Chapter 11

“I should’ve asked Nurr,” she said. “I’ll bet he’d have found me a tub somewhere.”

“It’s too late now,” Avender replied. “You know Nolo’s always in a hurry in the morning.”

They went up to breakfast in the Minabbenet, where they found Redburr, Nolo, and Huri deep in conversation. The Shaper was shaking his large head vigorously, his red beard wagging across his chest. “No, no, you’re out of your minds,” he was saying between generous spoonfuls of fried mushrooms and bacon. “It’s too dangerous.”

“With the work Nolo and I’ve done on the brakes, it’ll be fine,” replied Huri.

“That’s easy for you to say.” Redburr’s cheeks bulged as he made room in his mouth to speak. “You’re not the one who’s going to be banging along in the back. And with your hard head, a bad spill wouldn’t matter anyway. It’s the rest of us who’ll get hurt.”

Ferris heard Huri mutter something under his breath about Bryddin not being the only ones with hard heads, as she slid onto the bench beside him. She reached across the stone table for the milk. “What are you arguing about?”

“Huri and Nolo think they’ve come up with a way for us to save some time on the Sun Road.” The Shaper took a slice of toast in his large hand and covered it with butter. “Only it won’t be much of a time saver if we never get there.”

“It’s thirty leagues from Uhle’s Gate to Vonn Kurr,” argued Huri, “downhill all the way. A rolling wagon’ll get you there a lot faster than your own feet. You could save more than two days.”

“It’s safe.” Nolo pulled easily at his beard as he tried to reassure Redburr. “Huri and I figured we could strengthen the brakes by lining them in leather. Do you really think I’d go along with this if I thought it’d put the lad and lass in any danger?”

“If it gets us there faster,” said Ferris, “I think we should try it.” She poured herself a cup of milk and reached across Redburr’s plate for the toast. “It’ll be just like sledding on the Shoulder.”

“Just like sledding,” said the Shaper. “Except that it’s sledding on hard rock instead of soft snow.”

“Or ice,” pointed out Avender, who also liked the idea of racing along for miles and miles in a runaway wagon. “Ice is just as hard as rock, and sometimes we sled on that.”

“Hard or soft, it hardly matters,” said Nolo. “We’re not going to crash. It’ll be easy as sailing to Eastbay for a pint at the Bass and Bull.”

Redburr grumbled and groaned for the rest of the meal, but by the time they were finished he had given up arguing. All the same, when they inspected the wagon Huri and Nolo had worked on during the night, a heavy cart with high sides and solid wheels, the Shaper took one look and went back into the lough without a word. When he returned, his arms were filled with blankets and pillows scrounged from the guest rooms.

“At least we’ll be comfortable when we break our necks,” he said as he tossed the bedding into the back of the wagon.

They hitched an old, tired horse to the cart and started on the road out of Grangore. It was a gray day, with rain in the offing and all three peaks hidden by cloud. Yellow cut-nots and bluebells bloomed bravely beside the road, but even their brightness faded once the travelers climbed up into the shade of the old forest. The stone path curled up Aloslocin’s gentle flank between great beeches and gnarled oaks, small stone bridges fording every stream.

While they walked the Shaper told them about his own journey, for he had been busy while the children had been sailing south across the Inner Sea. He had traveled with Giserre part of the way to Rimwich, then, after changing once more into an eagle, had flown off into the north to spy out what was happening in Ussene.

Redburr shook his head. “I saw a band of Keeadini crossing the plain with prisoners from the river, but nothing of Reiffen. Ussene’s dungeons are buried deep beneath the mountains, girl. There was no time to linger. A pack of Usseis’ creatures came at me as soon as I reached the fortress and I had to fly south as hard as I could to get rid of them.”

Ferris shuddered at the thought of what sort of flying creatures Usseis might employ. Batwings came to mind, and the snarling jaws of wolves. Sighing, Avender looked back down at the ground.

“But I did learn we’ve chosen the only possible approach,” the Shaper went on. “We’d never get near the place above ground. All paths to the fortress are watched. No one can get anywhere close without being seen—not even in the air, as I found out. And there are more watchers than ever before. More of everything. More towers, more guards, more iron. The Three have been busy in the years since they stole the Sword, and we’ve been unwary too long. It’s plain enough now the Bryddin can give us only so much protection. Angun’s not entirely wrong. The Three are our fight more than theirs.”

