Dennis L. McKiernan - Hell's Crucible 2 - Into the Fire

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As the Foul Folk spread their evil across the kingdoms of Mithgar, two
Warrows, bound by a pledge to a dying swordsman, continue their
venture into the very jaws of the conflict ravaging the world. Yet Tip and
Beau do not travel alone.
Beset on all sides by creatures of legend, by Elves, Dwarves, mages, a
pack of Silver Wolves and their mysterious leader, warrior maidens, and
Hidden Ones, Tip and Beau struggle to keep their world from falling into
darkness as the vast armies of Modru lead them into the very crucible of
Hèl....
Into the Fire brings all the wonder of Mithgar to rich, evocative life in a
triumphant story of magic, adventure, and danger that confirms Dennis
L. McKiernan's status as one of today's most imaginative masters of
fantasy.
ACCLAIM FOR DENNIS L. McKIERNAN
"Some of the finest imaginative action . . . there are no lulls in
McKiernan's story."
—The Columbus Dispatch
"McKiernan brews magic with an insightful blend of laughter, tears,
and high courage."
—Janny Wurts, author of Curse of the Mistwraith
."McKiernan's narratives have heart and fire and drive.
His images and characters bring the power of the archetypes to his
exciting adventure stories."
—Katherine Kerr, author of Days of Blood and Fire
"Heroic fantasy on the grandest possible scale."
—Susan Shwartz, author of The Grail of Hearts
"Romance and disaster and plenty of magic—everything that makes
a good, old-fashioned adventure story."
—Kate Elliot, author of Jaran
"Evocative and compelling. Storytelling at its best."
—Jennifer Roberson
"Provocative. . . . Appeals to lovers of classic fantasy— the
audience for David Eddings and Terry Brooks."
—Booklist
Novels by Dennis L. McKiernan:
Hèl's Crucible:
Book 1: Into the Forge
Book 2: Into the Fire
The Dragonstone
Caverns of Socrates
Voyage of the Fox Rider
The Eye of the Hunter
Dragondoom
The Silver Call Duology:
Book 1: Trek to Kraggen-cor
Book 2: The Brega Path
The Iron Tower Trilogy:
Book 1: The Dark Tide
Book 2: Shadows of Doom
Book 3: The Darkest Day
The Vulgmaster (the graphic novel)
Tales of Mithgar (a story collection)
INTO THE FIRE
HÈL'S CRUCIBLE BOOK 2
Dennis L. McKiernan
A ROC BOOK
Copyright notice
To the Tanque Wordies
and
other writers' groups
whose sole aim is to raise the quality
of that which others will read
FOREWORD
Throughout my lifetime various tales I've read are about people with
special or abilities, or about people who believe they are ordinary, yet
they are really sons or daughters of royalty or wizards or other such and
are hidden away in some obscure place where the powers of evil will
not think to look. In these tales, suddenly they are thrust into the thick of
things where their or uncommon abilities or heritage will prove the
linchpin to all.
These are not tales about common people thrust into uncommon
situations and struggling to meet the challenge; instead they are about
uncommon people with and heritages and abilities, and you know darn
well they will meet the challenge and crush it.
Rather than such a tale, I wanted to write about ordinary people who
find themselves caught up in events they neither control nor have any
special heritage or or extraordinary abilities to resolve. In other words, I
wanted to write about common "soldiers" who must struggle with things
as they happen, "common" people in uncommon situations who may or
may not have the ability to rise to the challenge.
This tale is about Tipperton Thistledown and Beau Darby, two
"common" Warrows caught up in events not of their doing. They are not
hidden royalty, not mages, not folk with extraordinary abilities,
extraordinary powers, extraordinary brains and wit; instead they are
mere common soldiers, assuming of course there is such a thing . . .
common people caught up in uncommon events struggling to soldier
through.
Oh, perhaps they do have an extraordinary thing going for them . . .
and that is uncommon heart.
