"Don't pick on him. He was right the last time," the kender reminded the little wizard.
Halmarain's eyes flickered and she nodded. "I suppose that loose rim could pick up and magnify vibrations," she said, providing a logical explanation for what the Aghar considered magic. "We should camouflage the entrance if we can."
Halmarain trotted to the entrance of the cave and peered out. "I don't see anyone yet," she said to Trap. "Can you cut that large bush and prop it up in front of the entrance? I'll keep the ponies quiet."
Trap dashed out into the downpour and reached for his knife, but it was not in his sheath.
"Beans! I lost it," he muttered. He rammed his hand in his pouch, seeking the other knife, the one similar to Orander's.
His finger encountered a ring and it was on his finger before he realized it. Still he had found the knife. To his surprise the knife cut the bush as easily as if the wood was warm cheese. He turned and started back for the mouth of the cave. He took one step and bounced off the face of the low cliff that had been thirty feet away.
The ring had magic again! Unfortunately it would give him problems returning to the cave.
He reluctantly slipped the ring off his finger and dropped it back into his pouch. Four hurried steps took him back to the cave entrance where he rammed the pointed end of the brush into the rain-softened ground. Halmarain had been watching from the shelter, and she gazed at him with speculation.
"What did you do out there?"
"I cut a bush." He thought she had been watching.
She opened her mouth to object when a bolt of lightning struck nearby. They heard the panicked scream of a horse and several frightened voices. She put a finger to her lips for silence.
The tiny human and the kender peered between the leaves of the bush as a mounted rider in a cloak with a cowled hood rode by. He lead a large group of kobolds. A wash of evil menace hung in the air with the rider's passing.
They continued to watch, but none of the travelers gave the brush a second look as they passed. Minutes later another bolt of lightning flashed and distance muted the frightened screams of the kobolds.
Halmarain turned away from the entrance, fear and anger fighting for dominance in her expression.
"Someone wearing a black cloak went to Deepdel looking for kender," she whispered. "That rider fitted the description, and he's on Our trail. He has to be after you."
"No! I told you! He couldn't be looking for us," Trap said. "I don't even know who he is."
"I've never seen him, and he's not someone we'd forget," Ripple added with a shiver. "There was such an evil feeling about him."
"True," the little wizard nodded. "You wouldn't forget him, and his isn't a purse you'd be likely to rifle."
"We don't-" Trap started an angry denial, but Halmarain interrupted him.
"I want to know how you took that enormous step," she demanded.
"With this ring," he said, forgetting his anger. He opened his pouch and searched in it with his fingers until he found the little golden object. He was willing, even anxious to show it to the wizard's apprentice and get her opinion.
"I guess it fell into my pouch when we looked through a chest under Orander's bed," he said. He told her about their exploration while she had been studying the wizard's books. He also related his first experience with it, when he had jumped around and confused the dwarves that had called him a thief.
"Wonderful! I wish I could have seen you whizzing about. I don't blame you for tricking them," Ripple said. "It wasn't nice of them to call you names. Even Halmarain knows we could not have taken anything from them. She had pinned our arms to our sides with a spell, though I must say I don't think that was a good thing to do at all. And anyway, we promised we wouldn't, and even then she kept us away from them."
"Apparently I didn't take precautions soon enough," the little wizard muttered.
"You did. We didn't touch anything of theirs. Now, I want to know about the ring," Trap insisted, unwilling to be sidetracked.
"Orander made the ring," Halmarain replied. "But he put an extra spell on it." She gave them a rare smile. "I have to admit not all the thieves in this world are kender. Years ago he had an apprentice with sticky fingers, so he protected his belongings by limiting their powers."
"You mean it works for a while and then quits?" Ripple asked. "Interesting. Not too much fun, though, if it quits in the middle of a step. A person could fall in a creek, or on his face or something."
Trap had been fingering other items in his pouch. If he remembered correctly… and he did. He pulled out a second ring.
