As Drago reached the lower stairway, the mino-taur's arm shot out with a quick movement, and his strong fingers fastened on Drago's neck. Harum's powerful arms propelled the draconian brute across the room. Led by Sintk, the prisoners leaped on the draconian, pummeling him with their bare hands. Sintk finished the brute with a swift dagger stroke.
Hearing nothing from their leader, the three hobgoblins hesitated on the stairs, then came to an abrupt halt. The soldiers behind them were bottled up in the stairwell, but they too were not anxious to enter the guardroom and face the aroused minotaur. But it would only be a matter of time…
Meanwhile, William had noticed that the torches on the wall of the guardroom were flickering-and always in the same direction and it wasn't coming from the door! Crawling along the wall, he discovered a draft whistling around a huge block of stone. Pushing against it, he found it opened into a dark passage.
'This way!' he yelled.
Everyone scrambled after him. The passageway was dark and spooky. Maintaining a fast pace, William led them for several hundred yards, until he saw a silver fingernail of moonlight. He gestured for them to pull up.
William crept up to a barred outlet that looked out onto a moonlit landscape. The tunnel exit was near the sea and the wind was directed into the tunnel by a curving stone sea wall. Across the flat plain could be seen the winking lights of Port Balifor, no more than half a mile in the distance.
Unfortunately, their escape was barred by a heavy metal grating that covered the end of the tunnel.
'We're trapped,' said Sintk.
Tom the tailor began to moan.
'They're following,' warned a kender among the prisoners. The firm voice of the commander could be heard ordering his troops into the tunnels.
'Let me see those bars,' said Harum, pushing forward.
The minotaur came up alongside William, and his massive hands began to test the metal barrier. Finally he said, 'Stand back.' Harum placed his shoulder against one side of the bars. The moonlight gave a thin, gray cast to the top of the minotaur's face. Then, he sucked in a deep breath through his mask.
Harum's shoulder put mighty pressure on the bars. He grunted and strained to tear the metal away from the stone sockets. Once, twice, Harum threw every ounce of his strength against the barrier.
'They're coming this way!' cried Sintk.
Everyone looked back and saw the flare of torches moving into the tunnel.
'To the rear!' exclaimed William bravely to Sintk. He took the dwarf's arm, and they pressed through the prisoners, swords ready for defense.
Now, the minotaur tried the other side of the bars. They were also unyielding. He made several mighty lunges and, once, the metal bent-but still remained fast in the stone.
Exasperated, the minotaur told everyone to get back. 'Give me some running room,' he spat.
Harum ran back through the tunnel, stopping within sight of the forward line of searching troops. The soldiers sent up a mighty roar of yells and curses. Unmindful of them, Harum El-Halop dropped down into a sprinter's position. Giving of roar of his own, he ran forward, gaining speed with each step. Then, just before he reached the iron barrier, Harum twisted his body and leaped into the air. He flew backward and struck the bars with a sickening thud.
The bars gave a metallic screech and jerked loose from their sockets in the walls. Everyone cheered as the barrier fell out onto the ground. Harum went rolling across the ground, kicking up dust in the pale moonlight. He came up on his feet with a snort.
'Get the bars back in place,' William yelled as the fleeing prisoners streamed out of the tunnel.
Sintk led the others in raising the bars, while William and the minotaur raced to grab the end of a large piece of old timber. Everyone helped to wedge the timber so it would hold the bars tight.
Seconds later, the dragonarmy troops came rushing up to the barred exit. They howled and roared, pounding against the bars, as the companions sped off into the night.
Outside, William looked up and saw a detachment of mounted draconians ride out of the castle gate. The leader sent his men in a circular direction around the castle. Good, thought William. That will buy some time. His thinking was calm and collected, he was feeling no fear. His eyes swept ahead.
Then, the wedging timber must have given way, because troops came pouring out of the tunnel. Seeing the flare of their torches, William and his group raced on until they came to the water's edge. There, down by the shore, were a dozen oak-ribbed fishing boats with Balifor oarsmen at the alert.
'Your plan?' asked a surprised William.
'Not much of one,' replied the minotaur.
One by one, the boats were loaded and pushed off, until there was a small flotilla of prisoners bobbing on the blue-black waves. The last boat was a smaller one and into it climbed William, Sintk, and Harum El-Halop, who had been defending the rear. But they were in no danger; they were out of earshot by the time the first draconians stumbled to the shore.
A mile out to sea, the small vessels hesitated outside Port Balifor.
'You have a head-start on the patrol boats!' shouted William to Tom the tailor over the crashing waves. 'You can make a run for it and, with luck, live elsewhere long and happily and free of chains!'
'What about you?' yelled Tom, cupping his hands.
William did not have to ask Sintk, who was already snoring under a cowhide, or Harum, who was doing the rowing of four men. Drago was dead. They could slip into the harbor and never be suspected.
'Port Balifor is our home!' he shouted into the wind. But he doubted if they heard him, as the string of boats had already moved onward, to the west.
Harum and William let Sintk sleep until they had glided safely into the harbor. The minotaur tied up the boat, and they scrambled to their feet at the end of a small commercial pier. There was frantic activity, fireballs, and shouting from draconian ships at the other end of the harbor, but their dock was practically deserted, and no one was around to pay them any mind.
They slapped each other on the shoulders and Harum hurried away into the fog. Sintk and William kept to the back lanes until the Pig and Whistle hove into view. Sintk continued on to his cobbler's shop.
Inside his inn, William ripped off his mask and tossed the cloth onto a refuse barrel. He hung the sword and scabbard on a wood peg on the wall. Breathing heavily from the night's activities, William went behind the bar and poured himself a tall drink of dwarf spirits.
William came to with a snorting noise. He was sitting on the bartender's stool at his inn. His head ached, and pain was beginning to move deep into his muscles. For an instant, William thought he had caught a case of ague. His thick, short fingers opened and the coin dropped on the bar. The metal was warm to his touch.
What a wonderful dream, he thought. He had been so brave. Sighing heavily, William decided to retire for the night. He pocketed the coin and picked up an oil lamp with a low flame. He yawned as he came around the bar.
Suddenly, a heavy pounding sounded on the front door of the Pig and Whistle. 'Open up in the name of the Highlord!' cried a guttural voice.
Shrugging, William headed for the door. Then he stopped, staring in horror.
On a refuse barrel lay a torn black mask..
Love and ale
'An inn,' Otik puffed, 'is blessed or cursed by its ale.' He set the barrow-handles down, noting with approval that the cloth-covered wheel had not marred the lovingly polished Inn floor. 'The ale is blessed or cursed by its water and hops.'
Tika, staggering in from the kitchen, poured one of her two buckets into the immense brewing tun as Otik pried the top free. 'I know, I know. That's why I have to haul fresh spring water up, abucket at a time, instead of using rainwater from the cistern which I wouldn't need to pull up.' She showed him the rope-marks in her palms. At
