They backed down from the ridge, then mounted and rode to their campsite, where they gathered up their goods and laded them on the packhorses, then rode straightaway to the west. When they had gone three leagues or so, they rode back through the hills above the plains and then waited until darkness fell, and that night beneath a gibbous waxing moon they crossed the flat treeless grassland covered with winter snow, reaching the other side some twenty miles away just after cold dawn.
They rested all that day and the following night, and then started out early next morn.
On the sixth day they came to the banks of the great Argon River, here curving in from the east and running away westerly; its frozen surface stretched wide before them. Along the bank stood the remains of a burnt dock, its charred pilings frozen in the river ice. The ashen remnants of a small shack stood on the bank above.
Bekki gritted his teeth and said, 'Grg have been here.'
'What is this place?' asked Beau.
'The southern landing of the Kaagor Ferry,' replied Loric.
'We were going to take a ferry?'
Loric canted his head. 'Aye, were the river running free and had the Spaunen not destroyed all. But even were the ferry yet whole, it runs not when the river is frozen, and all must wait… or chance the ice.'
Still growling, Bekki dismounted and took his axe in hand. 'I will see if the ice will bear us.'
'Hold,' said Loric, 'this is not like the other streams we've crossed, but flows wide and deep instead. I will ready a rope.'
Beau turned to Tip and whispered, 'Hoy, when we crossed the Crystal River we didn't test the ice.'
'With the maggot-folk downstream we couldn't test it,' answered Tip. 'Remember how the ice knelled under hoof? Besides, some rivers may run warmer. I mean, there were places below my mill on the Wilder that never seemed to fully ice-over.'
Bekki tied the line about his waist and gingerly stepped out on the ice. Then he stamped his foot. 'It seems solid enough.'
Walking out a ways and kneeling, he began chopping. Shards flew, and after a while Bekki looked up and said, 'I am over two handspans deep and have still to break through. This will support an army. Even so, walk the animals onto the ice, while I go onward and test again…'
… It took nearly three candlemarks to cross the Argon, yet cross it they did, the ice in the cold, cold winter thick enough to bear all.
'We are yet some fifty-two miles from Kachar,' said Bekki, as they mounted again. 'Two days and some should see us there.'
'Let us just hope that when we arrive Kachar is not under siege,' said Tipperton.
Through the Silverwood they rode, so named because of the trees of silver birch within its bounds, though trembling aspen and splendid high pine were sheltered as well in the cupping mountain bowl. And when they approached the far side, Bekki slowed them all, saying, 'The vale of Kachar lies just beyond, yet if there are besiegers, I hear them not.'
He looked at Loric and then Phais, and both Lian shook their heads, No.
Dismounting, they walked the last several strides among the trees to the very fringe of the wood, and they looked out to see in the midmorn light…
… nought but a snow-covered dale rising to meet the dark stone of the mountains beyond.
'There,' said Bekki, pointing at a dull gleam of iron embedded in a wall of stone. 'There be the gates of Kachar.'
'They tried to hold Kaagor Pass,' said Valk, 'but we drove them down and slew them all.' The redheaded Delf-Lord slammed the butt of his clenched fist to the stone table. 'Yet now you say Dendor is beleaguered. Elwydd, but when will it end?'
'When Modru is defeated or slain,' said Loric.
Valk grunted, then said, 'But as you say, with Dragons at his beck, and Ghaths, it will not be easy.'
'As to the Draedan,' said Loric, 'there is a Mage at Dendor who seems to be able to combat the dread. But the renegade Drakes, anow, they are a different matter altogether. Still, in a year we have seen but one-Skail- though Lord Tain in Dael babbled 'twas Sleeth destroyed the city. Mayhap Drake forays are rare, for I deem Modru need promise them something they cherish ere they act. What this might be, I nor my companions can say, though we have speculated long.'
'Perhaps Tip's got the answer,' said Beau, and when Tip looked at him blankly, Beau added, 'they might want the Dragonstone.'
'It is lost,' growled Valk, 'or so I have heard.'
Phais nodded. 'Lost with Rwn.' She glanced at Tipper-ton. 'Even so, the renegade Drakes mayhap would do Modru a service for the promise of such a token.'
'Still,' said Bekki, 'that is neither here nor there. The problem before us is to rescue Dendor.'
Valk nodded. 'Aye. They are a valuable trading partner to this Chakkaholt, and we have a treaty with King Agron to come to his aid at need.'
'Well, they certainly need you now,' blurted Beau.
Valk looked at Beau and growled, 'Fear not, Waeran, we Chakka honor our pacts'-he gestured across the chamber at the flag of the Dwarvenholt: crossed silver axes on a field of black-'especially the Chakka of Kachar.'
'Oh my,' said Beau, flustered, 'I wasn't, I didn't-' 'He knows, Sir Beau,' said Phais. 'He knows.' Valk grunted and reached for a pullcord. 'It is time to call in my captains, for we have a battle to plan.'
As Valk and his captains met for the second day, with Tip, Beau, Phais, Loric, and Bekki in attendance, there remained one obstacle to completing the plan.
Bekki peered down at the map, with its movable symbols denoting segments of the Swarm surrounding the walls of Dendor. Shown also were the Dwarven routes of attack, as well as the likely paths the men would take in response upon issuing from the city. Bekki grunted and looked across at Valk. 'There is left but this, DelfLord: how will the men know we have come, and how will tney know the plan? Unlike Mineholt North, there is no secret entrance to Dendor, none I know of, that is.' He looked across at Valk.
Valk shook his head. 'There may be a tunnel, but Agron has never spoken to me of it, if so.'
Silence fell as all considered the map. Finally Valk said, 'All here know our chances for victory run high can we coordinate the attacks, and defeat will come knocking can we not. This then is the crux of the matter: how to let King Agron know.'
The DelfLord's gaze swept about the table in challenge. 'Let us delve how this may be done.'
Long they spoke, considering plans and counterplans, finding strengths and weaknesses in each:
Some advocated the use of message arrows, could they get one or more archers in range, or perhaps long- range ballistas instead. But then others asked, would the messages be found? And would King Agron believe such missives aught but a ruse? Still others noted that even if he did believe, what if a message fell into the Foul Folk hands? Through a miscast arrow or a captured archer, if a message fell into the wrong hands, then all plans would be revealed, for there was no secret code between DelfLord Valk and King Agron.
They also noted that signals flashed from the ridge above could be intercepted as well.
Other plans were examined and rejected… such as searching for a secret tunnel which may or may not be there. 'Huah,' said Bekki. 'If there were a tunnel, do you not think that Agron would have sent someone to ask for aid?'
'Worse yet,' said Loric, 'if there were a secret tunnel and if found by the Rupt, they would use it to invade.'
Seated next to Tipperton, one of the captains, a black-haired Dwarf named Kaldi, said, 'Could we not march and array ourselves along the southern ridge to let King Agron see we've come? Then mayhap when we attack from without he will sally forth from within.'
Valk shook his head. 'It is a worthy plan, Kaldi, and one we may come to in the end, but then there is this: with a surrogate in the Swarm, Modru would be alerted by our array and then mayhap a Drake will come. Nay, if we can, we should take them by surprise.'
'Barn rats!' said Beau. 'With a Swarm about the walls, it's not as if we can just walk up to the gates and knock for admittance.'
Silence fell, and Dwarves about the table shook their heads and gritted their teeth in frustration. But then Tip