“Angun speaks for himself,” said Huri, “like all Bryddin. But there are many who don’t agree with him.”

A squirrel pattered overhead, its bushy tail swaying. Branches swished as it leapt from tree to tree. Avender kicked a stick off the side of the path.

Ferris crossed the road to walk beside him. “Are you thinking about Reiffen?” she asked.

“I do too. But we’re going as fast as we can. That’s why we’re taking the wagon.”

Avender shrugged. “He should have been here. It’s not the same, going to Issinlough without him. Do you know how many times we talked about doing this?”

“You can go later,” she said, trying to be cheerful. “After we rescue him.”

Ferris looked off through the trees. The leaves on the mountainside were barely budding, and the woods seemed stuck in their winter sleep. Back home in Valing she used to listen to Reiffen and Avender talk about the things they would do when they grew up, the places they would visit and the battles they would fight. She could only imagine how much more they might have said to one another when she wasn’t around.

Avender looked up at Ferris instead of the road. “You’re right,” he said. “I should be looking on the brighter side. But when you asked Redburr if he’d seen Reiffen, it just reminded me how horrible everything’s been. I wish we were back home, fishing with Skim.”

“So do I. This adventure isn’t what I thought it would be at all. And we haven’t even come to the hard parts yet. At least I’m not coughing anymore.”

He smiled, but the sadness lingered in his eyes. Ferris missed Reiffen terribly, but she knew it was worse for Avender. He and Reiffen had been closer than brothers. They had all three been close, but it had never been the same for her. At the end of the day she had gone back to her mother and father, while Reiffen and Avender and gone back to Giserre. Even as a little girl she had known there was a difference, however much she had wanted there to be no difference at all.

A steady drizzle had begun to fall by the time they arrived at Uhle’s Gate, halfway up the mountain. They were all looking forward to finally getting underground and out of the wet. At the sight of the travelers, the two guards standimg at their ease just inside the entrance hurried back to their positions in front of the door. The road ran straight past them into the mountain, where the warm glow of Dwarven lamps illuminated the passage beyond.

“Morning, Mr. Huri,” they said as the party stopped in the shelter of the trees just outside the gate. “Morning, sir,” they said to Nolo. They looked curiously at the children, for few human children ever passed that way, and the Bryddin had none of their own.

Avender and Ferris unhitched the tired horse from the cart and tethered it to a nearby branch. The animal began to nibble at the few shoots of new grass poking up between the roots of the trees. While the children were busy with the horse, Huri helped Nolo and Redburr push the wagon into the mountain. Unlike the entrance to the lough, the door to the Sun Road was bare of carving. A long, black block of stone was etched in the rock above the entrance, its point hanging downward. Otherwise there was no ornament at all. And the ceiling beyond was so low that Avender could almost touch it with his upraised hand.

“Ah,” said Nolo, happy to be in Bryddlough once more, if only at the very edge. “The Abbenaia.”

Nolo pointed at the road around them. “The Sun Road,” he explained. “Thirty leagues it runs, in great spirals to Bryddlough.” He laid a hand against the smooth stone walls, far smoother than the rough carving of the tunnels that ran through the Neck. “It’s changed a bit, though, since the last time I was here.”

Huri winked and turned to Ferris. “We were both here that day, Nolo and I. The day Uhle first broke through.”

“It must have been amazing.” Her eyes shone as she looked at the wide passage around her.

“It wasn’t so big then, miss. More what you’d call a muddy hole. But the sun was bright enough. That’s why we call it the Abbenaia. Abben’s Bryddin for sun, you know.”

Huri beamed. Ferris saw Avender was about to ask how she could possibly have forgotten one of the first Bryddin words Nolo ever taught them, when the Shaper grabbed him firmly by the neck and pushed him on toward the wagon.

“Help me line up the cart, boy,” he growled. “Even if we are going to regret it later.”

With Nolo directing them, Redburr and Avender rolled the wagon into position beside the left hand wall. The slope of the road began just past the entrance, but the tunnel wasn’t so bright as it had looked from the dim day without. A single lamp hung on the outer wall just past the doorway; beyond that the passage curved down and to the right in a growing gloom.

