cor; our goal is to reach the Dusken Door and set it right.''
'Well, we've got to get out of here,' responded Perry. 'The Spawn will be upon us shortly.'
'I judge they are only about an hour or so behind us in that hard passage,' said Shannon. 'In the meanwhile, I urge that we look for another hidden door. The secret way at the Lost Prison opened onto this passage, and so there must be another door in and out of this cave.'
'But mat hidden door could be anywhere over the miles we just travelled!' cried Perry. 'There's no reason to believe mat it's here, near mis dead end. Besides, we don't even know what we are looking for: it could be another slot for a west-pick, like Bane, or a stone that gets pressed, or a special word that must be said, a glamoured key, or a hundred other things. And our Gatemaster is dead.'
'But we must try, Friend Perry,' insisted the Elf softly, 'we must try.'
'Oh, Vanidar Silverleaf, you are right, of course,' admitted the Warrow, abashed at his own behavior. 'I am just bitterly disappointed at this setback.'
'So are we all,' said Lord Kian. Above the gurge of the river came another faint horn sound. 'Ursor, can you swim? Good. Doff your clothes and cross the river with me, and we will search the far wall for slots, runes, hidden levers, and other such devices. Anval, Shannon, take the right-hand wall. Borin, Perry, search the left side. Let us see if we can locate a way out.'
Long and hard they searched by lantern light. Anval and Shannon found only one strange-looking rock, which, when they twisted it, merely came loose from the wall. Borin and Perry ranged along the left side, and Bane was thrust into several crevices to no avail. Kian and Ursor disrobed, then cast a grappling hook to the opposite bank of the river; it caught between two rocks, and when they tugged, it remained well anchored; after tying the line to a boulder on the near shore, they pulled themselves across the swift current and over to the far bank. But after a careful search, the sheer end-wall proved to be a blank. All the while the Squad looked, the Rucken horn sounded closer and closer. Finally the comrades also examined the rough floor of the cavern for sign of an exit from the cave; but that, too, proved fruitless. 'We must have passed it,' called Kian from the far bank, waving a hand toward the Gargon's Lair as he prepared to cross back over.
The Squad came back together on the bank of the river, Ursor coming last, casting loose the grapnel and grasping the boulder-tied rope to ride the swift current and swing to the near shore. The Rucken horn echoed again, and Bane blazed fiery blue. 'We'll make our last stand there,' decided Lord Kian as the Baeran came out of the water and into the group; Kian pointed at a high ledge running athwart the cavern. 'That stone wall will be our rampart, and we will give good account of ourselves before their very numbers overcome us.'
'Sire,' spoke up Ursor, 'there is but one other thing I'd like to try first. If I fail, it may mean you will be without my strength in the final battle. But if I succeed, then we will yet escape the Spawn.'
'Escape?' exploded Perry in astonishment. 'How can we escape? There is no way out!'
'There may be one, little friend,' answered Ursor. 'The river. As I was crossing back over I was swept toward the left wall, and I wondered where the river goes on the other side of it, if indeed there is another side; it occurred to me that the river may run into another cavern.'
'It may,' rumbled Anval, 'but then again it may not, and you may drown finding out.''
'He also may succeed,' countered Bonn.
The Rucken horn blatted again, and Kian looked back the way they had come. 'The gamble is worth the risk,' he said after a short moment. 'Our mission is to reach Dusk-Door, not to engage Yrm. If Ursor does not try, we will die fighting Spaunen. If he tries and fails, again we will perish. But if he succeeds, then we will go on. Yet hurry, for not much time remains.'
Their longest line was swiftly fixed to Ursor's waist, and he took a Dwarf-lantern for light, for they are unaffected by water. 'Let Wee Perry›count one hundred heartbeats,' Ursor instructed, 'then pull me back.'
'But my heart is racing,' protested Perry as the Rucken horn sounded again. 'One hundred frightened- Warrow heartbeats will take but a moment. Let Shannon count instead.'
