In his great history, Astinus recorded…
Draaddis Vulter's foot slipped as he whirled around. He had been walking south, along the wet clay bank above the rushing stream. He had been expecting to find the drowned bodies of the kender and the merchesti when he sensed the message that reached him from the northeast.
He was surprised, surprised because he had for some hours entirely forgotten his messenger, the winged rat. Because he had forgotten it, forgotten to reinforce his commands to it, the little creature had allowed the wind to blow it into the mountains. It had taken shelter from the storm on the leeward side of an outcrop.
He had felt but ignored its dim mind as it watched Draaddis's goblins farther away. The humanoids were, like the rat, trying to shelter from the storm. The winged rat, its thoughts of the chilly storm air and hunger, passed along its recognition of the goblins. Though most of its thoughts centered on its discomfort.
Its panic squealed in Draaddis's mind as it flashed him an image of two kender who passed along a trail and came within two feet of the rat's dark shelter. The kender were rapidly followed by the gully dwarves, the merchesti, and bringing up the rear was the smallest of the dwarves. Until the rat sent Draaddis the clear image of Halmarain's face, he had not realized that the tiny wizard was with the party-probably leading it.
His mind backed up, reconsidering his conclusion. He had to be wrong, he decided. He had seen the little apprentice in Orander's laboratory. He had seen the kender on the trail, along with the merchesti, two gully dwarves, and another smaller dwarf, a youngster who had no beard…
The apprentice had been traveling in disguise. He had seen the dwarf clothing and dismissed her without a second look. He had made a serious error in not recognizing her; the dragon queen would not be pleased, though she had not seen through the disguise either.
The apprentice had led them to the western arm of the Khalkist Mountains, close to the dwarf mines. They had traveled east for a reason, and their destination had to be… Chalmis Rosterig!
He was opening his mouth to use a teleport spell when he realized he had no memory of it. Relearning his spell and teleporting would be faster than physically walking the distance in the storm.
He pulled out his book, found a rock which, though wet, was not covered with mud. Draaddis sat, pulling up a fold of his cloak to protect the spellbook and his little magic light from the weather.
He mouthed the words, driving them into his memory. He had to reach Digondamaar before the apprentice and the kender reached the white wizard.
As much as I like telling this tale, it's been a long one, and my throat is so very, very dry… thank you, innkeeper, that's much better, and you do serve excellent ale.
Now, where was I? They were just leaving Solanthus … I told that part? Did I tell you about the wari stampede? I liked that. You wouldn't like to hear it again, would you?
Now I remember.… they had chased off the dwarves' ponies and had reached the secret entrance to Digondamaar…
"Two dwarves are coming back," warned Ripple, who had been watching the dwarves as they tried to recapture their mounts. "Three have caught their ponies and are chasing the others-"
A terrific flash of lightning threw the mountainside into high relief, and for a split second the light penetrated the thinnest sections of the stone curtain wall.
"What's this?" Trap had been searching along the cliff wall, trying to find a way to open the secret door. In the high relief of the lightning flash, he thought he saw a rock he had not noticed before. When the light died he tried to find it but was unsuccessful.
"Wow! That lightning startled the dwarf ponies and one threw his rider," Ripple said. "It scared the rest and they're all galloping down the mountain."
"Are any of the dwarves looking this way?" Halmarain asked.
"No, they're too busy slipping and sliding."
The little wizard raised her staff, spoke a word of command, flipped her staff, and from the top came a little ball of light that sailed over to Trap and settled itself over his head.
"You brag about being able to find traps and locks, find this one," she said, her expression a challenge.
"Gee, that's not fair! No one can see in the dark- though, Ripple, didn't Makeway Northgo once have some sort of magic glass that…" Trap turned from the wall, his question about a distant relative uppermost in his mind.
"Are you going to look for that rock?" Halmarain demanded.
"Oh. Sure! I forgot." Trap resumed his search. He had just begun to look about him when Ripple came running over.
"They've caught the ponies and are starting back up the slope," she warned.
Halmarain spoke another command word and the little ball of light zipped back to disappear into the top of her staff.
"We'll have to wait until the sun rises," she said. "Everyone be as quiet as possible. She laid a calming spell on Beglug, who wrapped himself in his blanket and lay down to sleep. The two gully dwarves sat. They leaned against the curtain wall with every evidence of comfort.
