who, eh? Think!'
The elf did not answer for a minute. He looked embarrassed as the goblin spoke. 'I apologize,' he finally said. 'I'd just never imagined that… well, that — '
'That goblin get smart, eh? Or kender? Or — ' The goblin jerked a thumb in the direction of the minotaur. 'Istar make us smart. No time for stupid things. We stick together or Istar collect our hair. You, wizard, maybe worth more gold than me, minotaur, kender.' The goblin grinned, rubbing his own short, wiry hair. 'My head, I like much, eh?'
The elf actually smiled. Then he looked around, and the smile faded as he saw the bare trees and low clouds and seemed to look beyond them.
'Cousin gone,' said the goblin softly. 'Why you risk life for sword?'
It was the moment of truth. The goblin's eyes narrowed as he leaned forward on the rock.
The elf looked down at his hands and wrung them together for several long minutes.
'It was a gift for my cousin,' he said at last, looking at something only he could see. 'I made it with the help of my brethren in the Orders of High Sorcery. Over the years, my cousin had shielded many in the orders from Istar, defying his own family to do it, and we wished to reward him. I asked that we make him a sword, one that he could use as his wisdom saw fit.'
The elf took a deep breath and let it out, never looking up. His eyes seemed to glisten. 'I rode out to meet him at a prearranged place south of here, but an Istarian patrol chased us. He got the sword, but didn't have time to undo its case before we split up. I tried to find him. Then my horse… You know the rest.'
The goblin nodded solemnly. The sword, he shouted inside. Tell me about the sword, you maggot elf.
The elf licked his lips and went on. 'The sword was named the Sword of Change. We wanted to fulfill my cousin's dearest dream, whatever the gods would grant, so we gave the sword the power to do just that. It will grant its user one wish. It is not all-powerful, but the gods of magic will grant the user what he asks for if it is within reason.' He grimaced at a thought. 'I've been guilty of worrying more about the sword than my cousin's life, but the sword could do much harm in the wrong hands. The Kingpriest no doubt could find a use for it to build his power. He could root out traitors, gain victory in battle, grant himself many more years of life. Now it's…' He lifted his hands, then let them fall, his shoulders sagging.
The goblin quietly digested this. The idea that a sword was capable of so much power was almost too ridiculous to believe, but the practical aspects of having a sword like that were not lost on him at all. A parade of wishes flowed through his head. Food, riches, women, physical might, rulership, immortality — he would ask for any of these if the sword were his — or if it became his, one day. It began to seep into his mind that perhaps the sword wasn't totally out of his grasp. It certainly couldn't hurt to find out if the elf knew anything more that would be useful in obtaining the sword. The goblin would have to prepare himself for the journey, though it meant abandoning the elf, the minotaur, and -
'Wow,' said the kender.
The elf spun around and nearly fell again. The goblin jumped in surprise. Eyes full of wonder, the kender was sitting on the hillside over the cave mouth, beside a few small saplings only thirty feet away. The goblin had never seen him.
'A sword that can do all that,' said the kender in awe. 'And you cast magic, too? I can't believe it. That's incredible. Are you going to capture the sword? Can we see it if you do? What's it look like? My mother and father told me all about magic, and they said it was the best thing. I'd love to see a magic sword. Where is it? Can you find it?'
The elf slowly swallowed, appearing confused and unsure. He glanced from the goblin to the kender. 'If I knew where the men who took it were, I might have a chance to get it back,' the elf said. 'If my cousin is… if he is dead, then I should see that the sword stays out of Istarian hands. I could not sleep, knowing they had it and could use it.'
'Great!' shouted the kender, leaping to his feet. 'Can we go with you? He and I are great hunters' — he pointed to the goblin — 'and we can track and set traps and do all kinds of stuff. And the minotaur can carry things. He's strong! We won't get in the way, I promise. We'll be good! Are you going to cast spells to get the sword back? I can't wait!'
Both the elf and the goblin stared at the kender in astonishment. The goblin looked at the elf. The elf looked back at the minotaur, who was now sitting under a tree, taking a nap.
'Well…' said the elf.
'Then let's get going!' shouted the kender. 'I'll grab my stuff!' HeScooted down the slope and ran into the cave, past the camouflage branches.
The elf and goblin stared at each other. Each seemed to be about to ask a question. Neither did.
The elf cleared his throat. 'I really should recover that sword. The Istarians will use it against us and against everyone not of their faith, and we will suffer for it. Making that sword was foolishness. Letting it go to the likes of them is worse.'
The goblin shrugged and glanced at the minotaur. 'You know, that fine by me, you get sword. Fine that we go for walk. But maybe big one not like to take walk with us,' he said in a very low voice, nodding in the minotaur's direction. 'Hard to tell with big one.'
The elf thought. 'Maybe I can do something about that,' he said. 'I don't like doing this, but… could you find that white book you said you found? I think I have a spell there that might…' He let his voice trail off.
The goblin made a show of looking up into the trees, then motioned for the elf to follow him into the cave.
Everything was working out so perfectly that the goblin had trouble believing it. The possibility that he would soon have the sword in his hands made it hard to think. He'd have to calm down and use his head. There was too much at stake to blow this. And he'd have to start thinking about the wish he would make the moment his hand closed on the sword's hilt. There were so many things he had always wanted, and now…
There was no sound in the forest but the rustling of dry leaves and the cold wind in the bare branches. Beneath the tree where it rested, the minotaur leaned back, eyes almost closed, perfectly still except for the gentle rise and fall of its barrel-sized chest. One of its broad, cupped ears flicked away a horsefly, then curled back like the other toward the cave mouth.
They traveled east under a dark sky for the rest of the day. Behind them were the woods that the kender had known all his life. The kender was quite excited about the trip and talked incessantly, though he looked back now and then, too, and was sometimes silent. Nervously eyeing the placid minotaur, the goblin marched along quickly to keep up with everyone else. The elf's spell of charming did indeed seem to have tamed the huge beast, though the goblin was careful never to annoy it. There was no sense in pressing one's luck. Once the elf felt certain of the minotaur's obedience and that it understood the widely used trade tongue, the elf paid little attention to the beast and merely had it carry their heavier supplies. These included a few bags the elf had dropped when the humans had captured him. The elf fussed over these for several minutes before assuring himself that they were safe and unharmed.
The Istarian free rangers had left a remarkably clear trail behind them. The goblin spat on the ground as the kender traced it back with ease. In the old days, the goblin had heard, no living thing could find the path a ranger took. Obviously, that had been a VERY long time ago.
They bedded down that night, too exhausted to talk. The kender took first watch in the evening, unable to sleep from excitement. He talked to himself a lot, however, which kept the elf and goblin awake until the elf relieved the kender and forced him to get some sleep himself.
On the afternoon of the second day, the foot trail of the rangers merged with that of a larger party of humans with horses and wagons. The signs of a camp on the edge of the forest were fairly fresh, abandoned not more than a day ago. A bonfire had been built in a broad clearing; the large ash pile was still smoking slightly.
There was a grave, too, with an elf's battered helmet pounded into the soil above it. The elf rested his hand on the soil for a few moments, then stood, said nothing. The goblin noticed, though, that the elf's eyes seemed unusually red thereafter. The goblin shrugged; vengeance would make the wizard fight all the harder. And it meant one less elf in the world.
'We've got to move more carefully,' said the kender, scuffing his bare feet through some flattened tall grass. 'If they rest in the evenings, we could catch them as early as tomorrow morning. But they could catch us, too. We
