Land of the minotaurs

I'd never been to, so I thought I should tag along because-'

'Take a breath, Delbin.' Kaz relaxed some. It was his companion of old, all right. There was no mistaking that voice whenever it ran on about everything under the sun. Delbin was part of a small sect of kender who had the fool notion of writing some history of modern Krynn, which would have been fine if he ever got around to it. Plus, almost every time Delbin reached into his pouch for his supposed book, he managed to pull out something that had once belonged to someone else.

Still, Kaz could not deny that the kender had proven a worthy comrade on occasion, even risking his life to save the minotaur's. He was not willing to admit it to anyone but Helati, but Kaz had grown fond of the small creature. That, of course, did not mean he wanted a kender's company on this journey.

'When morning comes, you'll go back to wherever you came from and stay there. What I have to do, I do alone.'

'But, Kaz, I've never seen a whole empire of minotaurs, and Helati seemed so worried, which I couldn't blame her for, what with the dream I had-which is why I knew you'd be traveling in the first place, and since you're traveling, you need someone to go with you, which ought to be me, of course-'

Not for the first time Kaz wondered if the kender followed him because even his own race would not put up with his incessant talk. Then, a part of what Delbin had said caught his attention. 'What's that about a dream you say you had?'

'I had a dream and-' Delbin hesitated when he saw the minotaur's expression. Speaking much slower, he continued. 'It was about you, Kaz! You were riding toward a big place with a cheering crowd and other minotaurs fighting. Then something big, bigger than a bird, flew over, and-'

'That was it?'

'No, then you were fighting yourself in this place-I guess it was an arena-while a tall, really tall, minotaur in cleric robes looked down. Then he turned into a bird and flew away.' Delbin smiled. 'Wasn't that an interesting dream? Oh… I forgot about the gray man!'

'What gray man?' Kaz regretted asking the talkative kender to explain his dream. Of what possible use could such information be to the minotaur? Still, he listened.

'He was all gray, Kaz! Even his face and beard. He wore gray robes and carried a gray staff. I never saw a human so very, very, very gray.'

The description sparked a vague memory. Someone else had told the minotaur about such a gray man long ago. Much to his regret, however, Kaz could not summon the wraithlike memory. 'All gray, then?'

'Yes, and he said you were leaving soon, so I should hurry to find you, and when I woke up I knew I better go, even though it was a dream-I just knew that I hod to go.'

Rarely had the minotaur seen the kender so adamant. But to let Delbin come with him into the heart of the minotaur realm was to sign the creature's death warrant. Minotaurs were not tolerant, especially when it came to kender. Delbin's people were considered to be on a par with rats and other vermin.

'No. You can't go, Delbin. It's for your own good. You don't know what the empire, much less Nethosak, is like. They would have you executed simply for being yourself.'

Delbin Knotwillow looked down at himself. 'What's wrong with me? So I'm a little big for a kender!'

'It's not your height, and you know it, Delbin. Unlike me, most minotaurs aren't very tolerant where kender are concerned. Most minotaurs would just as soon cut a kender up into fish bait…' Kaz despised himself for talking so, but he wanted to frighten his friend into turning back. 'Go back.'

'The man in gray said I had to come.' Delbin crossed his arms, putting together as severe and determined an expression as a kender could muster. 'So I am.'

'That was a dream.'

'A big dream.' Delbin cracked a smile. 'So what's Nethosak like, Kaz? Are there a lot of minotaurs there? Why are there two kingdoms called Mithas and Kothas, and do they look exactly the same?' Before Kaz could say another word, Delbin reached into a pouch at his side. 'I need my book! I should write this all-gee, I wonder where this came from?'

The object in the Render's hand was hard to make out in the fire's flickering light. Kaz stepped closer, forgetting for the moment his anger and frustration. The object was vaguely familiar, a medallion of some sort.

At first Kaz had the strange notion it was the medallion of Paladine he had taken from the hand of Huma after Takhisis's defeat, but that medallion he had hung on a tree branch not far from the great knight's tomb. Besides, Huma's medallion showed the symbol of Paladine, while this one featured another god, one just as familiar to Kaz as Huma's deity, if not as respected by him as he once was.

Sargas. It did not look like a cleric's medallion, however.

'Let me see that, Delbin.' The kender turned the round object over to him. Kaz held it near the flames. Memories began to wash over him as he at last recognized the medallion for what it was. Years ago, he had worn one exactly like it.

' 'Champion of all,' ' Kaz muttered, reading the script that circled the edge. ' 'Hero of the people.' Where did you get this, Delbin? Come on, now. Think hard.'

The kender screwed up his face in concentration, then grinned. 'I remember! The man in gray gave it to me!'

'A man in a dream gave it to you? You know that can't be.'

'But he did! I remember! After he told me to go to you, he gave me the medallion. I think he said you lost it! Isn't that neat? That's what I mean about the dream. It's important. I've never had a dream like it before.'

Kaz almost threw the medallion into the fire. He had indeed worn one that resembled it… until the day he decided that his life would not be lived-or lost-in the arena. Fighting as a slave-soldier under the human and ogre masters had seemed preferable to the insanity and hypocrisy of the circus.

This could not be the same medallion… could it?

'Do you know what it is, Kaz?' asked Delbin.

Kaz knew exactly what it was, a medallion given to the supreme champion of the games, the greatest warrior of any of the arenas, including, of course, the Great Circus. The supreme champion could challenge the emperor to single combat for the throne, and the emperor would have to agree to fight or lose face. When the two met, it was always to the death. Combatants did not leave their rivals alive to foment discord or challenge them again and perhaps win the next time.

The Great Circus made for glorious entertainment for the masses.

'No,' Kaz finally replied, putting the medallion into a pouch attached to the belt of his kilt. His eyes watched the campfire's darting flames. 'No, I don't.'

He sat down, leaning his axe nearby. Delbin watched him solemnly, wisely saying nothing. Kaz had forgotten about the kender. The dancing tentacles of the fire resurrected images of past opponents locked in duels. Kaz watched himself wrestle to the ground a reddish black minotaur taller than him, but then that adversary became a shorter but more muscular one carrying an axe longer than Honor's Face. Kaz deflected the blow with an axe of his own, then countered with a bone-cutting swing. The images went on and on, battle after battle, until somewhere along the way Kaz fell asleep.

When the next day came, Kaz said nothing to the kender about the previous night's conversation. For the time being, he allowed Delbin to ride beside him. He still did not want to put Delbin at risk, but silently welcomed the kender's company. Delbin could be so diverting that Kaz might forget for a time the dangers awaiting him in the imperial capital of the minotaur kingdom of Mithas.

For the next two days, they traveled in relative peace, the only vexation being the kender's relentless questions about the minotaur lands. Some of them Kaz had answered more than once over the years, ever since he first encountered Delbin on a dock in the southern reaches of Ansalon. Now and then the kender asked a question about the minotaur's own life, which Kaz deflected by telling him something fascinating about his homeland.

'One thing I can never understand-why are there two kingdoms?' Delbin asked, for the umpteenth time.

'Because it's more competitive. Each kingdom strives to raise the greatest champions.' Although there was only one emperor, the minotaur homeland was divided between the kingdoms of Mithas and Kothas. Mithas, with the imperial capital located within its boundaries, had some advantage, but Kothas was known for its own share of