Greyfax Grimwald Read online

  “Most probably not,” said Broco in Dwarfish to himself.

  “What’s that?” asked Bear.

  “What’s this?” called Otter from across the cave, saving Broco from having to think of another false answer. Otter had recovered, and in his unceasing curiosity was examining a great keg made of old wood, which had a spigot near the bottom of the vessel, and taking the handle in his tiny paws, he struggled to move it, with no success.

  “Ah, that, my dear Otter, is the curse of my life, the cause of my ultimate downfall.” Bear came over and glared at the keg, which came up to his nose. “This, my friends, is my unfortunate experiment in trying to find something to make me happy. I made it from a recipe which I found in the last book I remember reading. Yesterday I vowed to never drink another drop of the accursed stuff, and in so doing, decided to drink one last mug to celebrate my new resolve. The next thing I remember is opening my eyes and seeing a dwarf and an otter.”

  Otter, paying no heed to his comrades, was busily engaged in working the huge spigot with his paws, and all at once out came the dark brown bark bear beer, almost as thick as molasses, and emitting a heady aroma of oak bark and clove and new hops.

  “My health won’t permit such goings-on any longer, and I really am going to start my old exercises again, and begin my running. I used to be the fastest bear in the woods before I fell into this evil habit.”

  A carry-over from the other place, thought Broco.

  Bear entered a deep reverie, and hardly noticed anything at all that went on, so Broco began search ing for Otter, and finally found the little animal tucked snugly away in a low sleeping hammock.

  Dwarf suddenly realized how tired he was, and yawning once, he crawled into the corner opposite his friend, and before he could even blink an eye, or think twice about all that had happened to him since he had left his dwelling under the mountain, he was fast asleep.

  Bear, thinking far into what would have been the night, of other travelers and yarns of his own kind, nodded and loaded his pipe, and agreed or argued with himself, and finally decided that the journey the dwarf was taking was indeed a serious task.

  Before Dwarf or Otter had awakened Bear had decided he would travel with them to see what he might and find out what it was in the odd, haunting melody Dwarf sang that made him stir deep within himself.

  This occurred in the Twelfth House of the Fourth Rising of the Twin Moons, and already each of the three had been gone from the World Before Time for ten times as long as it takes for a man to be born and die where the sun rises and sets in a single day.

  The

  Great River

  “We’re approaching Calix Stay now,” spoke Dwarf, remembering how with great difficulty he’d crossed it years and years before, after the great battle of the Dragon Wars when the terrible beasts still roamed at will. Broco’s mother had been slain in this battle, along with many friends and kin. He had crossed Calix Stay to find his new home under the mountain.

  Calix Stay was raring white color, as deep as death’s sleep, and swifter than the motion of a striking adder. It was the father of the river that Dwarf knew in his old home, and he hoped he remembered the words of crossing, for if he said the least little thing out of place, or twitched so much as his nose at the wrong time, they would all be plunged into the maelstrom of Calix Stay to be spun away into nothingness once more. There were some few, however, that Dwarf knew could cross or recross at will. His old friend Kilan had been one who had made the journey often in the old days, to mass an army there in the Meadows of the Sun where it would be safe from the prying eyes of the mighty dragon horde that preyed upon their homeland in those times. It was only the best intentions and the stoutest heart that would see man or beast or dwarf or elf pass over safely, and the correct words to hold Calix Stay motionless and still as a backwater of the smallest stream, so that whoever wished passage might go safely into the Meadows of the Sun and beyond, or back into the World Before Time unchanged.

  Early into what would be night across Calix Stay, the friends stopped to rest and eat. Dwarf huffed a bit, filled with self-importance, for he was the only one among them who knew the words. He proceeded to give instructions for their crossing.

  “Now” he exclaimed, standing before the exhausted animals, “we have before us a most arduous task.”

  “Scratch my back, Bear, will you? Just there.”

  Otter shook his fur and let the big brown animal scruff his back coat up in a place where he couldn’t reach the itch that had been bothering him all day.

  Bear looked away into the near distance to where Calix Stay roared and foamed.