If there is such a thing as a common soldier's tale, then this is it. Yet
is there such a thing as a common soldier?
You decide.
May you enjoy what you find herein.
—Dennis L. McKiernan July 1997
AUTHOR'S NOTES
Into the Fire is the second book of the duology of Hèl's Crucible.
Along with the first book, Into the Forge, it tells the tale of the Great
War of the Ban, as seen through the eyes of two Warrows, Tipperton
Thistledown and Beau Darby.
It is a story which begins in the year 2195 of the Second Era of
Mithgar, a time when the Rupt are free to roam about in daylight as well
as night, although it is told that they prefer to do their deeds in darkness
rather than under the sun.
The story of the Ban War was reconstructed from several sources,
not the least of which were the Thistledown Lays. I have in several
places filled in the gaps with assumptions of my own, but in the main the
tale is true to its source material.
As occurs in other of my Mithgarian works, there are many instances
where in the press of the moment, the Humans, Mages, Elves, and
others spoke in their native tongues; yet to avoid burdensome
translations, where necessary I have rendered their words in Pellarion,
the Common Tongue of Mithgar. However, in several cases I have left
the language unchanged, to demonstrate the fact that many tongues were
found throughout Mithgar. Additionally, some words and phrase's do
not lend themselves to translation, and these I've either left unchanged
or, in special cases, I have enclosed in angle brackets a substitute term
which gives the "flavor" of the word (e.g... and the like). Additionally,
sundry words may look to be in error, but indeed are correct—e.g.,
DelfLord is but a single word though a capital L nestles among its letters.
The Elven language of Sylva is rather archaic and formal. To capture
this flavor, I have properly used thee and thou, hast, dost, and the like;
however, in the interest of readability, I have tried to do so in a minimal
fashion, eliminating some of the more archaic terms.
For the curious, the w in Rwn takes on the sound of uu (w is after all
a double-u), which in turn can be said to sound like oo (as in spoon).
Hence, Rwn is not pronounced Renn, but instead is pronounced Roon,
or Rune.
SYNOPSIS
This is the second part of Hèl's Crucible.
In the first part, Into the Forge, on a winter's night Tipperton
Thistledown, a Warrow miller, was awakened from a sound sleep by a
skirmish on his very doorstone. In the battle a lone man managed to kill
all nine of the Foul Folk foe, but he himself was terribly wounded. Tip
dragged the man into the mill, bandaged him as well as he could, and,
during the process, the man gave Tip a small, drab, pewter coin on a
thong and told him, "Go east . . . warn all ... take this to Agron." Tip
didn't know who or what Agron was, but didn't question the man, and
instead ran to get a healer, another Warrow, Beau Darby. When they
got back to the mill, the man's throat had been cut by Spawn who had
come while Tip was away, Foul Folk whose tracks then headed on
westward into the Dellin Downs.
As Tip and Beau built a pyre on which to cremate all of the slain, a
balefire burned afar on Beacontor, calling for muster.
Men from the nearby town of Twoforks, seeing the smoke of the
funeral pyre, came to investigate and, together with the Warrows. they
discovered that the dead man's slain horse bore the brand of the High
King.
Believing a Kingsman's mission more important than a wee Warrow
joining the muster at Beacontor, Tip decided to take the coin east to
Agron, whoever or whatever it might be.
Beau chose to join Tip on the journey, and they set out eastward and
within the week entered Drearwood, a dismal and forbidding place. On
the very first night in that dreadful forest they saw a great Horde of Foul
Folk marching to the west.
On the second day, as darkness fell, a freezing rain began, and it
lasted all night; when daylight came, Drear-wood was sheathed in ice.
Slipping and sliding, they pushed on, making little progress on the thick
glaze. In the night there was an attack on their camp by a huge monster
only half-seen in the dark: the ponies were killed, but Tip and Beau
managed to escape.
Afoot, they attempted to sneak through the rest of Drearwood, and
more than once they barely escaped discovery by searching bands of
Foul Folk.
