“That should keep him quiet for a while. When we reach camp, we’ll blindfold him and take him for a walk up on the Rock. If he slips and falls over the cliff, well, that’s the way of things, isn’t it, men? His blood won’t be on our hands.”
There was some scattered laughter, but Caramon saw more than a few glance uneasily at each other, shaking their heads.
Steeltoe turned away from Raistlin to examine with gleaming eyes the heavily laden pack horse. “We’ve made a rich haul this day, men,” he said in satisfaction. Stumping back around, he came to where Crysania stood, pinned in the arms of her somewhat nervous captor.
“A rich haul, indeed,” he murmured. One huge hand grasped Crysania’s chin roughly. Bending down, he pressed his lips against hers in a brutal kiss. Trapped in the arms of her captor, Crysania could do nothing. She did not struggle; perhaps some inner sense told her this was precisely what the man wanted. She stood straight, her body rigid. But Caramon saw her hands clench and, when Steeltoe released her, she could not help but avert her face, her dark hair falling across her cheek.
“You know my policy, men,” Steeltoe said, fondling her hair coarsely, “share the spoils among us—after I’ve taken my cut, of course.”
There was more laughter at this and, here and there, some scattered cheering. Caramon had no doubt of the man’s meaning and he guessed, from the few comments he heard, that this wouldn’t be the first time “spoils” had been “shared.”
But there were some young faces who frowned, glancing at each other in disquiet, shaking their heads. And there were even a few muttered comments, such as, “I’ll have nought to do with a witch!” and “I’d sooner bed the wizard!”
Witch! There was that term again. Vague memories stirred in Caramon’s mind—memories of the days when he and Raistlin had traveled with Flint, the dwarven metalsmith; days before the return of the true gods. Caramon shivered, suddenly remembering with vivid clarity the time they had come into a town that was going to burn an old woman at the stake for witchcraft. He recalled how his brother and Sturm, the ever noble knight, had risked their lives to save the old crone, who turned out to be nothing more than a second-rate illusionist.
But Caramon had forgotten, until now, how the people of this time viewed any type of magical powers, and Crysania’s clerical powers—in these days when there were no true clerics—would be even more suspect. He shuddered, then forced himself to think with cold logic. Burning was a harsh death, but it was a far quicker one than—
“Bring the witch to me.” Steeltoe limped across the trail to where one of his men held his horse. Mounting, he gestured. “Then follow with the others.”
Crysania’s captor dragged her forward. Reaching down, Steeltoe grabbed her under the arms and lifted her onto the horse, seating her in front of him. Grasping the reins in his hands, his thick arms wrapped around her, completely engulfing her. Crysania sat staring straight ahead, her face cold and impassive.
Does she know? Caramon wondered, watching helplessly as Steeltoe rode past him, the man’s yellowish face twisted into a leer. She’s always been sheltered, protected from things like this. Perhaps she doesn’t realize what dreadful acts these men are capable of committing.
And then Crysania glanced back at Caramon. Her face was calm and pale, but there was a look of such horror in her eyes, horror and pleading, that he hung his head, his heart aching.
She knows.… The gods help her. She knows.…
Someone shoved Caramon from behind. Several men grabbed him and flung him, headfirst, over the saddle of his horse. Hanging upside down, his strong arms bound with the bowstrings that were cutting into his flesh, Caramon saw the men lift his brother’s limp body and throw it over his own horse’s saddle. Then the bandits mounted up and led their captives deeper into the forest.
The rain streamed down on Caramon’s bare head as the horse plodded through the mud, jouncing him roughly. The pommel of the saddle jabbed him in the side; the blood rushing to his head made him dizzy. But all he could see in his mind as they rode were those dark, terror-filled eyes, pleading with him for help.
And Caramon knew, with sick certainty, that no help would come.
CHAPTER
10
aistlin walked across a burning desert. A line of footsteps stretched before him in the sand, and he was walking in these footsteps. On and on the footsteps led him, up and down dunes of brilliant white, blazing in the sun. He was hot and tired and terribly thirsty. His head hurt, his chest ached, and he wanted to lie down and rest. In the distance was a water hole, cooled by shady trees. But, try as he might, he could not reach it. The footsteps did not go that way, and he could not move his feet any other direction.