The wait was harder on the kender who were bored in less than a minute. Trap heard sounds that could have been slight scuffling and realized his sister was scrounging in her pouches to find something to occupy her time. That seemed like a good idea, so he began to finger his own possessions. He pulled out one of the smooth stones and stood tossing it from one hand to the other for what seemed like hours until he heard the dwarves arriving back at their camp.
"Someone cut the hobbles," one dwarf was saying. "There are goblins or kobolds around somewhere." The dwarves were speaking in their own tongue. He said something else, but while the kender spoke a little dwarvish, Trap could not understand the rest.
"I'll make a torch and take a look," another said. "Ai-i! Those thorns hurt-"
The dwarf didn't finish his sentence because his cry of pain had startled Trap who dropped what he had thought was a rock.
He had been playing with one of the glass flame balls he had picked up in Deepdel and when it hit the stone floor of the antechamber it broke. It exploded almost between Ripple's feet and she gave a cry as she jumped back.
"Of all the stupid-" Halmarain bit back her complaint. If the dwarves hadn't heard Ripple, she had certainly given away their location.
"He's not stupid! Stop fussing and remember your magic," Ripple, who had skipped away from the dying fire, warned the little wizard. In an instant she had grabbed her whippik and stood ready to drive off the first of the dwarves.
The gully dwarves had awakened, recognized the fighting stances of their companions, and backed away to stand against the far wall.
"Halmarain, don't forget, you have some magic you might use," Ripple said. "We'd really like to see you do some."
"What am I supposed to do?" Halmarain demanded. "I don't want to kill them so do I mend their clothing or clean their dishes?"
Even if the dwarves had not seen the flash of fire, they had certainly heard Ripple's cry and the talk that followed. From inside the antechamber, Trap heard the rattle of weapons and saw the moving light that approached the entrance.
Since the secret of their arrival had been discovered, Halmarain called the little light from the staff and sent it sailing just outside the entrance, where it illuminated the Neidar but left the defenders in the shadows.
When Tolem, the first dwarf, approached the entrance, Trap let fly with a real stone. He made sure of what he was shooting by picking one up off the floor. His aim had been the middle of the dwarf's breastplate and the force of the rock sent the Neidar staggering back into his friends.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you," Trap called out. "If you'll just calm down, we can explain and I don't think you'll be angry anymore. You notice I didn't try to kill you."
"That was your mistake," the dwarf roared back. He came charging into the antechamber, his axe held over his shoulder as if he would hack Trap in half as soon as he reached him.
"You need to learn to listen," Trap said as he skipped aside to avoid the dwarf. Tolem, unable to see the rough, rock-strewn floor of the antechamber, stepped on a stone and nearly fell. As he staggered he turned to the left. He was facing Ripple when he regained his balance.
"No hurt Pretty Kender!" Umpth cried out. He had been cowering against the far wall, but seeing the axe ready to descend on his friend gave him courage. He had one hand on the rim of the wheel. In a move too swift for anticipation, he grasped the rim and threw it, sending it sailing toward the dwarf.
The hub caught on the horn of Tolem's helmet and spun. The weight of the spinning wheel threw the dwarf off balance. He staggered back toward his companions that had charged into the chamber behind him. Four went down in a heap.
"Him make good whirly-gig," Grod said, dancing in excitement and fear.
"Aghar magic more big than Neidar," Umpth said with satisfaction. He hurried over to help Trap to his feet.
Ripple knelt on the floor. She had less patience than her brother and had given up any idea of explaining the theft to the dwarves. She set her whippik in a crack in the floor, picked up a stone, and used the loop on the end of her weapon as an improvised sling.
The rock pelted one of the dwarves that had scrambled out of the pile of arms and legs. She struck him a strong blow on the shoulder and he was knocked into the last of his companions.
The last two dwarves were behaving strangely. They had charged into the shelter of the antechamber but they seemed less interested in the small group of adventurers than something outside.
Ripple's whippik was not really designed to sling rocks and her second one sailed over the dwarf's head. It flew out into the darkness and struck with a thud. The cry of pain and the curse that followed the strike was definitely humanoid.
"There's someone else out there," Trap said, almost forgetting the dwarves as he stood on tiptoe in an attempt to see.
"Goblins," one of the dwarves nearest the entrance replied. He seemed to have forgotten his anger at the adventurers in the face of a more dangerous enemy.
"How many?" Tolem, the dwarf leader, asked his companion. He had freed his helmet of the wagon wheel and was ready to charge Trap again. He clearly begrudged having to turn his attention to a more dangerous enemy.
"Looks like a score or more and some bugbears with them, I can't tell how many."