It was a wide road, despite the low ceiling. There was no room for a horse and rider, even if someone had been cruel enough to want to bring a horse so deep beneath the earth. But three wagons would fit easily across the passage, and donkeys, more used to mines, might easily pull them down and up the slope.

Huri held the wagon to keep it from rolling down the road while Redburr and the children clambered into the back. The cart creaked reluctantly on its wooden springs. Redburr, with his pillows and blankets, took up most of the space. Ferris and Avender had to squeeze in between a large sack of leather scraps and a heavy bucket of grease for the axles. The ceiling was too low to stand, so everyone had to sit on the bottom of the cart, which crowded them even more.

Redburr shared two of his pillows with the children, then wrapped the rest around himself. “If I had any sense at all,” he grunted as he settled in, “I’d turn myself into a bat and avoid all this nonsense.”

“Who ever said you had any sense?” said Nolo as he scrambled up into the driver’s seat. “That’s all we need, a talking bat to tell everyone the Shaper’s on his way to Issinlough. Probably scare everyone we meet on the way half to death in the process. Not to mention bringing us more attention than we need.”

Redburr gave the Dwarf a warning look. Nolo paid him no mind and set himself for his driving instead.

Ferris grabbed the wagon’s wooden side and held on tightly. Huri gave them a firm shove and let go. The cart picked up speed at once, and Ferris felt a rising thrill as they began to rattle and bang along. Nolo steered with a tiller he had rigged to the front wheels, but there wasn’t much call for steering other than to keep along the bend of the tunnel. There was little traffic and no obstacles at all; everyone on the road heard the clatter of their approach well before they came into sight. The few travelers they passed were well clear of the way as soon as the wagon rolled into view. All of them pressed their backs safely up against the inner wall, their picks and shovels at their feet, and stared at the strange sight of a cart careening down the road.

The wind rushed past Ferris’s face. Redburr’s and Nolo’s beards streamed back over their shoulders and everyone’s cloaks whipped in the breeze. It was far more exciting than the iciest slide on the Shoulder; because the cart was so much higher off the ground than a sled, Ferris felt she was speeding along much more quickly than she ever had sped before. The wall barreled by beside her. The wagon shuddered and shook. But no cart had ever been built to go that fast, and it was soon rattling everyone’s teeth and bones. Ferris closed her eyes and buried her chin in the single pillow the Shaper had given her, trying in vain to cushion herself against the banging. She thought about insisting he share the rest of his bedding but, before she had a chance to say a word, he began to unwrap himself from his coverings and pushed forward to say something to the driver. Not caring whether Redburr noticed or not, Ferris snatched up a second pillow as soon as his back was turned.

“What?” The Dwarf strained to hear what Redburr was saying, but the cart was moving so fast the Shaper’s words were whipped away as soon as he spoke.

“The brakes!” Redburr shouted. “Don’t you think it’s time to try the brakes!”

His left hand holding onto the tiller, Nolo leaned over to grab the brake with his right. He missed his first attempt, which made the wagon wobble slightly. Ferris dropped her pillows and made a sudden grab for the side of the cart. She swallowed hard and tried not too seem concerned as Nolo brought the wagon back under control. Short as the Bryddin was, he had to stretch all the way across the seat to reach the brake handle. But he succeeded the second time and the leather brakes rasped at the wheels with a slithery hiss. Gradually the cart began to slow. The pounding of Ferris’s heart slowed as well. Nolo pulled hard on the lever until finally they were rolling along at no more than a fast gallop. The brakes hummed against the wheels.

“What’s that smell?” asked Ferris, wrinkling her nose and trying not to sound as if she had ever been scared.

Redburr stood up gingerly and leaned out over the inner side of the rumbling wagon, careful not to bang his head on the ceiling. The cart tilted dangerously, much worse than before, and this time Ferris was sure they were going to crash. But Nolo quickly released the brake and put both hands back on the tiller to steady their course. The wagon leapt forward, almost throwing the passengers out the back and into the road. Ferris thought her arms were going to be pulled from their sockets as she strained to hold on.

“Watch out there!” called the Dwarf angrily to the Shaper over his shoulder. “You’re too fat to go hanging over the side! Do you want to wreck us?”

