chest. The girl leaned over his own cage and undid the latch. She gathered him carefully into her hands and lifted him out.
No more cage I As though he hadn't breathed in days, the squirrel drew in a lungful of air and leaped from the girl's hands. He could smell the sweet night air. He could taste it, and it tasted like freedom.
The girl cried out, the dark-haired young man shouted something, and the half-elf leaped to kick the door shut. But squirrels can make themselves very small. Sucking in all the air that he could, the squirrel dashed between the closing door and the jamb and plunged into the night. He'd had enough of men and beasts and cages. He wanted trees, cozy nests, and sweet caches of chestnuts. And he was going to have those now, no matter what they shouted inside…
'Come back here, you stone-headed kender!'
Halfway up the closest tree the squirrel stopped, frozenby the dwarf's cry. Not crazy, he'd told Pytr, but stone headed. Stone-headed… something. Stone-headed kender! Kender?
Something strange happened to the cold night air. It shivered, the way it does under summer's heat, and then it sighed, the sound of a small drifting breeze. The squirrel tried to breathe but found that he couldn't quite draw in the air he needed. Suddenly he lost his grip and tumbled to the ground.
Kender!
'And where, in the names of all the gods, did you think you were going?'
'I — ' Tas got his legs under him and climbed to his feet. Some of the squirrel feeling was in him yet. He had to swallow hard to ignore the imperative to run from the dwarf. 'I — don't know. I don't even really know how I got here, wherever here is. I was following the wren, I think, and… well, then I was here, falling out of this tree. But I think I remember some dreams… strange ones, about squirrels and cats and — »
Flint snorted and pulled the kender to his feet. For all his scowling, though, his hands were gentle. 'Come on, now, back inside. You can be sure Caramon is getting hungry by now. And Raistlin has some work to do yet.'
'But Caramon is always hungry,' Tas said, dusting himself off. 'What's so important about that — oh, the panther?'
Flint nodded. Tas, remembering Pytr's intense and always sharp cat-hunger, grinned slyly. He was not unhappy that Rieve must be learning even now what it meant to be the object of that hunger. 'It's just a thought, Flint, but perhaps they could just feed Caramon whatever's lying around the cottage?'
In the end, though Tas had not been alone in his wistful wish, they did not feed Rieve to the panther. Some oath or promise was extracted from him, though what passed between him and Raistlin none ever learned, for Raistlin banished all but the big panther from the cottage. If Caramon heard or understood, he was uncharacteristically silent about it. And a week later, when those who had been cat and squirrel, wren and falcon, fox, dog, and panther were gathered in Solace, it was yet a matter for speculation.
Wren watched Raistlin, who sat in the shadows of Flint's hearth. 'Were truth told, I'm not sure that I want to know.'
'I wouldn't mind knowing,' Pytr muttered. He stroked her hair and sighed. 'I'd like to know with what coin Rieve's debt has been paid.'
The young woman shook her head and smiled. Small and cheerful, her brown eyes bright now when she looked at Pytr, she was, Flint thought then, very like the wren for which she'd been named and which she had, for a time, been.
Tanis, who at that moment had the same thought, glanced once at the dwarf and, when he received a slight nod, crossed to the hearth and took up one of Flint's small carvings.
'For you,' he said, taking a seat next to Wren.
'But — what is it? Surely you've given us enough?'
'One more thing, but you must close your eyes now.'
Curious, Sturm and Caramon leaned closer and Tas ducked under Pytr's arm to get a closer look. They saw nothing, however, for Tanis had the object hidden in closed hands. In the hearth's shadow, Raistlin stirred but did not rise to join his companions.
Wren closed her eyes, and Tanis placed the small object in her hands. 'Now, this is something Flint has taught me: let your hands know what it is you hold before your eyes tell you. Our eyes, as we have lately learned, can too easily deceive us.'
Wren let her fingers discover the wings first, then the carefully rounded back, the beak, and finally the deftly carved tail feathers. 'A bird!' she cried. 'A wren?'
A little breeze sighed, then wandered away.
Yet when she opened her eyes and saw the small carving, Wren wore a small, puzzled frown. 'But… it FELT like a wren. I don't understand.'
Neither did Tanis. Nor did Flint. It was Tas, finally, who spoke.
'Flint! That's wonderful! That's the nicest miniature I've ever seen! When did you carve it?'
'I didn't,' Flint said shortly. 'I had nothing to do with this piece.' He peered hard at the little carving and shook his head. It was Wren in every perfect detail, her soft hair pulled back low on her neck as it was now, her serene smile shown in lips and eyes, her hands quietly folded at her waist.
Flint shivered and looked across the room. Though he could not be sure, he thought he saw Raistlin smile from the hearth's shadow.
'Wanna Bet?'
Margaret Weis,Tracy Hickman
Foreword
'A fine mage you are little brother,' muttered Tanin, standing on the dock, watching the ship sail away. 'You should have known all along there was something strange about that dwarf!'
'Me?' Palin retorted. 'YOU were the one that got us mixed up in the whole thing to begin with! 'Adventures always start in such places as this', ' the young magic-user said, mimicking his older brother's voice.
'Hey, guys,' began Sturm in mollifying tones.
'Oh, shut up!' Both brothers turned to face him. 'It was YOU who took that stupid bet!'
The three brothers stood glaring at each other; the salt breeze blowing the red curling hair of the two elder into their eyes and whipping the white robes of the younger about his thin legs.
A ringing shout, sounding over the dancing waters, interrupted them.
'Farewell, lads! Farewell! It was a nice try. Perhaps we'll do it again some day!'
'Over my dead body!' all three brothers muttered fervently, raising their hands and waving halfheartedly, sickly grins on their faces.
'That's ONE thing we can all agree on,' said Sturm, beginning to chuckle. 'And I know another.' The brothers turned thankfully away from the sight of the sailing vessel lumbering through the waters.
'And that is…?'
'That we never tell another living soul about this, as long as we live!' Sturm's voice was low. The other two brothers glanced about at the spectators standing on the docks. They were looking at the ship, laughing. Several, glancing at the brothers, pointed at them with stifled giggles.
Grinning ruefully, Tanin held his right hand out in front of him. Sturm placed his right hand on his brother's, and Palin put his right hand over the other two.
'Agreed,' each said solemnly.
CHAPTER ONE