"Goblins? Bugbears? Golly, we sure are running into a lot of people all of a sudden," Trap danced in excitement. "Together we should be able to drive off twenty goblins."
"There's no together…" the largest dwarf snarled, but Tolem, interrupted him, proving why he was the leader.
"Our fight with the kender can wait," he said. "Let's handle our common enemy first." He glared at the group at the far end of the antechamber. "One of you is a magic-user, can you direct that light out there and find out how many we have to fight?"
Halmarain sighed for the loss of her secret and eased past the dwarves to the entrance. She guided the light and they saw nine bugbears as well as the twenty goblins in the distance.
"You'll never hold them off," she said to Tolem. "Tell us how to get into Digondamaar. It's our only chance."
The goblins were sneaking up toward the entrance, but the dwarves, each with a crossbow, now had targets. Tolem caught one goblin in the throat, one died with a short quarrel in his eye and another fled with his companions, limping from a wound in his right leg. Once out of range of the dwarves' missiles they stopped and huddled together, apparently discussing strategy.
"You took the map," the dwarf snarled as the goblins retreated. "Or the kender, more likely."
"If you mean that string of disks," Halmarain said, "That was one of the Aghar, and he didn't know what he had. He just wanted something pretty to give the kender girl."
"And you didn't study and memorize it?" Tolem demanded.
"If we had, we'd know how to get inside," the little wizard snapped.
"No need necklace," Grod spoke up. "Dwarf lead. Dwarf camp by door of dwarf This Place."
"We could have used the disks," Trap said, unwilling to admit there was any secret he could not ferret out. He dug in his pouch and handed the string of disks to the dwarf. "But we didn't have time with all the traveling and the following and everything that happened. Now I suppose you'll want it back and I'll never get to study all the drawings."
Halmarain drew the little light back into the shelter to aid the dwarf in his search for the opening.
"You know I'll want it back," Tolem snarled. "And we'd better get inside fast. Those bugbears can knock down these thin sections of this curtain wall with one blow."
"At least it's getting bright enough so you can see what you're doing," Trap said as he watched the dwarf flip through the disks, looking for the one that told the secret of Digondamaar.
"Of course, if I had light enough, I could probably have opened the door myself," he sniffed. Even as a small child he had showed promise with traps; it was the reason he had been given his name. It seemed unjust that he had so little chance to use his talents on his first adventure.
By the time Tolem had found the disk he had no time to study it. The goblins and bugbears were advancing up the mountainside to the foot of the cliff. Since the entrance was narrow and its configuration too eccentric to allow more than two dwarves to see out at one time, the goblins had little fear of a truly concentrated attack from within.
Halmarain doused the light, though the humanoids had obviously seen it glowing through the wafer-thin rock. The bugbears hammered against the curtain wall with their spears, but with no light to indicate the thin sections, they missed the more vulnerable areas.
The dwarves used their crossbows. Two at a time they stepped out of the entrance to shoot and darted back in again to give others with ready bows a chance, the kender stood by, dancing with impatience, wanting to get into the fight. Halmarain held the arm of the little fiend and stayed as far away from the entrance as possible. She did not have to urge the gully dwarves, who would much rather hide than fight.
The bugbears continued to hammer against the stone curtain wall.
The little wizard squealed as from behind her came the sound of sliding stone and a door opened, not where the cut lines indicated, but at the far end, where the roughest of the stone seemed to have been left untouched.
"Who invades my privacy?" the voice boomed.
The gigantic sound came from a human who stood only slightly taller than the dwarves. He was surrounded with light which showed him to have a bright pink complexion, at least partially accounted for by the anger that snapped in his bright blue eyes. His beard and hair were snow white and long. He kept it out of his way by dividing both hair and beard on each side of his head and plaiting it in two long braids that hung to his knees.
He wore a dirty white robe trimmed with runes.
He was only a moment understanding that the dozen beings sheltering in the antechamber were being attacked by humanoids on the outside.
"Inside," he ordered. Pointing to the door behind him, he muttered an incantation.
Trap felt as if he were being whisked along in a strong wind. He looked down at his feet, which were moving rapidly across the floor, but they acted according to a will other than his own.
In front of him, Halmarain, the gully dwarves, and Beglug were traveling just as rapidly. Trap couldn't stop himself but he could turn his head and look over his shoulder. Ripple, right behind him, and the dwarves further back, were moving at the same speed. The dwarves were staring down at their feet with eyes wide.