"Yes, but will they remember their purpose?" Takhisis demanded.
"My messenger tells me the kobolds are traveling east as fast as their strength will allow. Apparently Kaldre convinced them they would suffer not only my wrath, but yours if they did not succeed."
"That is so now. Will they continue until they have reached Pey?" Takhisis was still not convinced.
"Kaldre warned them I have a messenger watching them. Several times the messenger has reported they search the sky looking for him. If they believe he watches, they will continue."
"You said they have the kender girl. That means they must have the gate stone. They did not take the male kender?"
"No, my lady. On that part I am unclear. The messenger gave me a picture of the male kender dashing off to chase a pony just as the others reached the ambush point."
"Does he follow? Will the rest of the party catch up with the kobolds and attempt a rescue? Is there any way to warn the kobolds?"
"I have no way of warning them, my lady, but what can one kender and a small dwarf do? The other two of the party are Aghar, and they will not fight. In the meantime, Kaldre is now out from under the goblin's spell and he is on their trail."
"I would like your news better if you were not so hesitant in your delivery," the Dark Queen replied. "What news are you withholding?"
"Only the trouble with the merchesti, great one. Every time they approach a stream they have trouble with the creature. Apparently it does not like water."
"The kender had no trouble with it."
"No, but it was riding on a pony and did not have to put its feet in the streams. It has already killed two kobolds and injured two others. I fear that if Kaldre does not catch up soon, the merchesti will destroy our minions."
Takhisis flew into another rage. The five dragon heads appeared again. Within the wizard's workroom the air clouded with thick, sulfurous fumes. Draaddis knew he was suffering from an illusion, but so strong was her power to make him believe that he felt himself choking.
Two hundred feet above, the wolf woke from a nap. He sneezed and choked until he staggered out of his lair and into the surrounding woods. Would he have to find a new home? He wondered as his nostrils cleared and he began his night's hunt.
Dinner that night consisted of a wounded goblin. The wolf ate an arm and a leg and buried the rest of the body so it would season.
He returned to his lair in the ruins, dreading what he would smell. Still, the safe haven drew him back. He approached cautiously, but picked up no hint of the terrible odor that had driven him out.
He curled up on his bed, dozed, sniffed, dozed, sniffed, and repeated the exercise several times before he decided it was safe to sleep again.
Trap stepped over the precipice, but he had not fallen far before a clump of bushes broke his fall and he rolled down a steep slope.
A few scratches from the bushes and a few bruises from rolling down the hill made him uncomfortable, but he was not injured. Since he still wore the ring, he confidently bent his knees and jumped. His feet rose a foot off the ground. He tried again, using all his strength, and jumped two feet.
"I must remember to talk to Orander about this ring," he muttered. "Have I said that before?" He decided he had probably used those very words.
Unable to jump out of the gorge, he put the ring back in his pouch and tried climbing. In the growing darkness he could not see his way and lost his footing. After sliding down the steep slope three times he gave up and found a dry place to sleep. He'd be able to see to climb out in the morning.
"Maybe Orander made a lot of little magic jars, filled them with power and put them all in the ring and I can only use one jarful at a time," he muttered sleepily before he dozed off.
The next morning he stood up, twisted to ease his sore muscles, found the ring again, and jumped. The magic worked! He sailed to the top of the gorge, landed on a rock that tilted with him and he went sprawling again.
"So much for you," he told the ring, taking it off again. "You can wait until I get out of these mountains."
He still had the problem of finding the kobolds' trail, so he trotted along the mountainside, his face to the sun. They had been traveling east when he had lost their tracks.
After traversing a rocky slope he came to another area of thickly clustered high brush. He was trotting through it when he heard a shout.
"Wheel! Come back!"
"Umpth? Oomph!" Trap's second cry sounded like an echo, a combination of being startled and having the wind knocked out of him. The wagon wheel had hurtled out of the bushes, caught the kender's right arm and flipped him head over heels. He hit the ground with a thud, one arm and one leg through the spokes of the wheel. In seconds Umpth and then Grod appeared from behind a large clump of brush.
