with swipes of his hands he cleared the surface. As they watched the ponies drink, Tip said, 'Back in Dendor the Mages told me that a Wizard named Farrin is seeking the Stone Giants and if he finds them he will try to enlist them to aid the Allies in this war against Modru.'
Bekki grunted, then said, 'Against Gyphon you mean.'
'Oh, right.'
Bekki stepped to one side and relieved himself. Then he said, 'Mage Farrin is not likely to succeed in his mission, for even though the Utruni aided First Durek, and even though they are said to ward the Kammerling, they remain aloof from the affairs of Mithgar.'
'That's what Ridich said-I mean, about them being above the concerns of Mithgar, or, as he put it, in this case far below.'
Now Tip stepped away to relieve himself. As he came back to the pool he said, 'You said something about a Kammerling?'
Bekki nodded.
'Well then, Bekki. What's that all about? Look, tell me everything you know about the Utruni.'
Bekki barked a laugh. 'Ha! What I know of the Utruni would not fill a thimble.'
'Even so, Bekki, surely it is more than I know.'
Bekki sighed. 'All right, my friend, this is what I've been told:
'Indeed they do have gemstones for eyes, and they dwell in the living stone; in that, you are correct. Yet there is this, too: it is said they can somehow move through solid rock itself, and they work along the faces of the deep stone, where rock slides past rock, and they ease the tension that builds up. By doing so it is said that great earthquakes are avoided, though just how, I cannot imagine. On the other hand, I am told the Utruni believe that deep within the rock, perhaps at the very heart of Mithgar itself, a great Stone Giant slumbers, and it is when he turns over in his sleep the land quakes. Just how that jibes with the easing of tension along the deep rock faces is anyone's guess.
'There is not much more I can tell you of the Stone Giants, other than it is said the Utruni ward the Rage Hammer, the Kammerling itself. It is believed Adon gave them this token of power to watch over until the time comes for its wielding. Just who is to wield it, I cannot say, but its purpose is well-known among my folk.'
'What is it? I mean the Kammerling. And what is its purpose?'
'It is a great silveron war hammer, said to be forged of starsilver by Adon Himself. And it is intended to be used against the greatest Dragon of all.'
'Oh, that's, um, Black Kalgalath, right?'
'Or mayhap Daagor,' replied Bekki.
'Oh my. Even with the Kammerling, one would have to be mad to go up against either of them. I mean, who can oppose a Dragon? Fire and all. Power and all. Monsters that they are.'
All ponies watered, again they set out for the distant ford.
'We saw one, you know,' said Tipperton.
'One what?'
'Dragon. Skail of the Barrens, or so did Phais and Loric say. Huge. Devastating. Alone, it drove the entire Dwarven army of Drimmen-deeve back into their Dwarvenholt.'
Bekki growled in suppressed rage.
'No sir, I don't want to ever have to face a Dragon,' said Tip, and on through the sifting fall they rode.
For four days the stone dust fell from the sky, covering all in a thin layer of silt, the amount of fall diminishing with each day. And during these same days, the land grew chill, for the sun was wan above, and July summer was fled away though July itself yet lay on the land.
On the fifth day it began to rain, the drops yet clouded grey. For three more days it drizzled and stormed and misted and pelted, washing the world with water, the silt being carried by tumbling streams northerly toward the Argon.
And on the next day in a chill morning fog, leading their ponies, Tip and Bekki crept to the banks of that river, yet no warding Spawn did they find. But the river, the river itself, it was flooded, the water boiling past, a racing tumult under a thick and cold blanket of enshrouding grey vapor.
'Kruk!' snarled Bekki. 'We can't cross in that.'
'Any other fords nearby?' asked Tipperton.
Bekki shook his head. 'The one at Alvstad is far to the west-sixteen or seventeen days-and it is no doubt flooded, too.'
'What about the ferry at Kaagor? Isn't it closer than Alvstad? Someone said that Jordian warrior maiden told it had been rebuilt.'
'Aye, Captain Brud said the ferry once more crosses the Argon. Too, he told me it is warded by two companies of Agron's best. And you are right: it is closer than the ford at Alvstad. Twelve or thirteen days from here. Indeed we could use it, have the Squam not burned it again… unlikely with Agron's soldiers on guard. But heed, even if we set out today, by the time we got there and back, surely we would have long past crossed through this ford, and it would have been a lengthy trip for nought, nigh another month altogether.'
'A month? Oh my. Well then, there's nothing for it,' said Tip, 'we'll just have to wait.'
Bekki sighed. 'It may be many a day ere we can cross, Tipperton. Pray to Garlon He sends no more rain.'
Even as Bekki said it, the sky began to drizzle, chill water falling through the clasping fog.
Chapter 16
Beau and Phais and Loric stood a long while, watching as Tip and Bekki rode away from the walls of Dendor. But at last Beau glanced at the sun and said, 'Well, I've rounds to make and more silverroot to brew, though little good it does.'
Phais looked at Loric, then said to Beau, 'For the next while, thou must do without our aid, for Agron has granted us permission to go to the solitude of the hills to mourn.'
'The hills?'
'Aye, our old campsite on the south ridge. If thou dost need us, thou wilt find us in the stand of evergreen.'
'How long will you be gone?'
'Two days, mayhap three, no more, for the want here is great. Even so, we need the time alone to come to terms with our grief.' Phais looked to the west, where Tip and Bekki could yet be seen, though she did not note them, her mind looking elsewhere. 'So many souls crying out,' she murmured. 'So very many souls.'
'Well then,' said Beau, 'you two take all the time you need. I'm certain the other healers and I can manage.'
Loric nodded and took Phais by the hand. 'Come, chier.'
With one last look at Tip and Bekki-'Oh, I do hope they find some gwynthyme'-Beau set off for the prison, while the Alor and Dara made their way toward the stables.
The fresh scent of pine about them mingled with the smell of a small cedar fire ablaze in a circle of stones, and with birds flitting through the July air, some singing on the wing, Phais and Loric sat in deep meditation, he on one side of the ring, she opposite. The sun had passed the zenith, and all was calm, there in the dappled shade.
Yet of a sudden there came a surging boom, as if distant thunder rumbled across the clear blue sky.
Phais's eyes flew open. 'Didst thou hear, chier?'
Over the small flame, Loric looked at her. 'Aye.' He frowned in concentration. 'It seemed an echo of the rolling blast of yester's Day of Anguish.'
Phais nodded and said, 'Yet this time I felt no… no deathcry beforehand. Oh, Loric, was it an echo, or dost