“I’ll show you fat,” grumbled Redburr. But he moved back to the middle of the cart just the same, almost tripping over the blankets he had left wadded in the bottom. Nolo brought the wagon back under control, then reached for the brake once more. This time he kept the pressure up until they stopped completely. Ferris grew uneasy as the smell of burning increased, and waited for the wheels to burst into flame. The wagon came to a shuddering halt, the stone of the Sun Road strangely quiet once the loud clattering of the wheels had ceased.

“Finally smartened up, eh?” said Redburr. His deep voice echoed along the curving walls and ceiling.

“Just a few quick adjustments. Hold on to the cart there, will you.” Nolo waited for Redburr to climb out of the wagon before releasing the brake and hopping off the seat. The cart rolled forward a foot before the Shaper set himself firmly in the road and held it fast. “Hand me down that sack of extra leather, will you Ferris? And maybe the grease bucket, too.”

Working quickly, the Bryddin lashed the tiller in place so the cart wheels were set for a slight curve. “Now the wagon’ll follow the turn in the road without my help,” he told them when he was done. Next he looked at the brakes, and pulled at his beard with some concern when he saw how much the leather pads had already worn away. He cut fresh ones from the spare strips he had brought and spread new grease around the shafts. Then he and the Shaper climbed back into the cart and the wagon rolled off once more.

“That should do it,” he said confidently as he took his place at the brake. “Just stay away from the right side, Redburr, and we’ll be fine.”

This time the cart steered itself in a wide circle along the spiraling way, while Nolo attended to his braking. He let the wagon get up to a comfortable rate of speed, then held it there with a constant pressure on the wheels. The air filled again with the smell of burnt leather as they coasted on, deep below the stony feet of the mountain, but this time Ferris didn’t worry about what might be happening at all. She trusted that Nolo had fixed everything, and rode with the wind in her face and the rush of their descent gleaming with the dwarf light in her eyes. And the shaking wasn’t so bad, now that she had two of Redburr’s pillows and they weren’t going quite so fast.

In time even Redburr, who had never liked sledding, enjoyed the ride. It was loud and jarring, but the wind felt lovely in their faces as the lamps flashed by along the walls. Occasionally they passed dark doorways and spots where small fountains bubbled into cisterns along the inner curve of the road. Less often they passed another party toiling up or down the stone way. The lamplight rose and fell as they rushed along, as if they were rolling through many short days and nights rather than just one long morning. There were only two or three lamps for every full turn in the road, and the gloom was deep between them.

“This is the way to travel!” cried Ferris as they raced past yet another group of astonished miners. She leaned forward close to Nolo, the wind buffeting her face delightfully. “Why doesn’t everybody do it?”

“How would they get the wagons back to the top if they did?” replied Nolo in amusement.

“You could have donkeys haul them up. Miners use donkeys in caves all the time!”

“And how would we feed the donkeys, lass? You can’t grow hay underground!”

Ferris frowned, wishing she had thought about that before asking the question. But a moment later any disappointment she felt was whisked away in the sheer joy of racing through the Stoneways like a log through a flume.

They had been running hard for the better part of an hour, their bodies limp with bouncing, when Nolo announced they had to stop again so he could replace the linings on the brakes.

“We must be close to the Axe and Ruby by now,” offered Redburr, wiping his dry mouth with his hand. “Huri told me it was about a third of the way down the road. I’ve been looking for it the last ten minutes. I say we stop there.”

So Nolo kept the wagon clattering on a little longer, until they saw a change in the road ahead. A walled pool of water extended halfway across the stone floor, a large doorway on the inside wall and a smaller tunnel on the outer. Several men sat by the pool or loitered by the door. Nolo pulled hard on the brake and the wagon skidded slowly to a stop, well past the pool.

Redburr threw off his pillows and scrambled out. While Nolo set to relining the brakes a second time, the Shaper led the children back up the Sun Road to the inn. A crowd had gathered outside as the cart had clattered by and it seemed every miner in the tavern had an opinion to share about how the travelers were all going to break their necks. But the innkeeper and his wife welcomed Redburr as an old friend from the days when their place of business had been above ground, and plied him with questions after sending their equally curious customers back to their stout and stew. He answered very little while saying quite a lot, and told them he was taking the children on a grand tour of Bryddlough as part of their education. A few minutes later the three friends were back on the road again with a bag of fried mushrooms and a small cask under the Shaper’s arm.