"Jiggy biggies! Wheel find kender!" Umpth triumphantly shouted.
"I don't believe it!" Halmarain's voice, saturated with irritation, reached Trap as he struggled to extricate himself from his strange captor.
Before he was on his feet the little wizard arrived on the trail of the gully dwarves. Her face was red with exertion and her eyes snapped with anger. She hauled on the reins of her pony. Behind her the entire string of animals appeared. Trap saw Ripple's whippik tied to a bundle on the pack pony.
"I don't believe it!" she snapped as the two gully dwarves grinned at her.
She glared at them and turned on Trap. "You didn't get very far," she said. Her attempt at a smug I-told-you-so was heavily tinged with relief.
"I'm going to talk to Orander about that ring," Trap told her. "He needs to put a second spell on it, so it doesn't carry a person over a cliff." He gave them an account of his bad luck.
"I'm really glad we found you," the wizard admitted, frowning at the gully dwarves. "I can't get these idiots on their ponies."
"Need ride ponies," Grod said, pulling at his red-blond beard in his impatience. "Kobolds run fast. Goblin run fast. Ponies run fast. Wizard run slow."
"As much as I hate to admit it, Grod's right," the small human female agreed.
"Beans! I want to go! I'll help them onto their ponies, but I'm going on ahead," Trap said obstinately. "I'll come back for you when I've found Ripple and Beglug."
"You can go faster on a pony than on foot," Halmarain said.
"Then I'll take mine-"
"No you won't. I bought them, they're all mine and they'll all stay together. To ride, you'll have to stay with us." "I could use the magic ring-"
"For how long before the limiter takes over or you go off another cliff?"
Trap frowned at the wizard. He didn't have an answer.
"And you need us to help you rescue the merchesti and Ripple," Halmarain added. "I know you want to find your sister, but no more than I want to rescue that little fiend. If we can't send him back, his parent may come to Krynn looking for him."
"Waste time," Grod said. "No more talk."
"Ride pony now." Umpth nodded at his brother.
Trap stopped arguing and helped the gully dwarves mount. Halmarain volunteered to lead all the beasts with the exception of Trap's pony on one string while Trap rode ahead to search for the easiest path through the mountains. He was not to go too far ahead, she warned him.
"But what about finding the trail of the kobolds?" Trap demanded.
"We can find it on the other side of the mountains," the little wizard said. "They're traveling east. Directly east, even though they are taking the roughest paths. They won't be hard to locate on the plain."
"Found trail once," Umpth said.
"Did-did you find any sign…" Trap stopped, not wanting to voice his niggling fears over Ripple.
"Yes, and we know they were both alive this morning." The little wizard nodded. "Where they crossed a stream, we could see the marks where Beglug struggled to keep from stepping into the water. Off to the side were footprints Grod insisted were Ripple's. This was looped over the branch of a bush." She held out a blue feather with two green beads sewn to the
quill. Around it was a thin blue leather thong.
"It's Ripple's," Trap crowed with delight. Occasionally she wove feathers into her topknot, and he had often seen her wear that particular decoration.
"If Beglug can fight and she can leave signs for us, they are both alive and uninjured," Halmarain said. "They are being taken east."
"Then let's hurry," Trap said, leading the way again. "And on the way we'll make a plan."
Trap found a low saddle between the mountains. Since they were not seeking a trail, Trap paced Halmarain. He was busy with his plans to rescue the captives.
"Here's what I think we should do," he said. "When we catch up with the kobolds, you, Grod, and Umpth will climb up in a tree where a limb juts out over-"
"How do you know there will be a tree?" the little wizard asked. "And if the gully dwarves can't mount a pony without help, how can you get them up a tree?"
Trap frowned. "Then we'll do this: we'll take a wagon-"
"Where are we going to get the wagon?" Halmarain asked.
