"Perhaps Tip's got the answer," said Beau, and when Tip looked at him blankly, Beau added, "they might want the Dragonstone."
"It is lost," growled Valk, "or so I have heard."
Phais nodded. "Lost with Rwn." She glanced at Tipper-ton. "Even so, the renegade Drakes mayhap would do Modru a service for the promise of such a token."
"Still," said Bekki, "that is neither here nor there. The problem before us is to rescue Dendor."
Valk nodded. "Aye. They are a valuable trading partner to this Chakkaholt, and we have a treaty with King Agron to come to his aid at need."
"Well, they certainly need you now," blurted Beau.
Valk looked at Beau and growled, "Fear not, Waeran, we Chakka honor our pacts"-he gestured across the chamber at the flag of the Dwarvenholt: crossed silver axes on a field of black-"especially the Chakka of Kachar."
"Oh my," said Beau, flustered, "I wasn't, I didn't-" "He knows, Sir Beau," said Phais. "He knows." Valk grunted and reached for a pullcord. "It is time to call in my captains, for we have a battle to plan."
As Valk and his captains met for the second day, with Tip, Beau, Phais, Loric, and Bekki in attendance, there remained one obstacle to completing the plan.
Bekki peered down at the map, with its movable symbols denoting segments of the Swarm surrounding the walls of Dendor. Shown also were the Dwarven routes of attack, as well as the likely paths the men would take in response upon issuing from the city. Bekki grunted and looked across at Valk. "There is left but this, DelfLord: how will the men know we have come, and how will tney know the plan? Unlike Mineholt North, there is no secret entrance to Dendor, none I know of, that is." He looked across at Valk.
Valk shook his head. "There may be a tunnel, but Agron has never spoken to me of it, if so."
Silence fell as all considered the map. Finally Valk said, "All here know our chances for victory run high can we coordinate the attacks, and defeat will come knocking can we not. This then is the crux of the matter: how to let King Agron know."
The DelfLord's gaze swept about the table in challenge. "Let us delve how this may be done."
Long they spoke, considering plans and counterplans, finding strengths and weaknesses in each:
Some advocated the use of message arrows, could they get one or more archers in range, or perhaps long-range ballistas instead. But then others asked, would the messages be found? And would King Agron believe such missives aught but a ruse? Still others noted that even if he did believe, what if a message fell into the Foul Folk hands? Through a miscast arrow or a captured archer, if a message fell into the wrong hands, then all plans would be revealed, for there was no secret code between DelfLord Valk and King Agron.
They also noted that signals flashed from the ridge above could be intercepted as well.
Other plans were examined and rejected… such as searching for a secret tunnel which may or may not be there. "Huah," said Bekki. "If there were a tunnel, do you not think that Agron would have sent someone to ask for aid?"
"Worse yet," said Loric, "if there were a secret tunnel and if found by the Rupt, they would use it to invade."
Seated next to Tipperton, one of the captains, a black-haired Dwarf named Kaldi, said, "Could we not march and array ourselves along the southern ridge to let King Agron see we've come? Then mayhap when we attack from without he will sally forth from within."
Valk shook his head. "It is a worthy plan, Kaldi, and one we may come to in the end, but then there is this: with a surrogate in the Swarm, Modru would be alerted by our array and then mayhap a Drake will come. Nay, if we can, we should take them by surprise."
"Barn rats!" said Beau. "With a Swarm about the walls, it's not as if we can just walk up to the gates and knock for admittance."
Silence fell, and Dwarves about the table shook their heads and gritted their teeth in frustration. But then Tip glanced at the flag of Kachar and of a sudden said, "Wait a moment, Beau, I think you've hit upon it."
"Wha-?" began Beau, but Tip cut him off.
"Have you still got that flag of Modru's?"
Beau frowned but said, "It's still in my saddleba-"
"Good!" said Tip, smiling. "Here's what we can do: I'll take the flag and walk through the Swarm till I reach the-"
"Good grief, Tip, that's madness! They'll kill you dead!"
"No-no," said Tip. "Hear me out. You said it yourself, Beau: in the dark, Warrows can be taken for Rucks, just as we were taken for them by the folks at the inn. And since I'll be carrying a flag of the Spawn, who among them would look at me twice?"
"Sir Tipperton," said Phais, "if it means walking through a Swarm, Sir Beau is right. 'Tis a mad plan fraught with risk."
Beau nodded his total agreement, but Bekki looked at Tip in admiration and clenched a fist of support.
Tip held up a hand. "Oh, Phais, as I said to Beau, hear me out."
Phais sighed, but nodded.
Tip took a deep breath and said, "When I get through the ring of Swarm, I'll cross the open land between them and the city-"
"You will be seen," said one of the captains.
Bekki shook his head and said, "He is a Waeran," as if that explained all.
"Even so," said Valk, "I would hear the whole, for he is not yet done." He gestured for Tip to continue.
Tip nodded and said, "I'll cross the land between and-"
"And what?" cried Beau. "Knock on the gate?"
Tipperton nodded. "Exactly so, Beau. Knock on the gate."
"But they'll quill you with crossbow bolts," declared Beau. "I mean, you said it yourself, you'll be taken for a Ruck."
"No, Beau, by that time I will have shed Modru's flag and will instead show the flag of Kachar." He gestured at the black flag with its crossed silver axes. "Surely they will know it, eh?" He turned to Valk.
Grudgingly the DelfLord nodded. "Even so, Waeran, you are not Chakka. They will not admit you, thinking it a trick of Modru."
"No," said Tip. "I am not 'Chakka,' but then I've got this." With these words Tip reached down the collar of his shirt and drew out the coin on a thong.
"Ha!" snorted Kaldi, next to Tip, the Dwarf leaning over the better to see. "Do you think they will accept an all but worthless toll?"
Tip looked at Kaldi and said, "If we are right, Captain Kaldi, Agron will certainly accept this coin."
Valk looked at Tipperton. "I do not understand."
Tip sighed. "DelfLord, let me tell you about a night in the Wilderland, when I was awakened in my mill by a battle to the death on my doorstone…"
Finally the coin came back 'round the table to Tip. As he slipped the thong over his head, an elderly Dwarf across the table said, "It is a Gjeenian penny-an alloy of tin and chod-mayhap the most worthless coin in all of Mithgar."
"Gjeenian?" said Tip, looking across at the Dwarf.
"From Gjeen, an island in the Avagon Sea off the coast of the Karoo. How it bears on your mission, I cannot say."
Tip frowned and peered at the coin and mumbled, "Knowing where it comes from doesn't enlighten me one whit."
He looked at Loric, who turned up his hands and shrugged.
"All of this talk about where a coin comes from and its worth doesn't matter a hill of beans," said Beau. "What matters is this harebrained scheme of Tip's-I mean, him marching through a Swarm of maggot-folk who will kill him dead… and then sneaking across the land in between warring armies to the walls, where the men above will kill him dead… and then knocking politely as if you please on the doors of Dendor, where the guards on the gate will kill him dead."
Silence fell, and after a moment Tip asked, "Have you a better plan, Beau? If so, I'm sure we'd all like to hear it."
"Oh, Tip, of course I don't have a better plan. It's just that I'm worried sick that, Foul Folk or men, one or the other will kill you dead."
The circle of captains discussed the merits of Tipperton's "harebrained scheme," until finally Valk called for quiet. He glanced 'round the table, his gaze settling on Tipperton last. Valk smiled. "Once long past when faced with a perilous choice Breakdeath Durek said, 'The gamble is great, the stakes are high, yet he who dares, wins.' Sir Tipperton, I accept this mad plan of yours."