[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
shrank back from such a view, for the drop was sheer and awesome. Yet Durek
turned and held out his hand, and in spite of his fright, Perry stepped
forward and look it; and strength seemed to flow from Dwarf to Warrow, and
never again was Perry to fear heights.
It was a rare day upon Ravenor, for no storm hammered its peak. The cold thin
air was crystalline, and the endless sky was calm, and a few serene clouds
drifted past. To the north and south the great backbone of the Grimwall
marched off into the distance. The other three peaks of the Quadran Aggarath
and Uchan, south and southeast, and Ghatan, east shouldered up nearby. The
clear-eyed Warrow could see far and away: to Darda Galion and beyond; to the
Great Argon River; even unto the eaves of Darda Erynian. Perry's vision swept
outward, over the southwest borders of Riamon and into the North Reach of
Valon, where perhaps horses thundered across the plains. And it seemed to
Perry as if the very rim of Mithgar itself might be seen from here.
And Durek directed the Warrow's eyes down onto the Pitch, and like tiny
specks, a work crew of Dwarven Folk could be seen fetching water from the
Quadmere. And Durek and Perry looked deeper down into the Quadran, and there
in a great fold of stone on Ghatan's flank stood the Vorvor, a whirling
churning gurge deeply entwined in Dwarven legend: There a secret river burst
forth from the underearth to rage around a great stone basin and plunge down
into the dark again; and a great gaping whirlpool raved endlessly and sucked
at the sky and funneled deep into the black depths below. Dwarves tell that
when the world was young and First .Durek trod its margins, he came unto this
place. And vile tlkhs, shouting in glee, captured him and from a high stone
ledge they flung him into the spin, and the sucking maw drew him down.
According to the legend, none else had e'er survived that fate; yet First
Durek did, though how, it is not said. To the very edge of the Realm of Death,
and perhaps beyond, he was taken, yet Life at last found him on a rocky
150
L McKIERMAM
shore within a vast, undelved, undermountain realm; and First Durek strode
where none else had gone before treading through that Kingdom which was to
become Kraggen-cor. How he came again unto the light of day, it is not told;
yet it said that Daun Gate stands upon the very spot where he walked out
through the mountainside; but how he crossed the Great Deop remains an enigma,
though some believe that he was aided by the Utruni the Stone Giants. And the
enmity with Squam began here too, more deadly than the ravening whirl of the
rearing Vorvor.
Yet none of this legend did Perry and Durek speak upon at length, for the
violence of the Vorvor was remote down within the Quadran; and the distant
whirling waters seemed to twist around in silence, for only a winking glitter
of the far-off wheeling funnel reached up into the lofty aerie.
Durek glanced at the sky, gauging where stood the Sun. "Here, Friend Perry,"
the Dwarf King counseled, "sit here." And he led the Warrow to an unworked
quartzen outcrop, in part naturally shaped much the same as the bench of a
massive throne. "Look east to the peak of Ghatan, just there where the high
cleft and grey crag meet. And wait, for the time is nearly upon us."
And so they waited in silence, Perry's gaze locked upon the place Durek had
directed. Slowly the Sun came unto the zenith, and lo! a circlet of light
bejewelled with five stars sprang forth from deep within the crags. Perry
looked in wonder at the Dwarf King and saw that the studded circlet and stars
on Seventh Durek's armor were arrayed in the same number and fashion as those
reflected from the spire of Ghatan.
"You see before you the Chakkacyth Ryng the Dwar-venkith Ring," declared the
Dwarf, "spangled with a star for each Line of the Chakka Kindred. Ever has the
Ryng lived in our legends. Ever has it signified the unity of our Folk. And I
came to Kraggen-cor to claim the Ryng for myself and my kith. But alas!! did
not know the terrible cost that such a sigil would bear.
"I now feel that I will be the last King of Durek's Folk, and that after me we
shall be no more. Oh, we shall not die, nor leave Mitheor; but instead, I deem
we must come together with others of our Race to merge our blood with theirs,
THE BREGA PATH
151
and the pure line of Durek will vanish. For if we do not meet and merge with
others of our kind, Durek's Folk will fall into weakness and futility; our
losses were staggering, and alone, we who were the mightiest cannot recover.
"Already Chakkadom is spread thinly, and our numbers gradually dwindle, for we
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]