Trap skittered over a pile of books to take a look; Ripple came right behind him. They stood gazing over the edge of the overturned table at a creature that shivered as it crouched on the floor. It stared at them with eyes enlarged by fright. The little monster was basically humanoid in shape and face, though it's skin was a deep gray-green. Its nose resembled a bird's beak. It's mouth was wider than any humanoid's and as it gave a defensive snarl, it exposed a mouth full of thick, strong teeth.
"What a strange creature. Is it an animal?" Ripple asked, looking back over her shoulder at the wizard. "Is it magic? Did Orander make it?"
"What animal?" Halmarain snapped. "The only living thing in here other than me came with you."
"This didn't," Trap said. "I've seen something like it before-I forget where-but I certainly don't know what it is." "Don't know," Umpth said.
"Wizard make, maybe," Grod agreed with Ripple.
"Hello," Trap said, extending his hand to the little monster. He introduced himself, Ripple, and the two gully dwarves. The odd little stranger just stared at him and whimpered.
Trap gave the creature a sufficiency of attention and turned away. As he looked about the room, he tried to figure out just where the magic portal had been. Then he realized why the strange creature was so familiar.
"I know!" he announced in triumph. "It looks like the monster! The one that grabbed me and pulled me through the portal."-he hurried back to look at the little stranger again-"Yes, it has the same face."
The little wizard had remained sitting on her stool, her hands up over her face, but now she pulled them down and stared at Trap. In the meantime Trap had spotted an unbroken bottle on the floor and had picked it up. Inside were two dead and dried lizards. He stood, turning the bottle in his hands.
"Well? Tell me about this thing," Halmarain prompted.
"There are two of them, and they're dead," Trap replied as he gazed into the bottle. "How did you get them inside? The neck is awfully small."
"No, about the creature on the other side of the portal," the little human insisted.
"Oh, that one, it was ten… maybe even twenty times larger than this one."-he peered over the edge of the overturned table again-"Look, its shivering so it must have come from a hotter place and it was hot on the other side of the magic door… do you think you could open the portal and let in some heat? It is a little chilly in here."
"You're right!" Ripple announced. "I felt the hot wind in the passage and I bet it was blown through the portal and if the thing that grabbed you was so much larger, then this must be its baby."
When Ripple suggested the origin of the creature, Halmarain rose and used her foot to push books and debris out of her path. She walked over to look behind the overturned table. Lying on its side, the width of the table made a wall too high for her to see over, so Trap obligingly searched out another stool. She climbed up and raised her staff to get a better look at the newcomer.
The strange being that had only whimpered at the sight of the kender and gully dwarves, snarled at the little wizard and lashed out with a clawed hand.
Startled, Halmarain jumped from the bench and backed away.
"Don't do that!" Ripple ordered. "You be nice!"
In answer, the creature whimpered again.
When the newcomer was quiet, the little wizard stared at the blank top of the overturned table that was its shelter, her eyes thoughtful.
"I've seen something like it before," she said thoughtfully, gazing around the room. Her attention focused on the scattered books. She squared her shoulders and glared at the kender.
"Help me pick up these books and get them back on the shelf. I've seen a drawing of it in one of the books of magic. If I can find the reference, I can tell where Orander went. Maybe we can help him."
"I'd love to look at magic books, do they have pictures?" Ripple was more than willing to help.
"You can pick them up, bring them to me and help put them on the shelf," Halmarain said shortly. "If you open one, you'll probably lose a hand. They're protected by spells." She gave Trap a hard look. "You helped to create this mess, so you'll help clean it up."
"I said I was sorry," Trap said. He had already apologized, and her repeated accusations were irritating. Still, he would like to talk to the wizard, which was impossible unless they could open the portal again. He was unfamiliar with books, but he liked handling them. A few had fallen open and he was fascinated by the pictures he could see.
"If there's a spell on these books, why are some open?" Ripple asked. She had always been quick to pick up a fallacy.
"Because they were already open, we were studying them," the little wizard said. "The ones that were on the shelves are still shut. Now get busy and pick them up!"
"I don't mind helping you, but not if you're going to yell at us," Ripple announced. "You haven't been very friendly, you know. You haven't offered to show us any nice magic or anything."
Halmarain's face reddened with rage. "You've come in here, messed up a spell, endangered Orander's life or-" she stopped. "But then, you're kender. Typically kender, I guess. Please help me pick up the books and work out my problems, then I'll show you some magic."
"Oh good, we're going to see magic after all," Trap said, hardly able to contain his enthusiasm. They cleared a spot in the middle of the floor and moved a table close to the row of shelves where the books had been. As he helped pick up the red-bound tomes, Trap spotted a small object on the floor and picked it up also. At first he thought it was just a small chip off the walls. On closer inspection, he discovered it was round, some sort of glass, gray-green and carved with a spiral of tiny figures. The surface had been carefully roughened to keep it from shining.
"Are we picking up the books or not?" Halmarain glared at him before turning her attention to Umpth. "And you, you keep an eye on that monster in the corner."
Trap slipped the little glass disk into his pouch so it would not get lost again in the clutter. He wanted to ask the wizard about it when she was in a better mood.