Weary and hungry beyond measure, as they reached the far fringes
of Drearwood they were ambushed and captured, but it was by a band
of Lian Guardians, Elven warriors, led by Vanidor.
Vanidor told them that Agron was the king of Aven, a realm beyond
the Grimwall Mountains. Vanidor assigned an Elf named Loric to take
them to the Lian strongholt of Arden Vale, where they could tell Lord
Talarin of the things they'd seen.
Upon reaching Arden Vale, Talarin and other Elves told . the
Warrows that Modru, a powerful Black Mage in Gron, j had been
gathering Foul Folk: they were pouring across the "in-between," coming
into Mithgar on the Middle Plane from Neddra on the Lower. It was
also rumored that Modru wooed Dragons to his cause.
Talarin assigned Loric and a female Lian, Phais, to accompany the
Warrows to Dendor, the capital city of Aven.: But it was yet winter, and
so they waited for the spring thaw to clear the way through the Grimwall
Mountains.
On Springday, Eloran, a Dylvana Elf, arrived from Adonar to report
that Adon had sundered the in-between way; from Neddra to Mithgar.
Eloran also confirmed that Modru of Gron had indeed started a wide
war, and that High King Blaine was calling for an alliance of men, Elves,
Dwarves,! and Mages to fight this great threat.
The Elves blamed the evil god Gyphon for this war, saying that
Modru was but His servant, and if Modru conquered Mithgar, then
Gyphon would displace Adon as the master of all creation.
During these discussions, Talarin's consort, Rael, a seer-ess, in a
trance spoke a rede: "Seek the aid of those not men to quench the fires
of war . . ." No one knew just who "those not men" were, or who the
rede was meant for.
The spring thaw finally came, but before Tip and Beau and Phais and
Loric could embark on their mission, a scout brought word that Crestan
Pass was held by the Spawn. And so the four set out for Aven along
one of their alternate routes, one that would add miles and months to
their journey.
South through Rell they went, aiming for the pass at Stormhelm, one
of the four mountains of the Quadran under which the Dwarvenholt of
Drimmen-deeve was carved. Yet when they arrived they came upon a
battle between the Dwarves of Drimmen-deeve and the Foul Folk.
During the battle, Skail of the Barrens, a renegade Drake, came
swooping down spouting fire and drove the Dwarves back into
Drimmen-deeve.
With all ways cut off over the Quadran and under as well, the
foursome rode on south, along yet another alternate way, one that was
even longer.
In Gunar they encountered a squad of Dwarves and were told that
Gunarring Gap was occupied by a Horde, hence that route was blocked
to them.
To keep the foursome from needing to go on an even longer route,
the Dwarves revealed a secret path across the Gunarring: the Walkover,
so named because of a low tunnel along the way, where only people
afoot and small ponies could pass through.
Giving up their horses, the four crossed on foot, and when they came
down into the realm of Valon, there too was war, for smoke from a
burning town rose into the sky.
Battling storms and avoiding detection, they made their way
northeastward, heading across the Plains of Valon for the Elven
strongholt of Darda Galion, some several hundred miles away, but as
they drew near their goal they were discovered.
They were yet some forty-five miles from safety, and they made a
run for it. The foursome was saved at the last moment by a squad of
Lian Elves who saw the pursuit from their encampment atop the Great
Escarpment and came in rescue.
Several days later the foursome reached Wood's-heart, the Elven
stronghold central to Darda Galion. There they found the Lian preparing
to go to the aid of the besieged Drimmen-deeve folk.
Although they would have liked to aid in this mission, the four felt it
necessary to proceed on to Aven and deliver the coin.
Once again ahorse, the four headed for Caer Lindor, a fortress on
the River Rissanin, garrisoned by Lian and Dyl-vana Elves and by
Greatwood Baeron.
In Caer Lindor they found a company of Warrow archers whose
village of Springwater had been destroyed by the Foul Folk. Among
these Warrows, Tip met Rynna Fenrush, leader of the band, but even
though he fell desperately in love with her, and she with him, he had a
mission to fulfill and so did she.