On and on he plodded, his black robes hanging heavily about him. And then, nearly spent, he looked up and gasped in terror. The footsteps led to a scaffold! A black-hooded figure knelt with its head upon the block. And, though he could not see the face, he knew with terrible certainty that it was he himself who knelt there, about to die. The executioner stood above him, a bloody axe in his hand. The executioner, too, wore a black hood that covered his face. He raised the axe and held it poised above Raistlin’s neck. And as the axe fell, Raistlin saw in his last moments a glimpse of his executioner’s face.…
“Raist!” whispered a voice.
The mage shook his aching head. With the voice came the comforting realization that he had been dreaming. He struggled to wake up, fighting off the nightmare.
“Raist!” hissed the voice, more urgently.
A sense of real danger, not dreamed danger, roused the mage further. Waking fully, he lay still for a moment, keeping his eyes closed until he was more completely aware of what was going on.
He lay on wet ground, his hands bound in front of him, his mouth gagged. There was throbbing pain in his head and Caramon’s voice in his ears.
Around him, he could hear sounds of voices and laughter, he could smell the smoke of cooking fires. But none of the voices seemed very near, except his brother’s. And then everything came back to him. He remembered the attack, he remembered a man with a steel leg.… Cautiously, Raistlin opened his eyes.
Caramon lay near him in the mud, stretched out on his stomach, his arms bound tightly with bowstrings. There was a familiar glint in his twin’s brown eyes, a glint that brought back a rush of memories of old days, times long past—fighting together, combining steel and magic.
And, despite the pain and the darkness around them, Raistlin felt a sense of exhilaration he had not experienced in a long time.
Brought together by danger, the bond between the two was strong now, letting them communicate with both word and thought. Seeing his brother fully cognizant of their plight, Caramon wriggled as close as he dared, his voice barely a breath.
“Is there any way you can free your hands? Do you still carry the silver dagger?”
Raistlin nodded once, briefly. At the beginning of time, magic-users were prohibited by the gods from carrying any type of weapon or wearing any sort of armor. The reason being, ostensibly, that they needed to devote time to study that could not be spent achieving proficiency in the art of weaponry. But, after the magic-users had helped Huma defeat the Queen of Darkness by creating the magical dragon orbs, the gods granted them the right to carry daggers upon their persons—in memory of Huma’s lance.
Bound to his wrist by a cunning leather thong that would allow the weapon to slip down into his hand when needed, the silver dagger was Raistlin’s last means of defense, to be used only when all his spells were cast … or at a time like this.
“Are you strong enough to use your magic?” Caramon whispered.
Raistlin closed his eyes wearily for a moment. Yes, he was strong enough. But—this meant a further weakening, this meant more time would be needed to regain strength to face the Guardians of the Portal. Still, if he didn’t live that long …
Of course, he must live! he thought bitterly. Fistandantilus had lived! He was doing nothin
g more than following footsteps through the sand.
Angrily, Raistlin banished the thought. Opening his eyes, he nodded. I am strong enough, he told his brother mentally, and Caramon sighed in relief.
“Raist,” the big man whispered, his face suddenly grave and serious, “you … you can guess what … what they plan for Crysania.”
Raistlin had a sudden vision of that hulking, ogre-ish human’s rough hands upon Crysania, and he felt a startling sensation—rage and anger such as he had rarely experienced gripped him. His heart contracted painfully and, for a moment, he was blinded by a blood-dimmed haze.
Seeing Caramon regarding him with astonishment, Raistlin realized that his emotions must be apparent on his face. He scowled, and Caramon continued hurriedly. “I have a plan.”
Raistlin nodded irritably, already aware of what his brother had in mind.
Caramon whispered, “If I fail—”
—I’ll kill her first, then myself, Raistlin finished. But, of course, there would be no need. He was safe … protected.…
Then, hearing men approaching, the mage closed his eyes, thankfully feigning unconsciousness again. It gave him time to sort his tangled emotions and force himself to regain control. The silver dagger was cold against his arm. He flexed the muscles that would release the thong. And, all the while, he pondered that strange reaction he’d felt about a woman he cared nothing for … except her usefulness to him as a cleric, of course.
