Voices, a symphony of voices. As the tunnel widened, he could hear them; some high, almost flittering, some low, a bass rumble. Most were speaking in the common tongue, but here and there were Staccian tones he had heard among the women at Gerflod Keep, and there, too, was the Fjeltroll tongue, which sounded like rocks being pulverized.

The words in the common tongue had to do with food.

It was enough to make Dani wonder anew at his sanity; but then something else changed. The impenetrable blackness lessened. From somewhere, from wherever the voices spoke, light was seeping into the tunnels. He saw the dim outline of his own hands before him as he crawled, and kept going. He would have crawled into a den of Fjeltroll if it meant seeing the sun once more.

The light grew stronger; torchlight, not sunlight. It was enough to make him squint through eyes grown accustomed to utter blackness. When he could make out distant shadows moving across the rocky floor, Dani regained sense enough to freeze.

The tunnel, still low, had widened enough for Uncle Thulu to squirm alongside him. They lay on their bellies, watching the shadows move.

“Do you reckon we dare look?” Thulu whispered presently.

“I’ll go,” Dani whispered back.

He wriggled forward, inch by frightening inch. The tunnel sloped upward. The voices had grown clear as day, accompanied by scuffling and thudding, a steady series of grunts. Narrowing his eyes to slits, Dani peered over the crest of the incline.

The tunnel emerged onto a vast cavern, its walls stacked with foodstuffs. A throng of figures filled the space, Men and Fjeltroll alike, engaged in a concerted effort to shift the supplies. A steady stream were coming empty-handed and going laden, and an imposing figure, burly and bearded, directed their efforts. “An army travels on its belly!” he roared, slapping his own vast belly, clad in gilded plate-armor, for emphasis. “Come on, lads, move! I’ve more important matters on my plate!”

Dani winced and wriggled backward into the safety of the deep shadows, careful not to let the clay vial bang against the stony floor. In a soft whisper, he told Uncle Thulu what he had seen.

“Darkhaven’s larder.” Thulu gave a soundless chuckle. “Ah, lad! Time was I could have put a dent in it.”

“What should we do?” The thought of retreating into the tunnels made Dani shudder all over his skin. “Try to find another route to the river?”

“We wait.” Thulu nodded toward the cavern. “The river lies a distance beyond. No point tempting fate; I don’t know if there is another route. Whatever they’re doing, it can’t take forever. Wait for silence and darkness, and then we’ll see.”