Negobith, Lord of Ombros and Kapgar Kûm, was wroth. Tídris had gained the victory at their first trial of strength. He was filled with a desire to bring the upstart realm of Dúmiel under the sway of his Yoke. Mere children defied him. They were called the Children of Hope, but he would make them children of Night. And the contemptible Fâdhéri, renegades of the Hyilavúna, fenced the land and defended it from his servants. Ever he searched the Deep for that which would undo their power.
The Lord of Ombros, enthroned in Kapgar Kûm, summoned his one surviving son, Prámiz. Prámiz came to Onskabâ and did homage to the fearful Angantyîr. That was not the kindly father with whom he had walked and talked in the days of the Giants’ Wars. It was become a tyrannical anya, clothed in the dead flesh of Dreygan the Frost-giant, eyeless, mouthless, dark-robed and brooding, forever gripping the Coldsword Gantzor in its ghastly white hand.
Nevertheless Prámiz shared utterly the desire of Negobith to make Yokeservants of all Hyûvandri in the Midworld and to rid that realm of all traces of the allegiance and memory of Ingos and the Entellári.
Prámiz cast himself to the stony floor of Onskabâ before the Lord of Ombros.
‘Command me, Father Ungubith, Lord of Aumbrus and Thrâyildim! What is your will?’
There was no audible reply, but deep in his mind Prámiz heard the words as surely as if they had been spoken.
To the dastard princeling of Dûmiyildi
You shall send challenge to single combat.
If he bites that bait, the bargain goes:
By his downfalling Dûmiyildi
Will be all forfeit: his folk and land
Shall take our Yoke. If you should fail,
We yield freedom to Dûmiyildi —
Till the next challenge! But he will not conquer.
You will hold combat in Kapgar Kûm,
Where I, unseen, will seem absent:
But should you be felled by that feeble foe,
I will put forth Gantzor and get victory.
Prince Prámiz had little taste for such a fight, but he had no choice. The Sword would be wielded without mercy and without respect for ties of blood.
‘Great is the Lord of Aumbrus! It shall be done.’
The audience ended. The terrible Angantyîr wrapped itself once more in its vast dark cloak, with its white hand held close to it and the Coldsword upright, glimmering beside its faceless head.
Prámiz did obeisance and backed away from the Presence. He hurried out of Onskabâ. He mounted his skulldeer and hastened back to Magéraz Urlan-fên. In his dwelling in the tower of Guláz he summoned a council. There came his consort, Gyaldang ta-Valka, she who had been well instructed in the pathways of the Deep by the great ones of the Valkari, her kinsfolk. And there came his son Nagbith, whose name recalled the name of his grandsire, the fell being that now sat upon the throne Fâlagidhron in Onskabâ. And there came all the captains of the Hawkheaded Ones, whom mortals fear.
Then said Prince Prámiz in his pride:
The Lord Ungubith has laid it down:
A challenge curt to the child upstarts —
To yield or wield all Dûmiyildi
By single combat — I am to send at once.
I’ll call that carl to Kapgar Kûm.
My sword Slugnir shall slay him sure;
But should I be felled, my Father’s hand
Will send Gantzor and on ground lay him.
Yet for such a cause I care not to fall:
Them I will grant this grace — that their good champion
Bring a noble esquire — and Nagbith, you
Shall play that part for Prámiz your sire:
Then, should foe seem but to force me back
You shall step forward and straitly strike.
At once Prámiz sent heralds of the Ongulaskari to the North Gate of Dúmiel. And they deigned not to enter the realm, but proclaimed the challenge to the Queen’s Gatewarden and moreover proffered him the words of the same written upon a scroll. And it was expressed in many haughty and mocking words, so devised as to arouse shame and fear in those who heard and read.
When Queen Vidnî and Prince Arbros received the challenge, they were at first greatly cast down, and sought in their minds what they should do. For it was one thing to creep into Magéraz and steal away a part of its population by night; it was altogether another to enter the stronghold of the Deep, the Round Halls of Kapgar Kûm, abode of the arch-Angantyîr Negobith, wielder of Gantzor, there to cross swords with his proud son Prince Prâmiz.
But at length they took courage. For Pedrekkarpon said:
Take heart, Lord and Lady. For were you not named Children of Hope, and now you are no longer children, but still the bearers of Hope. And have we not the Child of the Talyoran, Sporni, in our keeping, which has the virtue of undoing the foul Yoke of Negobith? And are you not, Lord Arbros, keeper of the redoubtable Sword Daganarth, greatest work of Nozdusombath of Hlund, which you alone can thrust into stone and pull forth therefrom? And we have already won a great victory and we shall do so again.
And when he finished speaking, the first-born of Vidnî and Arbros, the babe Laukomána, chuckled where she lay in her cradle. And Vidnî said:
Let the little one’s laugh be a sign of hope for us.
And Arbros said:
I do not fear to face the proud Prámiz. We have seen how Silûnakánti fearlessly received firungamlas at his hands, after he had saved us. Thrákân he may be, but I account him but a man.
And Lansenet said:
My lord, I beg the honour of riding as your esquire. I have seen the bondage of our kinsfolk in Magéraz, and I vow that I shall strike a blow for their freedom and return with honour or not at all.
At this, Thilfri, his twin sister, turned pale, and Queen Vidnî took her by the hand. But she said naught.
Then Pedrekkarpon said:
I will counsel you about the approach to Mount Hogunoth. As you follow the Giants’ Road into the Karûn Kabdath, you will enter a steep-sided valley and the Road will begin to climb. There are two turnings along the way. Beware of them! For the path is not easy in the dark. You will come first to a turning on the left, a track that runs up the western side of the mountain. Shun that way!
And Arbros asked:
Why not take that path, Master Pedrekkarpon?
And he replied:
That way leads to the accursed Kâdrollad, which is the gate of the Awatekwë Ránag, the Ruined Circle, where many giants fell: it is a city of ghosts. Enter not Kapgar that way! And further on, when you are not far from the Great Gates of Kapgar Kûm, a little track turns off to the right and descends the mountainside; that way leads to another gate into the mountain, lower than the Great Gates; it is called the East Gate. It is a shortcut to Onskabâ.
And again Arbros asked:
Would that not be a good way to reach our enemy?
And the Kabáda looked at him with wide eyes, and said:
Do not go there! It is said that some unknown horror lurks within the halls. No one who goes that way reaches the caves, and the few who return come home dumb with fear. But even the Great Gates are shadowed with fear and memories of the old battles of the Giants’ War. To enter there, and descend through the Round Halls, will take all your courage.
And when it came to the fifth day before the day appointed, which day the accursed ones call Thabsetalauko, the death of the Moon, but we name Laukolinnwë, the Moon-waning, Arbros set off into the Northlands. And with him rode his esquire, Lansenet. Or so all men thought.
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