go. We give ride down.'
Raistlin, being carried along on a tide of Aghar, looked back at Tanis, motioning with his hand. Tanis signaled to Riverwind and Flint, and everyone started moving down the hall behind the gully dwarves. Those Raistlin had charmed remained clustered around him, trying to stay as close as possible, while the rest ran off down the corridor when the whip cracked again. The companions followed Raistlin and the gully dwarves down to the comer, where the screeching noise started up once again, much louder now.
The female gully dwarf brightened as she heard it. She and the rest of the gully dwarves halted. Some of them slouched against the slime-covered walls, others plopped on the floor like sacks. The female stayed near Raistlin, holding the hem of his sleeve in her small hand. 'What is it?' he asked. 'Why have we stopped?'
'We wait. Not our turn yet,' she informed him.
'What will we do when it is our turn?' he asked patiently.
'Go down,' she said, staring up at him adoringly.
Raistlin looked at Tanis, shook his head. The mage decided to try a new approach.
'What is your name, little one?' he asked.
'Bupu.'
Caramon snorted and quickly clapped his hand over his mouth.
'Now, Bupu,' Raistlin said in dulcet tones, 'do you know where the dragon's lair is?'
'Dragon?' Bupu repeated, astounded. 'You want dragon?'
'No,' Raistlin said hastily, 'we don't want the dragon-just the dragon's lair, where the dragon lives.'
'Oh, me not know that.' Bupu shook her head. Then, seeing disappointment on Raistlin's face, she clutched his hand. 'But me take you to the great Highbulp. He know everything.'
Raistlin raised his eyebrows. 'And how do we get to the Highbulp?'
'Down!' she said, grinning happily. The screeching sound stopped. There was a crack of a whip. 'It our turn to go down now. You come. You come now. Go see Highbulp.'
'Just a moment.' Raistlin extricated himself from the gully dwarf's grasp. 'I must talk to my friends.' He walked over to Tanis and Sturm. 'This Highbulp is probably head of the clan, maybe head of several clans.'
'If he's as intelligent as this lot, he won't know where his own wash bowl is, let alone the dragon,' Sturm growled.
'He'll know, most likely,' Flint spoke up grudgingly. 'They're not smart, but gully dwarves remember everything they see or hear if you can just get them to put it into words of more than one syllable.'
'We better go see the great Highbulp then,' Tanis said ruefully. 'Now, if we could just figure out what this up and down business is and that squeaking noise-'
'I know!' said a voice.
Tanis looked around. He had completely forgotten about Tasslehoff. The kender came running back in from around the comer, his topknot dancing, eyes shining with merriment. 'It's a lift, Tanis,' he said. 'Like in dwarven mines. I was in a mine, once. It was the most wonderful thing. They had a lift that took rock up and down. And this is just like it. Well, almost like it. You see-' He was suddenly overcome with giggles and couldn't go on. The rest glaring at him, the kender made a violent effort to control himself
'They're using a giant lard-rendering pot! The gully dwarves that have been standing in line here run out when one of the draco-thing-a-ma-jiggers cracks this big whip. They all jump into the pot that's attached to a huge chain wrapped around a spoked wheel with teeth that fit into the links of the chain- that's what's squeaking! The wheel turns and down they go, and pretty soon up comes another pot-'
'Big bosses. Pot full of big bosses,' Bupu said.
'Filled with draconians!' Tanis repeated in alarm.
'Not come here,' Bupu said. 'Go that way-' She waved a hand vaguely.
Tanis remained uneasy. 'So these are the bosses. How many draconians are there by the pot?'
'Two,' said Bupu, holding Raistlin's sleeve securely. 'Not more than two.'
'Actually, there are four,' Tas said with an apologetic glance for contradicting the gully dwarf. 'They're the little ones, not the big ones that cast spells.'
'Four.' Caramon flexed his huge arms. 'We can handle four.'
'Yes, but we've got to time it so that fifteen more aren't arriving,' Tanis pointed out.
The whip cracked again.
'Come!' Bupu tugged urgently on Raistlin's sleeve. 'We go. Bosses get mad.'
'I'd say this is as good a time as any,' Sturm said, shrugging. 'Let the gully dwarves run as usual. We'll follow and overwhelm the bosses in the confusion. If one pot is up here waiting to be loaded with gully dwarves, the other has to be on the ground level.'
'I suppose,' Tanis said. He turned to the gully dwarves. 'When you get to the lift-er, pot-don't jump in. Just dodge aside and keep out of the way. All right?'
The gully dwarves stared at Tanis with deep suspicion. The half-elf sighed and looked at Raistlin. Smiling slightly, the mage repeated Tanis's instructions. Immediately the gully dwarves began to smile and nod enthusiastically.
The whip cracked again and the companions heard a harsh voice. 'Quit loafing, you scum, or we'll chop your nasty feet off and give you an excuse for being slow!'
'We'll see whose feet get chopped off, ' Caramon said.
'This be some fun!' said one of the gully dwarves solemnly. The Aghar dashed down the corridor.
18
Fight at the lift. Bupu's cure for a cough
A lot mist rose from two large holes in the floor, swirling around whatever was nearby. Between the two holes was a large wheel, around which ran a gigantic chain. A tremendous black iron pot hung suspended from the chain over one of the holes. The other end of the chain disappeared through the other hole. Four armor-clad draconians, two of them swinging leather whips and armed with curved swords, stood around the pot. They were visible only briefly, then mist hid them from view. Tanis could hear the whip crack and a guttural voice bellowing.
'You louse-ridden dwarf vermin! What're you doing, holding back there. Get into this pot before I flay the filthy flesh from your nasty bones! I-ulp!'
The draconian stopped in midsentence, its eyes bulging out of its reptilian head as Caramon emerged from the mist, roaring his battle-cry. The draconian let out a yell that changed into a choking gurgle as Caramon grabbed the creature around its scrawny neck, lifted it off its clawed feet, and hurled it back against the wall. Gully dwarves scattered as the body hit the wall with a bone-crushing thump.
Even as Caramon attacked, Sturm-swinging his great two-handed sword-yelled out the knight's salute to an enemy and lopped the head off a draconian who never saw what was coming. The severed head rolled on the floor with a crunching sound as it changed to stone.
Unlike goblins, who attack anything that moves without strategy or thought, draconians are intelligent and quick-thinking. The two remaining by the pot had no intention of taking on five skilled and well-armed warriors. One of them immediately jumped into the pot, yelling instructions to its companion in their guttural language. The other draconian dashed over to the wheel and freed the mechanism. The pot began to drop through the hole.
'Stop it!' Tanis yelled. 'It's going for reinforcements!'
'Wrong!' shouted Tasslehoff, peering over the edge. 'The reinforcements are already on the way up in the other pot. There must be twenty of them!'
Caramon ran to stop the draconian operating the lift, but he was too late. The creature left the mechanism turning and dashed toward the pot. With a great bound, it leaped in after its companion. Caramon, on the principle of don't let the enemy get away, jumped right into the pot after it! The gully dwarves cheered and hooted, some dashing over to the edge to get a better view.
'That big idiot!' Sturm swore. Shoving gully dwarves aside to look down, he saw swinging fists and flashing armor as Caramon and the draconians flailed away at each other. Caramon's added weight caused the pot to fall
