Weeping for Elyn, Thork turned and went back the way they had come. Orth followed, sealing the passage shut behind.
The other three Utruni were named Hundar, Brelk, and Chale, and when introduced to Thork, spoke in a tongue most peculiar, like rocks sliding one upon the other. Brelk was the largest, towering some sixteen feet, Chale and Hundar standing twelve and fifteen feet respectively, Orth’s height falling in between these two. It was at this time Thork was told that these three be male Utruni, whereas Orth was female, yet this but barely registered upon Thork’s consciousness, for he was deep within his grief. Even had he been interested, Thork still could not have told the distinction; in shape, the Utruni were but little different from one to another, except for height, and there seemed to be no sex about them. Yet that is not to say that they were alike in all particulars, for there were the differences in skin color and in the set of their bodies, and the casting of their eye gems also set them apart-sapphire for Orth, ruby for Hundar and Chale, emerald for Brelk.
Orth was the only one who spoke Common, saying, “Ae wast one of mine Folk taught by Wizard Farrin, long apast, for there wast great need in that hindward time. And when the signals camest of the rescue of the Kammerling, ae wast called forth for ae couldst yet putteth tongue to the ancient speech.”
At these words, Thork spoke for the first time since his return from the surface: “Aye, we rescued the Kammerling,” said Thork. “But from what you have told me, I deem it be now destroyed, plunged into the deep fire below Dragonslair where nought may survive but melted stone.”
“Nay, Friend Thork,” responded Orth, her gaze again turning north and downward, and Thork knew that she was peering through solid stone at something far below in the belly of the firemountain. “Nay, the Kammerling yet existeth, and lieth deep within the melt. It be safe, for not even the fire of Dragonslair couldst melt away Adon’s Hammer. We wilt retrieveth it upon a time, when the stone doth cool sommat. Till then, it be protected from all, better than wert it within our very halls.”
The Utruni conferred among themselves. Orth at last speaking to Thork: “Thou art injured, that much canst we say, and thou must be taken to a healer among thy surface dwellers and be tended unto.”
“Not until Elyn. .” Thork could say no more, but Orth understood.
Hours passed, and the spasms of the shuddering earth changed in a subtle fashion noted by the Giants. Brelk and Chale and Hundar disappeared into the stone, leaving Orth behind with the sleeping Dwarf, tossing and moaning in his dark dreams.
When they awakened him, they led him up through the stone, fissuring it as they went, up to the very peak of the mountain. It was night when they emerged from the scissured rock, yet no Moon or stars could be seen, for Dragonslair lay off to the north, belching fire and fumes and thundering in anger, flowing incandescent magma coloring the roiling underbelly of the black smoke-laden dust-filled sky a bloody red. And sheet lightning stuttered in the distance, ruddy light chattering across the boiling reek.
On the summit where they had emerged, the crest was flat, made level by the Stone Giants. And thereupon lay wood for a great funeral pyre, pine gathered from below the pumice by the Utruni. Among the slain trees they had searched diligently, and had stripped limbs that were yet laden with needles, and they had washed them and had made of them a bed. And in the midst of the soft boughs lay Elyn, her weapons arrayed beside her, her black-oxen horn as well.
Thork approached and climbed up unto her side and knelt, and he took her hand and held it to his cheek, seeing past the burnt thing before him, seeing instead a copper-haired, green-eyed Warrior Maiden of infinite grace and beauty. Long did he kneel and whisper to her, but what he said is not known.
At last he clambered down from the stack, and behind him, Chale clasped burning brands in his great hands. The Utrun held a torch out to the Dwarf, and Thork took it and placed it among the kindling at the base of the pyre. Another and another were thrust into the wood, Thork and Chale stepping about the pile, the Giant handing the warrior each torch until there were no more. And the fire blazed up into the night, flames roaring skyward. The Utruni withdrew to a respectful distance-north, south, east, and west: each of the cardinal points-sapphire, ruby, and emerald eyes warding both the Dwarf and the one he mourned. And Thork cast his hood o’er his head, and the mountains rang with his cries, a grief so deep and desolate that not even the roar of Dragonslair could still.
And there upon a crest deep within the Grimwalls, midst stone and fire and thunder, was held the deathwatch of Elyn of Jord, while the earth below shuddered and the skies above ran red.
“Brelk wilt remain to watcheth the Kammerling and be on hand shouldst something unexpected befall, though ae deem none couldst steal it from the caldera-not even Folk such as we of the deep-for at this time the melt wardeth better than aught else.
“Hundar and Chale wilt go with us, for within the stone, travel be faster in doublets and trines. Ae wilt beareth thee, else we be slowed.”
“I have ponies-” Thork started to say. .
— Nay! My ponies be dead. As is Elyn.
“Friend, we must beareth thee,” said Orth, “for nought surviveth above; there be no water, no food, nought alive, only death and destruction, only ash too deep for thy stature.”
Again, images of Hèl arose in Thork’s mind, and visions of the victims of Dragonslair; and he broke into tears at the vision of one.
And so, with Hundar in the lead, splitting open the way before them, and Chale following, sealing it after, Orth bearing Thork in her arms, his shield upon her back, the four set off southwesterly, travelling through the deep stone below the Grimwall Mountains, below the lifeless land above, aiming for a place where Thork could get aid from a healer to treat his burns.
While behind, Brelk, watching over the Kammerling, hammered upon root stone, signalling out to others afar, speaking of the events that had passed that day.
Swiftly they went, travelling in total darkness, moving through solid rock, splitting it before then healing it after, the way made possible by the strange power the Utruni held over stone.
At times they stopped and took sustenance, feeding upon great mushrooms found deep within phosphorescent caverns below. Too, the moss that glowed was nourishing as well, and water was plentiful. These things Thork had seen before, for Dwarves often cultivated such as food.
It was during rest within one of these glowing caves that Thork at last began to converse with Orth: “How is it Utruni see through stone, Lady Orth?”
In the spectral light she gazed upon the Dwarf, her look baffled, her sapphire eyes slowly blinking. Long she considered, then asked: “How doth thou see, Friend Thork?”
“Why, why. . I just do,” answered Thork, nonplussed. “Except this I know: without light, vision is baffled. And except for rare places such as this, there be no light within living stone, only pitch black.”
“Why, Friend, there be what thee namest ‘light’ all about us,” she answered, gesturing widely. “Not only this pallid glowing from the moss within, but from the bright orb without, called ‘Sun’ by thee and thine, named ‘Ar’ by me and mine. And the ‘light’ that we see by cometh from Ar, and shineth through air and stone alike.
“Know this, Friend Thork: The light that giveth us vision be different from that captured by thine eyes. Ar’s light shineth through all, all things living or dead, shining through Utrun or stone or surface life, it mattereth not; and even though nought reflecteth much of Ar’s radiance, it passing straight through, still we see, some things better than others. Thyself art but an insubstantial shadow in mine sight, as be other dwellers above, some moreso, some less; Drakes be easily seen-’twas thy Dragonhide shield we saw plummeting, else we wouldst not have known thou wert falling.