“That’s an odd place for an inn,” said Ferris as she opened the bag and sniffed at the mushrooms. “Mmmm... These smell delicious.”

“The Upper Mines are only a few miles down that passage.” Redburr nodded toward the smaller tunnel across from the pool. “Humans can’t mine as well as Bryddin, of course, but they still free up the Dwarves to do other things. And the gems down here are a lot better quality than they are nearer the surface. That’s why Thickner persuaded the Bryddin to let him set up his inn here. From here on the loway’s mostly empty.”

The Shaper grinned, and held out his hand for a mushroom. “That’s what the miners call it,” he said as he popped the tasty morsel into his mouth, barely chewing before he swallowed. “If it’s a highway up on the surface, they figure they ought to call it a loway down here.”

Ferris rolled her eyes, but Avender smiled for the second time that day. “What?” he said when he saw the look she gave him. “I think it’s funny.”

“The next time I go adventuring,” said Ferris with a small shake of her head, “I’m making sure there’s at least one other girl along. Maybe that way I won’t be the only one who understands when it’s time to wash.”

Nolo had finished his work and was ready to go when they returned. They ate their mushrooms and a few slices of ham they found at the bottom of the sack once they were underway. The eating wasn’t a problem, but after spilling the contents of their canteens all over themselves while trying to drink, they gave up that part of the meal. They settled back to enjoy the ride, well-used now to the experience. Redburr, with the children’s help, even made up a little song, which they sang loudly as they raced down the tunnel.

“The wheels are rolling

The wagon is bowling

And we are not strolling

Along the Sun Road!

“We’re bouncing and jouncing

And quaking and shaking

And swerving and curving

On down the Sun Road!

“No one comes near us

With Nolo to steer us

Because they can hear us

Far down the Sun Road!

“But how will we stop

At the edge of the drop

As we roll from the top

Along the Sun Road?

“We don’t know, we don’t care

We’ll fly through the air

With the Dwarf and the bear

On down the Sun Road!”

The stone walls flew by. Other tunnels appeared now and again on either side, leading to who knew what mysterious places. Twice more Nolo stopped to replace the leather in the brakes and grease the cart’s wheels. On and on they went, twirling downward like a paper boat swirling through a very long drain.

But the ride was enjoyable for only so long. Eventually it was all they could do to keep from being jarred to jelly by the wagon’s endless shaking. Sitting was no good, even with Redburr’s blankets and pillows to cushion them, because then every bone in their bodies was rattled by the rushing cart. But standing was impossible, with the ceiling as low as ever, so there was nothing to do but bear the jouncing as much as possible and hope the ride would soon be over.

Even Nolo was relieved when he finally peered into the gloom ahead and announced they were close to the end. With both hands he pulled hard on the brake and the cart began to slow. Gradually they came to a stop beside the next lamp on the curving wall, its soft radiance sending thin shadows across the smooth stone floor ahead.

He slid briskly down from the high front seat and held the wheel to keep the cart from rolling farther down the road. Groaning, Redburr and the children followed. After the long ride, the loway felt as unsteady beneath their feet as the deck of The Other Side, so used had their legs become to the shaking wagon. They hobbled about, trying to recover their balance, while Nolo undid the lashings holding the front wheels in place and dragged the cart over to the inside of the road.

“I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to ride in a wagon again.” Ferris groaned as she tried to twist the kinks out of her neck and shoulders.

Avender arched his back and touched his toes. “What are you going to do with it now, Nolo?” he asked. “I hope we don’t have to haul it all the way back up the Sun Road on our way home.”

“I don’t think it could stand the trip, lad.” Nolo showed them where the edges of the wheels were splintered and cracked, the wood warping. With one sharp tap he knocked the nearest wheel off its axle and that whole side of the wagon sagged toward the floor. “We’ll leave it here. Someone can always use the wood. But we’re in too much of a hurry to bother ourselves.”

“I think we’ve hurried enough,” said the Shaper. “I need a little something to settle my stomach first before we go on.”