Two men jerked Caramon to his feet and shoved him forward. Caramon was thankful to notice that, beyond a quick glance to make certain the mage was still unconscious, neither man paid any attention to his twin. Stumbling along over the uneven ground, gritting his teeth against the pain from cramped, chilled leg muscles, Caramon found himself thinking about that odd expression on his brother’s face when he mentioned Lady Crysania. Caramon would have called it the outraged expression of a lover, if seen on the face of any other man. But his brother? Was Raistlin capable of such an emotion? Caramon had decided in Istar that Raistlin wasn’t, that he had been completely consumed by evil.
But now, his twin seemed different, much more like the old Raistlin, the brother he had fought side by side with so many times before, their lives in each other’s keeping. What Raistlin had told Caramon about Tas made sense. So he hadn’t killed the kender after all. And, though sometimes irritable, Raistlin was always unfailingly gentle with Crysania. Perhaps—
One of the guards jabbed him painfully in the ribs, recalling Caramon to the desperateness of their situation. Perhaps! He snorted. Perhaps it would all end here and now. Perhaps the only thing he would buy with his life would be swift death for the other two.
Walking through the camp, thinking over all he had seen and heard since the ambush, Caramon mentally reviewed his plan.
The bandit’s camp was more like a small town than a thieves’ hideout. They lived in crudely built log huts, keeping their animals sheltered in a large cave. They had obviously been here some time, and apparently feared no law—giving mute testimony to the strength and leadership capabilities of the half-ogre, Steeltoe.
But Caramon, having had more than a few run-ins with thieves in his day, saw that many of these men were not loutish ruffians. He had seen several glance at Crysania and shake their heads in obvious distaste for what was to come. Though dressed in little more than rags, several carried fine weapons—steel swords of the kind passed down from father to son, and they handled them with the care given a family heirloom, not booty. And, though he could not be certain in the failing light of the stormy day, Caramon thought he had noted on many of the swords the Rose and the Kingfisher—the ancient symbol of the Solamnic Knights.
The men were clean-shaven, without the long mustaches that marked such knights, but Caramon could detect in their stern, young faces traces of his friend, the knight, Sturm Brightblade. And, reminded of Sturm, Caramon was reminded, too, of what he knew of the history of the knighthood following the Cataclysm.
Blamed by most of their neighbors for bringing about the dreadful calamity, the knights had been driven from their homes by angry mobs. Many had been murdered, their families killed before their eyes. Those who survived went into hiding, roaming the land on their own or joining outlaw bands—like this one.
Glancing at the men as they stood about the camp cleaning their weapons and talking in low voices, Caramon saw the mark of evil deeds upon many faces, but he also saw looks of resignation and hopelessness. He had known hard times himself. He knew what it could drive a man to do.
All this gave him hope that his plan might succeed.
A bonfire blazed in the center of the encampment, not far from where he and Raistlin had been dumped on the ground. Glancing behind, he saw his brother still feigning unconsciousness. But he also saw, knowing what to look for, that the mage had managed to twist his body around into a position where he could both see and hear clearly.
As Caramon stepped forward into the fire’s light, most of the men stopped what they were doing and followed, forming a half-circle around him. Sitting in a large wooden chair near the blaze was Steeltoe, a flagon in his hand. Standing near him, laughing and joking, were several men Caramon recognized at once as typical toadies, fawning over their leader. And he was not surprised to see, at the edge of the crowd, the grinning, ill-favored face of their innkeeper.
Sitting in a chair beside Steeltoe was Crysania. Her cloak had been taken from her. Her dress was ripped open at the bodice—he could imagine by whose hands. And, Caramon saw with growing anger, there was a purplish blotch on her cheek. One corner of her mouth was swollen.
But she held herself with rigid dignity, staring straight ahead and trying to ignore the crude jokes and frightful tales being bandied back and forth. Caramon smiled grimly in admiration. Remembering the panic-stricken state of near madness to which she had been reduced during the last days of Istar, and thinking of her previous soft and sheltered life, he was pleased, if amazed, to see her reacting to this dangerous situation with a coolness Tika might have envied.