A Horde was still roaming along the eastern boundaries of Darda
Erynian, and to avoid this Swarm, Tip, Beau, Phais, and Loric decided
to push on for Aven by going north through Darda Erynian. On the day
the four prepared to set out, a group of Rivermen came to the fortress
and asked for sanctuary. Neither Tip nor Rynna liked the look of these
men, for something just didn't seem right. But Tip had to go on his
mission to deliver the coin, and Rynna had to stay behind to captain the
Warrows, and so the lovers parted.
Tip, Beau, Loric, and Phais eventually came to Bircehyll, the
Dylvana strongholt in Darda Erynian. While the rested, word came via
the Groaning Stones and the fox-riding Pysks that Caer Lindor had
fallen and all Warrows had been killed in the fight. This news devastated
Tip.
To gain revenge and slay Foul Folk, Tip and Beau pledged
themselves to Coron Ruar, leader of the Dylvana: they would go with
Ruar's army to help lift the siege of Mineholt North, a Dwarvenholt in
the Rimmen Mountains in Riamon.
With Tip roving as a scout, and Beau riding as a healer, they traveled
with a thousand Dylvana Elves up through Darda Erynian, where they
rendezvoused with a force of Baeron.
At Rimmen Gape the Allies defeated a segment of Spawn and then
continued on their mission to lift the Foul Folk's siege of the
Dwarvenholt.
As they neared Mineholt North, they were challenged by a force of
men from the town of Dael. Among this band was Bekki, a Dwarf of
Mineholt North. Led by Prince Loden, this company was also bent on
lifting the siege of the mineholt.
Coron Ruar called a strategy meeting, and many plans were
proposed, but all were met with objections. Finally, based on a skirmish
with a squad of Rupt, Tipperton devised a plan they all accepted!
Bekki chose Tip as the emissary to go with him, and they entered the
mineholt through the secret entrance and proceeded through corridors
and passages and crossed above deeps to reach distant Dwarven
chambers, where they found DelfLord Borl, Bekki's father, in his throne
room.
Tip explained his plan.
Two days later the Dylvana, Baeron, and Daelsmen rode to the vale
of the mineholt and arrayed themselves before the Horde. The Horde
jeered, for they outnumbered the Allies five to one.
That night Tip and a battalion of Dwarves, camouflaged in grey to
match the stone, slipped through the side postern and took places
against the flank of the mountain at the rear of the Horde.
As dawn stood barely below the lip of the world, the Allies in front
drew the Horde forward to face them, and from the rear the
camouflaged Dwarves slipped down and hurled clay vessels of a
flammable liquid to crash into and upon the Horde's supply wagons, with
vessels of smoldering firecoke following, and the wagons were set afire.
Elements of the Horde, including all six monstrous Trolls, turned against
the Dwarves. Dwarves cast flammable liquid upon three of the Trolls,
but managed to set only one afire. The Allies to the fore attacked to
divert the Horde from the Dwarves.
With fighting to the front and rear, confusion reigned among the
Horde.
From a burning wagon, Tip lit one of his signal arrows and launched
it into two of the liquid-drenched Trolls, setting them aflame, though Tip
himself was nearly slain by a Ghul in the process. The remaining Trolls
fled, afraid of the "magic fire." When the Trolls ran away, the Rucks
panicked and ran as well, and the siege was broken.
Many of the Allies were slain in this battle—Daelsmen, Baeron,
Dwarves, Dylvana—and many were wounded as well, including Phais,
terribly pierced by a poisoned arrow.
After the funerals, the Allies set off in pursuit of the remnants of the
Horde, but Tip, Loric, and Beau remained behind in Mineholt North
with wounded Phais.
Bekki, too, remained behind, for he had pledged himself to go with
Tip to deliver the coin.
