Having received the oracle of Astagant, Hadhwast Astagant, they remained on the Mountain until the Moon herself returned to her fullness. Then Slungandi brought Sporni forth and laid him before the face of the Moon. The beams of the moon fell upon Sporni, and he drank them in; he glowed with a white radiance. Slungandi chanted a rune of locking-in, and the radiance became dim and was gathered into the heart of the shard.
On the morrow Slungandi turned his thought upon Sporni, and pointed him towards the distant mountains of Zorthin. And after many days there came flying Kerorkîn Melainen, and Rákarë Zorthinen, and Tirakúrë Bróvinen, the three mightiest of the Melainë, the Doitherúna in avian form. And they alighted before Ingos and Slungandi, and Ingos addressed them:
Melainë of the Northlands ~ Ingos needs your succour.
If you would assist me ~ seek the Lost Tribes’ dwellings.
When the Full Moon shines on us ~ witness to our just endeavours,
Bid them meet me on the East Road ~ by the woods of Valkamet
There to save the subject clan ~ from the mistress that they serve
And on northward journey take them ~ for the downfall of Melyúnas!
The Melainë willingly accepted this charge, for they had sorrowfully witnessed from the air the havoc wrought in the Midworld by the devices of Melyúnas. Then Kerorkîn flew east to summon the Eskenári; Rákarë flew west to summon the Esperári; and Tirakúrë flew into the far south to summon the Estelári.
Then Ingos with Slungandi travelled back to the borders of Nanôr. There they awaited the coming of the three clans. One night, when the waxing Moon was veiled in dark clouds, they were aware of the soft fall of hoofs on the Giants’ Road, the quiet crunch of wheels, and the creaking of tackle. They went down to the road. By the light of Sporni they beheld a great convoy of horse-drawn wains, each with its drivers. There were assembled many of the Eskenári, the Esperári, and the Estelári. From the foremost wain of all, Ingos was greeted by hushed voices:
‘Ho, Father Ingos, here are we, Haigul and Kovalkë. You know that the animals will not go nearer than this to Valkamet, but this is not too far for the poor captives to flee, we think.’
And Ingos welcomed them all, and bade them to remain there at a distance, hidden from watchers by the banks of the highway.
On the morrow, Ingos arose, walked to the great gates of Valkamet, and knocked solemnly upon them with a staff he had fashioned from the branch of an oak tree. Even before they were opened, he began to call out:
Ingos the Earthstepper Father of the Peoples,
Has come to summon the Moon-beloved!
Prepare for freedom Velgrath Valkari!
Open your gates now, oppressors of the people.
Ingos shall enter to deliver the poor.
Almost at once, the Valka gatekeepers swung the gates wide, and hastened forth. They seized Ingos, crying, ‘A spy! A spy! Are you not the old man who called himself Vadu Paityága, and spied on our traffic with the Falakkazri?’
They hustled him roughly towards the High House, but Ingos noticed with satisfaction that the Velgri in the gardens and on the paths had stopped working to listen to his call. Then, as other guardians gestured at them and menaced them, they withdrew, whispering intently to one another.
The crowd of guardians thrust Ingos into the High House and dragged him to the dais, where, by good fortune, four chiefs of the Valkari were seated in council. There sat Murungyaldi the terrible, and Masláryë ta-Valka, and Vombarth, and Nabbolô. But Murnag ta-Valka, the Mistress of all, was not with them. She was sitting sightless in her house Imbrig in the deeps of Nanôr.
When the four chiefs saw Ingos, they all rose to their feet, each with a look of evil pleasure. They began to congratulate one another with gloating and glee.
‘Here is a gift! The foe of our master Melyúnas! When we deliver this one to the Master, his victory and ours will be complete.’
But suddenly the voice of Slungandi broke in:
No victory yet, Valka great ones!
Melyúnas needs another thing,
A small item, of all the key,
To lock the peoples in his power ever.
This thing I deal, Drumster of the Deep,
And now draw it forth, to dazzle sight!
And with that, Slungandi stepped before the startled assembly and, intoning the greater rune, swept Sporni, lesser shard of Talyoran the Great, from its hiding place, and pointed it at the ruling Valkari, even as they stared in surprise.
A great white radiance burst forth in the hall. It was as if the Moon herself had entered. The four Valka elders screeched in pain as the pent-up beams of the mighty Moon shot into their eyes and scorched their minds. They dropped to the floor and went scrabbling to and fro like four-footed animals. The Valka guardians, too, lost their strength and stood like statues or beings bewitched.
Then Slungandi and Ingos ran from the High House. They began calling:
Moon’s loved people, Laukonardi!
Your Friend has judged your foes justly.
Your rescue waits: ride to freedom.
Out from all the hovels where they housed and from the fields where they toiled, the Velgrath Valkari came rushing like a human torrent, bearing infants, dragging bundles, pushing barrows. Under the watchful eye of their Father Ingos they streamed out of the gates of Valkamet. Some of their elders hastened from hut to hut to ensure that no one was left behind.
When the throng arrived at the Giants’ Road, the drivers of the Lost Tribe were ready. They helped the first fugitives up into the leading wain, and it set off to the north. As each family of Laukonardi was safely settled in a wain, the driver flicked the reins and they started off. And so began the great trek of the Rescued Tribe, carried on the wheels of the Lost Tribe.
Now it happened that in their haste to leave, some of those who had been the Velgrath Valkari left rush tapers and open fires burning in their wretched shelters. Untended, the wicks and coals fell into the straw and rushes scattered on the ground. Before long many huts were on fire. A wind got up, and carried the blaze all round the fences of Valkamet.
It was a while before the Moon’s enchantment faded from the minds of the Valkari. When they came to themselves, they found that a roaring wildfire was devouring their town. The fire had spread to their own houses, and before long it had hold of the High House. Like the Laukonardi just before them, the Valkari hastened to carry everything of utility and value from their houses and out on to the level place between the town and the forest, where the Falakkazri had been accustomed to trade. The flames leapt from the High House to the Yew Tree of Valkamet and consumed its leaves, berries, and branches, leaving only a charred bole.
Suddenly homeless and destitute, with few belongings and no servants to wait upon them, the Valkari stood witless between the fences of ruined Valkamet and the eaves of the dark Forest of Nanôr. But the four leaders remained proud. ‘Let us go to our Mistress Murnag in the Forest. She will provide for us.’ To this they all agreed, and the whole tribe set off, without further thought, along the forest path in the direction of Imbrig.
But the wild Entellári of the Greenmarch, the Fâdhéri, came secretly and, with privy enchantments and hidden wiles, lured them away from the straight paths. The Valkari strayed along the dark, perplexing byways of the Forest. Each family was separated from each, and the Valka elders wandered alone looking for dens to shelter in. And only after many days did they find their way to Imbrig. There they encountered the scorn and anger of Murnag at the disaster they had permitted to happen. In their wanderings they had lost much time. She hastened to communicate by darksight with their master Melyúnas, but it was too late. By that time the vengeance of the free peoples was about to overtake him.
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