"Running for the ford, I shouldn't wonder," opined another, lifting her mug.
Tip shoved away his empty wooden bowl, the stew having gone down well. As he took up a chunk of bread, Bekki said, "The ford?"
"Aye, over the Argon, west and north a deal."
"More west than north," amended another.
Bekki glanced at Tip, then said, "The ford a bit west of Nordlake?"
"Aye," came the response.
"If that's where you are headed," added the innkeeper, "then I'd advise not. But if you are bound to go regardless, then watch your necks."
A murmur of agreement muttered 'round the room.
"And if it's to Nordlake you be bound, watch out for the Vattenvidunder," cautioned another.
This brought derisive laughter from some and wide-eyed agreement from others.
Tip frowned. "What is this, um, Vatten-?"
"Vattenvidunder," said the innkeeper, refreshing Tip's mug of ale, then Bekki's. The 'keep cocked an eyebrow at several in the crowd, and added, "A water monster which some believe lives in Nordlake."
"He does! He does!" averred the one who had first spoken the name. "He comes up the Argon from the sea now and again and into Nordlake. Why? For what? Who knows?"
"Oh, Norge," pooh-poohed someone in the crowd, "and just how does he get past the shallows of the fords?"
"He comes and goes in flood times," huffed Norge.
Tip shook his head. "Beg pardon, Goodmaster Norge, but flood or no, a creature coming up the Argon from the sea would have to swim over Bellon Falls, and that's a thousand-foot-high cataract. I know, for I have seen it."
"Wull, then he swims around it."
Again Tip shook his head. "I'm sorry, but there are no rivers 'round."
This brought a laugh from several in the crowd, and someone called out, "See!"
Norge frowned and jutted out his jaw. "Wull, whether or no he comes from the sea, still there's a Vattenvidunder in Nordlake, for my da, ere he died, bless his spirit, saw it."
"Or so he said," called out someone, laughing as he did so.
Norge leapt to his feet, fists clenched, but Tip called out, "A song. I'll play a song." And he reached for his silver-stringed lute as a cheer greeted his words.
A glare in his eyes, Norge sat back down, and thus was a fight averted.
The next morning, stone dust yet drifted down from the grey sky above. The wagon drivers and guards decided to wait another day or so, but Bekki and Tip rode onward, for the moon did not tarry in its path, nor would golden mint pause in its growth, though what this falling grey might do to the gwynthyme, neither Tip nor Bekki could say.
"Rupt and water monsters and falling rock dust," said Tip as they left the bounds of Gronkulle. "I wonder what else lies in our path."
"Dust, yes; Squam, perhaps; but Vattenvidunder? I think not," said Bekki.
"Oh? And why not the Vatten-, uh, Vatten-"
"Vidunder," completed Bekki. "I think not because I have been to Nordlake, and no monster did I see."
"Oh. -Well I've never seen a Stone Giant, yet you tell me they are real."
"Ah, but, Tipperton, you have never spent most of your life under the living stone, as have I."
"And, Bekki, you have never spent most of your life along the shores of Nordlake."
"True," admitted Bekki.
"Well then?"
Beneath his face covering, Bekki frowned but held his tongue.
They rode awhile in silence, but then Tip said, "Have you seen a Stone Giant?"
Bekki shook his head, dust drifting off his cloak hood. "Nay."
"Oh," said Tip, disappointed. "I was just wondering what they did. I mean, I've heard some of the legends-how they can move through stone, how they have real gemstones for eyes-but I've never heard of their purpose. I mean, why are there Stone Giants?"
Bekki laughed. "Ah, my friend, let me ask you this: why are there Waerans?"
Now Tip laughed under his protective covering. "Unh, I see what you mean."
They rode a bit farther and came to a stream, the water silted grey. Under an oak, Bekki found a pool, and 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.