'We need more light.' Trap looked suggestively at Halmarain's staff.
'No,' the wizard answered, shaking her head and glancing toward the cave's entrance. 'I don't know what I felt from that rider in the black cloak, but there was something strange. I don't want to use any magic right now. He might sense it and come back.'
'Then I'll get us a light,' Trap said, accepting her objections as reasonable. He jumped up and searched for the dwarf sparker that had found it's way into his pouch while he was in Deepdel.
A sparker was no good without wood to burn, so he gave the cave a quick scan. He was hampered by a number of roots hanging down from the ceiling. He touched one. It was dry and would make a good torch. A one handed tug was not sufficient to pull it free, so he tucked the sparker back into his pouch and used both hands. The root was stubborn so he jumped, grabbed it, and swung back and forth.
'I'll help,' Ripple said. She gave a short leap and added her weight which was enough to dislodge the root, though not to pull free.
The root dropped three inches, bringing down a foot of earth from the ceiling.
'Oops!'
'What have you done?' Halmarain cried as she jumped to her feet.
'I was just trying to get that root to use as a torch,' Trap began an explanation. He was interrupted as mud gushed from the hollow where part of the dry earth ceiling had been a moment before. He skipped to the side.
'It sure is wet up there,' he announced. 'I guess there must be a stream close by-'
A wail interrupted the kender. They turned to see the young merchesti scrambling to his feet while he wiped a glob of mud from his face. Before either of the kender or Halmarain could move, the kender's surmise was proven correct. A steady stream of water, well laden with mud, poured down from the ceiling.
'Cave fall in,' Umpth announced as he stood looking up. A face full of mud was the reward for his wisdom.
'The ponies!' Ripple squealed and dashed for the back of the cave. Halmarain grabbed Beglug's arm and led the little fiend out onto the trail, pushing aside the camouflaging bush as she went. The kender tugged at the reins of the ponies, leading them toward the exit while the two gully dwarves trotted along behind them. A huge hunk of wet soil fell and knocked Grod off his feet. In seconds he was half buried in mud.
'Grod!' Umpth cried, alerting the kender, who dropped the reins of the animals and hurried back.
'Mud fall,' Grod gasped, his bright blue eyes wide with fright. Umpth sent the wagon wheel sailing out the entrance to the cave. Then he turned and pulled on one of Grod's arms. Trap and Ripple hurried back and tugged at the gully dwarf's other arm.
More of the ceiling came down. It oozed around the legs of the kender and Umpth, completely covering Grod.
The kender and the gully dwarf stood knee deep in mud as they tugged at Grod. With a heave they brought his head out of the wet soil. As quickly as they could move, lifting one leg at a time-they couldn't wade through the thick sludge-they moved toward the entrance. They continued to pull at the smaller gully dwarf until he was free.
'Long arms now,' Grod moaned as they hauled him out into the open. Behind them the cave fell in completely and the mud rolled out onto the mountain trail completely blocking their intended path.
Umpth retrieved his artifact while the rest stood in the pelting rain that quickly washed away the mud, but the storm frightened the already skittish ponies.
'Kobolds in front of us, dwarves behind us and caves that turn into mud pits,' Halmarain muttered as she led her pony back down the trail until they could start across country again. 'We'll need a lot of luck if we're to get through these mountains.' Her wet curls hung down in her face, and she blew at them before reaching up to push them back.
At first they could only see a few feet through the deluge, but in half an hour the storm passed, leaving as quickly as it had arrived. The sun peeked briefly through the low clouds, giving the slopes a dewy sparkle. Trap walked as he led the way and Ripple joined him. They led their mounts.
'We'll just keep going north,' Trap said with a sigh. 'I sure hope we stop off at Ironrock, because it might be a nice place to see, even if it does take us a little out of the way… but if we're going to be traveling for weeks anyway, then what difference would it make if we took a little longer? I mean, between the gorges we came through and the circling around we've done trying to get away from the dwarves and that person in the black cloak, we're just going around in circles anyway. I bet we've really confused everyone.'
'Why shouldn't they be confused?' Ripple asked. 'We are, and if they're following us, they should be too. And you're right about going in circles.'
Her brother nodded.
Grod and Umpth still had not learned to control their mounts when they rode, but they could lead the animals if given the reins. Halmarain walked behind them, leading her own animal, the pack pony, and Beglug's. Ripple and Trap took turns walking well ahead to find the easiest course.
For the first two hours after leaving the cave they traveled slowly. The hooves of the ponies sank to the hocks in the mud. Every step was accompanied by sucking noises as the animals lifted their feet. As they continued north-ward they left the mud behind. Trap had removed the young fiend's boots and Beglug scampered about, a stick in his hand as he chased every wild creature unwary enough to show itself.
Before long, Trap found a use for the young merchesti's exuberance. Using the sling of his hoopak, he brought down two rabbits the little fiend flushed out of hiding. Soon he killed a third, which he allowed Beglug to eat.
They came to a small creek, merely a trickle in a bed of mud and stones. Trap spotted the tracks of boots and ponies.
'Gee! People! We're not the only ones traveling through the hills,' he told his sister as he paused to study the prints. He frowned at one. Grod came up to stand beside him. The gully dwarf pointed at the indentation in the firmer mud.
'Wizard's pony,' he said. 'Maybe pony magic. It find her.'
'Big jiggers, it
'Is,' Umpth said as he drudged across the stream carrying the wheel. The magic artifact of the Aglest clan was unsoiled but the gully dwarf had managed to get mud on his hands, face, beard, and helmet.
'I thought the Neidar were following us,' Ripple said with a puzzled frown.
'It's strange,' Trap said thoughtfully. 'The stranger and the kobolds are following us, but they're up ahead, and the dwarves are supposed to be trailing us but they've passed us too.'
'Maybe following is different here,' Ripple said.
'How different?' Umpth asked, his dark wrinkles deepening as he tried to work out the solution.
'In Hylo, when you follow someone, you stay behind them,' Trap explained. 'But here, we're behind everyone who's after us. I'm glad they're not chasing us, we might never catch up.'
Chapter 20
Jaerume Kaldre stilled the horse that fidgeted under him. He waited on the ridge of the mountain spur, hidden from the trail below by a clump of bushes and the limbs of a small tree. Below him, the string of seven ponies led by the kender, the gully dwarves, and the dwarf, wound their way up the mountain trail, slowed in their ascent by the mud of the recent rain.
Luck and the blessing of Takhisis had finally favored him. When the sudden rain ceased, he soon realized he had somehow missed the kender and the little fiend. He had been on their trail, had even seen their tracks. During the rain any prints left by his quarry would have been washed away, but when the rain stopped Kaldre knew the ensuing mud would show the party's trail. Soon after he found himself leading the kobolds along a muddy track free of any prints. The kender and their companions were behind him. He forced the protesting kobolds up the steep sides of the mountain until he spotted the party traveling around the hills just west of the mountains.
