The question struck Tanis like a blow across the face. He could almost envision himself sprawling in the dirt and had to force himself to stop and swallow an angry retort. He knew Riverwind was asking this question for a reason. It had not been meant as an insult. This was a test, Tanis realized. He chose his words carefully.
'According to humans, half an elf is but part of a whole being. Half a man is a cripple.'
Riverwind considered this, finally nodded once, abruptly, and answered Tanis's question.
'I wandered many long years,' he replied. 'Often I had no idea where I was. I followed the sun and the moons and the stars. My last journey is like a dark dream.' He was silent for a moment. When he spoke, it was as if he were talking from some great distance. 'It was a city once beautiful, with white buildings supported by tall columns of marble. But it is now as if some great hand had picked up the city and cast it down a mountainside. The city is now very old and very evil.'
'Death on black wings,' Tanis said softly.
'It rose like a god from the darkness, its creatures worshipped it, shrieking and howling.' The Plainsman's face paled beneath his sunbaked skin. He was sweating in the chill morning air. 'I can speak of it no more!' Goldmoon laid her hand on his arm, and the tension in his face eased.
'And out of the horror came a woman who gave you the staff?' Tanis pursued.
'She healed me,' Riverwind said simply. 'I was dying.'
Tanis stared intently at the staff Goldmoon held in her hand. It was just a plain, ordinary staff that he never noticed until his attention was called to it. A strange device was carved on the top, and feathers-such as the barbarians admire-were tied around it. Yet he had seen it glow blue! He had felt its healing powers. Was this a gift from ancient gods-come to aid them in their time of need? Or was it evil? What did he know of these barbarians anyway? Tanis thought about Raistlin's claim that the staff could only be touched by those pure of heart. He shook his head. It sounded good. He wanted to believe it…
Tanis, lost in thought, felt Goldmoon touch his arm. He looked up to see Sturm and Caramon signaling. The half-elf suddenly realized he and the Plainsmen had fallen far behind the others. He broke into a run.
'What is it?'
Sturm pointed. 'The scout returns,' he said dryly.
Tasslehoff was running down the road toward them. He waved his arm three times.
'Into the brush!' Tanis ordered. The group hurriedly left the road and plunged into the bushes and scrub trees growing along the south edge-all except Sturm.
'Come on!' Tanis put his hand on the knight's arm. Sturm pulled away from the half-elf.
'I will not hide in a ditch!' the knight stated coldly.
'Sturm-' Tanis began, fighting to control his rising anger. He choked back bitter words that would do no good and might cause irreparable harm. Instead, he turned from the knight, his lips compressed, and waited in grim silence for the kender.
Tas came dashing up, pouches and packs bouncing wildly as he ran. 'Clerics!' he gasped. 'A party of clerics. Eight.'
Sturm sniffed. 'I thought it was a battalion of goblin guards at the least. I believe we can handle a party of clerics.'
'I don't know,' Tasslehoff said, dubiously. 'I've seen clerics from every part of Krynn and I've never seen any like these.' He glanced down the road apprehensively, then gazed up at Tanis, unusual seriousness in his brown eyes. 'Do you remember what Tika said about the strange men in Solace-hanging around with Hederick? How they were hooded and dressed in heavy robes? Well, that describes these clerics exactly! And, Tanis, they gave me an eerie feeling.' The kender shuddered. 'They'll be in sight in a few moments.'
Tanis glanced at Sturm. The knight raised his eyebrows. Both of them knew that kenders did not feel the emotion of fear, yet were extremely sensitive to other creatures' natures. Tanis couldn't remember when the sight of any being on Krynn had ever given Tas an 'eerie feeling'-and he had been with the kender in some tight spots.
'Here they come,' Tanis said suddenly. He and Sturm and Tas moved back into the shadows of the trees to the left, watching as the clerics slowly rounded a bend in the road. They were too far away for the half-elf to be able to tell much about them, except that they were moving very slowly, dragging a large handcart behind them.
'Maybe you should talk to them, Sturm,' Tanis said softly. 'We need information about the road ahead. But be careful, my friend.'
'I'll be careful.' Sturm said, smiling. 'I have no intention of throwing my life away needlessly.'
The knight gripped Tanis's arm a moment in silent apology, then dropped his hand to loosen his sword in its antique scabbard. He walked across to the other side of the road and leaned up against a broken-down wooden fence, head bowed, as though resting. Tanis stood a moment, irresolute, then turned and made his way through the brush, Tasslehoff at his heels.
'What is it?' Caramon grunted as Tanis and Tas appeared. The big warrior shifted his girth, causing his arsenal of weapons to clank loudly. The rest of the companions were huddled together, concealed behind thick clumps of brush, yet able to get a clear view of the road.
'Hush.' Tanis knelt down between Caramon and Riverwind, who crouched in the brush a few feet to Tanis's left. 'Clerics,' he whispered. 'A group of them coming down the road. Sturm's going to question them.'
'Clerics!' Caramon snorted derisively and settled back comfortably on his heels. But Raistlin stirred restlessly.
'Clerics,' he whispered thoughtfully. 'I do not like this.'
'What do you mean?' asked Tanis.
Raistlin peered at the half-elf from the dark shadows of his hood. All Tanis could see were the mage's golden hourglass eyes, narrow slits of cunning and intelligence.
'Strange clerics,' Raistlin spoke with elaborate patience, as one speaks to a child. 'The staff has healing, clerical powers-such powers as have not been seen on Krynn since the Cataclysm! Caramon and I saw some of these cloaked and hooded men in Solace. Don't you find it odd, my friend, that these clerics and this staff turned up at the same time, in the same place, when neither has been seen before? Perhaps this staff is truly theirs-by right.'
Tanis glanced at Goldmoon. Her face was shadowed with worry. Surely she must be wondering the same thing. He looked back at the road again. The cloaked figures were moving at a crawling pace, pulling the cart. Sturm sat on the fence, stroking his moustaches.
The companions waited in silence. Gray clouds massed overhead, the sky grew darker and soon water began to drip through the branches of the trees.
'There-it's raining,' Flint grumbled. 'It isn't enough that I have to squat in a bush like a toad, now I get soaked to the skin-'
Tanis glared at the dwarf. Flint mumbled and fell silent. Soon the companions could hear nothing but the rain splatting against the already wet leaves, drumming on shield and helm. It was a cold, steady rain, the kind that seeps through the thickest cloak. It ran off Caramon's dragon helm and trickled down his neck. Raistlin began to shiver and cough, covering his mouth with his hand to muffle the sound as everyone stared at him in alarm.
Tanis looked out to the road. Like Tas, he had never seen anything to compare to these clerics in his hundred years of life on Krynn. They were tall, about six feet in height. Long robes shrouded their bodies, hooded cloaks covered the robes. Even their feet and hands were wrapped in cloth, like bandages covering leprous wounds. As they neared Sturm, they glanced around warily. One of them stared straight into the brush where the companions were hiding. They could see only dark glittering eyes through a swath of cloth.
'Hail, Knight of Solamnia,' the lead cleric said in the Common Tongue. His voice was hollow, lisping-an inhuman voice. Tanis shivered.
'Greetings, brethren,' Sturm answered, also in Common. 'I have traveled many miles this day and you are the first travelers I have passed. I have heard strange rumors, and I seek information about the road ahead. Where do you come from?'
'We come from the east originally,' the cleric answered. 'But today we travel from Haven. It is a chill, bitter day for journeying, knight, which is perhaps why you find the road empty. We ourselves would not undertake such