He sat on the floor with his legs stretched wide. In between was the small cask he had brought from the Axe and Ruby. For a moment he wrestled with the stopper at the side of the barrel, then there was a great explosion and a geyser burst suddenly up between his hands. He was drenched in an instant, the foam coating him from head to foot before the barrel spun out of his grasp and onto the loway. Avender and Ferris jumped to avoid the wild spray as the cask whirled about; then the barrel caught the angle of the road and, with beer shooting out behind, scooted out of sight around the turn.

Redburr was stunned. For a moment he sat befuddled in a puddle of suds. “My beer!” he gasped.

Nolo shook his head. “If you’d think for just a little bit before trying to fill your belly, you’d remember that beer doesn’t take well to shaking.”

But the Shaper wasn’t listening. He stared at the wet trail that traced the barrel’s passing, then jumped to his feet and sloshed nimbly after it.

“Come on,” said Nolo when Redburr was almost around the turn. “We’d better follow him. Let’s hope he doesn’t run right off the edge of the road.”

They had barely gone a hundred paces and were only just starting to feel their legs properly again, when they came to the last lamp and an abrupt end to the passage. Redburr was on his hands and knees at the edge of a yawning gulf, his beard dripping beer as he peered sadly down into the darkness. Nolo and the children came up behind him, but only the Bryddin went all the way to the edge. Avender and Ferris remained a step or two behind, neither of them quite ready to stand on the brink of that immense pit. Craning her neck, Ferris saw stretched out below the vast deep of Vonn Kurr, lights sprinkled across its depths like stars reflected in a quiet sea. Some flickered like open fires; others shone pale and steady as befitted the lamps of Uhle. Close by, a small stream rang clear as a set of tiny bells, reminding her of the hidden pool in Granglough. But here the sound was different, for the Granglough pool was a shallow basin compared to the depths of Vonn Kurr. Farther off she heard the deeper tones of heavier falls cascading into deeper bowls; and farthest away, at the bottom of the pit, more felt than heard in a low bass rumble, the thunder of a mighty cataract.

“This has changed,” said Nolo. He stood on the edge of the precipice with his hands on his hips and looked critically out into the blackness.

“It’s very beautiful.” Ferris took another brave step forward to stand close behind him.

“It’s starting to come together.” Nolo pointed toward the wonders of the gulf. “You can’t see as well in the dark as I can, but the waters have all been gathered into one stream at the bottom, and there’s a deep pool in the floor. When Vonn Kurr is finished it will rival even Issinlough.”

Redburr sighed at their feet, but clearly not for the beauties of Vonn Kurr. With a last longing look at the gulf, he stood back up beside them. Beer dripped from his clothes and a few flecks of foam clung to his hair.

“Don’t tease me,” whimpered the Shaper. “I’ve suffered a horrible loss. Thickner’s a master of the art.”

“No use crying over cracked stone.” Nolo turned away from the deep and walked toward the right-hand wall. “Huri told me there’ve been some improvements since you were last here, Redburr.” He looked closely at the stone a few paces back from the edge of the road. “Ah! Here it is.”

Hidden in the gloom along the inner wall, Ferris spied a metal door. It slid back into a pocket in the wall without a sound as Nolo applied his strength to it. But opening the door only revealed another, smaller pit she thought looked every bit as bottomless as Vonn Kurr.

“What’s a lift?” asked Ferris. She held on to the side of the doorway and peered into the dark hole. It smelled damp, like the top of a deep well.

Neither Redburr nor Nolo answered. Instead Nolo raised his arm and, with a whirring sound, something small and dark flitted down to him. He stepped back from the opening, a small bat suspended from his sleeve. Its black eyes gleamed. Nolo tapped the small creature once upon its ugly nose with his thick finger. Immediately it let loose its perch beneath his arm and flew off into the dark gulf. Nolo followed it to the end of the road, took off his pack, and settled himself on the edge of the cliff. His legs dangled over the side as comfortably as if he were seated on a bench in Valing.

“It’s a long way to the bottom of Vonn Kurr,” he said. “Even for a mistrin. Let’s hope the lift’s a little closer.”

