Groiznath stood wrathful on the Giants’ Quay. Once more Slungandi, the supreme trickster, had cheated him. He calculated in his mind. Slungandi might perish in the torrent pouring through the unknown tunnels under the mountains. But Groiznath now guessed that he had travelled that way the day that the raft expedition was wrecked, and that was how he escaped undetected. If Slungandi had made the perilous journey before, he had a good chance of coming forth at whatever place the river emerged into the open.
He might possibly perish on the way from the arrow wound. If he did perish in the river, then Gantzor would most likely be lost, for even the most intrepid adventurer, even a Doitherân, could never search the bed of such a torrent, in the dark, narrow, uncharted caverns. But Groiznath had a strong intuition that Slungandi would survive and would emerge from the mountains with Gantzor still on his back. He did not know where the Secret River flowed out of the Dagnath Nebren, but search could be made.
That led him to consider what means he had. He could go back to his brother and join forces to hunt down Slungandi and recover Gantzor. He dismissed that thought at once. That way, he would forfeit his chance to possess Gantzor. He had vowed:
On Negobith’s knee he shall never lie!
And he meant it. They had the power to take it from him if he was in their company when he found it. Whereas, as things were, he knew where to start looking for Slungandi and the Sword. Keeping that knowledge from them, he had a great advantage, especially if he could put them on a false trail.
Then he thought of Hugturágis. From his back, it would not be hard to survey the western side of the mountains and find the outpouring of the underground river.
His mind made up, Groiznath hastened to put his plans into action. He abandoned the boots, which would not assist his climb as well as they had helped his descent. He went back to the spiral stairway and began to ascend as fast as he could.
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