Tanis shook his head, but he pulled a dagger out of its sheath and handed it to Tas hilt first. 'Here,' the half-elf said.
The kender took it eagerly. The knife would do. Meantime, he had his precious hoopak back.
The half-elf smiled at him. 'Sure I'm on your side… if you're on mine. There have been some strange rumors about you lately.'
'Have there?' asked Tas, grinning broadly. 'Well, I've had a heck of a time. First we got betrayed by the captain of the
Three minotaurs, carrying studded clubs and swords, crashed through the smoke, attacking them.
Tanis swung fiercely, blocking their charge, then raced off in one direction. Tasslehoff ran off in the other.
One of the kyrie had fallen in the bombardment of fire balls. Another had dragged his comrade off to one side and been separated from the group.
Tanis had disappeared.
The others were gathered near a small embankment. A group of minotaur soldiers harried them. Kitiara and Yuril, their backs against a rock, lashed out with their swords at two of the bull-men. Cloudreaver and three other kyrie warriors fought nearby, fending off several minotaurs with curved clubs.
One of the minotaurs closed in and stabbed his sword at Yuril, piercing her side. Instantly Kitiara swung around, slicing off the arm of the attacker at the elbow. The minotaur fell back, clutching his limb to stem the flow of blood. His fellow soldier shoved him out of the way, then lunged at Kitiara while she was still off balance.
At least Kit thought he had lunged, but when she stepped nimbly aside, the minotaur continued to fall forward onto his face, dead. A small knife protruded from the back of his neck.
She just managed to glimpse the kender as he dashed away.
Yuril slumped, and Kitiara grabbed her by the shoulders. 'Can you make it?' she asked. Yuril nodded weakly and lost consciousness.
Tasslehoff couldn't find Dogz.
The minotaurs had dragged the traitor off to the perimeter of the staging area, where one bull-man soldier, removed from the rest of the action, nervously supervised the prisoner. Dogz sat in anguish, lost in his own world, staring at his feet. Suddenly he heard a solid thunk. He looked up to see the minotaur soldier drop to his knees, clawing at his throat, then topple face forward into the dirt.
Tas sauntered into view.
'It's all in the wrist,' he boasted. 'Not every kender can throw a hoopak as good as me. Why, I'd venture to say hardly any kender can throw a hoopak as good as me. Well, maybe Uncle Trapspringer can, but, after all, he's the one who taught me!'
In the midst of the noisy, smoke-enshrouded confusion all around them, Tas quickly untied Dogz.
Dogz didn't move. 'You came back, friend Tas,' he said, his voice missing its usual booming resonance.
'I owed you one, didn't I?'
'It is good to see you the way you were before,' said the minotaur. 'So the human female's antidote did work.'
The minotaur soldier showed himself to be stubborn, savage, and battle-wise. Caramon couldn't get past him. The bull-man held a long polearm with a crescent blade at each end of its shaft. Again and again the young warrior tried to slash forward, but the minotaur kept him busy dodging the heavy weapon, which he twirled like a baton.
It seemed like a standoff until Tanis came running up, bringing his sword to bear alongside Caramon's. The half-elf slashed, while Caramon kept up his stabbing attack. Their weapons rang against the polearm.
For the first time, Caramon saw a hint of panic in the soldier's eyes. The minotaur stumbled and retreated a few steps. All his moves were defensive now, and Tanis and Caramon pushed their advantage. The minotaur was obviously tiring from the attack and couldn't last much longer.
On the scaffold, the Nightmaster turned to confront Raistlin Majere.
After Tasslehoff had cut the rope binding his hands, the young mage had worked fast, managing to pull the cord off his legs. Now, eyes intense, he stood there, pale and sweating, poised like an animal ready to spring.
'Things are not going very well… are they?' Raistlin said in a low, purposeful voice.
The Nightmaster had been thrown off balance by the nightmare sequence of events. But now the figure before him, the human who had somehow divined his plans and conspired to wreck them, renewed his sense of purpose. The high shaman of the minotaur race stared down at the much shorter Raistlin. He noted with satisfaction that the puny human didn't have any weapon.
'The spell has been spoken,' rumbled the high shaman. 'All that remains is the sacrifice. And I see that you are still here, Raistlin Majere of Solace. It occurs to me that there has been enough interruption and delay. The time for you to die is now. Sargonnas awaits!'
Raistlin had edged around as the Nightmaster spoke. Now he lunged-away from the high shaman, toward the tome of spells that rested on a stand. He snatched up the book of magic, holding it before him.
The Nightmaster stopped, hobbling toward Raistlin, surprised. 'What is this, mage?' the shaman minotaur said with a sneer. 'Do you think you have time to learn a spell in order to defeat me? Or are you simply intending to use my spellbook as a shield?'
Raistlin whirled and tossed the spellbook far out over the mouth of the volcano.
'No!' shouted the Nightmaster, lunging futilely after the book. 'No-o-o-o!'
Just as the minotaur turned his back on Raistlin, Tanis and Caramon reached the top of the scaffold. They hurled their weapons at the hulking figure. Two swords rammed into the Nightmaster's back. The high shaman of the minotaur race teetered on the edge of the scaffold for a second, then lost his footing and fell forward into the fiery crater.
Caramon and Tanis embraced Raistlin.
The young mage glanced questioningly toward the continued fighting below.
'Kit is fine,' explained Caramon quickly. 'So is Tasslehoff. We're doing our best to hold them off!'
'There is no more time,' said Raistlin tersely. 'We have to hurry!'
Caramon and Tanis saw that already a red cloud was billowing out of the mouth of the volcano. Like a whirlwind of fire, it grew and swirled. They had to turn their faces away from the searing heat.
A sound like the hooves of a hundred thousand horses accompanied it.
Caramon glanced down briefly at the pool of orange fire whose huge waves splashed upward before Raistlin yanked him away. Caramon and Tanis were pushed back down the scaffold steps by the young mage.
'Kitiara's antidote?' asked the kender blankly.
'I exchanged it for your usual double dose,' said Dogz solemnly.
'Yeah, well, I've been meaning to talk to you about that. That potion never tasted very good, but this last time was even worse…'
The kender stopped suddenly. He heard a strange noise, like rolling thunder, quite different from the battle sounds he had been hearing. Tas looked up at the scaffold. It stood empty. A firestorm spewed from the mouth of the volcano, swelling over the scene.
'Uh-oh,' Tasslehoff gulped. 'We'll talk about all that later. Right now we'd better get out of here.' He tugged at Dogz, who hadn't risen from where he was sitting.
'I'm not going,' said Dogz.
'You're not what?'
'I'm not going,' repeated Dogz. Now he stood, leaned over, and put his hands on the kender's shoulders. Dogz looked into his friend's eyes. 'I have disgraced my race,' said the minotaur. 'I have disobeyed orders. I am
