queen of love with whom you dabbled and dallied?”
A silence. “Eh, she was.”
“Be that why the king do hate thee?”
A growl. “She said he never knew.”
“Then why
do
he hate thee?”
A grunt. “Has thee forgot my tale of how he and me vowed a compact and at the end stood face to face to fight for treasure and for life, winner take all?”
“No, I remember that.”
A cough. A second, longer, deeper cough. A gasp. “I won. He lay at my feet. He groveled and gibbered. I raised him up, gave him half the plunder and I spared his life. That is why. For this he cannot forgive me.”
• • •
In the darkness he heard droning of dry and dusty voices and he knew it was the wizards that he heard. He heard them droning as though ineffably bored and weary, as though repeating over and over to themselves, lest they forget, forcing their dust-choked voices and thinking with dust-choked minds, at a great distance away, repeating something of great importance which must not be forgotten —
The Bear dies, iron dies. The Bear dies, iron dies. As the Bear comes to life, so must iron come to life. As the Bear comes to life, so must iron come to life
. A pause, a faint gasp, the click of voices in dry, dusty throats. And again and again the droning recommenced.
The Bear sleeps in the ground, so must iron sleep in the ground. As the Bear sleeps its death-sleep-life, so must iron …
The Bear dies, iron dies …
Endlessly he heard this. The sound ebbed and faded away as he felt himself gently rocked.
“What?”
“Bear’s boy, it be time.”
Time for iron, time for … But the droning voices were away and gone. Had he heard them echoing thinly in a cavern somewhere? Or was it only the familiar echo of the nain voices in the mine? Confused, already forgetting, he got up.
Still half-asleep he followed, sometimes stumbling, as the men filed from their sleeping-cell into unguarded tunnels. In the Doe-Hare’s Den he saw the now familiar sight of and heard the now familiar sounds of debris and detritus being shoveled and scraped into the carrying-skins. But while this still went on he heard those who watched and who waited discussing whither they should go when they had made their escape from the mines: and should they go in one body for defense, or should they split up and make their several — or it might be their many — ways, in order to divide and so to weaken their pursuers.
He did not hear if an answer had been concluded, let alone what it was, for Aar-heved-heved-aar took hold of him and said, “Bear’s boy, ‘tis thought they have broken through up ahead. Get thee up then, for thee be but small as compare to us and maybe can find out — ”
The senior nain did not finish his phrase, but propelled Arnten forward, saying, “Up, then, and up and up.”
Though so much diminished, still the pile was high and required climbing. He half scuttled and he half slid as he set to climbing. And he had somehow a fear that, though he went on his way slow enough, still, he might strike his head there in the darkness; and from this fear he went slower. And every few paces he paused and thrust his hands forward.
And by and by he felt his hand as it scraped the face of the cavern suddenly fall through into nothingness, and he fell forward a bit and he grunted rather than cried out. And ahead of him, where yet he could not see, ahead of him in the black, black, blackness, something moved which was even blacker (though how he knew this he did not know). Something made a sudden movement and a sudden noise and he had the impression that something had been waiting and hearkening, listening very closely, he had an impression of a head cocked to one side —
And before he himself could do more, the sound from the other side of the hole ceased to be startled, flurried, resolved itself into the flap of wings in the darkness.
And he and all of them heard the sudden sharp cry of a crow. And again, farther away. And once more,
A silence. “Eh, she was.”
“Be that why the king do hate thee?”
A growl. “She said he never knew.”
“Then why
do
he hate thee?”
A grunt. “Has thee forgot my tale of how he and me vowed a compact and at the end stood face to face to fight for treasure and for life, winner take all?”
“No, I remember that.”
A cough. A second, longer, deeper cough. A gasp. “I won. He lay at my feet. He groveled and gibbered. I raised him up, gave him half the plunder and I spared his life. That is why. For this he cannot forgive me.”
• • •
In the darkness he heard droning of dry and dusty voices and he knew it was the wizards that he heard. He heard them droning as though ineffably bored and weary, as though repeating over and over to themselves, lest they forget, forcing their dust-choked voices and thinking with dust-choked minds, at a great distance away, repeating something of great importance which must not be forgotten —
The Bear dies, iron dies. The Bear dies, iron dies. As the Bear comes to life, so must iron come to life. As the Bear comes to life, so must iron come to life
. A pause, a faint gasp, the click of voices in dry, dusty throats. And again and again the droning recommenced.
The Bear sleeps in the ground, so must iron sleep in the ground. As the Bear sleeps its death-sleep-life, so must iron …
The Bear dies, iron dies …
Endlessly he heard this. The sound ebbed and faded away as he felt himself gently rocked.
“What?”
“Bear’s boy, it be time.”
Time for iron, time for … But the droning voices were away and gone. Had he heard them echoing thinly in a cavern somewhere? Or was it only the familiar echo of the nain voices in the mine? Confused, already forgetting, he got up.
Still half-asleep he followed, sometimes stumbling, as the men filed from their sleeping-cell into unguarded tunnels. In the Doe-Hare’s Den he saw the now familiar sight of and heard the now familiar sounds of debris and detritus being shoveled and scraped into the carrying-skins. But while this still went on he heard those who watched and who waited discussing whither they should go when they had made their escape from the mines: and should they go in one body for defense, or should they split up and make their several — or it might be their many — ways, in order to divide and so to weaken their pursuers.
He did not hear if an answer had been concluded, let alone what it was, for Aar-heved-heved-aar took hold of him and said, “Bear’s boy, ‘tis thought they have broken through up ahead. Get thee up then, for thee be but small as compare to us and maybe can find out — ”
The senior nain did not finish his phrase, but propelled Arnten forward, saying, “Up, then, and up and up.”
Though so much diminished, still the pile was high and required climbing. He half scuttled and he half slid as he set to climbing. And he had somehow a fear that, though he went on his way slow enough, still, he might strike his head there in the darkness; and from this fear he went slower. And every few paces he paused and thrust his hands forward.
And by and by he felt his hand as it scraped the face of the cavern suddenly fall through into nothingness, and he fell forward a bit and he grunted rather than cried out. And ahead of him, where yet he could not see, ahead of him in the black, black, blackness, something moved which was even blacker (though how he knew this he did not know). Something made a sudden movement and a sudden noise and he had the impression that something had been waiting and hearkening, listening very closely, he had an impression of a head cocked to one side —
And before he himself could do more, the sound from the other side of the hole ceased to be startled, flurried, resolved itself into the flap of wings in the darkness.
And he and all of them heard the sudden sharp cry of a crow. And again, farther away. And once more,
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