Kaz the Minotaur

Cursing quietly, Kaz was about to inform the others that they should turn back when he discovered another problem. Delbin was missing. In fact, he could not recall when last he had seen the kender. Neither could the two humans.

“Sargas take that runt!” Kaz swore. He was beginning to have a terrible dream in which they all became separated and spent the rest of eternity wandering through the mazelike alleys of this keep. “I warned him!”

A huge shape flitted overhead. It was gone before any of them even had a chance to look up.

“Perhaps the kender did not leave of his own free will,” Darius suggested grimly. He turned in a circle, as if expecting enemies from all sides.

“I think that we’d have noticed if a dragon-or whatever it is-swooped down and made off with Delbin. Let’s backtrack.”

“Do you think that is a wise idea?” Tesela asked.

Kaz shrugged. “I don’t really know. I just suddenly don’t like the thought of standing around here.”

They had not even taken a step when a bell began to ring. Kaz and Tesela peered through the gloom at Darius, who was listening intently.

The bell stopped tolling.

“Odd. Unless I am totally mistaken, that is the bell for evening prayer. I suppose it would be the proper hour.”

“We passed the bell tower some time back,” Kaz reminded them. “It could be Delbin, I suppose…”

“Delbin is hardly that foolish,” Tesela stated resolutely. The minotaur could not argue. Kender were adventurous, not stupid.

It was difficult going now. Darkness had almost entirely claimed the keep. The trio stumbled around, vaguely nearing the bell tower.

Darius, momentarily in the lead, nearly ran into a tall object suddenly blocking their path. It took several seconds for them to realize that this particular object was a Knight of Solamnia, fully clad in mail and carrying a sturdy longsword. The knight wore a face-concealing helm. Despite the near accident, he had not budged one step.

“Did you not hear the bell?” the newcomer rumbled within his helm. “All save the dragonwatch are to be in prayer, as the Grand Master commands.”

Sheathing his sword, Darius began, “We’ve only just arrived in Vingaard Keep, friend, and we-”

The other knight leaned forward, as if seeing his counterpart’s companions for the first time. “Demonspawn!”

Without explanation, Darius suddenly found himself backing up before a sword strike intended to lop his head off. Kaz, seeing that his comrade would not be able to free his sword in time, charged forward, battle-axe thrust out before him. The longsword’s blade bounced off the side of the axe head with a sharp ting! and the attacking knight lost his grip on the weapon. It fell to the ground even as Kaz continued his charge, barreling into his adversary before the man could recover. As the two of them collided, the minotaur was nearly overwhelmed by an odd stench emitted by the knight. The two of them fell to the ground, Kaz on top.

Kaz had always considered his strength far superior to that of most humans. Even among his own kind, Kaz’s strength had won him renown in the arenas where he had vied for rank among his fellows. Now, though, he found himself struggling to maintain his advantage. The knight not only matched his power, but he also began to overcome the minotaur.

“Darius!” he succeeded in grunting. His companion hesitated, caught between loyalty to the order and his growing friendship with the minotaur. At last he moved to aid Kaz.

‘Take… off… his helm!”

The unknown knight struggled in vain as Darius worked the helm off. Darius almost dropped it when he saw the face of the knight.

“Hit him!”

Gritting his teeth and praying to Paladine for forgiveness, Darius struck his brother knight hard across the jaw, and then struck him again when the other did not flinch. This time the man was stunned. The trapped knight continued to struggle mindlessly, however, and Kaz was forced to administer a final punch to the jaw.

‘The first soul we run into in Vingaard, and it turns out to be a berserker,” Kaz muttered, rubbing his own throat. There was some bleeding, he could tell, and no doubt there would be marks of the struggle for the next few days.

Thinking of the cleric, Kaz whirled around, almost expecting to discover that she, like Delbin, had vanished. Instead, he found her watching them with some relief.

“I’m sorry, Kaz, Darius. I tried my best, but he wouldn’t react.”

“React?”

“I was trying to put him to sleep. His resistance was incredible.”

“Not surprising,” Darius replied softly. He was kneeling next to his counterpart, examining his armor and face. “He is a Knight of the Rose. They have some power of their own in matters of faith.”

Kaz stood and sniffed in disgust. “Evidently he does not have much of a sense of cleanliness.”

The minotaur had confronted many knights in his time, and unlike some orders, the Knights of Solamnia believed in the virtues of fastidiousness. Not so, apparently, this knight. His armor was old, dented, and covered with grime. His mustache was unkempt, almost wild, and his hair was a tangle that had not seen a brush or any care in quite some time. He also stank like someone who had not bathed for over a month.

“What do we do with him?” Tesela asked.

“He is a Knight of Solamnia,” Darius reminded them needlessly. He looked up at the others. “As such, he should be treated with respect. If he is ill, then perhaps you could help, Tesela.”

“I’ll try my best.”

The bell sounded again. Darius rose, and all three looked toward the tower.

“Mishakal!”

Kaz and Darius glanced at the cleric, who pointed to where the other knight lay-or, rather, had lain. There was no sign of him, not even the helm that Darius had removed. Kaz sniffed the air. There was a strong odor, but it seemed a general smell and nothing like what he had noticed emanating from the fallen knight.

“I don’t like this.”

The bell had ceased ringing after only one strike, but now another sound replaced it-the sound of great wings beating slowly.

“If only we had a torch,” Darius muttered.

“I can create an aura if you think it would be helpful,” Tesela offered.

The minotaur shook his head. “Right now light would only make us a better target for whatever that is.”

The noise grew. Pieces of roof and clouds of dust descended upon them.

“It’s directly above us!” Darius whispered. Quietly he unsheathed his sword.

‘That won’t do us much good. I chipped my axe on that thing back in the village.”

“What do you suggest, then?”

It was Tesela who supplied an answer. “There!”

The other two turned but saw nothing. Then Kaz caught a glimpse of a familiar, childlike face peering around a corner. It did not strike him as odd that he could see Delbin so clearly in the dark. The kender had a finger to his lips and was smiling broadly. With a wave, he indicated that they should come to him.

“He must have found something,” Tesela suggested.

“A place of safety, I hope.”

With Darius first and Kaz guarding their rear against a creature he already knew to be invulnerable to his axe, they followed the walls to where they had seen Delbin. Around them, they began to hear sounds. They were not the movements of the unknown beast above them, but the sounds one might expect in Vingaard Keep: knights marching closer and closer, the cries of warhorses as their riders brought them to rein, the ring of steel against steel.

The unnerving part was that there was still no one to be seen in the deserted keep.

“Vingaard is cursed!” Darius muttered bleakly. “The specters of the dead have risen!”

“If noise is all they can make, we’ve little to worry about. If they become solid, like that one back there, then