as deep?'
Glancing at the ramp and then at the sheer barrier, Tholon stepped 'round the boulder and to the wall and with his great hands began shaping the stone, rock flowing under his touch. Remembering the contour of Sur Kolare, Rynna watched closely and called out to the giant just how to curve the arc of the hollow being formed.
With hope in his eyes, Tipperton clambered up onto the boulder Rynna had selected.
And still on the slope below, the battle raged, a mighty clash and clangor, while above the King, now bandaged, prepared for combat.
Of a sudden nearby, 'Hearken!' cried Linde, stopping in her tracks. ' Tis a black-oxen horn calling.'
'I hear,' growled the King, drawing the cuff of his gauntlet over the dressing. 'But why is it signalling withdraw? Is this a trick of Modru's?'
'I hear it as well, but whence does it blow?' said Mage Farrin, looking about, trying to find the source.
'There!' said Linde, pointing at the shield wall in the near distance.
Farrin looked where Linde pointed. 'Utrun!' he proclaimed, now seeing the Stone Giant. 'My Lord King Blaine, it is an Utrun.'
'Utrun there is, yet 'tis a Waeran blowing the horn,' said Linde. 'And other Waerans to the side, waving desperately.'
'Where?' asked Farrin.
'On yon rock he stands, facing the wall and blowing a Harlingar horn, the others leftward and waving,' replied Linde. 'It can only be Tipperton, and he sounds the signal to withdraw.'
'Bah,' growled King Blaine, 'I yet think this is some fraud of Modru's.'
Beside the King, Farrin said a and narrowed his gaze and then said, 'Nay, my Lord, 'tis no illusion but a true sight instead. 'Tis indeed a Waerling, and with an Utrun.' Now Farrin turned to Blaine. 'My lord, I suggest you do as he calls.'
'But, Mage Farrin, we hold the high ground, 'tis the only advantage we have, and should we withdraw, we will find ourselves on the flats along the rim above, where the enemy will do us in.'
'My lord,' said Linde, gesturing at the oncoming Swarm, 'we will lose regardless, for among the Foul Folk Modru brings Ogrus and Gargons and a Dragon, and we have no means to defeat them. Yet heed me:
'The Waldan blowing that horn conceived the plan which set Mineholt North free. He conceived the plan which freed Dendor, and he was one of the two who slew the Gargon outside that city's walls. And if I am not mistaken, one of the Waldana at his side is the very same one who conceived the plan which resulted in the destruction of another Gargon pursuing us through the Blackwood. And so this I say: if Tipperton Thistledown and Rynna Thistledown and an Utrun sound the signal to withdraw, then, any Lord High King Blaine, I say we must withdraw.'
'But we know nothing of what he plans.'
'Trust him, my lord. Trust them.'
Blaine frowned and looked from Linde to the shield wall to Farrin, then out upon the Swarm boiling forward and finally back to the wall again. At last he said, 'Well and good. We will withdraw. Sound the signal, Hrosmarshal Linde.'
But the Allies weren't the only ones to hear Tip's horn, for Modru in his chariot heard it as well. And he turned his iron-veiled face toward the shield wall to see the Utrun and others standing there. And of a sudden behind his wrought mask his glaring eyes widened, and he howled in fury and gestured to Daagor above and said a and then screamed directly into Daagor's ear, though the great Dragon was far, far aloft.
And the mighty Drake bellowed and folded his vast leathery wings and plunged roaring toward the distant wall.
'What's taking them so long?' shouted Beau, leaping and waving to attract attention, as Tipperton blew and blew, the sound of the black-oxen horn focused by the concave depression in the stone and hurled toward the ramp.
'Can they even hear the horn above the sounds of battle?' cried Linnet.
'Perhaps, perhaps,' answered Rynna, 'but we won't know unless and until-'
'Oh lor!' shouted Beau. 'Look, above. Daagor comes.'
Down plummeted the Dragon, down and down and down, hurtling toward the shield wall where Warrow and Utrun stood.
Linnet reached out for her buccaran's hand. 'Oh, Beau, what will we do?'
And still the Swarm seethed toward the ramp; they had nearly reached the base.
'Listen!' shouted Rynna. 'Listen! Oh, Tipperton, stop and listen!'
Tipperton turned and listened, and standing at the focal point of the shaped hollow, he clearly heard Harlingar horns blowing in the distance: Hahn, taa-roo! Hahn, taa-roo! Hahn, taa-roo taa-roo!
It was the command to withdraw.
Tipperton shouted-'Tholon, signal the others now!'- and leapt down from the rock.
Down plunged Daagor and down, and he drew in a great, deep breath.
Even as Tipperton leaped down, Tholon hammered on rock-once, twice, thrice-the entire wall ringing in response. The Utrun then split wide the stone, fissuring a passage inward.
Catching up Tipperton's lute and Beau's medical bag, retrieved from their crossbow-slain steeds, 'Take Farly,' said Linnet, and Beau stooped and lifted up the dead buc-can, and the Warrows entered the cleft to find Chelk waiting, a phosphorescent glow in hand.
Daagor roared in fury, his flame blasting forth in a raging bolt, yet ere the blaze reached the crevice, the Utrun entered and sealed the stone after, the Dragonfire to strike and splash wide.
'I can't see a thing,' said Tipperton, but then Chelk bent down and handed the buccan a double fistful of glowing lichen. Tipperton then remembered Bekki's tale of Durek and the Stone Giants in the depths of Kraggen-cor, and he knew he must be holding the stuff of Dwarven lanterns, the lichen brought here by Chelk specifically for the War-rows to use to illuminate their way. Tipperton gave over a handful to Rynna to spread the light out farther.
Whmp!
The wall juddered, as if something had struck it a great blow.
Tholon spoke in the sliding-rock tongue, and Chelk turned and began cleaving the stone, making a tunnel through.
Whmp!
Again the wall jolted.
Through an Utrun-made passage went the Warrows, following Chelk, Tholon coming after, sealing the stone behind.
Daagor roared and tore at the wall, flame blasting out in his fury. And he cast his senses forth; there were several Utruni in the rock-seven in all-as well as four of the Wee Folk.
His great claws rended stone in his anger, and the ground began to shudder, not only where he stood, but across the basin and up walls and along the rim as well.
On the ramp, the battle raged, the Allies fighting in withdrawal, the ground underfoot now wrenching.
The enemy disengaged, or attempted to, for here and there Chakka fought on, refusing to let the foe flee, though some Dwarves elsewhere had begun to withdraw under the insistent peal of horns.
And seven Silver Wolves came racing up the quaking ramp, six following Shifter, the Vulgs in the rift all slain.
And out on the juddering floor of the basin, black rock shattered and collapsed; fire burst forth from crevices deep, and geysers blasted boiling water skyward; mud exploded, black smoke billowed, and molten sulfur flowed yellow across the land. Crystalline ridges fractured, cracked, and shattered outward in shards, the air chiming and jingling in their wake.
And Modru screamed in fury, while his Swarm shrieked in dread, the land jolting underfoot. This could not be Daagor's doing, but that of cursed Utruni instead. Modru cast forth his own senses to locate the Stone Giants, and upon finding them, Modru's eyes flew wide and he shrilled in quavering terror.
And at the shield wall great wide cracks splintered upward, driven by the Utruni within, while off to one side within shuddering stone and stumbling their way up a long Utrun-made slope toward the westerly brim, wee