“Well, then.” Nolo placed his hands on the stone beside him and took a deep breath of the darkness. “A lift is just what it’s called, a flat platform used to raise heavy objects up and down. It’s the same principle as a canal lock. You’ve never seen a canal lock? Well, then, let’s forget about canal locks and just say a lift’s a platform that rises and falls with the water below it. Let more water in, and the lift goes up. Let the water out, and the lift falls. It’s simple, really.”

“Simple if you’re a Bryddin,” grunted Redburr, who was licking his fingers after running them through his beard. “But still only something a Bryddin would ever think of.” Once or twice, when he thought no one was looking, Ferris saw him suck on his sleeve.

“When it shows up down below,” Nolo went on, “the liftkeeper will know someone wants to use the lift. He’ll give it some food, and then it’ll probably come back long before the lift does. But at least we’ll know then the lift’s on its way. Either way, the lift’s a lot faster than taking the stairs.”

The bat did return long before the lift. It fluttered back and forth above them, a dodging shadow in the dim lamplight. Ferris tried to coax it down with a last bit of mushroom she had saved for later snacking. It came quickly to the offered food, but flew off again at once, refusing the mushroom and not even bothering to hang from her arm the way it had with Nolo.

“Wrong kind of food,” said Redburr. “She only eats crickets. But I’ll take it off your hands.”

“Cave crickets,” replied the Dwarf. “There are lots of those in Bryddlough. There’s more life down here than you know.”

A hollow bubbling behind them signaled the arrival of the lift. Now there was a floor instead of a hole in the small room beyond the metal door. The floor was also made of metal, and their footsteps rang hollowly as they stepped inside. Avender and Ferris had expected something that would wobble and shake like a raft; but the floor only sank a little under Redburr’s and Nolo’s weight, and didn’t wobble at all. Once inside Nolo raised his hand again for the mistrin, then tapped her nose to make her fly away. When she was gone he closed the heavy door behind them. Pulling out his lamp, he set it on the middle of the floor.

It was a few more minutes before the lift began to descend. With the door closed, the smell of damp was even stronger than before. They sat on the cold metal floor away from the walls, their packs on the ground beside them. Ferris only noticed the lift begin to move by the way the walls began creeping upward, the newly exposed sections glittering wetly in the lamplight.

The air grew wetter the deeper they went. Soon rain began to fall on them from above. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling, for the drops were large and had a rusty odor. Ferris shivered as the first few struck her head, thick and wet as if there were birds perched on the walls above. She pulled the hood of her cloak up to protect her hair, though it was already filthy from weeks of travel. By the time they reached the bottom they were all as wet as Redburr, who now smelled like a pile of rusty fishhooks instead of a wet dishrag from the Bass and Bull.

A second door appeared in the wall beside them. Slowly the lift came to a stop. A large metal wheel was set in the middle of the door, and Nolo had to spin it several times before the passage would open.

Out they stepped into a world shimmering with pale light and booming like thunder. A fine mist filtered past them from the right, where a huge waterfall churned a glowing pool. Droplets glistened like tiny pearls where they caught unbroken in the wild mats of Nolo’s and Redburr’s beards. Through the clear water, Ferris saw that the bottom of the pool was filled with Dwarven lamps tumbling about in the current as they lent their cold illumination to the rushing stream. A small river poured rapidly away through the deep, while all around rose the tiers of Vonn Kurr itself, sparkling in the light of many lamps and fires. Other falls leapt back and forth across the cliffs, until they joined at last in the final cascade some forty or fifty fathoms from the bottom.

“It’s like the White Pool,” Ferris breathed. The seething water splashed lines of rolling shadow across her face. “Only it’s nighttime, and someone’s thrown magic fire in the stream.”

“There’s still a lot more work that needs to be done,” said the Dwarf. “But it’ll do, lass. Eventually.”

He led them away from the pool before Ferris was done gazing upon it; they followed the road alongside the swirling river. The Kurren, Nolo called it: one of the Seven Veils. His eyes shone as he spoke; his pace quickened as they crossed the soaring cave.

Ahead of them both road and river entered a tunnel in the far wall. Other people were working at the bottom of Vonn Kurr, both human and Bryddin; but all were too far away from the travelers to do more than wave. They entered the passage along a wide way, as wide as the Sun Road; but the ceiling here arched much higher above their heads than it had along the upper path, and the echoing rush of the Kurren was much more pleasant than the rattling of the wagon had been. Rather than the usual brackets bearing lights along the walls, this road was lit by a series of round glass globes that hung from the ceiling, as if the passage were illuminated by a series of small, soft moons.

