"What's the word from below? How does Belicia fare on the dock?"

A closer look at Axel's face cut off Baker's question and confirmed that the news was bad-bad as could be.

"The bottom levels are lost," Axel began, forcing words out with an effort that brought the veins bulging from his forehead. "The whole bottom of the Life-Tree broke loose and fell onto the docks and plaza. It's all buried. And Belicia. By Reorx, it should have been me!" The veteran commander staggered with a groan of pure misery.

Baker caught Axel by his broad shoulders and felt that sturdy body heaving in a tide of grief. The thane searched without success for words to bring him comfort. He settled for the solace he could offer with his embrace, even as his own despair threatened to overwhelm him.

"What happened?" Baker asked, utterly drained, but knowing the answer might well be important-if anything could ever be important again.

The question seemed to bring Axel back to some measure of awareness. "No one knows. My lord, there were no survivors. The First and Second levels were cut off, buried under a million tons of rock. The Third is full of corpses or worse. They're all dead. The Lift can't go lower than Level Four. I did the last descent by one stairway that hasn't yet caved in."

Baker tried to absorb the loss. Axel's daughter, their beautiful city, perhaps even his son were all gone.

For the first time he took note of the forty or fifty dwarves who had accompanied Axel in the lift. Some of them bore fine weapons. A few carried only big sticks, but it Was clear that all were ready to do battle for their realm. They stood around waiting, looking at the wreckage that marked every one of the four avenues leading away from the lift station.

Baker spotted several apprentices from the palace library. They were young dwarves, and now they held swords and knives in hands that had been trained to use writing utensils.

"You dwarves," he said quickly. "Do you have quill and parchment?"

"Aye, lord thane. We all have our writing tools."

"I want you all to take down the names of every dwarf here," Baker said. "And find the others, the groups of Hylar that are scattered all around this level. From now on I want a record-a written record-of everyone who fights against these shade creatures."

The young scholars quickly obeyed. Meanwhile, Axel found several veteran warriors among the throng of Hylar and appointed them sergeants. In a short time they had sorted the volunteers into a semblance of units, their number growing as more of the scattered patrols returned to the lift and added their number to the group.

Still the Hylar were disorganized and unprepared for the shock of a fresh attack when Baker heard the unmistakable cries of battle-ready Klar. The sound rose like a roar and rumbled through the whole city quarter. Within seconds, bands of frenzied attackers swept down two of the wide streets and rushed toward the lift station. Spittle flying from their grinning lips, they thundered closer with whoops and shouts of insane glee.

"Back, my lord!" cried Capper Whetstone, taking the thane's arm with a powerful grip. "Into the lift!"

"Wait!" snapped Baker, his voice sharp enough to pierce the din. His mind whirled. The lift was too small to hold more than a fraction of the Hylar gathered at the station.

Before he could issue further orders, the warriors of the two clans clashed in a barrage of blows. Many Klar tumbled away or writhed on the ground, halted by the stout Hylar defense. But many more frantic attackers pushed through the melee, desperate to stab, to kill. Baker held his little sword ready, standing just behind the dwarves in the front line. A Hylar fell, gouged deeply in the leg, and a leering Klar rushed through the gap to charge the thane. Baker cut down the wild-eyed berserker, surprised at the satisfaction he found in the bone-crushing swing of his weapon. He stepped forward, bashing at another opponent, then tumbled to the floor as something sharp and hot smashed him in the face.

He heard the fight raging all around and feared that he had been blinded-a dread that suddenly struck him as far worse than death. He clasped a hand to his face, wiping away blood and the broken pieces of his spectacles.

And he could see light! Wiping again, he discovered that he could see, though his vision was clouded by the blood that spilled into his eyes. He stood, trying to shake off a feeling of utter helplessness. Squinting, he realized that the Hylar had formed a protective ring around him as more Klar poured around corners to join the fray.

"Axel!" Baker cried urgently. "Come here! I need your eyes!"

"My lord, I can do nothing. May Reorx strike me dead as I stand-"

"Come, damn it! Tell me what you see down those streets!" Baker pointed around the lift station, into the avenues that were ominously silent. Unfortunately, anything more than a short stone's throw away was a mere blur in his vision.

"Down that street I see a mass of those shades-two, maybe three blocks away. The other street is quiet. No sign of dwarf or darkness."

"Up the street toward the shades-can we get away from the Klar by falling back that way?"

Axel looked around in astonishment. "For now. They'll have that side cut off in another minute."

"What if we were to run toward the shadows?" Quickly he outlined his daring idea.

Axel hesitated for only a fraction of a heartbeat, then his teeth flashed in a warlike grin. "Aye, my lord." In another moment his voice was a commanding roar. "Hylar! Fall back on my point! Double time! Break!"

Instantly the defenders swept back from the attacking Klar and poured around the side of the lift station as the pursuers tangled into a mass. A few of the frenzied warriors tried to sweep around the flank, but Baker used his sword and began slashing at the Klar who stood out from the blur. He drove the few maddened dwarves back with cuts and stabs.

The Hylar moved in a mass, following Axel's clumping lead without question. Soon they were running down the street, hundreds of howling Klar in pursuit.

"How far?" the thane gasped to Axel as he strained to breathe over the unfamiliar exertion of a full run.

"Two blocks," panted the venerable captain, keeping up remarkably well despite his gout. "Now one after this lane, here."

Baker spotted the gaps of a narrow alley connecting the right and left of the avenue. Just beyond he now saw the indistinct shapes of utter darkness and knew that the Chaos shades were hungrily awaiting the onrushing dwarves.

"You head right. I'm going left," Axel called.

The rushing Hylar reached the pair of narrow lanes that diverged from the main road. "Split up!" cried Baker, pointing to the right and left. "Half go each way!"

The retreating dwarves quickly veered off, and the Klar kept going straight ahead down the wide street. A few of the crazed attackers tried to turn into the narrow alleys, but their way was blocked by several burly Hylar. The rest of the Klar were happy to charge onward, rushing down the street with howls of bloodthirsty frenzy.

And the shadows met them in dark but exultant silence.

A Scheme and a Treaty