Tales of Uncle Trapspringer

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.'

Halmarain glared at them for a moment, sighed, and pushed away the book she had been studying.

'You'll have to give me time to study something you would like.' She sighed. 'It can't be much, I need to put