They came to a place where the river disappeared into a dark culvert, the road crossing the stream on a wide bridge. A plain column of marbled stone stood in the midst of the span, dark gray rock ribbed with narrow streaks of white and crimson. Nolo stopped and bowed solemnly. His companions gathered quietly beside him.

“Now we’re come to the land as I left it,” he said, raising his face to gaze upon the polished shaft. “This is the Tomb of Hodi, the first among the Bryddin to be broken and lose the breath of Brydds. His stone marks the beginning of Issinlough. Beyond is the Uhliakh, Uhle’s Stair in your tongue, which leads to the city. Until the coming of Mennon and the carving of the Sun Road, few but Uhle and I ever came this way through the Under Ground.”

He led them across the bridge to the far side of the Kurren. In a moment the bright chatter of the river dimmed to a murmur behind them.

Soon the road changed once more and they found themselves at the top of a long staircase. The passage remained as grand as ever, but now it descended so steeply that the ceiling was more a wall in front than a roof above. The first stair was fifty steps, but the second, which came soon after, was a hundred and fifty. Beyond that the way was mostly stair. It wasn’t long before Ferris was as weary as she had ever been, her legs cramping at the long descent and her toes chafing painfully in her boots. She was relieved to see that Avender was also struggling down the steps beside her: it would never do if there was any part of this journey in which she couldn’t keep up. After a while even Redburr was panting, his skin flushed almost as red as his hair. But always the way was broad, and lit by the softly glowing moons.

When she felt she could go no farther, she saw below a spot of blackness at the end of the steps. Tiny stars sparkled along the far edge and, as they descended, both stars and darkness grew. At first Ferris thought she was looking at another deep, like Von Kurr. Then the lights began to draw together and she realized she was seeing the reflection of a splendid city in a midnight pool. Tall towers soared above shimmering spires and gossamer pathways, each tower twinkling with many windows and winding galleries. Silver bridges looped back and forth between the towers, arcing in long curves across the darkness. Issinlough! she thought. It had to be.

Eager to get a closer look, she forgot her fatigue and hurried down the stair. More and more details of the city came quickly into view. She saw lamps that shone from the very tops of the towers, terraces glowing with lights from below, and windows gleaming with colored glass. She had never seen anything so beautiful. Down she rushed, Avender beside her, both of them eager to reach the pool and see Issinlough itself, not just its reflection. Already they could see people moving back and forth across the bridges and paths.

Suddenly Ferris didn’t feel so well. The people she was looking at were right side up when, if she was looking at a reflection, they were really supposed to be upside down. She sat down heavily on the stair, unsure for a moment which was the right way up herself. Avender thumped onto the step beside her. Together they rubbed their eyes as they tried to straighten out what it was they were seeing.

Redburr had stopped on a lower stair, his head level with the children’s. The rusty water from the lift had dried enough that he was back to smelling like sour beer. “But don’t worry,” he went on. “It’s Issinlough that’s upside down, not the Dwarves. Those aren’t towers you’re looking at, they’re unnerets. And that’s the Abyss below them, not the sky. You’re looking through a hole in the bottom of the world, not a reflection in a pool of water.”

As the Shaper spoke, the image behind him seemed to right itself, and Ferris found she could look at the sparkling city again without feeling like she was about to fall on her head. Those weren’t terraces lit from the bottom she had seen, but regular terraces with lights above. It was only the towers that were pointing the wrong way: straight down. She realized that looking at Issinlough was like looking at a wasps’ nest. Except Issinlough hung from the bottom of the world and not the branch of a tree, and light and life shone from every wall and window.

Nolo stood lightly at the edge of the hole and gazed happily at his city. He seemed to have no thought at all for how far he would fall if he slipped. Softly he sang:

“Falling waters break the night,

Silver’s shine slips into sight.

In the darkness, deep below,

Lies the light of Issinlough.”

Still a bit unsteady, Avender and Ferris followed Redburr down the last few steps to the bottom of the world.