The Rucks quailed back, but the Hlok snarled, "Ptang glush! Sklurr!" and cracked the thongs of a cat-of-tails. Most of the Rucks leapt forward in pursuit, but the Hlok shouted more orders, and ten of the maggot-folk stayed behind while the leader sprang after the others, torches pursuing lanterns. Soon the sound of the chase was remote, and the notch-warding Rucks fell to squabbling among themselves.
Perry was dismayed. This is awful, he thought. They've left behind a rear guard, to the ruin of our plan, Now we can't get through. Oh, why did this have to happen? Hey! that's a fair question. Why would a rear guard be left behind? Are they waiting for something? If so, what?
As Perry pondered the questions, he glimpsed Anval behind the other boulder; and the Dwarf made shushing, stay-where-you-are hand signals at the Warrow. Perry nodded his
understanding and leaned back against the stone wall behind, waiting.
An hour went by, men another, and another. Perry cautiously shifted about uncomfortably; it seemed, no matter where he moved, there was always a rock or a hump or a lump in the wrong place, and it ground into his back or thigh or seat. He wondered what AnvaTs plan was, and then he could see that the Rucks were nodding off, one by one. How did Anval know that they would sleep? Perry wondered; then: Perhaps it is the nature of the maggot-folk to shirk duty at every opportunity.
In another hour all the Rucks were asleep, including the one who was supposed to be standing guard.
Anval cautiously signalled Perry, Go quietly-and they slowly and soundlessly crept from behind their boulders as Bonn silently descended from the ledge. Both Dwarves held their axes in readiness, and Perry unsheathed blazing Bane. On tiptoe they threaded their way among the sleeping Spawn. As they passed the guard, Bonn's foot rolled a pebble that went clattering toward a crevice in the floor, sounding to Perry as loud as thunder itself. The three froze, and Perry held Bane ready to slay the slumbering watch, the sword point poised steadily over the Ruck's heart. Restlessly, the sleeping guard moaned and shifted his weight, while the pebble rattled to a stop down in the crack to leave silence behind, broken only by the snoring of the maggot-folk. None of the Rucks awakened, and the Dwarves and the Warrow passed into the cleft.
As they emerged into the Bottom Chamber, Perry sheathed Bane's light and led the way toward the arch over the stream. Swiftly they crossed the floor, passing over the bridge and beyond the running water. But before they could reach the west corridor, they saw light coming down the passageway toward them.
Quickly the trio dived behind a low parapet of delved stone off to one side. A large company of Spawn loped into the Chamber. This is why ten Rucks were left behind: to meet this gang, thought Perry, and he watched them lope to the center of the Chamber and halt. "We got out just in time," the Warrow breathed to Bonn. "They've got the way we came stopped up like a cork in a bottle."
As the three looked on, several of the notch-warding Rucks trotted out of the crevice and spoke with the newly arrived Hlok leader, but Perry and the Dwarves were too far away to hear what was being said. To the dismay of the three, however, the Hlok snarled orders, and Rucks jumped up and ran to guard each of the entrances and exits of the Bottom Chamber, including the west portal. Then runners were dispatched: one east, one west, and one south. "He sends messages to other Hroken leaders," hissed Anval. "No doubt, Gnar also will be informed as to the 'intruders' in this part of the caverns. Kruk! This will make it even more difficult for us to reach the Dusken Door."
"How do we get past the guard at the west corridor without raising the alarm?" whispered Perry. Bonn touched his finger to his lips for quiet, and silently crawled off into the dimness.
Perry and Anval watched the guard slouching against the wall beneath a torch lodged in an ancient lantern bracket on the delved wall, a bracket put there in elden times by the Dwarves. Minutes fled by and nothing happened. As the two watched, time seemed to stretch out endlessly, and the Warrow could see no sign of Bonn. Still they waited. Suddenly it seemed as if one of the shadows behind the guard detached itself from the wall and soundlessly engulfed the Ruck. Perry heard a quiet thump, and then Anval was pulling on the Warrow's arm and hissing, "Now!"
Swiftly they flitted along the wall and into the corridor; Borin carried the dead Ruck over one shoulder, and hid the body at the first wall crevice. The three then fled down the passageway. Behind them, all was still; their escape had not been noted.
The next four miles was a nightmare of hide and run. Repeatedly, the companions dived into crevices, notches, and side passages, to remain hidden as Hloks and Rucks came loping eastward. Many small squads and large companies passed by. Perry guessed-rightly-that the news of a few "intruders" had spread, and the Spawn were flocking to the sport of hunt and slaughter.
At last the threesome approached a room called the Oval Chamber in the Brega Scroll. Once more the trio found the way blocked by maggotfolk, but Anva! motioned, Follow me, and taking an enormous gamble they began crawling from shadow to shadow along the north wall.
At times they lay without moving for long minutes as one or more Rucks in the chamber came near. At other times they crawled swiftly from rock to pillar to crevice, only to find that again they had to remain motionless in the darkness with Spawn barring the way. Finally they came to the passage leading on toward Dusk-Door, and after a long wait they managed to slip out of the chamber and into the corridor.
Though they met no maggot-folk, the three found the next few miles arduous, for there were cracks in the floor that yawned unexpectedly. Yet, one crevice that they came to was foreknown to Perry, and dreaded by him: it was the Drawing Dark, so named because of the awful sucking sound that could be heard in its lost depths, thought by the Deevewalkers to be a slurking whirl of water in an underground river at the bottom of the crack; but to Perry this explanation was of no comfort, for it sounded as if something below were alive and questing for victims.
Although Perry had been expecting this rent-for it had been mentioned both in The Raven Book and in the Brega Scroll-still he found it difficult to summon up the courage to leap it, for it was fully eight feet across, and he could not banish the specter of being sucked down into the deep crack, drawn down into an unseen maw ravening in the black depths. But at last he took three running steps and sprang with all his might and cleared it by a good three feet.
The trio pressed on for the Long Hall, and as they neared it. Bane's fire grew. Soon Perry sheathed the sword, for its flame was bright. Yet when they came to the chamber, they could see neither torchlight nor Spaunen. "Let us cross the floor quickly, before the Rucks arrive and block our way again," urged Perry, and they started across the Hall.
As they reached midchamber they heard shouts and snarls, and looked around to see a company of maggot-folk issue out of a corridor behind them. The trio had been detected!
"Fly!" cried Perry, and the three ran toward the west corridor; but as they approached they could see light reflected around a bend moving swiftly toward them from the passage ahead- Perry darted a look over his shoulder: the other exits were already cut off by the howling Spawn closing behind. Trapped!
At a glance, Anval took in the situation. "The force before us is as yet unaware of us, and there may be only a few. Let us charge through if we can. If not, then we will slay many before we fall."
Borin brandished his axe. "Chdkka shok! Chdkka cor!" he cried. Anval, too, gripped his double-bitted weapon and vented the ancient battle cry. Perry whipped out flaming Bane, determined to sell his life dearly.
Forward they charged, running toward the oncoming force. Behind them the yawling Rucks pursued, weapons and armor clattering, boots slapping against stone. Ahead and toward them came the others, suddenly rounding a corner and bursting into view. And Perry's racing heart leapt to his throat, and he gave a great shout, for at the forefront of the oncoming force ran a small form in golden armor with a bright sword. It was Cotton! And Durek! And Rand! And four thousand others! The Dwarf Army was within the Halls of Kraggen-cor!