when he found confused tracks. He gave a shrill whistle to call Halmarain back.
'They crossed here,' Trap pointed out the marks to Grod. 'See, there's Ripple's print. She was standing off to the side for some reason. Beglug gave them a hard time. See how he fought crossing? You can see where he dug in his hooves, and here's blood too, he must have bitten one of the kobolds, and I hope he did,' the kender said as he surveyed the muddy bank.
'Lava Belly no like water,' Grod said.
'No, not cold water,' Trap amended. He reminded the Aghar of the fun the merchesti had in the warm bath in Orander's kitchen. Since Beglug came from a much hotter world, nothing cold pleased him.
Halmarain came trotting up, and they gathered at the spot where the kobold had crossed.
'Wheel get wet,' Umpth complained. He had made the same objection at every stream. 'Wheel no like water.'
'Magic wash away,' Grod added.
'Don't be ridiculous,' Halmarain snapped. She had been ready to cross, but she pulled up her mount and frowned at the stream.
Trap turned away to hide his grin. The little wizard would rather die than admit she gave Aghar magic any credence, but the hesitation of the gully dwarves had affected her.
'I'll just find out,' Trap said.
While the others waited on the western bank, he dismounted and removed his boots. Directly in front of him the bottom of the stream was rocky. A wide slab of rock stretched halfway across, and the rest of the way the smaller rocks had been smoothed by the running water.
'It's fine,' he called back.
Umpth dismounted and walked behind his pony. He picked up the wheel, still attached to the travois, and splashed through the stream after his mount.
Halmarain waited until the others had safely crossed before she urged her pony forward. Their trouble came from her hesitation. The pack pony edged up to the stream to get a drink. It was just lowering its head when a huge bullfrog gave a croak and jumped between the pony's rear hooves. Startled, the beast with the packs plunged to the left, just upstream from the rocky ford. The pony took one leap and landed up to its shoulders in mud.
'Quicksand!' Halmarain cried out, pointing to the floundering animal.
Trap had been sitting on the ground, putting on his boots. He jumped up, one foot shod, the other boot in his hand. He threw the boot aside and dashed back into the stream. The two gully dwarves ran after him.
Trap grabbed the lead from the screaming little wizard and pulled, but he only succeeded in pulling off the pony's bridle. Umpth and Grod, less finicky, plunged into the mud, tugging at the heavy straps that held the packs in place. The dwarves gave a couple of tugs, lost their footing at the edge of the quicksand pit, and sunk to their shoulders.
'Deep mud,' Umpth said, looking over his shoulder at the kender.
'Deep mud!' Grod gasped just before his head disappeared. One grubby hand appeared out of the goo, just far enough for Trap to get a grip. With Halmarain's help he hauled the smaller gully dwarf out of the quicksand.
'Quick! No hold up pony long,' Umpth burbled. He had managed to splay his body on the surface and was not sinking so rapidly.
'Can you use these?' Halmarain splashed through the water, carrying the leads from the ponies as well as the reins from her own mount.
'Great! They'll work if we could get them under the chin straps,' Trap said. 'Umpth, can you?'
'Good, need puller,' Umpth announced with a sputter. His face had dipped into the mire and he had raised his chin. He waved one hand behind him, reaching for the leather straps.
'Here,' Halmarain threw the long, heavy leather leads to him. The ends fell just beyond him, the trailing lines across his back.
Umpth fumbled for a moment, muttered something that was lost under the squeals of the terrified pony. The gully dwarf kept making unintelligible remarks as he fumbled again. He crawled halfway across the pony's back, causing the beast to sink deeper in the mire. Trap, keeping a tight hold on the Aghar's legs, was pulled out onto the mud until he too was sinking in the mire.
'Me got you,' Grod assured Trap who felt the dwarf's hands take a grip on his legs.
'Wow! Big jiggies! This is interesting,' he said, keeping his face up out of the marl. 'I don't feel like I'm sinking, but I think I am. I wonder what's at the bottom of all this mud? I bet lots of interesting things have disappeared here, and if we could find them-'
'You don't have time to explore,' Halmarain snapped. 'If we don't get Umpth and the pony out they'll drown in that mess.
Trap sighed. He would never again travel with a wizard; she wanted to take all the fun out of everything. Still the gully dwarf and the pony didn't appear to want to explore the bottom of the marl pit, so he supposed he should rescue them.
Umpth had almost disappeared before he raised a hand and waved it, signaling he had finished fastening the leads to the pony's girth.
'Halmarain, pull the pony out,' Trap said, taking a firmer grip of the gully dwarf's legs. He was being pulled back slowly when he heard a squeak from Halmarain and a splash.
Grod released his hold on Trap long enough to haul the little wizard back to firm ground. Then he started tugging at the kender's legs again.
'Give me those leads,' the wizard commanded.
The little wizard had been splashing about behind them. She had caught and brought her mount up close behind them and had thrown the left stirrup over the saddle, ready to tie the leads to the leather saddle girth. By now, they could only see the sinking pony's nose above the surface. In moments Halmarain had taken a strain on the leads and the strain on the others lessened as the wizard walked her mount slowly downstream, away from the quicksand.
Trap, firmly grasping Umpth's legs, was a part of the chain that included Umpth and the pony. He felt as if he were being pulled apart, but he kept his grip. Soon he felt his feet dragging on the stones of the ford, and moments later his knees bumped across the rocks. He drew them up under him while Grod released him and moved forward to help him tug on Umpth.
The kender and Grod found it easier to pull Umpth out of the marl. He still had not released his hold on the pony, but Halmarain's mount slowly pulled the foundered animal up and toward solid ground.
In less than a minute the frightened animal reached firm footing and scrambled out of the mire. The kender and the gully dwarves scuttled out of the way of its thrashing feet.
While the pony stood trembling, Umpth, for once, washed his face in the stream without being instructed. He raised his face, looked around as he blinked the water out of his eyes. His gaze locked on the wizard and he grinned.
'Wizard become Aghar, ' he said. 'Join Aglest clan?'
'Kender too, ' Grod said.
'Careful, ' Halmarain snapped as she worked to wash away the clinging mud of the marl pit. 'And you can get yourselves cleaned up too. '
'Knew she say that, ' Grod said, but even he wrinkled his nose at the mud.
'And we should wash the pony and probably everything in the packs… ' Halmarain said, then paused. 'Where are the packs?'
'In mud, ' Umpth said as he took a casual swipe at his sleeve. 'No pull pony
'He lost our packs?' Halmarain stared in disbelief.
'Gee! They're gone… everything… Still, Umpth is right, we couldn't have pulled out the pony and the packs too, ' Trap said. 'Maybe I can go back and get them, ' he suggested hopefully. 'You could tie a lead on me and-'
'No, you won't, ' Halmarain paled at the idea.
'No! Now no wash packs and clothes, ' Grod said, as if the loss had become a bonus. 'Lost magic, ' he said, feeling his clothing. 'Dead squirrel stink too. '
Trap and Halmarain considered Grod's loss a bonus, but the cooking pots had been lost along with the packs.
