Ogres.
One of the ogre guards turned idly and looked up in their direction.
Quickly they ducked down out of sight.
'The Oracle was right,' Raistlin hissed to his companions in a low voice, although they were well out of the ogre guards' hearing. 'That is the shore of the Blood Sea. We are inside Ogrebond, in a tower at the top of the keep. Somehow we must get out of here, but to do so means we must fight or evade a small army of ogres, their minions, and evil spirits.'
'Great,' muttered Flint.
'Let me lead,' said Tanis quickly, rising and heading back down the hallway. He turned and gestured. 'Let's find a way down.'
'I'll go next,' said Raistlin, following.
'Happy to go last,' muttered Flint.
As Raistlin passed the room from which they had emerged, he took a moment to close the door firmly and try the handle. Satisfied, he waited a moment for his eyes to adjust, then moved on.
Ahead of them, narrow steps curved downward. Feeling the cold, musty wall with one hand as a guide-his other hand was on the hilt of his dagger, just in case-Tanis slowly started down the stairs. Raistlin placed his hand on Tanis's shoulder and followed. Flint did likewise with Raistlin.
They descended for several minutes until they reached a large landing from which led three corridors, each apparently leading to a number of rooms, or at least a series of doors. Vague noises and voices filtered up to the companions from farther below, but they didn't hear anything nearby. Daylight lit the corridors, which seemed, for the moment, uninhabited.
Flint pushed a door open cautiously, revealing a large room barren of decor. The room held a plain bed, a table, a chest, and a cabinet. The bed showed signs of having been slept in recently-probably the night before-but the room was empty. Judging by the silence that reigned, so were the other rooms.
'My guess,' said Raistlin, leading them back out into the corridor, 'is that these are visitors' quarters. I estimate it to be late afternoon. If there are any visitors, they are busy elsewhere, and we are safe until they return.'
'Great,' huffed Flint. 'All we have to do is wait for nightfall and then pick an ogre to share our bed with.'
'Or fight our way out,' said Tanis rashly.
At that moment, all three heard a scuffling sound at the far end of the hall. Before any of them could react, they saw a figure emerge from one of the rooms and set something down. Crowding back against each other, the three companions dashed back into the empty guest room.
'Shh!' Tanis said to Flint as they stumbled over one another. Raistlin pulled the door closed behind them.
'What now?' whispered Flint.
Raistlin edged over to the window, taking care not to be spotted. To the west, he saw a broken land dotted with withering grass and dying flora. Far in the distance rose steep hills covered with dark forests.
The keep clung to the side of a jagged, rocky incline.
Ogre guards patrolled along the inner and outer walls below.
'That person down the hall was just a cleaning woman,' said Tanis to Flint ruefully, rubbing his foot, which Flint had inadvertently stepped on in the rush.
'How do you know?' snapped Flint. He sat down on the bed.
Tas pointed to his eyes and, with the glimmer of a smile, said, 'Elfvision.'
Flint let loose a string of oaths.
Before he was through, the door swung open. A small, bulky figure loomed on the threshold, backlit by bright daylight. Instantly Tanis lunged toward the figure, only to be struck hard in the chin by a mop handle. Flint, a step behind the half-elf, wrapped his arms around the head of the intruder. He was bitten on the hand and hurled backward. Raistlin moved away from the window, stepping into the middle of the room.
The newcomer swept into the room, waving a mop and glaring at them.
Both Tanis and Flint retreated a couple more steps. Flint sank back down on the bed. Suddenly struck by the absurdity of the situation, Raistlin chuckled. Indeed the intruder was a cleaning woman-one with thickly corded muscles, a snout like a pig, and long, straggly brown hair. Yet her voice was sharp and intelligent.
'Now tell me who you be and what you're doing here and be quick about it. If your story isn't convincing, you'll be decorating an ogre spear by morning!'
Tanis fingered his sword. Flint rubbed his hand. Both were taken aback at being confronted by a half-ogre, a female of a mixed race that neither of them, in all their long travels, had ever seen. Unquestionably fierce-looking, the woman nonetheless had a merry light in her eyes. Although ugly and bestial by civilized standards, she was dressed neatly in a leather smock and appeared to be reasonably well groomed.
When Tanis shifted his glance over his shoulder at Raistlin, the female half-ogre got a better look at Flint. She squealed with joy and pushed past the astonished half-elf.
The half-ogre thrust her face into Flint's. He leaned away from her, startled and, if truth be told, a little scared. Her breath blew over him like a hot wind. 'Garsh! A dwarf! I ain't never seen one-alive, I mean! 'Course, I see all kinds of dwarf skeletons and bones, but it ain't the same as seeing a live one.'
The female half-ogre reached out her stubby hands and touched the dwarf's long, full beard. 'Garsh, what a pretty beard!'
Flint scowled. His eyes rolled pleadingly toward Tanis and Raistlin.
The half-ogre spun around and faced the other two companions, putting a thick finger to her fleshy lips. 'It wouldn't do to let the chief know. He'd kill the dwarf right off and then make me clean this room ten, twenty times to get rid of the stench'-she nodded politely to Flint-'pardon my saying so. And then he'd eat his heart for breakfast.'
She thought for a moment. 'He'd probably give his innards to the others, but the heart would be his, f'sure. The head, of course, would sit in a position of importance on a spear.' She shook her head and made a clucking sound.
Flint blanched.
'Such a pretty dwarf,' she peered at him again, batting her eyes. 'I don't know but that I have a hankering for 'im.' Her face darkened, and she looked conspiratorially at Tanis and Raistlin. 'But we must make sure he isn't spotted, or it’s death f'sure.'
Flint opened his mouth, but Raistlin stepped forward and put his arm around the cleaning woman's shoulders. 'Then can you help him… us… escape from Ogrebond?'
The female half-ogre's eyes narrowed. 'I suppose I could… and I suppose I would. I don't like these ogres very much, you know. I've been their slave ever since they kilt my father, a poor farmer, and spared me only so's I could clean for them. And let me tell you, for such a loutish lot, these ogres are surprisingly picky about cleaning.
'I'm not one of them, of course. I'm only a half-ogre. My name is Kirsig. What're yours?'
Raistlin made introductions all around, although Kirsig seemed most interested in Flint. 'Flint Fireforge,' she mused, her eyes shining.
For one of the few times in his life, Flint felt helpless. He looked to Tanis for aid, but the half-elf only shrugged.
'And could you help us arrange to hire a boat to take us across the Blood Sea?' asked Raistlin.
Kirsig clapped her knobby hands girlishly. 'The Blood Sea! Garsh, you are a daring band, I can see that! Why d'you want to cross the Blood Sea? It's a terribly risky voyage. You have to skirt the Maelstrom and know your seamanship. Your captain must be bold and skilled, and he'll be sure to demand a pretty purse.'
'We'll pay as much as we can,' answered Tanis warily, 'Do you know such a captain?'
'If he can be found,' replied Kirsig coyly, her face dark with secrecy, 'but'-she paused-'I cannot leave the keep until after midnight, when my duties are done. You can stay here, but you'll have to be careful. The chief, his band, the legion that guards the keep… any of them might appear outside this door. They get confused easy, y'know,' she said, winking conspiratorially, 'and sometimes wander about the keep, looking for their weapons or shoes.
