Then the people screamed in terror, ducking as the first dozen centaurs, led by Phytos, hurtled to the top of
the outer wall, then leaped from there to the inner wall. They plunged into the arena with Tarscenian. Another dozen centaurs mounted by freed slaves followed, and a dozen more.
'Halt!' called Phytos.
The mounted slaves jumped off the centaurs then, and swarmed over the inner wall and into the specta shy;tors. As the slaves threw themselves at temple guards and goblins alike, the centaurs formed a mass and approached Tarscenian.
There was another roar as the last of the freed slaves, who had traveled more slowly because they'd had no centaurs to ride, came dashing out of the trees and helped each other clamber up the wall. Two of the slaves raced along the wall and tackled a stubborn hob shy;goblin guard. Two more slaves used the creature's own sword to overcome it. Other slaves sprinted along the inner and outer walls.
Many of the freed slaves, both men and women, fell lifeless to the cobblestones, pierced through by swords and spears. Again as many were able to arm themselves from the bodies of the slain victims and race back into battle against the goblins and guards. 'For Solace!' some of them bellowed.
Mynx stood as straight and proud as she could in her armor, riding on the back of her centaur. 'Tarscenian!' she cried. 'I have the Diamond Dragon!' She broke the thong around her neck and held the glittering artifact up to the morning sun. People gasped at the sheer radi shy;ance of the object.
The centaurs formed a living shield around her as Mynx edged her centaur toward the captive.
'Hold it against the vallenwood!' Tarscenian cried. 'Ancilla is inside!'
Although she wasn't sure what he meant, Mynx leaned over and placed the warm artifact against the vallenwood's roughness.
'Ancilla, here it is, the thing we sought for so many decades,' Tarscenian shouted. 'We have the Diamond Dragon now!'
The trunk of the vallenwood began to glow, and Mynx heard the same humming sound that had torn at her when she was trapped inside the Diamond Dragon. Surprised, she fell back. As soon as the artifact broke contact with the tree, the glow died away.
'Hold it there, Mynx!' Tarscenian ordered. 'Let noth shy;ing pull you away, no matter what happens!'
Mynx did as he instructed. The incandescence and the drone resumed. She closed her eyes and waited.
But nothing more happened. She looked at the old man. One of the centaurs had cut his bonds, and he had mounted the largest of the men-horses.
'Something is wrong,' he shouted. 'It should have worked by now.' A grimace of defeat crossed his ex shy;hausted features. 'Perhaps Ancilla is dead after all.'
Mynx examined the Diamond Dragon. 'There's a stone missing,' she said suddenly, pointing to the arti-fact's back. 'Could that be it?'
Tarscenian nodded. 'Where is it?' he asked eagerly.
She shrugged helplessly. 'It was all right before we were attacked by the hags. Maybe during the battle, we lost it somehow …'
Tarscenian's face fell.
At that moment, the materbill, who had been all but forgotten in the commotion, leaped forward with a roar, directly attacking the centaurs. People cried out, and the centaurs broke ranks.
'Kill the infidel! Kill Tarscenian!' Hederick shouted to one of the guards flanking him on the reviewing stand. In a moment, the guard's bow was up, an arrow nocked. In another instant, the arrow flew toward the vallenwood tree.
Mynx's centaur sensed its approach and lunged against Tarscenian's mount. And then Mynx, not Tarscen-ian, was down, lost among the legs of the centaurs, clutching her bloodsoaked right arm, the one that still held the Diamond Dragon.
Tarscenian found the sword of a dead guard pressed into his hand by a centaur. 'Murderer!' the old man cried at the High Theocrat. 'It is you who are the infi shy;del, Hederick!' Then he was plowing through the crowd, fighting through dozens of guards toward Hederick.
The centaurs let loose a volley of arrows, and the materbill howled in agony. The air was filled with smoke and flames, the screams of dying guards and cen shy;taurs, and the terrified cries of hundreds of spectators. The freed slaves were fighting hand to hand with gob shy;lins. Some spectators cheered them on, howling when shy;ever a goblin went down and rushing forward to tear the unfortunate creature limb from limb.
Kifflewit Burrthistle darted through the riot to Mynx's side. It was the kender who was able to rouse the wounded thief enough to half-drag, half-push her away from the tumult to the relative safety of the vallenwood tree.
'There's something wrong with it,' she lamented, her eyes glassy. 'With the Diamond Dragon, kender. We lost one of the diamonds, Kifflewit. By the gods, how could we have been so stupid?'
The kender's head shot up, startled brown eyes searching hers. 'Lost it? But I have it, Mynx,' he finally said. Kifflewit was uncharacteristically somber for a moment. 'The diamond was loose. I… I found it. I was afraid we'd lose it.' He cheered up. 'Lucky I did, Mynx. It's safe in my pouch. Everything will be all right! I have it.'
Not for the first time, Mynx had to control an urge to strangle the kender. 'So where is it?'
The kender peered through the sea of humans and centaurs, goblins and guards, battling around them. Gouts of flame from the dying materbill lit up the court shy;yard at odd intervals. 'I dropped my pouches when I came to rescue you-There they are! And there's the one with the gemstone! I remember, it was the red pouch with the blue string.' He pointed triumphantly but seemed disinclined to budge from Mynx's side.
'Get the diamond, kender!'
Kifflewit scuttled off through the bedlam without a backward glance. Phytos battled nearby, protecting Tarscenian's flank. Mynx shouted until the violet-eyed centaur turned her way. 'Help me up, Phytos,' she commanded. She put the Diamond Dragon into the cen shy;taur's hand and clambered awkwardly onto his back, her right arm dangling at her side. She strained for a glimpse of Kifflewit Burrthistle.
At first nothing but dust and tangled bodies greeted her eyes.
Then there he was, scooting across the courtyard and through the chaos like a rabbit. The materbill writhed not more than an arm's length from the kender's red and blue pouch, but Kifflewit dashed right up and grabbed it. He held up his hand and waved to Mynx.
She raised her left arm. 'Throw it, Kifflewit!' she shouted.
The kender may not have heard the words, but he understood the gesture. He flung the missing diamond across the courtyard.
Mynx caught it deftly in her left hand and quickly replaced it in the figurine of the Diamond Dragon.
With Phytos shouting encouragement, she pressed the glittering artifact against the vallenwood. This time the droning and glowing far overwhelmed what they had experienced before. Mynx cast a triumphant look back at Kifflewit-just as the materbill roared one last time and died.
The last Mynx saw of him, Kifflewit Burrthistle was looking bewildered as his clothes went up in flames. 'Kender!' she cried.
And then the vallenwood exploded.
Chapter 27
The explosion knocked Tarscenian off the centaur and onto his back. Out of the corner of his eye he saw the Diamond Dragon arc through the noon sunlight, shedding sparks in gold, yellow, and white.
The dragon figurine hovered in midair. Tarscenian real shy;ized that its paper-thin wings were moving, beating, and the artifact's head was twisting this way and that. Heder-ick cried out, and Tarscenian saw that the High Theocrat's gaze was on the Diamond Dragon, too.
Then the tiny ruby eyes of the diminutive steel dragon spied Tarscenian. It dived to his shoulder, its diamonds sparkling in the sun. Hederick called out in fury. Tarscen shy;ian drew his sword and once more plunged toward the High Theocrat.
