only to thrust his head back out again. 'By the way,' he chimed, pointing to a spot before the door, 'don't step on this big, flat stone.'
'Kender!' muttered Derek, but I noticed he stepped across the stone before continuing into the room beyond. Sturm and Laurana followed, with Elistan and me behind.
Several candles, nearly burned to their bases, lit the small room that was filled with racks and shelves of books, scrolls, and loose papers. Tasslehoff was everywhere at once, ducking under tables and peering between shelves.
'What makes you think the orb is in here, kender?' asked Derek. 'We shouldn't stay long. We can't afford to get caught in here. I can barely turn around, let alone fight.'
'Derek's right, Tas,' said Laurana. 'Let's search quickly and get out of here,' Derek cast a surprised glance at Laurana, caught off guard by her support. 'Raggart, keep an eye on the courtyard.' Following her instructions, I moved back to stand in the doorway, an eye on both areas.
'I didn't say the orb was in here,' Tasslehoff said de fensively, 'I only said it MIGHT be. Whoever owns this library must certainly read a lot, though how he finds the time… Of course, what else has he to do in the middle of all this boring ice and snow-no offense, Raggart.'
I smiled to let him know none was taken. Frankly, I found the landscape a bit dull at times, too. But my smile slipped as I read the spines of several books- spellbooks, I noted with growing apprehension.
'I've not felt such all-consuming evil since… since Pax Tharkas.' Elistan shuddered, though I didn't understand the reference. 'I think we're near the orb, but I do not believe it is in this room.'
Abruptly, Laurana stopped pulling books from shelves. Looking resolute, she said grimly, 'Then we'll just have to search every room in this frozen castle until we find it.'
'I knew better than to trust a kender,' Derek scoffed, striding toward the door.
'You're the one who insisted back in Tarsis that I come along,' Tasslehoff pointed out, his little chin thrust forward.
'A demand I've come to regret more than once,' Derek muttered.
'Then I don't suppose you want to know about the room hidden behind this wall?' the kender asked coyly.
Derek's face turned dark.
Laurana stepped up between them. 'What room, Tas?' she asked in that sweet voice of hers.
Tasslehoff shot a triumphant glance at Derek before turning an excited grin on Laurana. 'I think there's one behind this bookcase,' he said, striding up to the shortest wall in the room, directly opposite the doorway I stood in. Tas knocked twice on the middle sup port of the bookcase. The whole wall swung back, almost knocking the kender off his feet in the process. 'See?'
'I see,' Derek said, pushing past the startled kender to peer into the room beyond. 'I see another empty, orbless room!'
Derek took a few steps into the room, disappearing from my view. 'Whoa-what the-?' He gasped suddenly. 'Hey!' It was a shriek of frustration, not pain. Everyone pressed forward. Though I knew I should stay by the door no matter what, I could not resist looking too.
There, in a bedchamber the same size as the library, stood Derek, his hands frozen to his sides. I could not understand it until I saw the slender form of an elf in chainmail and black robes, a black longsword gleaming in his hand. He wore a strange helmet with horns over his head. I did not know it then, but I was getting my first glimpse of a Dragon Highlord.
'He's a dark elf wizard and he's put some kind of hold on Derek!' Elistan cried. 'Keep him from casting spells!'
Before anyone could reach the dark elf, he slammed the hilt of his sword into Derek's face. The knight crumpled into what I hoped was only unconsciousness.
Instantly, Laurana and Sturm ran into the room, their arrival drawing the dark elf wizard away from the helpless Knight of Solamnia. The Highlord started to attack them, but he hesitated for a moment at the sight of Laurana.
'An elf, and a woman yet, dares invade the castle of Feal-Thas, Dragon Highlord of the White Wing?' the wizard snarled, and suddenly began slashing at her with his sword.
Ducking his blow, Laurana lost her footing and fell, hitting her head on a wooden desk. For a moment, she could not move, but crouched on the floor, holding her head in her hands. Seeing his opening, Feal-Thas closed in, his sword raised.
