the shiver of a branch, but something within him, something developed over the course of his lifetime, warned him that the cause of the noise was neither the wind nor some small animal. Carefully, so as to avoid giving the watcher notice, he let his hand drift toward the handle of his axe. He cursed himself for not unhooking it sooner. His peacemaking with the village had put him off guard.
The other made a step toward him.
Kaz tugged his axe free and, without a sound, rose and whirled to the right. The battle-axe was poised, ready to strike.
“Oops! I’m sorry, but I didn’t want to cry out. After all, you looked so busy. What are you looking for? Tesela had to step away, so I thought that since I had been so good, you wouldn’t mind if I went exploring, and when I saw that someone had left a boat lying around and you had gone off on the raft-”
The minotaur snorted angrily. “Take a breath, Del-”
At that moment, three huge forms charged from behind Kaz, taking him down before he could turn.
Someone with a deep, snarling voice cried, “The kender! Get the kender!”
There was some kind of a reply, but it was lost in the noise of the fight. Kaz, his face buried in the earth, succeeded in shoving one of his would-be captors away. Another one got an arm around his face, blocking his vision. Whatever he fought, it was as big as he was and almost as strong. It also had help, for the third one had a death grip around Kaz’s legs, and despite his best efforts, the minotaur could not break it. But he would not die passively. With his free hand, he raked a face, then paused in startlement. His discovery proved costly, for the attacker secured his free limb and pinned Kaz to the ground.
“Your honorable surrender is offered. Will you give in freely?”
Kaz could not reply at first, since his snout was still pressed against the ground. Someone realized this and pulled his head up.
Reluctantly he answered by rote. “I submit to honorable surrender. Will you accept?”
“Accepted.” Strong, clawed hands with firm grips pulled him to his feet.
He had been mistaken. He had assumed the footprints had belonged to goblins, but he had forgotten how many races left similar tracks. So much for his vaunted tracking superiority. Kaz had done no better than the archer, and to make matters worse, he had been captured.
By minotaurs.
Chapter Five
Of course Kaz knew who the minotaurs were: They were the stubborn posse that had been pursuing him for months over many miles.
Not one of the band of minotaurs was familiar to him, though one eyed him as if they had met before. Kaz studied him but could not recall. The one who had demanded his surrender, broad and a bit shorter than the others, laughed harshly.
“He was right. He predicted that this one would go north and that this was a likely spot!”
“A week of waiting around here,” the one who was binding his arms said gruffly, “and we finally capture the coward.”
“He did not fight like a coward,” retorted the first minotaur, the one Kaz felt he ought to recognize.
“It matters not, Hecar,” argued the short male. “We know his crimes, and he’ll have his chance to speak his case.”
“Such as it is,” completed the one behind Kaz.
Hecar snorted. “If I read the ogre right, Greel, Kaz will not have the chance to defend himself.”
“Not just an ogre, criminal.” Greel reached into a pouch at his side, then halted. “But we have no time for that now. It will take a good week’s journey to reach the others, and we must be away before one of the humans discovers the duplicity of their elder and the archer.”
“They knew?” Kaz fairly spat the words out. Of course they knew! What a fool I’ve been!
“An easy trap, coward. The war has made many folk pliable. Gold is still valuable, after all.” Greel reached forward and pulled Kaz’s pouch away. He studied the contents, pulling out a few items such as the Solamnic seal, and tossed the pouch on the ground. “We also have a proclamation of our own, like the one the Grand Master has issued, condemning you for murder and cowardice. But really, how many humans care about matters of minotaur justice? To them, only gold counts.”
“The footprint…” Kaz muttered.
“Other settlements, other traders, have been made similar offers. You have run for far too long.”
Kaz strained at the bonds.
“The bonds are tight,” said the minotaur behind him. Huge hands, even for one of his kind, looped a noose over Kaz’s head. It was lowered around his neck and tightened. “Struggle too hard and you’ll choke yourself.”
His eyes blood red, Kaz snorted, “Listen to yourselves! You pay off humans and take the word of ogres! You are bounty hunters, not servants of justice!”
He saw the fist of the short minotaur coming, but did not flinch. It caught him below the jaw and set his head ringing. He could taste blood in his mouth. Greel stared at him coldly.
“If the other races lack honor so much that they are willing to trade it for a few pieces of gold, it only proves their inferiority to our kind!”
“Even if you are the ones offering them enough gold to make them willing to betray their honor?”
Instead of answering, Greel whirled on Hecar. “Where is Helati? Where is your sister? Is one kender too much for her?”
“One kender is not,” a new voice, strong and pleasing to Kaz, added disdainfully. “But a cleric of Mishakal is.”
“The cleric? That-that-”
“Was it perhaps ‘human’ or ‘female’ you were about to say, Greel?” The minotaur who stepped into Kaz’s range of vision was slightly shorter than Greel and had horns only half the size of any of the males. Muscular beyond the norms of most races, she was well formed for a minotaur. Kaz realized how long it had been since he had last seen a female of his own race. There had been none in the army he had fought with. Ogres believed in separating the minotaurs by gender as much as possible.
“I am no human, Helati, to be bothered by the fact that you are female. I have fought beside many valiant warriors of either sex.”
Helati glanced Kaz’s way and gave him a brief, sour smile. “Then do not underestimate the females of other races. Small she may be, but the cleric is gifted. I tracked the kender to the river, but I could not find him. I only barely escaped her notice. She senses something amiss.”
“Clerics!” The leader snorted. “Weak, useless, simpering creatures-”
“You will see how useless they truly are
Greel pointed at Hecar. “Help Tinos with the prisoner. Helati, you guard the rear. I will scout up ahead.”
In this fashion, they began to move north, following the general weave of the river. Whenever Kaz tried to look over his shoulder, Tinos delivered a swat on the side of his head. Hecar gave Kaz odd glances every now and then.
Kaz wondered where the other minotaurs were camped. His captors had spoken of at least one other small group. That group was probably waiting on the other side of the mountain range. In some ways, Kaz had to admire his own people for their determination and thoroughness-and the human, Drew, as well, for his pretense of reluctance to have Kaz enter the settlement. The elder, Kaz suspected, had been shrewd and successful as a merchant at one time and was able to put on a convincing false face even to the discerning. It was difficult to both admire and despise someone, but the minotaur did nevertheless.
Tinos gave him another swat. “Dragging your feet will not save you, coward. We will drag your carcass along