  “You silly nits, if you carry on like this, well never get across. You must pay close attention to what I say, or we’re all lost!”

  “How long does it take?” asked Bear, feeling a little distressed at the constant angry sound of the mighty river.

  “Take to what?” snapped Dwarf.

  “To cross.”

  A cold seed of mistrust was edging upward somewhere in Bear, although he could not distinguish it from the fear of the noise of the low growl of the water.

  “It only takes the blink of an eye, if you know the words. Forever, if you don’t. Now if you’ll listen for a moment, I’ll tell you what we must do, and how we must do it, and then we might get our sleep before doing it.”

  Dwarf cleared his throat angrily and looked from one to the other. Finally he was satisfied that the smile on Otter’s face was only the one that was normally there, and that Bear, reclining, was not in fact asleep.

  “First of all, I must, tell you the words to say. O Kale O. This is the ancient name, and as we cross, you must speak the words yourselves. If we had time, we could cross one by one, but the risk of someone forgetting the entire spell would be disastrous.” Dwarf paused, glaring at Otter. “So, our only choice is to go all in a bunch. Not that I like it any too much, but that’s neither here nor there.”

  Dwarf pulled out an ancient stone. Dark at first, then catching the sun, it was covered over with many strange glyphs and signs. He rubbed it a few times on his sleeve, breathed on it, spoke softly over it in High Dwarfish, and held it up to the light.

  “This is a piece of stone from my old home where I dwelt before. It is a dragon stone, and since I have it, we’ll use it to help us along.”

  Otter’s eyes widened, and he poked a flat gray muzzle close up to the object in Dwarf’s hand. Bear raised himself a bit, always interested in the lore of others, especially if it was ancient, and grunted.

  “A bit moldy, Dwarf. However will that stone be of any help?”

  “Grimpelty, fie, why am I stuck with such fat heads?” shot back Dwarf, cartwheeling sideways a few steps, then reversing, ending with a thump upon Bear’s broad belly. “If you leave matters to someone that knows something about it, you’ll find out.”

  And still standing upon Bear’s stomach, he continued. “Next, I shall say the rest of the secret of Calix Stay. At once, the River should quieten, then we must speak the words I told you.”

  Dwarf’s face darkened into a scowl. “Should anyone forget, or misspeak, it could be disastrous for all of us, for crossing all at once as we are, we run the risk of all being dragged along into Calix Stay. And our business doesn’t include another tour of that sort.”

  Otter, fond of any water, asked, “What’s so dreadful in a good swim, Dwarf? I’ve been in and out of and about and around water for quite some time now, and it doesn’t seem to have done me any harm.”

  “Except your silly brain,” grumped Dwarf. “I dare say it must have shrunk that a bit.” He began spewing and sputtering his anger, but noticed Otter had not even heard, and was staring strangely.

  “Otter, are you all right?”

  At length Otter, shuddering once, said, “Yes, Dwarf. I suppose so. Just thinking.”

  “At any rate, this time tomorrow we’ll be well on our way, with Calix Stay behind us,” said Broco.

  “Let’s hope so,” spo
ke Otter, so softly no one heard.

  Six eyes shut gently after eating dwarf cakes, their magic being to rest the mind and body of even the tiredest travelers on the longest journeys. Soon the three were fast asleep, unworried at even the wild roar of Calix Stay that bellowed and howled before them. The friends were safely away in their homes of old, in dreams engaged with only the most pleasant sort of things.

  Dwarf sang and puttered about a shop littered with all types and sizes of machines and tools that always worked, no matter what. Bear was padding down a long cavern ball after having bolted his front door securely against the season, his nightgown warm against his fur, his slippers just the right size, and a huge new barrel of wild clover honey next to his warm bed. Otter slipped into a new river down the longest mudslide he’d ever seen, and contentedly paddled on his back. Only once did he stir uneasily, some dim shape taking hold of him and disturbing even the powerful potion of the dwarf cake, but he soon dipped from the highest edge of a rainbow mountain into his holt, which is a snug otter den, and began thinking of sleep, deep and untroubled, even in his dream.