Shannon nodded; and after four deep breaths, the giant Man ducked under, the lantern around his neck casting a rippling glow through the crystal-clear water as his powerful strokes and the current carried him under the wall. The others watched the glow recede and payed out the line. In spite of the fact that Shannon was counting, Perry also kept track of his own racing heart. The Warrow's count was nearing two hundred and Perry was feeling frantic when Shannon called, 'Time!' and they began hauling in the rope.
At last the glow of light appeared and became brighter as they pulled strongly, and then Ursor emerged from beneath the wall and surfaced, blowing and gasping. 'Nothing,' he panted after a bit, 'not even an air pocket.'
Perry's hopes were dashed, but then Ursor spoke: 'I'll try the opposite side.'
The echo of a Rucken horn sounded down the cavern.
'They come,' gritted Kian.
The giant moved to the upstream wall and again entered the water. Once more the Baeran breathed deeply, and on the fourth breath he dived under and swam now against the strong current and slowly passed out of sight beneath the wall. Again Perry's racing heart passed the count of two hundred, and once more the blat of Rucken horn clamored along rock walls. The raucous blare was much closer, and Bonn ran to the rampart and looked down the length of the dark tunnel. 'Their torchlight is faint but growing swiftly,' he called back. 'They will overtop this ledge in less than a quarter hour.'
Lord Kian, who was tending Ursor's line, announced, 'He's taking no more rope. He's stopped.'
A moment iater, Shannon called, 'Time!' and Anval and Kian hauled on the line.
'It will not budge!' shouted the Dwarf. 'He must be caught on something!'
Shannon and Perry sprang to the line and pulled also, but still it would not haul in. 'We've got to do something!' cried Perry. 'He'li drown!' But the rope stubbornly refused to be drawn in and only grew iron-rod taut under the strain.
Then Shannon cried, 'Look! A light!'
And a faint glimmer appeared in the water and swiftly grew to a bright glow, and then Ursor came under the wall and burst to the surface. 'It's there. Another cavern,' he gasped. 'I tied the line to a boulder. We can use it to hale ourselves against the swift current.'
'Quickly!' cried Kian, beginning to don his clothes in haste and motioning Ursor to do likewise. 'Shannon, you go first. Perry, you second. Then Anval and Borin. Pull yourselves hard hand over hand along the line. Leave your packs, but carry your weapons, and wear your armor. Don't let go of the rope. Here, Shannon, carry this lamp at your waist. Go now, swiftly. The Spawn draw near.' As if to spur them on, a discordant bugle blatted loudly.
Shannon hurriedly tied the lantern to his waist and entered the flow. He took a deep breath and disappeared under the wall. Perry was frightened, but he knew he had to move quickly or all would die. His thoughts had returned to the
terror-fraught time he tumbled helplessly under the floodwa-ters at Arden. Oh! he did not want to go into the rush; but in spite of his fear, he plucked up his courage and entered the underground river. The water was icy, and he gasped in the coldness. He grasped the rope and took four deep breaths as he had seen Ursor do, and on the fourth one he plunged beneath the surface, his eyes tightly shut. The last thing he heard as he went under was a loud horncall.
Hand over hand the Warrow desperately hauled himself; and he gripped to the limit of his strength, for he knew that if he let go of the line he would be swept to his doom under the opposite wall. The current was swift and buffeted him. Bane slapped against his legs, and his armor for the first time felt heavy. Hand over hand he pulled, and he needed air. Oh, don't let me breathe water again, he thought in dread, and hauled with all his might. Just as he was certain his lungs would burst, his head broke through the surface, and he explosively gulped sweet breaths of air and opened his eyes for the first time since starting.
By the light of Shannon's lantern the buccan could see the Elf reaching out to help him, and he took Silverleaf s hand and stumbled up to the shore in the cave. No sooner had he reached the bank than Anval and then Borin came. After a moment, giant Ursor surfaced, closely followed by Lord Kian. As soon as Kian reached the bank he called to the company to reel in the line, and tied to the end were knapsacks and lanterns.
'Well,' declared Kian, 'that'll give the Spaunen a riddle to read. Let us hope they believe we went through another secret door.'
The companions stripped off their sodden clothes and searched through their packs for drier garments.