Chapter 5
Astinus the Chronicler dipped his pen and his words flowed on the parchment…
Deep beneath the ruins of Pey, Draaddis Vulter and his god, Takhisis, watched the activity in Orander's laboratory. At least he supposed the Queen of Darkness still watched. By the power of the viewing disk on the mirror, he could not see the globe to know if she was still giving her attention to the activities of the kender, the gully dwarves, and the little wizard.
It was enough to know she had not turned her attention and her frustration back on him. Still, he doubted it would be long before she did. His god was his greatest joy and his greatest terror. For years he had been paying a price for having taken her gifts and misusing them.
Ambition had been his trap. In his youth he worked and studied until he became proficient enough to take his Test in the Tower of High Sorcery. His examination had been easier than he'd expected. His joy was short lived; he was sneeringly told he had nothing to brag about. All the orders needed minor wizards, those who could serve but would not have the talent to advance to the point where they challenged master wizards and the leadership of the order. For them the Test was not as strenuous.
His triumph had turned to dust. He chafed as he served Grenoten, one of the master wizards in the High Tower. Draaddis was a wizard and he refused to be held back, limited to spells that were good for nothing more than housekeeping chores. He studied, but he found he lacked the memory for the greater spells. He had to face the scorn of Grenoten as well as his own disappointment. Draaddis suffered his servitude and his thwarted ambition for two years before he turned to Takhisis.
He begged to be given the memory and the talent to grow beyond his natural gifts, and promised in return to serve the Dark Queen faithfully. Possessing a good mind and a quick tongue, his arguments and promises were convincing and she gave him the gifts he requested. The next day he found himself able to read and memorize spells with a speed and precision he ha
d not dreamed possible.
For a year he made no show of his new talents. He continued to serve Grenoten, to study diligently, and to put up with the master wizard's sneers. Knowing he was learning faster every day robbed the scorn of its power to sting. Draaddis had a plan of his own and when he was ready, he put it into action.
Using a polymorph spell, he reduced three of the master wizard's minions, and then Grenoten himself, to two inches height. When he finished torturing them, he crushed them with his heel.
His revenge had been sweet, but he had not reckoned on the anger of his goddess. Grenoten and the more learned of his minions had been studying and searching for a portal that would allow the Dark Queen to return to the world of Ansalon. In her rage she had subjected Draaddis to two years of torture before she put him to work finishing Grenoten's work.
She had even increased his talents, but instead of the glory he craved, he had lived in the ruins of Pey for thirty years, struggling to find a way for his mistress to return to Krynn.
Only when he was studying was he free of her torture. He could walk the underground passages of his quarters unimpeded as long as he was traveling in the direction of the laboratory. When hunger and fatigue drove him to leave his work, vile arms and tentacles reached out of the walls, clutching at him, tearing his flesh.
The arms and the rending of flesh was an illusion, but his mind added pain to the tortures of his queen. She had promised his suffering would end when she returned to Ansalon. She could not want access to the stones any more than Draaddis.
The clutter of Orander's laboratory disappeared. Draaddis was again aware of his own, neater, but far more sinister workroom and his experiments. Around his viewing disk, still lying on the round mirror, a small black cloud hovered, indicating the magic of its mate was blocked on all sides.
"The little thief took the other viewing disk!" Draaddis was outraged. "He put it in his pouch!"
"Shame on them and their evil natures," Takhisis laughed. To the wizard's ears the sound was feminine, alluring, like the tinkling of bells. Still, the influence of her anger at being thwarted shriveled a basket of freshly picked hen's bane until it dried and crumbled to dust. The little winged rat squealed and retreated into a dark corner.
Draaddis was aware she had been mocking him. At least she had not used her powers of illusion to torture him again.
"We saw enough to know the stones worked," Takhisis said, unconcerned about not being able to see more of the action in Orander Marlbenit's laboratory.
"But what good will that do if he took the gate stones to the Plane of Vasmarg…" He turned to look directly at the orb. "Unless you can travel there."
"I cannot, but the journey is unnecessary. Apparently you did not see the action clearly," the Queen of Darkness replied. "Orander dropped one of the stones before he was pulled through the portal. The male kender picked up the viewing disk, the female kender has the gate stone."
Draaddis took care to keep his expression blank. If he had understood the knowledge of the young wizard who had died giving him the information, both stones would be required to open a portal to another world. Apparently his queen had seen something he had missed. He remained silent, wondering if she would enlighten him.
Takhisis had drawn back slightly, and he could see part of her face as she looked beyond him, deep in thought. Then she turned her head and fastened her gaze on him.
"You don't see the possibilities, do you Draaddis?"
"I confess, my queen, my mind could never match yours."
"The second gate stone will come back to Krynn, my faithful servant. It will come and it will bring an ally. A silly kender has given us the opportunity we seek." Her smile widened when she realized he did not understand. "Death and destruction, war and pestilence, and the opening of the portal."
Draaddis didn't answer at once and Takhisis, correctly divining his problem, gave a soft laugh.