"I have this one, too," he said,holding it out. "I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know what it does, except it could be the one that makes the big steps, but if it is, then I don't know what that one does," he said. He slipped the second ring on his finger. Nothing seemed to happen so he pulled it off, handed it to Halmarain and took the first one back. When he slipped it on his finger, Halmarain jumped in surprise. Ripple gasped and whirled around.
"Trap!" she shouted.
"I'm right here," the male kender said. He pointed to himself, but he couldn't see the finger that should have been aimed in his direction. "At least I think I'm here. What happened to… Wow! Great! Big jiggies! I'm invisible!" He slipped off the ring and became visible again. He inspected it. "Does it have a limiter too?" he asked.
"Probably," Halmarain said. "It will continue to work if you know the word that negates the limiting spell. I don't know it. Many of Orander's belongings have limiters."
"I wonder if this is one of Orander's rings," Ripple said, reaching in her pouch. She pulled out one that exactly resembled the two Trap was holding. "I don't know how I came to have it but it looks like those." She handed it to Halmarain and leaned over to look at the ones her brother held. "I tried it on, but it didn't do anything, so maybe it came from somewhere else."
"No, it has Orander's mark, so it does something," the little wizard said as she gave it back. "I'll let you keep them for now, but take care of them. I think you'd better turn out your pouches and show me what else you took."
"Fine! I'll show you. And are you going to show us what's in your bag?" Ripple asked, her eyes flashing with anger over the insult.
The little wizard frowned, thought better of it and nodded. "Perhaps I'd better. Then, if you find one of my possessions, you'll know it belongs to me and give it back."
"You first," Ripple said. She had less patience with Halmarain's accusations than her brother.
"Very well. I'll show you what's in my bag and I warn you, none of my possessions should ever-" She shook her finger in the faces of the two kender. "-ever fall into your pouches."
The ragged little bag Halmarain habitually wore over her shoulder was deceptive. She carefully pulled out a stack of ten spellbooks, each one as large as the bag. A small purse, two outfits of clothing, an extra pair of boots, and a cloak followed.
"How do you get all that in a bag that's so small?" Trap asked.
"Wizard's have their secrets, even apprentices," she said as she continued to dig, her brows rose in surprise and dipped in a frown.
She upended the bag and out came a large pile of steel pieces, a wicked looking knife, and a pair of finely stitched gloves that were too large for her hands. The last item to fall out appeared to be a necklace made of thirty overlapping silver disks, each an inch and a half wide, fastened together with silver links. Each disk had been delicately engraved with pictures and dwarf runes.
She hurriedly pulled her clothing, boots, and spell-books away from the last items to fall from her bag, as if they might be contaminated by contact.
"These things aren't mine!" she insisted.
Chapter 19
Halmarain continued to deny any knowledge of the items, waving a hand to indicate the loose steel pieces, the knife, the gloves, and the necklace. She glared accusingly at the kender. They seemed so delighted with the gloves and the necklace that it soon became plain that they we
re seeing the items for the first time.
"You didn't put these things in my bag?"
"I'm sure I didn't," Ripple said. "You usually keep such a tight hold on it I don't think I could, and I've never seen these things. These gloves are beautiful. If they won't fit you, I'd really like to have them, if you gave them to me, that is."
"Of course, one steel piece looks like any other," Trap added, "But I'm sure I would remember this necklace. It's interesting-all these drawings on the disks." He picked it up before Halmarain could stop him. "Wonder if these runes and drawings are just ornamental or if they mean something special?"
Ripple scooted across the dirt floor to join her brother and they both inspected the finely worked drawings. The little wizard worried over how it came into her possession.
"I didn't take that necklace," she insisted. "I don't know how it got into my bag! By the Book of Gilean, I sound just like a kender!"
"Someone dropped it into your purse by mistake. We keep telling you that people are so careless with their belongings," Ripple answered absently, most of her attention still on the silver disks.
"They're always forgetting where they leave their stuff," Trap agreed.
