Steel and Stone

simply returned to its subterranean colony. She and the half-elf had taken advantage of an early-morning cold snap, which slowed the cold-blooded creature and several of its mates.

The campaign against the horax had drawn them back south and west into the forests of Qualinesti, Tanis's turf, but still far off their planned route to Solace. The expedition had taken up half of the one month that had elapsed since Tanis and Kitiara's initial skirmish with the hobgoblins. Now the travelers, the pack restored to its spot behind Kitiara's saddle, were several miles south of Haven.

'I still think it would have been easier for you to get a new pack,' Tanis persisted. 'That one looks like it's been through a civil war.'

'Well, it has,' Kitiara muttered defensively.

'So why were you so determined to get it back?' He gazed at her inquisitively, but his expression was mild.

She bristled. 'I told you it's none of your business.'

Tanis brushed aside her protest like one of the flies that circled in the heat. 'I risked my life for it, Kit.'

Kitiara slapped the saddle's pommel. 'I have a business arrangement to discuss with Raistlin,' she said heatedly. 'Some of the… background information… is in the pack.'

'That explains why you were bent on pursuing the horax,' he said doggedly. 'It doesn't explain why you're in no hurry to meet with your brother now.'

By the gods, the half-elf was nosy! 'I'm still working on the plan,' she said hotly. 'You could have gone on without me, half-elf. It wasn't your fight. You could have gone on to meet your dwarf friend in Solace.'

'As though I'd abandon a woman and let her take on a carnivorous monster alone.'

Kitiara whipped a dagger from a sheath. Before Tanis could draw another breath, he was gazing at the point of the wicked weapon. He didn't seem terribly impressed with her lightning speed, however, which enraged the swordswoman all the more. Kitiara finally spoke, spitting out each word. 'Half-elf, I do not need a man to protect me!'

Astoundingly, Tanis smiled. Then he threw his head back and laughed. 'Of course, Kit. Of course.'

Kitiara sheathed the dagger, still fuming. They rode on for a mile without speaking. Finally Tanis, with an apologetic look, broke the silence. 'Can I help you? With your plan, I mean?'

The mercenary snorted. 'As if you could.'

'I handle Hint Fireforge's metalsmithing dealings, and no one is more disorganized than that dwarf when it comes to business. I might be able to make some suggestions for you and your brother.'

Kitiara looked at Tanis. 'Thanks, but no thanks,' was all she said.

Tanis didn't seem bothered by Kitiara's rejection of his offer of help. The two rode companionably, side by side, for nearly an hour through the late afternoon calm. When Kitiara finally spoke again, however, it was as though only a short time had elapsed.

'You don't seem in any great hurry to get back to Solace yourself,' she commented. 'What about this dwarf friend of yours? Won't he be wondering where you are?'

The half-elf shook his head. 'Flint knows I went to Qualinost to visit my relatives. He knows I'll be back whenever I get back.'

Kitiara reached out, pulled a leaf from an overhanging sycamore tree, and casually began to shred it. 'Relatives? Your parents?'

Tanis hesitated before answering. 'My mother's dead. My mother's husband's brother raised me.'

'Mother's husband's…' Kitiara looked in confusion at Tanis. 'Not your father?' She tried to sort out what he'd already told her in light of this new information. 'But you said you were raised in the court of the Speaker of the Sun.' She couldn't hide that she was impressed; everybody knew the Speaker of the Sun was the leader of the Qualinesti nation. 'Did the Speaker's brother marry a human? I thought humans haven't been in Qualinost in centuries.'

'If ever,' Tanis said tersely. 'My mother was an elf. My father was human.'

Kitiara jerked on Obsidian's reins. The well-trained mare halted in midstride. 'All right, now I'm lost,' the swordswoman confessed. 'The elven Speaker's brother is human?'

Tanis looked away. 'Can't we just leave this be?'

'Fine.' Kitiara kicked Obsidian into a canter. 'Your parentage makes no difference to me, half-elf.' Her back was stiff as she rode off.

Tanis sat motionless on Dauntless for a few moments, deep in thought, while Kitiara rode on ahead without a glance back. At last, as she was disappearing around a curve, the half-elf hailed her. She waited atop the black mare as the gelding pounded up.

The half-elf didn't look at Kitiara. 'My mother was married to the Speaker's brother-who, yes, was an elf,' he said tonelessly. 'They were waylaid on the road by a gang of humans-thugs and thieves. They murdered my mother's husband. My mother was raped by a human; after I was born, she died. The Speaker raised me with his own children.'

'Ah.' Kitiara thought it wise to say nothing else. But Tanis wasn't finished. He seemed driven to say it all and get it over with. His jaw was set, his hazel eyes hard; the hands that clenched Dauntless's reins were white at the knuckles.

'The one behind the attack was not a human,' he said. 'It was the Speaker's other brother.'

Kitiara's eyes widened. 'I thought elves were above all that,' she murmured. 'Elven honor and all.'

Tanis pierced her with a stare. 'It's not a joke, Kitiara. Honor is important to me. My mother and the man who should have been my father lost their lives because of dishonor.' He paused, a sudden flush coloring his cheekbones.

Kitiara nodded soothingly. But to herself, she thought, No, Tanis wouldn't be a good one to help her with the purple gems.

The village had all the charm of stale beer.

Tanis and Kitiara pulled up their horses. The community boasted two short lanes and several faded grayboard houses, some no more than one large room with a thatched roof and a greased-parchment window. One house, larger than the rest, stood out; its owner had stained the exterior planks rich brown. The gray buildings looked dead next to the warmth of the brown one. A picket fence and double row of tall rachel flowers circled the place, the globes of bright pink and purple brightening an otherwise dismal scene. The companions saw no residents.

Kitiara sniffed and pointed at the open front door of the brown home. 'Spices and yeast,' she said. 'Can you smell them?'

Tanis had dismounted and was on his way to the dwelling. 'The owner may sell us some bread,' he called back. Kitiara's empty stomach growled an affirmative.

Kitiara remained mounted on Obsidian while Tanis hopped onto the porch of the brown house, knocked at the doorjamb, waited a moment, then entered despite the lack of a hail from within. The town had no stable, no public house where a traveler could lift a tankard of ale, but it wasn't that different from dozens of other villages where Kitiara had stopped over the years. Someone in such towns usually was willing to provide refreshment to strangers for the right price.

Yet this community appeared deserted. Doors and shutters had been closed fast. 'Anybody home?' Kitiara called. She waited. Obsidian, accustomed to the siege as well as the charge, stood quietly, her only sign of life the switching of her black tail. The place was rife with flies.

Finally a plank creaked. 'Why are you in Meddow?' came a woman's strident call from behind a cracked door. 'What is your friend doing in Jarlburg's confectionery? We have many men here, all armed with swords and maces. We can defend ourselves. Go away.'

Kitiara hid a smile. Defend themselves indeed! They were as frightened as rabbits. She removed her helmet. 'We are travelers bound for Haven. We desire food and drink, nothing more. And'-she paused significantly-'I can pay.'

Another pause, then a middle-aged woman dressed in the gathered skirt, scarf, and leather slippers of a peasant stepped hesitantly onto the porch of the shack next to the brown building. Her chapped hands held a large wooden crochet hook attached by a strand of green yarn to what looked to be the back portion of a child's sweater. Her hands never stopped moving, looping the handspun yarn; the hook's end bobbed like a chickadee. Kitiara traced