'Modru's eyes and ears and voice,' replied Tip. 'A Human. Pale skin, dark hair. The only one among the Spaunen, I think.'
'Ah,' said Aylissa. 'Such a Human was felled.' She gestured at her bow. 'By a Pysk arrow, I believe.'
'Then he is slain,' said Tip with certainty, for the tiny arrows were deadly, their points coated with a fatal bane, lethal in but a heartbeat or two.
Rynna looked at Tipperton. 'Even so, love, that yet leaves some thousand Foul Folk loose on the wold.'
'Ah, yes, but now they are without Modru's guidance.'
Rynna grinned ruefully. 'That may make them all the more deadly.'
Tipperton sighed and turned up a hand.
Aylissa then said to Aravan, 'My sire and dam oft speak of you and the Eroean. They will be eager for news of you and will want to know what has befallen since last they saw your face centuries agone.'
Aravan nodded, then said, 'I spent a time dwelling in solitude in Darda Erynian along the banks of the Argon. Finally I was ready to be with others, and so I went unto Caer Lindor. There did I stay for uncounted seasons, working at sundry craft-blacksmith, stable hand, scout, cook, horse master, sentry, mason, chandler, weapons master, and many another trade-until came this war and the fortress was betrayed and the walls themselves were cast down.
'Then did I go unto Darda Galion to join with my kindred. We fought before Drimmen-deeve and in the mountains above, and there I became comrade to Galarun. When his sire, Coron Eiron, sent Galarun unto the forges of the Mages, there below Black Mountain in Xian, he asked me if I would go with his son, but I would have gone regardless.'
Aravan's hand strayed to the blue stone at his throat and his eyes glanced at the black-hafted crystal-bladed spear at his side. 'Fraught with danger was our journey, for we were opposed by many. It was as if the foe knew of our mission and sought to bar the way. Yet unto Black Mountain we came at last, fully a quarter of our company slain along the way. Nevertheless, into the black stone of that Wizardholt the Mages asked Galarun to come, but they bade the rest of us to wait, and we know not what transpired within.
'When Galarun emerged, he had the silver sword- named the Dawn Sword-in his grasp. Grim was his face, yet he mounted up and we rode away in silence.
'Westerly we fared, through Xian and Aralan, across Khal to Garia and into Riamon, at times fighting, at times fleeing, for Spaunen lay in wait at every turn, and slowly our ranks dwindled as comrades fell unto the foe.
'I can but hope this battle at Rimmen Gape is the last Modru casts in our way, yet there are many leagues 'tween here and Darda Galion, and I fear there are more battles to come.'
As Aravan fell to silence, Tip glanced afar to where Galarun, the silver sword rigged across his back, stood conferring with one of the Dylvana. 'I say, Aravan, does he use the sword in battle?'
Aravan shook his head. 'Nay, Tipperton. It is meant for another foe altogether.'
'Why is it called the Dawn Sword?' asked Rynna.
'That is what Galarun named it when he bore it forth from the Wizardholt. Yet he does not say why.'
'Hmm,' mused Tip. 'A mystery, that.'
'Even more so,' replied Aravan.
'Oh? What else is there?'
'Galarun does not let any other bear it, nor touch it whatsoever. And he blanched when I said I would carry it should he fall in battle. Yet he disputes me not, for such is mine to do should the need arise, for he has named me second-in-command.'
Rynna nodded and looked at Tipperton, but neither spoke. Finally, Aylissa asked, 'What next, Alor Aravan? Where do you go from here?'
'We are bound for Darda Galion and time flows swiftly, and so we hie for Landover Ford and the wide wold beyond, where we will turn south and ride in haste over the rolling land.'
'But Aravan,' protested Cein, 'there are safer ways to go: through Darda Erynian, for one.'
Aravan nodded. 'Aye, safer ways, but none swifter than that which we plan to take.'
'Why the hurry?' asked Tipperton, though he suspected the answer.
Aravan poked the fire with a stick. 'Nigh four months it took to reach Black Mountain, and nigh that will it be to return, and much can happen and has no doubt happened upon Adonar in the while between. And if this silver sword-this Dawn Sword-is the key to victory, then we must get it there as swiftly as we can, and riding the open wold is that way.'
Silence fell among those at the fire, but finally Aravan turned to Aylissa and said, 'Say this unto thy sire and dam, Aylissa of Darda Erynian: should we meet after the war, long will we talk of things that were, of things that are, and of things yet to be. Say this to them as well: I am pleased that thou art named Aylissa.'
Without another word, Aravan rose and walked away, and all watched him go, Aylissa with tears in her eyes.
Only that day did Galarun and company rest in the safety of Darda Erynian, and the very next morning they prepared to set forth on fresh horses borrowed from the Dylvana. Galarun mounted up, the silver sword scabbarded across his back, and he called out to all: 'We were sent to fetch a sword to be borne unto Adonar, where last we knew war raged. Modru has striven mightily to thwart us from doing so, yet thanks to ye all and the Hidden Ones he has failed once again. Would that we could bide awhile, yet we cannot, for our mission is most urgent. Fare ye well, my friends, and now we must go.'
At a signal from Galarun, Larana sounded her silver trump and, as the argent notes faded into the shadowed galleries of the Great Greenhall, forth spurred Galarun, Aravan at his side, a column of Lian following.
And so, amid shouted farewells and good-byes, Waer-linga, Pyska, Baeron, and Dylvana watched the Silver Sword Company ride westward, angling for the Landover Road. They would follow that route to the ford across the Argon and the wide wold beyond, the river and rolling plain some fifty-five leagues hence, where they would turn for Darda Galion, another eighty leagues south, the only appreciable barrier the Dalgor Fens halfway between.
And as they went from sight, Rynna turned to Tipperton and said, 'Oh, I do hope they have taken the best way.' And then she shuddered, as if the icy breath of the Dark One himself had whispered in her ear.
Chapter 31
A full sevenday after Galarun and Aravan and the remainder of Galarun's company had ridden westerly, the Warrows prepared to depart the campsite and head down along the wold. The Warrows were the last to go, for the Dylvana, Baeron, and Pysks had left days before, the Elves of northern Darda Erynian taking all weary horses with them, for their journey was but a short one. Hence, only Tip, Rynna, Beau, Linnet, Farly, and Nix were left in the camp, and they had waited until the ponies were ready to travel before they set out, for the little steeds had been utterly spent, having trod one hundred forty miles in but two days. The Warrows, too, had been wearied, yet they had recovered first.
But now all were well rested, Warrows and ponies alike, and so south they fared, crossing the Landover Road and passing down through the eastern fringe of Darda Galion, aiming for their camp within the wood nigh Eryn Ford, some hundred fifty miles in all by the route they would take, following along the arc of the forest eave. They set out in a cold winter drizzle, for although it was but mid-November, the chill season itself was upon them more than a month early. And the woods were drear and silent but for the rain falling through brown leaves, carrying them down from the limbs to the ground to add to the humus below. Not voles nor hares nor limb runners nor beasts of any kind did scurry among the trees, nor did birds flit among the branches, for they had long past sensed the onset of winter and had flown away to warmer climes, taking their bright songs with them.
Through the edge of this dismal and stark wood did the Warrows ride, speaking little among themselves, their spirits dampened as well.
Five chill days they rode southerly, the nights frigid in camp, and although they kept watch on the eastern wold as they fared down its west flank, no sign did they see of the Foul Folk, those who had survived.
Late in the eve of the eighteenth of November and through a falling snow, the Warrows came unto the glade where the Eryn Ford watchers encamped. As they dismounted before their bowers, Tynvyr came riding her fox, and