  The

  Crossing

  After an ample breakfast of honey and dwarf cakes, the friends set out to cross Calix Stay. It was hidden by a high curtain of silver mist that rose into the farthest regions of the sky.

  Bear’s heart had been drumming for quite some time, and he frequently twitched his tail, or bared his teeth, or simply reared up on his hind paws to try to get a better look at what they were ap proaching. Dwarf’s own heart was pounding, and he was beginning to fear he would become flustered and misspeak the words, sending them all down into Calix Stay for who knows how long, only to have to begin over again with the entire business. Otter, walking on Dwarf’s left, whistled and chirped low in his throat, and at last reached up a paw and clasped Dwarf’s hand firmly. Dwarf looked down sharply, intending to scold the little gray fellow, but upon seeing the complete trust, and that it was meant to reassure, Dwarf, too, gave a friendly squeeze and began concentrating on the words.

  From the last hills that skirted the Meadows of the Sun, they paused to look at the mighty spectacle before them. The low hills ran to left and right of them, covered with oak and elm and berry thickets, all in a perfect summer coat of deep green. The trees were tall and stout. A great, lush carpet of grass lay at their feet, inviting all who passed to lie down for shade and rest. Berries as big as Otter’s paw clung to the low, thick branches of the bushes, giving him no end of temptation, for he began dunking how jolly it would be if they would all sit down in the shade and talk the entire affair out, while of course having their fill of the huge ripe berries, and maybe a short nap before going on, if they did indeed have to go on. Looking away down the slope at the silver mane of angry mist around Calix Stay, Otter whimpered and threw himself to the ground, his Small, powerful body convulsed in tremors of fright.

  “Oh, Dwarf, this is silly. Whatever are we going there for? I haven’t been afraid in ages, and I’m all upset and tingly, and I’m sure we could have a much better time staying on here.”

  “I’m afraid I have to agree with the dear fellow, Dwarf,” said Bear, sitting down beside Otter, crossing one great hind leg over the other, and glad Otter had spoken first.

  “There’s no real sense in all this hurry.” Bear looked back toward the forest where he’d camped, thinking of the honey tree he’d found there, with almost all the sweet nectar still in it.

  Dwarf sat dejected beside Bear and Otter, taking out his dragon stone and rubbing it with almost one motion.

  “I know how you feel, dear friends. I’m not so sure myself now that we’re actually here, but something tells me we’re doing the right thing, and that we must cross.”

  Otter, turned on his back in the grass with his paws in the air, raised his head to look at Dwarf.

  “It might be, Dwarf, that we were a little overanxious to be on our way. Don’t you think we could stay just a while longer? I’m sure we must go and all, but won’t tomorrow or the next day do just as well?” The little gray form had found a small rock, smooth and white and round, and began rolling it across his broad velvet stomach, moving it from paw to paw, then dribbling it up deftly to balance it on the end of his nose.

  Dwarf sighed and looked away toward the Great River. He could barely remember his crossing. All the time before that was faint and dim—the dragons, and moving about in the time of trouble, when the World Before Time was filled with armies, men and elves, and dwarfs, and animals warring against the dragon hordes. Those memories drifted on in their cloaks, lingering only long enough to dim Dwarf’s vision for a moment or two, then passing into the light of the Meadows of the Sun.

  Bear broke the silence that had fallen over the friends with a slight hissing snarl. His ears were straight back, his hackles rising and his great body raised to strike.

  “What is it, Bear?” cried Dwarf.

  “I’m not sure. Something has been here before us. I thought I picked up the scent before, but I wasn’t sure. Now I know something crossed, went a little way, then returned, or was destroyed.”

  “Whatever was it, I wonder? Man?” asked Otter.

  “This was nothing from Mankind. I don’t know what, but it stinks of something that means danger.”

  Otter picked up his nose to the wind, shuffled and searched, but could only barely pick up the faintest trace of anything out of the ordinary. He had long been in the Meadows of the Sun, and nothing there had ever had the least unpleasant thing about it, so quite naturally he was the longest in finding truth to what Bear had scented out.