'It was high and mighty elves like you who cast me out!' Feal Thas cried. 'You will pay!' But in his thirst for Laurana's blood, the wizard had forgotten Sturm.
The knight lunged forward to strike the sword from the dark elf's hand. But with a speed and agility unknown to most humans, the Highlord read Sturm's intentions and whirled about, slashing the knight's own sword hand. Sturm's gasped, holding his bleeding wrist. His moment of weakness cost him dearly. In a single, lightning-swift motion, Feal-Thas snatched a dagger from his sleeve and hurled it toward the knight. A hideous shriek gurgled out of Sturm's mouth as he clutched at his throat, and blood streamed down his fur cloak. He collapsed.
'Sturm!' Laurana cried out at the sight of her fallen friend. Her beautiful face contorted with rage as she whirled on Feal-Thas. With grim determination, Laurana wiped the blood from her eyes and fought her enemy, though it was easy to see that each blow drained her by half. Feal-Thas appeared to enjoy playing with her, seeming to delight in parrying her waning blows without striking back.
Elistan, whose strategy so far had been to stay out of the way of the fighters in the small chamber, could hold back no longer. Seeing Laurana alone, he hurled himself at the wizard, bashing him repeatedly in the back with his mace. Though the attack caught him unaware, Feal-Thas used his magic to toss the cleric from him as he would a fly. A huge, phantom hand reached out, grabbed the cleric, and threw him aside. Elistan slammed into the far wall and slid silently to the floor.
And there I stood, rooted to the spot, useless as a dwarven doorknob. What had my strategy-my excuse- been? I wasn't even watching our rear anymore. What could I do? I remembered the kender- where was he? He'd come through for me before, tripping the minotaur. But he was nowhere to be seen. There weren't any barrels here to save my unworthy life.
I watched in despair as Laurana, exhausted from her lone struggle, dropped to one knee. She tried desperately to regain her footing, but Feal-Thas leaned forward and plucked the sword from her bloodstained, aching hands. Eyes dim with angry tears, she swung desperately at him with her fist. The dark elf grabbed her wrist and laughed.
'What a pity,' he murmured, the patronizing sound of victory in his voice. He held the tip of her own sword to the throbbing vein in her throat. 'You appear to be an elf of some breeding-not entirely unattractive either. I could spare your life if you gave me good reason,' he offered suggestively.
Laurana, breathing heavily from her struggles, turned her gaze from the knife in Sturm's throat and his blood-soaked chest to look at the Highlord. She swallowed hard. 'Are you suggesting I join you as a Highlord?' she asked in a seductively coy tone I would never have thought her capable of using.
I was shocked. Why on Krynn was she toying with this evil Highlord while her friend lay dying at her feet? Suddenly, I saw the knuckles of her hands, clenched and white with anger, and I knew she must be stalling for time, hoping to regain her strength.
'What I'm suggesting has nothing to do with being a Highlord,' the wizard said, leering. Encouraged that she might entertain the thought, confident that she no longer had the strength to fight, and obviously discounting me completely, the wizard lowered his sword. 'If we cleaned you up a bit, you might be worthy.'
Laughing, he looked over at the bed and even reached out his hand to smooth the silken sheets.
I thought I might choke on the bile in my throat, as I longed to strangle the life from the evil creature. Suddenly, I remembered my frostreaver! (I know now that the thought came from Paladine himself.) But I was not strong enough to wield it-only fighters were. I looked at the bent form of the courageous woman warrior. Could Laurana…? No one but Ice Folk had ever been allowed to use frostreavers. But these were extraordinary people I traveled with. Faith overcame tradition.
Sliding the axelike weapon from my pack ever so quietly, I crept forward. Time seemed to grind to a halt. The wizard was still pawing the bed and laughing, his foul suggestions of what he intended to do to the elven maid burning my heart.
