The Stonegiants abandoned their campaign against the Entellári and marched back from Hrethlet Gangri towards Kapgar Kûm. But on the way they were ambushed by a force of Fellgiants lying in wait. Their warband was scattered, and only the small party led by Mivgâ managed to reach Kapgar Kûm, where they were almost immediately assailed by another force of Fellgiants.
After the rout of these Fellgiants by Dreygan and Firungwáfi, parties of Stonegiants began to arrive to join the garrison of Kapgar Kûm. Those who had been scattered by the ambush, led by Blundubâl and Blamingûl, made their way there by roundabout routes. Many others arrived who had been driven from their homes by the Fellgiants. The latter were the most numerous tribe and lived in small settlements all over the Northlands.
The tribes of the Rock people, the Kabdath, had no part in the original quarrels, but now found themselves caught up in the wars. The Giants on both sides maintained friendship with the Kabdath of Hlund, on whom they depended for weapons and other supplies. But for the most part, the Kabdath favoured the Stonegiants. In the long ages before the arrival of the Hyûvandri, a company of hundreds of Stonegiants and Kabdath had formed the interior of Kapgar Kûm, by enlarging and joining the multitude of caverns and fissures running through the interior of Mount Hogunoth. So now the Kabdath of Kalípo Kalhondrim and those of Figrû Vomaddi, whose settlements lay in the hills known as the Karún Kabdath, below the Dagnath Nebren, having fortified their own strongholds, sent messages to the Stonegiants of Kapgar Kûm, asking for their protection in return for the provision of supplies.
Norog Minlárim was a settlement of Kabdath on the southern side of the mountains above Dreygan’s home at Firungráda. They had long ago aided in the building of Firungráda and still counted Dreygan as their overlord. The Melainë came to them and warned them that the Fellgiants had destroyed the Frostgiants and were on the march south. They told the Minlári that Dreygan had set up his highseat in Kapgar Kûm, and counselled them to abandon their settlement and hasten south into the hills of Karún Kabdath. One of these hills rose from a steep-sided spur thrust out eastward from Mount Hogunoth. Within this hill lay a great chamber built long before by the Stonegiants, with many dwellings and store-rooms opening off it, and below it, reached by a wide staircase, a vaulted cavern of vast size. The entrance to the chamber commanded a view over the lands around and was defended by great doors. Here they settled, naming the place Kabadkabâ.
The Minlári brought many plants with them to Kabadkabâ. When Slungandi heard of their arrival, he hastened to meet their chieftains, and asked them:
‘Have you among your plants and herbs any slips of the frostberry plant, of firunxapsë? For the Lord Dreygan has in his keeping the great coldworm Firungwáfi, and it is known that the delicacy upon which a coldworm most likes to feed is the frostberry.’
And they replied:
‘Yes, O master Slungandi, we cultivated this plant on the high snowfields of the northern mountains. For from it a heartening cordial can be distilled.’
Slungandi said:
‘Plant it in the caverns of Kabadkabâ, I counsel you. Brandubur will bring frost there such as the plant is accustomed to, and you shall purvey the berries in careful measure to Dreygan for the feeding of his coldworm. In return, the Lord Dreygan will give you his protection.’
And so they did, and they remained safe under Dreygan’s protection all through the Giants’ Wars and for many years to come, until the loosing of Firungwáfi and the destruction of the frostberry groves, which brought about their expulsion from Kabadkabâ.
Now, despite the urging of the captains, Dreygan would never permit Firungwâfi to be sent forth in battle against the Fellgiants.
‘Let them once break into our stronghold,’ he said, ‘and then we shall see how Firungwáfi deals with them. He is the final and most deadly weapon for our defence.’
But in the end, Dreygan was prevailed upon to use the Coldworm to forge a great weapon, as the tale of Gantzor tells.
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