He led them to the left, to one of the redoubts, motioning the workers aside and moving to the edge of a thick protective wall of stone blocks that all but closed off the entry. He beckoned the boy and the girl forward and, when they were standing beside him at the fortifications, pointed outside. “I know you can’t see what’s out there, Rover girl, but young Penderrin can describe it to you in detail later. It’s what’s been sent to bring him back.”

The Druid airships had repositioned just outside the walls of the village, hovering not far off the ground, but well back from the possibility of catapult attacks that might be launched from the cliffs. Dozens of Gnome Hunters were scurrying down rope ladders and up to the village walls, some carrying battering rams, some grappling hooks and ropes. They were already scaling the walls and forcing the gates. Behind them lumbered several dozen creatures that looked as if they had been fashioned from wet mud hardened by the sun, creatures that resembled Trolls but lacked the proper proportions and features, as if someone had concocted a batch of poor imitations.

“Mutens,” Pen whispered.

“Our worst enemies. No brains, no feelings, no purpose. They are one step above rocks on the evolutionary ladder. Magic controls them easily. In the old days, it was the Warlock Lord who controlled them. Now it is our Druid adversaries. The Ard Rhys would weep.”

He gestured toward the flats. “Those explosions earlier? We used oil culled from the darker regions of the Malg, capped in barrels and buried in the ground. Highly flammable. The Druids weren’t expecting that. It gave us a chance to get safely away, once we knew that a fight was our only recourse. But that’s all the advantage we get from down there. We fight now from up here, in our redoubt, for today at least.”

He touched their shoulders and led them back into the cavern. “By tomorrow, we’ll be gone from here. I need to make ready for our departure, and you need to rest.” He searched the cavern for a moment, then shouted. “Atalan!”

A burly troll with the blackest eyes Pen had ever seen lumbered up to them. His dark gaze shifted from Kermadec to the boy and girl, then back again. “I have work to do.”

“Now you have new work to do. Take young Penderrin and his friend and find their companions. Take them to one of the upper chambers. See that they all have something to eat and drink and a place to sleep. They will leave at first light. I’ll select their escort.”

The other Troll stepped closer. “What about me, Kermadec? Am I to go?”

His voice was rough and surly; he made it sound more like a demand than a request. Kermadec gave him a long, measured look. “I will give it some thought.”