  Finally Bear lowered himself to all fours, shuffled this way and that over the ground where he’d found the scent, laid back one ear, then the other, wagged his tail once, raised himself to his full height, low ered himself again in confusion, and announced, “I think I’m right, but I can’t say as I’ve ever run across this particular scent.”

  “It’s not man,” affirmed Otter, poking his head up suddenly from a nearby patch of wild flowers. Poof, the little gray head with its twitching whiskers was gone.

  “No, it’s certainly not man,” said Bear, looking to where Otter had been.

  “And it’s nothing else I’ve ever known,” came the voice again, this time from a berry patch. Otter scampered out with fresh blueberry juice dripping from his chin. Carefully wiping it with his tongue, he went on. “What do you think, Dwarf?”

  “I’m not sure what to make of it, but whatever it was was bad. Most unusual for this part of the world. It reminds me of before, when the stench of the dragon was heavy on us, even to the very edge of the River. If that’s so, we have no time to lose.”

  “I think you’re right, friend Dwarf, and I think we’d best move on now.”

  Bear looked to his friends for consent. All agreed they might as well go on now as not, and Dwarf led the way to the raging flow of Calix Stay. They went single file, in animal fashion. Dwarf gave his last in structions, repeated the words they were to say twice, and cautioned them into silence. Then he twirled thrice about himself, rubbed the dragon stone, and called the words forth. The rampaging torrents and tides of Calix Stay held their breath the barest moment, and Otter and Bear called out the words Dwarf had told them. The silver mist receded, the bright fields of the Meadows of the Sun dark ened, a great whooshing darkness engulfed the

  friends, and after a ray of brilliant light broke over the waters, all was silence and dark, and they had entered once more the World Before lime. The stillness of their passage echoed in their ears, and the strange new surroundings loomed ominously before them, dark and cold It took another long space of silence to discover that Otter was not with them.

  Dwarf’s heart grew bitter and impatient to think that Otter had forgotten the words, and that they might very easily have been with him as he was sucked into Calix Stay’s depths, but that feeling soon passed, and he lamented the little fellow’s disappearance, for that’s all it was. Bear sat staring in stunned disbeli
ef.

  “Whatever could have happened, Dwarf? He was right beside me when we left,’! whimpered Bear, dully now and lost.

  “I’m not sure, Bear. It may have had something to do with whatever it was you caught scent or there. I’m just not sure.”

  “Isn’t there anything to be done?” asked Bear, as perplexed as his friend.

  “Nothing, I’m afraid. Calk Stay is powerful, and once there, you’re there. If it was something else, then that’s another question.”

  Dwarf paced out into the darkness a few feet; and called Otter’s name softly. Only silence and the distant, almost inaudible rumble of Calix Stay answered.

  “Just as I thought,” muttered Dwarf.

  “What are we to do now?” groaned Bear, thinking again of his new honey tree, and facing a growing hunger that rumbled in his huge, cavernous belly.

  “First we must find shelter, then food, then well make our plans for tomorrow.” Dwarf strode away.

  “What if he comes and finds us gone?” pleaded Bear. “Can’t we wait until light just to make sure?”

  “Not here,” snapped Dwarf. “If it’s anything at all besides Calix Stay, we won’t be safe here a moment longer. Well wait somewhere downriver, where we can hide if need be.”

  The two friends made their way slowly toward the edge of a woods that bordered the other side of Calix Stay, hearts heavy and exhausted, missing greatly the small animal’s companionship and lighthearted chatter.

  Bear had just begun to make himself a bed of moss and fir when a tiny voice behind him squeaked,

  “Would you like a few berries before you turn in, Bear?”

  “Aiiii,” wailed Dwarf, as Bear suddenly held him clasped in a strong bear hug.

  “A ghost,” moaned Bear. “I hear his voice.”

  Broco spluttered and struggled vainly to free himself.

  “It’s only me, Bear,” came Otter’s small voice, chittering from the darkness.

  Bear groaned softly, hugging the helpless Dwarf closer.