"When did it get into my bag?" Halmarain's mind was off on another track. "It wasn't there when we left Deep-del. I repacked everything." Her eyes widened. "The only people we've been near since we left our rooms were the innkeeper and the dwarves. It wouldn't have belonged to the man in Deepdel. It looks as if it could have been dwarf made-that's why the dwarves are chasing us."
The kender were more interested in the string of disks than in the wizard's ruminations.
"We need more light." Trap looked suggestively at Halmarain's staff.
"No," the wizard answered, shaking her head and glancing toward the cave's entrance. "I don't know what I felt from that rider in the black cloak, but there was something strange. I don't want to use any magic right now. He might sense it and come back."
"Then I'll get us a light," Trap said, accepting her objections as reasonable. He jumped up and searched for the dwarf sparker that had found it's way into his pouch while he was in Deepdel.
A sparker was no good without wood to burn, so he gave the cave a quick scan. He was hampered by a number of roots hanging down from the ceiling. He touched one. It was dry and would make a good torch. A one handed tug was not sufficient to pull it free, so he tucked the sparker back into his pouch and used both hands. The root was stubborn so he jumped, grabbed it, and swung back and forth.
"I'll help," Ripple said. She gave a short leap and added her weight which was enough to dislodge the root, though not to pull free.
The root dropped three inches, bringing down a foot of earth from the ceiling.
"Oops!"
"What have you done?" Halmarain cried as she jumped to her feet.
"I was just trying to get that root to use as a torch," Trap began an explanation. He was interrupted as mud gushed from the hollow where part of the dry earth ceiling had been a moment before. He skipped to the side.
"It sure is wet up there," he announced. "I guess there must be a stream close by-"
A wail interrupted the kender. They turned to see the young merchesti scrambling to his feet while he wiped a glob of mud from his face. Before either of the kender or Halmarain could move, the kender's surmise was proven correct. A steady stream of water, well laden with mud, poured down from the ceiling.
"Cave fall in," Umpth announced as he stood looking up. A face full of mud was the reward for his wisdom.
"The ponies!" Ripple squealed and dashed for the back of the cave. Halmarain grabbed Beglug's arm and led the little fiend out onto the trail, pushing aside the camouflaging bush as she went. The kender tugged at the reins of the ponies, leading them toward the exit while the two gully dwarves trotted along behind them. A huge hunk of wet soil fell and knocked Grod off his feet. In seconds he was half buried in mud.
"Grod!" Umpth cried, alerting the kender, who dropped the reins of the animals and hurried back.
"Mud fall," Grod gasped, his bright blue eyes wide with fright. Umpth sent the wagon wheel sailing out the entrance to the cave. Then he turned and pulled on one of Grod's arms. Trap and Ripple hurried back and tugged at the gully dwarf's other arm.
More of the ceiling came down. It oozed around the legs of the kender and Umpth, completely covering Grod.
The kender and the gully dwarf stood knee deep in mud as they tugged at Grod. With a heave they brought his head out of the wet soil. As quickly as they could move, lifting one leg at a time-they couldn't wade through the thick sludge-they moved toward the entrance. They continued to pull at the smaller gully dwarf until he was free.
"Long arms now," Grod moaned as they hauled him out into the open. Behind them the cave fell in completely and the mud rolled out onto the mountain trail completely blocking their intended path.
Umpth retrieved his artifact while the rest stood in the pelting rain that quickly washed away the mud, but the storm frightened the already skittish ponies.
"Kobolds in front of us, dwarves behind us and caves that turn into mud pits," Halmarain muttered as she led her pony back down the trail until they could start across country again. "We'll need a lot of luck if we're to get through these mountains." Her wet curls hung down in her face, and she blew at them before reaching up to push them back.
At first they could only see a few feet through the deluge, but in half an hour the storm passed, leaving as quickly as it had arrived. The sun peeked briefly through the low clouds, giving the slopes a dewy sparkle. Trap walked as he led the way and Ripple joined him. They led their mounts.