Tika.… Caramon scowled. He had not meant to think of Tika—especially not in connection with Lady Crysania! Forcing his thoughts to the present, he coldly averted his eyes from the woman to his enemy, concentrating on him.
Seeing Caramon, Steeltoe turned from his conversation and gestured broadly for the warrior to approach.
“Time to die, warrior,” Steeltoe said to him, still in the same pleasant tone of voice. He glanced over lazily at Crysania. “I’m certain, lady, you won’t mind if our tryst is postponed a few moments while I take care of this matter. Just think of this as a little before-bed entertainment, my dear.” He stroked Crysania’s cheek with his hand. When she moved away from him, her dark eyes flashing in anger, he changed his caress to a slap, hitting her across the face.
Crysania did not cry out. Raising her head, she stared back at her tormentor with grim pride.
Knowing that he could not let himself be distracted by concern for her, Caramon kept his gaze on the leader, studying him calmly. This man rules by fear and brute force, he thought to himself. Of those who follow, many do so reluctantly. They’re all afraid of him; he’s probably the only law in this godforsaken land. But he’s obviously kept them well fed and alive when they would otherwise have perished. So they’re loyal, but just how far will their loyalty go?
Keeping his voice evenly modulated, Caramon drew himself up, regarding the half-ogre with a look of disdain. “Is this how you show your bravery? Beating up women?” Caramon sneered. “Untie me and give me my sword, and we’ll see what kind of man you really are!”
Steeltoe regarded him with interest and, Caramon saw uneasily, a look of intelligence on his brutish face.
“I had thought to have something more original out of you, warrior,” Steeltoe said with a sigh that was part show and part not as he rose to his feet. “Perhaps you will not be such a challenge to me as I first thought. Still, I have nothing better to do this evening. Early in the evenin
g, that is,” he amended, with a leer and a rakish bow to Crysania, who ignored him.
The half-ogre threw aside the great fur cloak he wore and, turning, commanded one of his men to bring him his sword. The toadies scattered to do his bidding, while the other men moved to surround a cleared space to one side of the bonfire—obviously this was a sport that had been enjoyed before. During the confusion, Caramon managed to catch Crysania’s eye.
Inclining his head, he glanced meaningfully toward where Raistlin lay. Crysania understood his meaning at once. Looking over at the mage, she smiled sadly and nodded. Her hand closed about the medallion of Paladine and her swollen lips moved.
Caramon’s guards shoved him into the circle, and he lost sight of her. “It’ll take more than prayers to Paladine to get us out of this one, lady,” he muttered, wondering with a certain amount of amusement, if his brother was, at that moment, praying to the Queen of Darkness for help as well.
Well, he had no one to pray to, nothing to help him but his own muscle and bone and sinew.
They cut the bindings on his arms. Caramon flinched at the pain of blood returning to his limbs, but he flexed his stiff muscles, rubbing them to help the circulation and to warm himself. Then he stripped off his soaking-wet shirt and his breeches to fight naked. Clothes gave the enemy a chance for a hand-hold, so his old instructor, Arack the dwarf, had taught him in the Games Arena in Istar.
At the sight of Caramon’s magnificent physique, there was a murmur of admiration from the men standing around the circle. The rain streamed down over his tan, well-muscled body, the fire gleamed on his strong chest and shoulders, glinting off his numerous battle scars. Someone handed Caramon a sword, and the warrior swung it with practiced ease and obvious skill. Even Steeltoe, entering the ring of men, seemed a bit disconcerted at the sight of the former gladiator.
But if Steeltoe was—momentarily—startled at the appearance of his opponent, Caramon was no less taken aback at the appearance of Steeltoe. Half-ogre and half-human, the man had inherited the best traits of both races. He had the girth and muscle of the ogres, but he was quick on his feet and agile, while, in his eyes, was the dangerous intelligence of a human. He, too, fought almost naked, wearing nothing but a leather loincloth. But what made Caramon’s breath whistle between his teeth was the weapon the half-ogre carried—easily the most wonderful sword the warrior had ever seen in his life.
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