Using a gift given him in Arden Vale, the mint gwyn-thyme, an
antidote to poison, Beau struggled desperately to save Phais's life and
barely managed to do so.
After two and a half months, Phais was fit enough to ride. And so,
on the fifteenth of December, Tip, Beau, Phais, and Loric set out once
more to deliver the coin, Bekki now among them. . . .
. . . And as Into the Fire begins, we join the five as they ride away
from Mineholt North.
Freedom is not free....
Into the Fire
Chapter 1
Down from the now-free gates of Mineholt North rode the
five—Tipperton, Beau, Phais, Loric, and Bekki—three on ponies, two
on horses, and drawing two pack animals behind. Down from the portal
and along the road on the eastern side of the mountain vale they
fared—two War-rows, two Elves, and a Dwarf—riding southward,
soon to turn east and follow the tradeway to the city of Dael. Of the
mighty battle which had raged before the gates a mere ten weeks past,
the battle which had shattered the Foul Folk siege of the Dwarvenholt,
the battle which had sent one of Modru's Hordes fleeing in panic, of that
battle there remained little sign, for all was covered with unmarked
December snow, and not even the great scorching of the funeral pyres
from the aftermath showed through, though rounded hummocks under
the whiteness betokened where lay the Daelsmen's burial knolls.
Past this field of blood rode the five, alongside a mountain flank,
slitted eyewear protecting their sight from the blinding glare of the white
pristine 'scape, the bright winter sun shedding little warmth down upon
them all.
"I say," queried Beau, peering at Tip, "just how far is it to Dael?"
"Thirty, thirty-five leagues by road," replied Tipperton, "shorter could
we fly."
At these words, Beau looked long at the sky. No birds were in sight,
though the forward edge of feather-thin clouds eked southward high
above. "Huah. Even if I were a bird, I'd think it too cold to fly. No, Tip,
I'll stick to my pony even though it'll take us five or six days in all."
"Five or six days, Beau, that's just to Dael. We'll be forty, forty-five
days on the road to Dendor, and that's if we don't run into trouble."
"Forty-five da—?"
"It's two hundred sixty, two hundred seventy leagues away, bucco."
"Oh my, eight hundred miles or so?"
"So Bekki says, Beau."
Bekki grunted and said, "It is two hundred sixty-six leagues and two
miles and some paces by the route we will go if all steps out as planned."
Beau nodded, then began counting on the fingers of one gloved
hand. After a while he said, "You are right, Tip: at six or seven leagues a
day, that will take some forty or forty-five days." Beau shook his head.
"A long time of eating field rations."
"Oh, Beau, take heart," said Tip, "there are towns along the way."
Beau shook his head. "We can't count on that, Tip, with Foul Folk
all about. I mean, look at how far we had to go after leaving Arden Vale
before we had a good hot meal. All the way down and through the
Grimwall and over the Gunarring and back up to Darda Galion."
Tip shook his head. "You're forgetting the marmot and rabbit we
cooked on the Plains of Valon."
"All right, all right, so that's, what, one hot meal in a thousand miles?
Not exactly what I'd call eating well."
Tip turned up his hands, then said, "We ate quite well in Darda
Galion, and then again in Caer"—Tip's face fell, yet he managed to
say—"Lindor."
Beau looked across at his sad-eyed friend, then jerked his thumb
over his shoulder and added, "In Mineholt North, too."
Tip glanced at Beau and smiled through his tears. "Yes, we did."
Then he sighed and wiped his cheeks with the heels of his gloved hands.
"I'm sorry, Beau, but whenevei I think of Caer Lindor, it brings it all
摘要：

[versionhistory] AstheFoulFolkspreadtheirevilacrossthekingdomsofMithgar,twoWarrows,boundbyapledgetoadyingswordsman,continuetheirventureintotheveryjawsoftheconflictravagingtheworld.YetTipandBeaudonottravelalone.Besetonallsidesbycreaturesoflegend,byElves,Dwarves,mages,apackofSilverWolvesandtheirmyster...

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