when Cadderly came out of his trance. Ivan stood still for a long while, then began a tactile inspection, as if testing to see if all of his tangible mass had been restored.
Cadderly slumped in the snow beside the small opening in the hill, collected his wits, and rubbed the sides of his head to try to alleviate the throbbing. It wasn't as bad as the last time he had tried a major spell. Back in the cave he had tried, and failed, to make mental contact with Dean Thobicus to ensure that no invasion force was marching north toward Castle Trinity. It wasn't so bad this time, and Cadderly was glad of that. If they could get their business done quickly, and if the weather held, the three would be back at the Edificant Library within two weeks. Cadderly suspected that there waited his greatest challenge yet, one that he would need the song of Deneir to combat
"At least there's no stupid dragon waiting in there this time." Ivan huffed, and he moved up to the entrance. The last time Cadderly and the others had come to this spot, a fog enshrouded the area and all the snow near the hole had been melted away. The air was still warm inside the hole, but not nearly as oppressive, and ominous, as when Fyrentennimar had been alive.
Pikel tried to push Ivan aside, but the yellow-bearded dwarf held his ground stubbornly, showing that he was more intrigued by the prospects of a dragon's hoard than he let on. "I'm going in first," Ivan insisted. "Ye'll follow by twenty paces," he explained to Pikel. "So^that I can call to yerself, and ye can call to Cadderly."
Pikel's head bobbed in agreement, and Ivan started for the hole. He considered it for just a moment, then removed his helmet and tossed it to Cadderly.
"Ivan," the young priest called, and when Ivan turned back, the young priest tossed him a short metallic tube.
Ivan had seen this item, one of Cadderly's many inventions, before, and he knew how to use it. He popped off the snug cap on its end, allowing a beam of light to stream forth. There was a disk inside the tube, enchanted with a powerful light-giving dweomer, and the tube was really two pieces of metal. The outer tube, near the end cap, could be turned along a corkscrew course, lengthening or shortening the tube, thus tightening or widening the beam of light
Ivan kept the focus narrow now, since the tunnel was so constricted that the broad-shouldered dwarf had to often turn sideways to squeeze through, so narrow that Pikel reluctantly gave Cadderly back his wide-brimmed hat before entering.
Cadderly waited patiently for many minutes, his thoughts lost in the anticipated confrontation with Dean Thobicus. He was glad when Pikel reappeared in search of rope, knowing then that Ivan had made it through the tightest of the tunnels and had come to the vertical shaft that would take him to the same level as the dragon treasure.
Twenty minutes later, both dwarves came bobbing out of the hole, Ivan shaking his head.
"It's blocked," he announced- "I can get down to the big room under the shaft, but there's nowhere to go from there. I'm thinking we might be better in trying to cut through that front door."
Cadderly blew a deep sigh.
"I'll call for me kin," Ivan went on. "Of course, it'll take the bulk of the next two seasons to get down from Vaasa, and then we'll have to wait for the next winter to blow over..."
Cadderly tuned out as the dwarf rambled on. By conventional means, it might take years to extract the dragon treasure, and the delay would bring about some unexpected obstacles. Word of Fyrentennimar's demise would spread fast throughout the land, and most of the peoples in the region, of races both good and evil, knew that the dragon resided in Nightglow Mountain. The fall of a dragon, especially one that had sat for centuries on a legendary treasure hoard, always brought scavengers.
Like me, Cadderly thought, and he chuckled aloud at the self-deprecating humor. He realized then that Ivan had stopped talking, and when he looked up, he found both dwarves staring at him intently.
"Fear not, Ivan," Cadderly said, "you'll not need to summon your kin."
"They would take a bit o' the treasure for their own," Ivan admitted. "By the gods, they'd probably set up a keep right inside the mountain, and then we'd be hard pressed to get a