"Don't struggle to understand, Draaddis. I will explain when I am ready. For now, I will tell you how to provide a servant who will not fail to locate the kender. He will bring you the gate stone and the merchesti, as well as the miserable little thieves."
"You want the little fiend as well?" Draaddis asked, puzzled.
"The little fiend, my faithful servant, is crucial to my plan," she smiled. "Through him I will accomplish my every desire, but this too you will wait to learn. I tire of explanations."
"To fulfill your wishes is the purpose of my life, my lady queen," Draaddis bowed.
"True," Takhisis gave him an evil smile. "But we must find the kender quickly, before the young fiend decides he has a taste for kender as well as rocks and wood."
"They are in danger from him?" Draaddis asked. From what he had seen, the young fiend seemed harmless enough.
"Merchesti eat and can digest anything," the Dark Queen said. "Perhaps even the gate stone, so we must get it before the infant merchesti makes a meal of its new friends and crunches up the stone in the process."
Chapter 6
… now, Uncle Trapspringer was willing to be helpful…
Trap, Ripple, and Grod picked up the books and carried them to the table while Umpth kept an eye on the little fiend in the corner. Halmarain looked at the titles, put them in separate stacks, and directed Trap as to their placement on the shelves.
The kender stopped several times to explore other objects of interest and the tiny woman had to prod them both to get them back to work. The gully dwarves, who preferred nothing as much as clutter, complained, and she had to threaten to turn them into rats before they could be induced to keep working.
At the wizard's direction they picked up all the books and placed the other unbroken objects back on the shelves. Grod swept the broken glass into one corner of the room. As he worked he insisted no floor needed to be swept as long as they could step over the debris.
Halmarain set up a ladder that seemed to magically hang in the air in front of the book shelves. She climbed up and down, pulling the books down faster than Trap had put them up. She laid out several in precise locations, and when she ran out of the room, she demanded they set up the remaining table for more books.
"Thing hides back there," Umpth pointed out the difficulty.
"It can hide somewhere else," Halmarain said.
"She's not very nice," Ripple murmured to her brother. "If the thing's a baby, it's probably scared."
"And it's not like it wanted to come here," Trap said, nodding in agreement with his sister. "This Halmarain should be more considerate."
"Think what you want," the little wizard glared at them as she tugged at the table, though she was too small to move it.
"I think you're mean," Ripple said as she frowned at the little wizard. "Maybe you're so mean because you're so short."
"Can stretch her," Umpth suggested.
"Then no be mean," Grod added.
"You lay one hand on me and I'll turn you all into beetles," Halmarain warned. "If I seem mean its because I don't have time to be nice. If Master Orander could have returned he would be here by now." Tears formed on her lashes. "He didn't want to go… wherever he is. He would have returned right away if he could. Since he hasn't, I have to open the portal and help him if I can."
"Would he show us some magic?" Trap asked hopefully.
The little wizard frowned at the kender, then her gaze turned speculating for a moment. She favored them with a sly smile that was just opposite to her earlier mood.
"He just might show you all sorts of magic."
"Oh, good, if he'll show us magic, we'll be glad to help," Ripple said, her anger fading as quickly as it had appeared.
Trap stepped forward along with Ripple and with a shrug the gully dwarves took a hand. They set up the table and when it was in place Trap went back to the corner where the creature crouched.
"Trapspringer," he said as he put a hand to his chest. He tried three times before the huddled figure blinked, put a hand to its own chest, and said, "Beglug."
> "Beglug," Trap repeated, pointing at the creature. He had intended to point to himself again and give his name, working through the process of building communication, but Beglug scampered out of his corner. As he stood upright he proved to be slightly less than three feet tall, just a couple of inches taller than the little wizard. His feet, which Trap had not noticed until the creature was standing on them, were small hooves. He dashed the length of the wall to the pile of broken glass and started eating it.
"No, you'll cut your mouth! You'll cut your insides all to pieces and you won't like that at all!" Trap ran after Beglug and tried to take the glass away. The creature bared its teeth and swatted at him with a hand that suddenly showed extended claws. Trap backed away.
"Waste time clean floor," Grod said with disgust.
Neither the mage nor the gully dwarves seemed to care what the little merchesti ate as long as they weren't on the menu. The two kender watched it anxiously. Beglug consumed the broken glass, apparently without feeling any pain.
Beglug ignored his companions as he happily cleaned the floor of all shards of glass, but when Halmarain climbed down off a stool and tried to pass the little fiend, he roared at her and made a swipe with his clawed hand.
"Keep it away from me or I'll kill it," Halmarain warned.
"He didn't attack you." Trap objected. "He just wants you to leave him alone."
"I wonder why he doesn't like you?" Ripple asked before leading the creature away to the corner where it had hidden behind the table. With a sound akin to a burp, it settled in its corner, closed its eyes, and went to sleep.
"You promised us some magic," Trap reminded the little wizard.
"I don't have time to play games. I need to open that portal."
"You promised," Ripple said, her voice harsh with anger. "You said you'd show us some magic if we picked up the books and we did, but if you're not going to keep your promise we can pull them all off the shelf again."
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