speech carried the trio's weapons. Flint picked up his long-handled, double-headed axe and heavy fighting knife and thrust both through his belt. Tanis tossed his quiver of arrows over one shoulder, slung the long strap supporting his short sword scabbard over the other shoulder, and picked up his bow, rubbing the oiled leather grip and the smooth wooden curves. Tas snatched up his hoopak and dagger and stuffed several slices and chunks of Cele's delicious bread into his pouches. In moments, all were ready.
Nanda instructed Tanis, Tas, and Flint to step to the door. One phaethon stepped up behind each and wrapped his arms around his passenger. Then, before anyone had time to protest or panic, all three phaethons leaned forward and pushed themselves and their living cargo off the platform. Air whistled past Tas's ears and locks of his own hair flapped in his face as he plummeted toward the ground, then heard the distinctive whoosh of the phaethon's wings igniting and felt his weight pressing against the flyer's arms as they leveled off. As much as Tasslehoff wanted to rescue Selana, he hoped Balcombe's lair was a long way off.
Chapter 17
Selana awoke to the smell of burning dung, flames fanning her face. Still, she shivered from a cool dampness. Her blue-green eyes, dulled from exhaustion, fluttered open, then widened in astonishment.
The sea elf was alone, propped up on the dirt floor of a large, rectangular cavern lit by only the low-burning stick-and-dung fire smoldering in its center. The ceiling was low for a cavern so large, perhaps only twelve feet high. In the dim light she could barely discern the outlines of narrow openings to the far left and far right of her field of vision.
Where am I? she wondered. The last thing I remember is swimming… in some ice-cold water… I cut myself… and returned to elven form.
Selana winced as she remembered the hideous gash in her left arm-she had fainted from pain and exposure to the elements. She was surprised to realize the wound no longer ached. Had she been unconscious long enough to heal? She tried to touch the wound, to explore its extent, but discovered she could not move her hands.
Only then did Selana become aware of the feel of cool, weighty metal on her wrists. She saw that her arms were gripped by manacles on two-foot lengths of linked chain, attached to the rough pink granite walls. She had a hazy recollection of hallucinating about a stone minotaur, vibrant red veins defining its humanoid body and brutish bull's head. Had the creature been real?
Selana twisted futilely, relieved, at least, that the chains allowed her to stand. She wished to the gods she could make sense of her circumstances, but she could recall nothing after huddling among the rocks near the stream. Her injured arm was cured through some means, but every muscle in her body ached.
Suddenly the sea elf heard a heavy scraping, dragging sound from the narrow opening to the left, accompanied by low, guttural muttering. Her heart jumped in fear. With her hands restricted, she felt horribly vulnerable and cast about for a way to defend herself. All she could do was kick her feet, and not very far at that. The first syllables of a protection spell echoed through her mind, but she was too drained to remember the entire incantation.
The scraping-shuffling sound stopped and a huge head poked out of the opening and looked about, squinting in the dim light. A black-eyed gaze locked on Selana. The creature crept forward.
The sea elf could see that the thing was an enormous humanoid-a giant. Crawling on its knees in the tunnel, it was so large it could barely squeeze through the opening. Even in the larger cavern it was unable to stand to its full height and was forced to squat. Selana guessed it must have stood at least sixteen feet high and weighed several thousand pounds. It waddled toward the sea elf slowly in an awkward, swiveling gait, its long arms dragging on the ground. The sea elf cringed instinctively, but the giant stopped some five feet in front of her, as the cave pitched down sharply and the giant could not move in closer.
She could see enough now to realize it was a male giant. On his haunches, he regarded the pale-skinned sea elf, an enormous gap-toothed smile illuminating his light brown face and coal-black eyes. His frontal lobe sloped down to a thick, pointy brow bone. The muscles in his stooped shoulders and neck looked like corded rope and were thicker than she was wide. Selana became aware of the stench of rotted food and filth, though whether from his unwashed person, his blackened teeth, or the matted hides he wore as clothing, she could not be sure. She breathed shallowly through her mouth to keep from being sick.
The sea elf princess knew little about giants, other than that there were many different kinds, just as there were many races of elves.
'Eat,' he rumbled suddenly, pushing forward a chipped plate that looked like a child's toy in his massive, calloused hand. His nails were cracked and bleeding in spots, limned with dirt.
Selana regarded the pieces of unidentified roasted meat, charred bones protruding, unsure of what to do. She had no free hands with which to feed herself, even if she was inclined to eat something unknown and unidentifiable. Although she was starving, the princess of the Dargonesti elves was not about to press her face to the plate like an animal.
The giant sensed her hesitation. 'Not eat, Blu get in trouble,' he grunted, struggling with the words. 'Blacome not let Blu go.'
Balcombe! The sea elf was both frightened and excited at the thought that she had unwittingly stumbled upon the mage's refuge in the mountains.
'Is that your name? Blu?' she asked the giant.
He nodded, revealing his decaying teeth.
'And you work for Balcombe?' she pressed.
The creature seemed to search his immense skull for the answer. 'Blacome say if Blu find many shiny rocks in hole-' he pointed to the opening from which he'd come-'Blacome will make Blu teeny-tiny to get out of cave and back to hill giant home.' As if to demonstrate, he pulled a large, jagged rock from the depths of his filthy skins; amidst the chunk of ordinary mineral was a dull, rosy streak of glasslike stone-a ruby in the rough.
'How long have you been mining gems for Balcombe?'
The giant shrugged his sloping shoulders. 'Blacome bring baby Blu here very big time ago to work. Blu get stones, meanotars bring food. Blu work hard, but he bad and get many big.' The giant's face drooped, and he slapped himself on the head angrily. 'Now stuck.' Blu looked at her forlornly. 'Blu missing home, other hill giant friends.'
'Where is Balcombe now?' she asked abruptly.
Blu shrugged again and looked toward the opening to the right. 'He come from there. Sometime Blu hear things,' he said, pointing to the stretch of cave wall opposite them, between the left and right openings.
Of course, she said to herself. The giant is too large to leave this cavern and knows nothing about what exists beyond it, except for vague memories of his home. She chose her next words carefully for maximum impact on the dull-witted giant.
'It wasn't your fault that you got trapped in here, Blu.
Balcombe lied to you, to keep you working. He uses the gems you mine to trap souls-' Too complicated, she thought-'to do very bad things. Right now he's using one of the gems you found to do something very bad to a human squire. The squire is trapped inside the gem, and Balcombe is going to give him to an evil god in exchange for, well-' She would never be able to sufficiently explain what Balcombe was doing, she decided.
Selana changed her approach. 'He's an evil magician,' she said staunchly, trying to hold the giant's gaze. 'He puts people inside the gems and never lets them go.'
'They can't get out? Blu can't get out, too. But Blacome let me out many soon, when Blu work good and find many stones.'
'No, he won't,' Selana said, shaking her head. 'He never intends to let you go, Blu. In the end, he'll kill you, too.'
Blu's eyes darkened with anger and he shook his head mutely. 'Blacome good.'
'He's an evil wizard!' she pressed, struggling against the manacles. 'Why else would I be here, with my
