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and we'll come above ground at the Fallows."
"It's our only hope," Taran said, "and, thanks to you, the best hope
we've had. But the Fallows trouble me. If the land is barren we'll have little
protection for ourselves, and little means to hinder the Cauldron-Born."
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"Humph!" cried Doli. "As I told you, you're dealing with Fair Folk
now, my lad. When we set to a task there's nothing paltry or small about it.
You'll see. Something will come to hand."
"Speaking of paltry and small," interrupted Fflewddur, "where is
Glew?"
Taran halted and quickly looked around. At first he saw nothing of
the former giant. He lifted his torch and called Glew's name. A moment later
he caught sight of him and ran forward in alarm.
Glew, in his search for treasure, had clambered up to one of the
wooden platforms. Just above the arch leading to the next chamber a sparkling
gem as big as his own head was embedded amid the rocks; Glew, having swung
precariously to a narrow ledge, was trying with all his might to dislodge it.
Taran cried out to him to come down, but Glew tugged and heaved all
the harder. Dropping the reins of Melynlas, Taran was about to swing up after
him, but Doli seized his arm.
"Don't do it!" snapped the dwarf. "The beams won't hold you." He
whistled through his teeth and signaled two of the Fair Folk warriors to climb
to the platform which, under Glew's furious struggle with the gem, had begun
to sway dangerously. "Hurry!" Doli shouted. "Bring that idiot down here!"
Just then Glew's pouch, already filled to bursting, tore apart. The
gems streamed down in a glittering shower and Glew, with a yell of dismay,
spun around to clutch at them. His foothold slipped, he clawed frantically at
the platform and as he did so the arch gave way beneath him. Now shrieking not
for his lost jewels but for his life, Glew flailed wildly and caught one of
the swaying timbers. With a crash he toppled to earth. Behind him the archway
lurched, the ceiling rumbled. Glew picked himself up and scuttled madly from
the hail of falling stones.
"Back!" Doli shouted. "Back! All of you!"
The horses reared and whinnied as the warriors strove to turn them.
With an earsplitting crack, the upper platforms collapsed, an avalanche of
boulders and broken beams thundered into the gallery. Blinding, choking dust
filled the tunnel, the mine seemed to shudder all along its length, then
settle into deathly silence.
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Shouting for Doli and Fflewddur, Taran stumbled to the heap of
wreckage. None of the warriors or animals had been caught in it; behind them,
the tunnel had held firm and kept them safe. But the way forward was
hopelessly blocked.
Doli had scrambled onto the heap of stones and wood and was tugging
at the end of a long beam But after a moment he stopped, breathless, and
turned a despairing face to Taran. "It's no good," he gasped. "If you want to
keep on we'll have to dig our way through."
"How long?" Taran asked urgently. "How much time dare we lose?"
Doli shook his head. "Hard to say. Even with Fair Folk it will be a
long task. Days, very likely. Who knows how far the damage has gone?" He
snorted angrily. "You can thank that half-witted, undersized, two-legged
toadstool of a giant for it!"
Taran's heart sank. "What then?" he asked. "Must we retrace our
steps?" From the expression on Doli's grimy face, he feared what the dwarf's
answer would be.
Doli nodded curtly. "We're badly delayed, no matter what. But if you
want my advice, I say turn around and go back. Make our way to the Fallows
above ground as best we can. The whole mine is weakened now; there'll be more
cave-ins, or I'll miss my guess. Next time we may not be so lucky."
"Lucky!" moaned the bard, who had slumped down on a rock. He put his
head in his hands. "Days wasted! The Cauldron-Born will be in Annuvin before
we have another chance at them. The only luck that would suit me now would be
to see that greedy weasel under a pile of his own worthless gems!"
Glew, meanwhile, had ventured to crawl from under one of the
remaining platforms. His garments were torn, his pudgy face smeared with dust.
"Days wasted?" he wailed. "Cauldron-Born? Blocked up tunnels? But
has any one of you stopped to consider I've just lost a fortune? My gems are
gone, all of them, and you don't give it a second thought. I call that
selfish. Selfish! There's no other word for it."
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Chapter 14
Daylight
THE PRINCESS EILONWY was doubly angry. First, she was lost; second,
she was a prisoner. Swept away from Taran and Fflewddur during the attack, she
would surely have fallen among the slain had not Gurgi dragged her from the
fray. When the assault had shifted beyond them, she had stumbled blindly, with
Gurgi at her side, over the darkening crags. At nightfall, when they could
search no longer for Taran, Gurgi had found a shallow cave where they crouched
and shivered until first light. During the next day, as the two companions
sought Taran's trail, the marauders had suddenly leaped upon them.
Biting, kicking, and scratching, Eilonwy struggled vainly to free
herself from the burly man who had seized her. Another had flung Gurgi to the
ground and, with dagger drawn, set his knee in the small of the hapless
creature's back. In a trice the two companions were bound hand and foot and
hoisted like mealsacks on their assailants' shoulders. Eilonwy had no idea of
the direction in which she was being carried, but in a little while she
glimpsed a campfire flickering through the gathering dusk and hunched around
it a ruffianly band of a dozen or more.
The man squatting nearest the fire looked up. Garbed in dirty
sheepskins and a rough cloak, he was heavy-faced and stubble-bearded, his long
hair yellowish and tangled.
"I sent you for game, not prisoners," he called out hoarsely. "What
have you found?"
"Lean pickings," answered Eilonwy's captor, dropping his furious
burden to the turf beside Gurgi. "A brace of churls, for what they may be
worth."
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