"We'll just keep going north," Trap said with a sigh. "I sure hope we stop off at Ironrock, because it might be a nice place to see, even if it does take us a little out of the way… but if we're going to be traveling for weeks anyway, then what difference would it make if we took a little longer? I mean, between the gorges we came through and the circling around we've done trying to get away from the dwarves and that person in the black cloak, we're just going around in circles anyway. I bet we've really confused everyone."
"Why shouldn't they be confused?" Ripple asked. "We are, and if they're following us, they should be too. And you're right about going in circles."
Her brother nodded.
Grod and Umpth still had not learned to control their mounts when they rode, but they could lead the animals if given the reins. Halmarain walked behind them, leading her own animal, the pack pony, and Beglug's. Ripple and Trap took turns walking well ahead to find the easiest course.
For the first two hours after leaving the cave they traveled slowly. The hooves of the ponies sank to the hocks in the mud. Every step was accompanied by sucking noises as the animals lifted their feet. As they continued north-ward they left the mud behind. Trap had removed the young fiend's boots and Beglug scampered about, a stick in his hand as he chased every wild creature unwary enough to show itself.
Before long, Trap found a use for the young merchesti's exuberance. Using the sling of his hoopak, he brought down two rabbits the little fiend flushed out of hiding. Soon he killed a third, which he allowed Beglug to eat.
They came to a small creek, merely a trickle in a bed of mud and stones. Trap spotted the tracks of boots and ponies.
"Gee! People! We're not the only ones traveling through the hills," he told his sister as he paused to study the prints. He frowned at one. Grod came up to stand beside him. The gully dwarf pointed at the indentation in the firmer mud.
"Wizard's pony," he said. "Maybe pony magic. It find her."
"Big jiggers, it is Halmarain's first pony," Ripple said with surprise. She pointed to the irregularity in the hoof print that the gully dwarf had noticed. "The one the dwarves took by mistake."
"Is," Umpth said as he drudged across the stream carrying the wheel. The magic artifact of the Aglest clan was unsoiled but the gully dwarf had managed to get mud on his hands, face, beard, and helmet.
"I thought the Neidar were following us," Ripple said with a puzzled frown.
"It's strange," Trap said thoughtfully. "The stranger and the kobolds are following us, but they're up ahead, and the dwarves are supposed to be trailing us but they've passed us too."
"Maybe following is different here," Ripple said.
"How different?" Umpth asked, his dark wrinkles deepening as he tried to work out the solution.
"In Hylo, when you follow someone, you stay behind them," Trap explained. "But here, we're behind everyone who's after us. I'm glad they're not chasing us, we might never catch up."
Chapter 20
Astinus of Palanthus described the scene…
Jaerume Kaldre stilled the horse that fidgeted under him. He waited on the ridge of the mountain spur, hidden from the trail below by a clump of bushes and the limbs of a small tree. Below him, the string of seven ponies led by the kender, the gully dwarves, and the dwarf, wound their way up the mountain trail, slowed in their ascent by the mud of the recent rain.
Luck and the blessing of Takhisis had finally favored him. When the sudden rain ceased, he soon realized he had somehow missed the kender and the little fiend. He had been on their trail, had even seen their tracks. During the rain any prints left by his quarry would have been washed away, but when the rain stopped Kaldre knew the ensuing mud would show the party's trail. Soon after he found himself leading the kobolds along a muddy track free of any prints. The kender and their companions were behind him. He forced the protesting kobolds up the steep sides of the mountain until he spotted the party traveling around the hills just west of the mountains.
His plan for the ambush was hasty, but his motley group of humanoids were in place. All he had to do was wait.
Beside the death knight, Malewik, the kobold leader, fidgeted too. His expressed reason for his impatience was to join the band of kobolds that were waiting to ambush the travelers. Kaldre knew the humanoid's desire to be on his way stemmed from his wish to part company with his undead commander. Far from resenting the kobold's nervousness and fear of him, Kaldre enjoyed it. His ability to instill fear was a heady power.
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