"Thorns! Thistles! You don't like anything. Do you want to help rescue Ripple and Beglug or not?" Trap demanded.
"Yes!" the wizard spat out the word. "But you can't make a plan until we find them."
"Lava Belly eat kobolds, maybe," Grod suggested.
"He wouldn't do that," Trap objected, conveniently forgetting the innkeeper's dog in Deepdel.
"Oh, you never know, and it would be a fitting revenge," Halmarain smiled. "They may wish they had never taken him."
"Why take Beglug?" Grod asked. "Kender pretty, but Beglug mean."
"Because…?" Trap's explanation became an echo of Grod's question.
"I don't know, and I don't like it." Halmarain's eyes, already dark with worry, seemed to deepen.
"I certainly don't," Trap announced pugnaciously, as if he resented anyone else's criticism of the capture. Ripple was his sister, and he was the most concerned.
"There's more than kobold meanness behind this," Halmarain said. "That's why we should be careful."
"Man in black cloak," Grod said, nodding.
"Oh. Yes. I'd forgotten about him," Trap said. "Was he with the kobolds?"
"I didn't see him," the little wizard said. She and Trap turned inquiring gazes on the gully dwarves who shrugged their shoulders.
"He was with the kobolds on the mountains," Halmarain said thoughtfully. "And before that in the maze?" Trap nodded in response to her questioning frown. "And they fought with goblins who could have followed them," she continued. "I think we can expect to find him with the kobolds when we catch them."
"Who is he?" Trap asked. "How do you know where they are heading? Do you know him and where he lives?"
"Lives? I doubt he lives; but yes, because of him I think I know where the kobolds are going." Trap waited, but when the little wizard didn't explain, his natural impatience overrode his usual good temper.
"Well, are you going to tell us?"
"No. I'm not sure I'm right, and if I am you don't want to know," she said, spurring her pony to greater speed. She kept the ponies at a gallop for a few minutes, but when her mount faltered she pulled him up.
"We've been riding these animals too hard," she said. "We should walk them and let them rest after we cross that stream." She pointed a hundred yards ahead.
"Here's Ripple's print and Beglug's," Trap said when he reached the bank of the stream. "And the dwarves are ahead of us again."
"The same ones?" Halmarain asked.
"It must be, because here is your pony's print. They crossed after the kobolds," Trap told her as he studied the ground intently. "Gee, look at this, a snail is crossing too."
"How far ahead?" The little wizard asked.
"You'll pass him by the time you get to the water if you don't step on him."
"Oh, forget it," the wizard snapped. She forded the small stream and descended from the saddle. The gully dwarves dismounted and walked on ahead, rolling the wheel. They had not traveled far when Grod came running back.
"Wheel tell goblins come," he gasped. "Oh now it's telling the future," Halmarain snapped.
"No tell, fall down!" the blond gully dwarf insisted. "Umpth stop to pick up. Look back and see. They come." Grod pointed back toward the top of the pass between the mountains.
"That doesn't mean the wheel found them," Halmarain argued.
"She no like wheel," Grod muttered, glaring at the little wizard, his blue eyes sparkling with anger.
"She really didn't mean it," Trap soothed the feelings of the gully dwarf. "Remember, she can do magic, but she can't tell if people are coming like the wheel can."
"Oh, I really needed that!" Halmarain snapped. "Still, if they're coming we'd better hide."
Trap was ready to argue, but she forestalled him.
"If we let them pass us by we can be on our way that much faster."
"I know!" Trap pointed to the left where deep shadows lurked beneath a small, dense forest. The others nodded. It seemed the best of a few unsatisfactory choices.
The entire party moved through the high, dense brush, but none of them doubted the goblins could follow their trail. Trap bent occasionally to pick up stones for the sling of his hoopak as he led the way toward the trees.
By common and unspoken consent, they moved quietly. They tried not to frighten the wildlife and any birds that might fly up and give away their position. The fallen leaves of the thick brush near the eaves of the wood muffled the ponies' steps. Fifty yards inside the wood they entered a small, muddy stream. They walked their mounts a hundred yards east before turning back on their trail again. If the goblins did follow their trail, they would fall into an ambush.
