The website of Allene R. Lowrey
They all covered their ears involuntarily at the creature’s angry shout. A small cascade of dirt and pebbles were dislodged from the rough ceiling here. Naudrek dropped into a run again even as Einarr opened his mouth. Einarr stepped to the side as Runa picked up her skirts and started to follow after Naudrek. “Kaldr,…
The light no longer reached the water’s edge when the sound of wet footfalls against the stone floor of the cave began to echo behind them. Einarr wished he could be surprised, but if the monster had given up that easily he doubted the dvergr would have bound it. That it was bound to the…
Kaldr took up position just inside the circle of warm air, surprised at himself for his easy agreement. Nothing he said was false, and his clothes seemed to be growing drier by the second. Only, he felt none of his usual apprehension about sorcery. Indeed, primarily what he felt was the comfort of a thick…
Einarr could hear the breath in his throat as he stumbled again in the corridor. Ahead of him, Naudrek didn’t look much better off – and this was after Runa had returned to the Song of Stamina. They weren’t even running, just now, merely trying to keep putting one foot in front of the other….
Naudrek sniffed, and nodded, and was joined in agreement by Kaldr and Thjofgrir. “Why fish?” Einarr asked. Whatever it was, they were sure not to like the reason. “Maybe they want to bury us in mackerel?” Naudrek asked with a shrug and half a smile. Even Kaldr chuckled. “Unlikely. But whatever the smell is coming…
The tricky part was getting Runa across. Thjofgrir had taken a running leap across the space marked out by Vali and, since none of them had been able to spot the expected ‘keyhole,’ deliberately triggered and then destroyed the hinges at the top. That was not going to win them any love from the dvergr,…
A clicking sound, like a knife being stropped, sounded twice and abruptly the tunnel was plunged into darkness. Runa froze in her tracks, blinking, her eyes straining for any light. “Einarr?” She disliked how tremulous her voice sounded just there, but there was nothing she could do about it now. She cleared her throat and…
Where Einarr had expected to see a third switchback, they were instead presented with a fork in the road. There was, of course, no good way of telling which way was north down here, and so with a shrug they turned left. A little further on, the path split again. Again they went left. Then…
Abruptly, Kaldr gave a violent shake of his head. “No. None of these. There’s something we’re missing – there has to be.” “Why’s that?” Thjofgrir asked without looking up from the lines of runes on the floor. “Because the dwarves use these tunnels. There has to be another door, one that’s hard to find if…
Einarr raised the chisel to the wall and gently tapped it with the hilt of his belt knife. As he drew the vertical line he focused on the defensive aspects of the rune. “We seek” tap “A dvergr friend” tap tap “Who is lost” tap. “We come,” he said, starting on the outward angle, “to…
