Arin shook her head. "Nay, Alos, we are going ahead."
"But the Dragon, the Dragon, he won't keep his word. He won't keep his word."
"Nevertheless, Alos, 'tis a risk we must take."
The oldster broke out in sobs.
In the twilight in a grassy box canyon they made a final camp. And they fashioned a simple rope barrier across the choke of the slot, penning the animals within.
That evening they spent sorting the goods they would take with them: ropes, climbing gear, lanterns, food, water, and other such, including weapons, though against a Drake, blades and arrows would be of no use at all. Ferret included her lockpicks, Delon a simple flute, Burel a tabard embroidered with the circle of Ilsitt… they all arranged to take something in addition to the gear needed for the planned recovery of the Dragonstone, though none knew what a Drake might find to his fancy or what such a creature might respect-all added something but Alos, that is, for now that his horse was gone, he had nought to bring but his own muttering, trembling, weeping self.
The next morning, just after dawn, they shouldered their considerable gear and began the ascent. Aiko was yet distressed that Arin's role in this mission was to be the lure to draw the Kraken out of the pool and into the sea beyond, out to a place where the Drake could take his pleasure, yet she could think of no reasonable alternative to the plan as conceived: only she and Burel and Delon had the skills to rappel down the long stone of the sheer cliff, and even though someone said that Dwarves claimed the inside of a mountain needed more climbing than an outside ever did, still, Ferret, who also had considerable climbing skills, would lead the team down through the mountain within. Too, Ferret could not be one of the rappellers nor be the Kraken bait, for she had to unlock the chains securing the silver chest. Egil's strength was needed to bear that same silver chest back to the surface, for they could not simply bring the Dragonstone alone, else the Drake above would discover what they had retrieved. Likewise, all three of those on the sheer face of the cliff were needed to increase the chances of a successful rescue, else the Kraken bait would either be snared by the monster if not hauled up swiftly to safety, or would be swept into the Great Maelstrom if they missed her altogether. There were many other reasons why the teams were split as they were, yet those were the prime concerns, and Aiko could think of no acceptable alternatives.
As to Alos, he had no role to play, and why he was along at this juncture was anyone's guess. Yet the old man struggled up the steep pathway, the oldster a whining burden every step of the way, for he had to be helped at even small obstacles and hauled bodily over the larger ones, and soon the freight he carried was shared out among all the others. But although Alos was entirely unweighted of even a minor load, still the old man needed unflagging help as he struggled and gasped and wheezed and whined and wept his way up the steep path, rotely muttering all the while, "Unlike before, unlike before, unlike before…" as if it were a mantra… or a devoutly held prayer.
Slowly the path wended upward, at times rising, at other times falling, seldom running level. 'Round tall crags and through deep, hemmed-in slots they fared, the way strait, constricting, with frowning, cold stone to left and right. And still the way went onward, over upjuts and downfalls and strews of rubble, the passage hard, and they stopped often to rest. Finally they came to where the path led along a narrow outer ledge, dark stone rising high above to the left, a plunging fall to the right, the somber grey waters of the Boreal hammering against the rocks far below, brine flinging in spray. The path itself clung precipitously to the sheer mountainside, and from somewhere ahead 'round its twists and turns and borne to them on a chill wind, they could hear an unending low rumble, as of ceaseless thunder afar.
They linked themselves together with ropes, Delon in the lead, Burel next and then Aiko, Alos in the center, followed by Egil, then Arin, with Ferret coming last. And onward they went, ineffectual Alos weeping and chanting and clinging to the stone as far from the lip of the precipice as he could get.
They rounded a turn on the pathway, and ahead and below and churning in the sea they could see the wheeling waters of the Great Maelstrom, the spin fully five miles across, a vast twisting funnel, and in the very center gaped a dark rumbling hole, spiraling down and down and down into a black, unplumbed abyss, dragging their hearts down within.
Above Alos's sobbing, Arin remarked, "I once said the green stone was like the eye of a maelstrom, and here I look down upon one."
Ferret took in a deep breath, then said, "Oh, my, speaking of eyes, I just had a thought."
Arin looked back at her. "A thought, Ferai?"
Ferret gestured out at the thundering gape. "Perhaps, Dara, perhaps this is the one eye in dark water."
It was midafternoon when they came to the vast shelf cloven back into the face of the mountain, a great mantel a thousand feet up from the twisting swirl in the ocean below and four miles from where they had started. And as they rounded the final shoulder to come to the wide, stony ledge, a monstrous rust-red Drake turned its flat, scaly head and fixed them with a yellow ophidian eye and hissed, "Why should I not kill you now?"
CHAPTER 73
Babbling incoherently, Alos turned to flee, but he was fastened by rope to Aiko ahead, and Egil stood immediately behind.
In the lead, Delon called out, "Why should you not kill us, O Mighty Raudhrskal? Because we have something to offer, a special gift just for you which will be greatly to your liking, most pleasing, in fact, and we ask but a trifle in return."
Some eighty feet from snout to tail, massive Raudhrskal shifted his weight, his long, saberlike claws scraping against the stone of the ledge, his wicked fangs gleaming. And in a voice sounding like great brazen slabs clanging one on the other, Raudhrskal bellowed, "Pah! Did you think that bringing a few cattle would allow you to trespass into my domain? To actually step here upon this ledge? Imbecile! Cattle are mine to take as I choose. Bah! I am being assailed from all sides by fools who surely come seeking death."
The Drake inhaled a deep breath.
Arin clenched her fists. "He readies his flame."
A savage chuff came from Aiko's throat.
Alos fell to his knees and covered his face.
As the others braced for the annihilating fire, Delon straightened his spine and threw back his shoulders and called, "Wait! I demand you hear us out!"
Raudhrskal's eyes flared wide in anger. "Demand? You demand? You who brought a foul beast winging into my domain, you who encroach upon this very ledge, you demand of me?”
Delon unclipped the rope at his waist and shrugged out of his pack, then swept low in a deep bow. "O Mighty Drake, the beast was not of our doing. In that as well as in all other things we are innocent of malice. And yes, we do humbly come into your domain, for there is a boon we would ask, a boon for which we will more than recompense you. O Great Raudhrskal, do you not wish to hear what we have to offer? 'Tis not only cattle we bring-for they are but a minor tribute-but something much greater as well, something more fitting to one of your grand potency."
Now Raudhrskal narrowed his eyes and suspiciously peered through slitted pupils at Delon. "Your voice is most persuasive, man. Is it enhanced in some fashion? Ah, yes, I see. There is a talisman about your neck. Do you attempt to cozen me with a charmed tongue? If so, you will fail."
"Cozen you?" Delon stepped back, aghast. "Nay, O Mighty One, for that would be the height of folly."
"You speak of a grand gift, puny man, yet but for a few paltry coins and gems you and your companions bear, I do not sense any great bounty of treasure. Do you think to ensnare me by guile?"