closed and the room plunged into darkness. All weapons save Bane were drawn and readied. They could now see the torchlight flickering up the passage and through the broken door.
Tramp! Tramp! The Spawn came onward.
Perry's heart thudded, and he grasped Bane's hilt, preparing to draw the blade should the maggot-folk come through the door.
Tramp! Tramp! They were now close enough for the Seven to hear the snarling and cursing in the Rucken ranks.
Tramp! Tramp! Perry steeled himself.
And then the Spaunen marched by the door and headed on up the passage.
Perry discovered that he had been holding his breath, and he let it out in a sigh of relief. But in alarm he immediately
caught it again as from the corridor there came a great cursing and shouting: the Rucken band going up the passage had met the band coming down, and they jostled and jolted and elbowed one another as they passed. Then the second band, still grumbling, marched past the room where the Seven were hiding.
When the tramp of Spaunen boot became but a faint echo, Perry slid shakily down the wall and sat on the floor. That had been entirely too close. They had narrowly escaped being caught between Rucken forces, and their mission had nearly ended after it had just begun. Perry's hands trembled and his breath seemed to whistle hoarsely in and out of his throat. But none of the others said anything and did not seem to notice.
Soon Delk cracked die hood of his lantern, and a faint glow lit up the ruined room. They sat awhile without speaking.
Perry was taking a careful sip of water when he noted a portion of a dark rune-mark on the side wall, hidden by rubble. Picking up the lantern, he stepped over to look at the ebon glyph. It was neither Common nor Elvish but, rather, it was Dwarvish. The buccan pushed some of the shattered rubble away from the top of the pile, revealing the whole of the runes written in some black ichor, now dried: TPVB2I
Perry looked on for a moment, puzzled. These glyphs were familiar. They were in The Raven Book somewhere. The Warrow frowned in concentration. It was… it was… 'Hoy!' Perry exclaimed, 'This is Braggi's Rune! I know where we are!'
CHAPTER 2
Perry's announcement brought Lord Kian to his feet. The Man stepped to the wall and took a. Brega-Path map from his jerkin and spread it on the floor before the Warrow. 'Where?' asked Kian. Perry squatted and adjusted the lantern to illuminate the chart as all the comrades gathered 'round.
'Right here!' proclaimed the buccan jubilantly, stabbing his forefinger to the map. 'This room is the Hall of,the Gravenarch, Braggi's Stand. See? Here is Braggi's Rune.' Perry touched a glyph on the wall beside him, then gestured about. 'And this rubble around us, it is where the ceiling collapsed when Brega broke the keystone.' Perry peered through the dimness at what could be seen of the extent of the room. 'Somewhere should be sign of Braggi's ancient battle: broken weapons, shattered armor, the long-dead remains of the combatants; but I guess it is now buried 'neath the fallen rock.'
The Warrow looked 'round at the faces of the other members of the company, eerily shadowed by the lantern on the floor. 'Yonder, under that wreckage, lies the eastern hall-door,' he continued, 'and beyond it lie the blocked stairs where we were turned aside by the fallen stone. We've come a long way to be standing only a couple-hundred paces from where we started.'
'Aye. I knew we had come nearly full circle,' grunted Delk, and Anval and Bonn nodded silently in agreement, 'but the foul Squam drew my attention elsewhere.'
'Since now you know where we stand, Perry, it must mean we can set forth,' growled Borin.
'Yes,' replied Perry, 'for here we are past all the fallen 28
rock, and once more we are upon the Brega Path. Our way to Dusk-Door lies there.' Perry pointed to the broken portal and through to the hallway they had fled.
In two strides Ursor stepped to the door and cautiously looked out into the corridor, then turned to the comrades. 'The way is clear,' he rumbled.
'Then let us go forth at once,' urged Lord Kian. 'Crossing the Great Deep, finding our way lo this Rise, and eluding the Yrm has caused great delay, precious time we can ill afford.'
The Seven stepped out through the portal and look the left-hand, way, travelling the Brega Path in reverse. Swiftly they went south through the passage and soon came to the Great Chamber, a huge room in the Drimmeh- deeve. They peered put of the corridor and into the vast delving. No Rucken torchlight was seen; the chamber was dark and empty. 'To the right,' whispered Perry, 'across the wide floor and out the passage at the west end, nearly one-half mile away.' ~~ In haste they sped across the stone floor to the far west end and sallied into the passageway there-and none too soon, for as they entered the shaft, Shannon, bringing up the rear, again whispered, 'Hsst! The lanterns.' The lamps were quickly shuttered. As the companions stood in blackness, far behind them in the huge chamber a Rupt company bearing burning brands marched out of the south corridor, across the wide floor, and entered the north passage. When the torchlight disappeared, the Seven resumed their trek.
The corridor gently sloped downward as they went. The 'way before them was broad and swift, and there were no side passages. Perry knew that this would be one of the most dangerous traverses along the Brega Path: over the next Five miles this passage had no side corridors to bolt into should Spawn come. But in this passage Perry unsheathed his Elven sword. 'Here 1 will carry Bane in the open,' the Warrow declared, 'to warn of approaching maggot-folk if its blaze grows.' The blade-jewel flickered a faint blue, telling of distant danger. And the companions strode on.
Quickly they marched, and the road gently curved right and left and right again as they walked downward. They trod between vertical walls beneath an arched roof. Occasionally they saw runes carved along the passageway but took no time to examine the glyphs for their message. Again the corridor curved left. As Delk had informed Perry some time back, Dwarves often shaped a natural passage into a delved road, and this ^corridor with its many gentle curves seemed to be one of those. Brega had called this path the Upward Way, but of course to the Seven it was a downward way, for Brega had gone in the opposite direction.
At last they came to another huge cavern. 'This is the Rest Chamber, so named by Brega because of the stone blocks like seats scattered across the floor,' said Perry, pointing at one of the square-cut giant stones. 'Yet I think we should not pause here, for our goal is distant and our need to press on is urgent. Yon lies our course: to the west side and out we go. Ahead, about seven miles hence, is a chamber where we may rest.'
Again they resumed the trek, and soon passed out of the room and back into a corridor. Perry spoke once more: 'From here on we will have side fissures and passageways to hide in should Spaunen come; but by the same token, there are more places from which maggot-folk might fall upon us. So stay ready.' Bane's rune-jewel still flickered faintly, but the danger was too distant to concern them, and they marched secure in that knowledge.
This time the corridor was less delved, more like a natural cavern: though the floor was smooth, the walls and ceiling were but lightly worked by Dwarf tool and had a rough look. The broad shaft continued to wind downward, and there were many lateral splits cleaving off into the darkness.
They marched down to the west for nearly three more hours, coming at last to the chamber foretold of by Perry. 'Brega called this the Broad Hall,' stated the Warrow, 'but I say iit is a dining hall, for I am hungry-and weary. Lord Kian, I suggest we eat and rest. It has been a long day, though I don't know exactly how far we've come nor what time it is.'
'We have walked nearly sixteen miles in the caverns,' declared Delk, 'fourteen on the Brega Path and two to bypass the fallen stone at the Hall of the Gravenarch.' Anval and Bonn nodded their agreement, for the distances and directions were emblazoned in their Dwarf memories.
'Though I am not certain,' rumbled Ursor, 'I think the day outside has fled, and the Moon rides the