Since the morning had passed and the sun had reached its zenith, Trap raided the ponies' saddle bags and handed around a small midday meal. They had all found hiding places when they heard the first voices, some distance away, raised in argument.
Trap was a moment realizing that the sounds came not from the southwest from where the goblins approached, but from deeper in the woods. To his right, Halmarain peered from behind her bushy shelter and mouthed the word, "Dwarves."
Trap slipped out of his hiding place and hurried through the forest, slipping from tree to tree. Before long he could see into a small clearing where a group of sturdy hill ponies grazed. He recognized the six dwarves who had been chasing them. They appeared to be in council, and in strong disagreement.
The kender slipped away and returned to his defensive position. When Halmarain raised her brows in silent communication he used his hands, running his fingers from his neck in a circle on his chest to indicate the stolen necklace. She sighed as she realized he'd identified the dwarves.
Then he drew back into his own bushy shelter just as the goblins stepped out of the high brush, heading for the eaves of the forest. To his surprise, they were not following the trail of the kender, wizard, and gully dwarves, but strolled along more than sixty yards west of the trail left by the small party.
As they approached the forest they seldom looked at the ground. They weren't following anyone. If they continued on their course they would pass the adventurers, but they would travel through the clearing. The noise of the dwarves' argument would cover the approach of the savage humanoids.
The dwarves and the goblins would have a grand fight, and Trap wanted to see it. He thought of Ripple somewhere to the east and knew he could not long delay, but Halmarain had kept them moving and away from everyone and he was bored. Even though he was worried about his sister, he knew they had to hide until the goblins passed. Since they could not continue on the trail of the kobold for a while, he would just see a little of this battle.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the two rings. He slipped the first one on his finger and looked at himself. He was still visible. Careful not to move his feet, he pulled off that ring and slipped it into his left pouch.
When the other was on his finger he could not see himself. Good enough. He hurried through the for
est until he had a perfect view of the clearing.
Three of the dwarves were still sitting on the ground. Two were stomping up and down, arguing with each other. The sixth was leaning against a tree, pulling off his right boot. He had his back to his companions. His back was to Trap as well. The dwarf turned the boot upside down, shook it as if removing a stone and reached one hand inside, checking it. Then, carefully balancing on one foot, he raised the other, doubling his body as he held the boot, ready to slide his foot into it.
With his back to Trap, his posterior presented a wide soft target no kender with a hoopak and a pouch of stones could resist; particularly not a kender who wore an invisible ring. In a flash, Trap had a stone from his pouch and had sent it zinging across the fifty feet that separated him from the dwarf.
The stone struck the dwarf on the soft part of his right buttock. Startled, he gave a cry and spun as he fell. He lost his hold on his boot and it went flying out in the tall grass. While his companions stared at him, he scrambled to his feet with a roar. When he turned around, Trap realized he had hit the dwarf leader, Tolem.
Trap clapped his hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter. If one stone was that much fun, then more might be even better, he decided.
His first missile forcibly caught the attention of the leader. The second, hitting another dwarf on the knee brought all the dwarves to their feet. The kender choked back a gurgle of laughter as he watched the stolid demi-humans running about in a circle.
Magic rings could be fun! Who would be his next target? he wondered, and decided on a stout fellow with faded black clothing and a dark, dusty beard. He flung his third stone, but the dwarf moved out of the way. The small rock struck the leader again, hitting him on the toe of his right foot. Since he had not put on his boot, the rock hurt and he hopped around in a circle. The others scurried for cover.
Trap's fingers were scrabbling in his pouch for another stone when the last dwarf disappeared behind the trunk of a tree. He sighed for the lost opportunity. Before he could give full rein to his disappointment, he heard breaking twigs and the rustle of bushes that alerted him to the arrival of the goblins.
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