, measured in death, but at last the outnumbered men were driven back and back and back again, until they fled across the stone bridges above a dry moat and through the gates and into the streets beyond, portals slamming to behind, great bars clanging down.
And now the city of Dendor was under siege, none to pass either in or out through the clutching grip of cold iron.
In spite of a heart pounding in dread-'Dahet malum scaths!'-Tipperton cursed in the ancient Warrow tongue of Twyll, his rage cresting above fear, for this day was precisely one year to the day after a deadly skirmish at his small mill in the Wilderland, one year to the day from when he had accepted a small pewter coin to deliver, one year to the day after making a vow to honor a dying man's wish-one year to the day precisely-and on this day he had finally reached the threshold of completing his hard quest… only to find that he and his comrades were now completely shut out.
Chapter 6
'Oh my,' said Beau, as he and the others stood atop the ridge and looked down at the Swarm beringing Dendor, 'to come so close only to be thwarted.'
'I should have ridden down during the battle and gone in through the gates with the men,' said Tipperton.
'But then we would have been trapped,' said Beau.
Tip sighed. 'No, Beau, I wouldn't have had you and the others risk it. I should have ridden down alone. At least I would have delivered the coin.'
Beau glowered at Tipperton. 'Look, bucco, d'y' think I'd've let you go it alone after coming with you all this way? Besides, I want to know what this coin's all about.'
'I just want to be rid of it,' replied Tip.
' Tis a heavy burden to bear, no matter its weight,' said Phais.
'Yet honor permits no less,' said Bekki. 'Even so, with Modru's Squam besieging the city, it will be difficult to keep your pledge, Tipperton.'
Tip nodded glumly. 'Let us wait and see, there may be another battle. And look, no matter what Beau says, there's no need for all of us to be trapped in Dendor should the men fail to break the siege. No one else need go.'
Beau cleared his throat and shook his head. 'Didn't you hear what I said, Tip? I'll not let you go it alone. I mean to stick to you like a burr. But as to Phais and Loric and Bekki, now-'
Bekki growled, 'I am pledged by my DelfLord to ward you on this mission, Tipperton, and ward you I will.'
'Most likely if ye go without us,' said Loric, 'ye three will be taken for Rucha by the men and slain out of hand or by cast. But accompanied by Guardians, such as Dara Phais and I, ye and we will likely survive.'
'Oh my,' said Beau. 'He's right, Tip. Remember what happened back at the inn. We were taken for Rucks.'
'Yes, Beau, but that was at night and by frightened women. Remember, they took Phais for a Hlok, and the horses for Helsteeds. Probably in the dark they took Loric for a Hlok as well. As for Bekki, I don't know what he might have been mistaken for, mayhap a tiny Ogru.'
'Kruk!' growled Bekki, but grinned.
'Even so, Tipperton,' said Phais, 'the vision of Humankind is poor in darkness, and if we attempt to join with the men in the night, whether afield or on the walls, they are most likely to take us for Foul Folk.'
'Then we need go in the daytime,' said Beau.
'Ah, but then, my friend,' said Loric, 'the Rupt are like to discover us for what we are.'
'Barn rats,' growled Beau.
'Tipperton has the right of it,' said Bekki. 'If the men mount another assault, it is then we slip through in the confusion.'
They spent the night camped back in the hills, but sleep was a long time coming, for still the pulse of Gargon dread beat within their veins.
The following day once again they made their way to the ridge, but on this day no attack came… nor the day after… nor the one after that.
But on the fifth day there sounded a great thwackl followed by cheering shouts and the beating of the Ruptish drums. And a wave of dread flowed and ebbed. And then another thwackl and more shouting and blatting of bugles and the deep booming of drums, and another wave of dread.
The comrades reached the crest of the ridge just in time to see the arm of one of the trebuchets swing up and over and-thwackl-hurl a scatter of tumbling objects to rain down within the city.
'Oh, Loric,' said Phais, turning away in abhorrence.
Even as a wave of dread flowed over the five, 'What is it?' asked Beau. 'What are they throw-'
But then Beau saw, and he gasped in horror, as did Tip at his side.
Corpses had been dragged through the snow to the trebu-chets, and the bodies hacked and severed and wrenched asunder. Heads, arms, legs, torsos: all were randomly laded into the trebuchet slings, and then-thwackl- cast in high arcs, body parts spinning, gyring, tumbling, to rain down onto the roofs and into the streets of Dendor city beyond.
And horns blatted and drums thundered and waves of dread rolled on.
'Oh lor', how ghastly,' said Beau, tears streaming down his cheeks. thwack!
'We've got to do something,' said Tip. 'I mean, to just stand and watch and wait for the Dendorians to break the siege isn't enough.'
'But, Tip,' protested Beau, 'we are just five. It isn't as if we have an army here as we did at Mineholt North- one to attack from the front while another strikes from the rear.'
'That's it, Beau,' said Tip, 'you've hit upon it. What we need is another army, and a coordinated attack-one head-on from the city and one rear-on from, from-'
'That's just it, Tip: where are we going to get that second army?' thwack!
'Kachar,' said Bekki. 'We shall ride to Kachar.'
Tip turned to Bekki. 'Kachar?'
'The Chakkaholt nigh Kaagor Pass,' said Bekki. 'It is closest.'
'Closer than the Allies?'
'Aye. Kachar is but a hundred sixty miles north, whereas the Allies are twice as far or farther still, should they yet be pursuing the Horde in among the Skarpals.' thwack!
'But what if Kachar itself is under siege?' asked Beau.
'I mean, it's a Dwarvenholt after all, and Modru seems to have a special grudge against your folk.'
'If it is under siege,' said Loric, 'then we can appeal to the Jordians, can we hie through Kaagor Pass.'
'Dost thou think the pass to be held by Foul Folk?' asked Phais.
Loric shrugged.
'Regardless,' said Tip, 'we've got to try. I mean, if we're ever to stop those monsters down there, if I'm ever to deliver this coin, then we've got to break this siege. And to do that, we need fetch an army here and now.'
' 'Seek the aid of those not men to quench the fires of war…' ' quoted Beau, hearking back to the mysterious rede they'd heard uttered by Dara Rael in council months past, but for whom the rede had been meant, none knew. thwack!
Beau turned to Tip. 'Let's go get Bekki's Dwarves.'
