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. There were scores of boot marks with
low heelprints in the soft earth, as well as the tracks of
several large hounds. The dwarf dropped closer to the
ground to focus his failing sight on the muddy threshold
where the searchers had entered his home. Four large
symbols had been drawn in black soot on the timber over
the gaping door, but the illiterate hermit could not
understand the inscriptions.
"Dalamar!" he called softly, hesitant to push the door. In
his nightmares, unseen evils always lurked within silent
doorways like this one. "Are you in there?"
Only the constant sound of the river below the shaft
broke the ominous silence. Lodston finally mustered the
courage to squelch his imagination and kicked the door
open wide enough to peer into the antechamber of the
ancient mine shaft.
It was empty. The fire was still warm, and a lamp had
been lit beside the small table. There were no remnants of
death and dismemberment, as he had expected to see - not
even a sign of a struggle. The door leading into the
abandoned network of shafts was bolted securely on the
antechamber side. Dalamar and his box of scrolls had
vanished, perhaps taken without a struggle by the strangers
with the dogs
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