The sword was very heavy, and his chest was starting to hurt more than usual. He tried to swallow, but it hurt too much.
The elf held his pose, his arms reaching out to the goblin from a crouched stance. Then he slowly let his arms drop, and he stood up. 'Fine,' said the elf in a different, flat voice. 'I should have known better. I should have known. This is the way you want it, so' — the elf raised his hands into the air — 'I have no choice.'
The elf's hands began to glow.
The goblin's mouth fell open. He raised his sword — and he couldn't remember his wish.
'Aliakiadam Vithofo Milgreya!' shouted the elf. 'Somalitarak Ciondiamal Freetra — '
A huge, dark shape arose from the brush behind the elf, its massive brown bulk and long horns silhouetted against the light of the dying fire. The goblin saw the minotaur and fell back with a wild cry. He landed on his backside and knocked the wind out of his lungs. He didn't release the sword, simply held it before him.
The minotaur swung its arms in a huge, rapid arc. The black iron chain whipped around, struck the elf in the back, smacking him like a giant's hammer. The elf was thrown forward into the air, crashing in a heap on the ground. The magic on his hands flared up — and died out.
The elf writhed on the ground, gasping for air. He managed to roll onto his chest and pushed himself up to face the minotaur. The elf's chest heaved, and his face twisted in grotesque pain. The goblin could see in the firelight that the back of the elf's shirt was stained dark and wet where the thick chain had struck him. Not daring to move or think, the goblin stared at the minotaur, which was standing upright now, facing the elf. From the minotaur's large hands dangled the long black chain, readied for another strike.
The goblin tried to remember his wish, but it wouldn't come to him. He couldn't think of it at all.
'Well,' said the minotaur in the trade tongue, as it looked at the elf, 'aren't you going to throw a spell at me?'
The elf wheezed, seeming to find it hard to breathe. The goblin stared at the huge brown monster and forgot about breathing entirely.
'You… can talk,' the elf gasped at last.
'Very good,' the minotaur said. It spoke lazily, but with a perfectly precise grasp of the trade tongue. 'You have learned something about your world that you did not know before. I've heard that elves value knowledge, so this information will serve you well in the afterlife.'
'Wait,' said the elf, trying to catch his breath. 'Just wait. We set out… to get the sword… so that we could… use it against… our common foe… Istar. We have to — '
'No,' said the minotaur. 'We each set out to gain the sword for our own purposes.' The minotaur flicked a glance in the goblin's direction. 'I would guess that our friend the goblin merely wants power. Maybe he wants to be a god. But my need of the sword is far simpler.'
The goblin wondered if he was dreaming. The elf pulled himself up a bit, but couldn't seem to sit upright now; he grimaced as he settled down, chest against the earth again, his breath coming shallow and quickly.
'You don't appear to have heard me,' said the minotaur. The chain in its fists swung slightly.
'No! I heard!' said the elf quickly. 'Why? Why?'
'Because this is the way of the world: Only the strong deserve to rule, and the strong should use any means at their disposal to accomplish this. Because true strength is revealed in chaos, in the destruction of all borders and laws and boundaries, so that each being may challenge every other for the right to rule. Once I take that sword, I will ensure my chance to rule the world, from sea to sea and beyond, for all time, by wishing for the doom of the civilized world. My brethren and I will have our freedom at last, and we will command what's left of this sad, tortured land.'
The elf stared at the minotaur. 'Madness,' he whispered.
'No more mad than your hope to destroy a part of Istar's power with this sword. You'd open the gates to chaos in your own way, but you'd leave justice and order in the world intact. Those who make the laws and govern the armies would probably find minotaurs to be as inconvenient as do the Istarians — and they might not be as willing to save our race for enslavement.'
The goblin figured that the elf's back was broken, and indeed it might be, but the elf seemed to gather some strength as he spoke next. 'If we use… the sword together, we… can break the hold… Istar has on us!' he pleaded softly. 'We can start to… throw down slavery… and killing and prejudice everywhere, and be free! We can… have a new world!'
'Did you not attempt to enslave me with one of your spells before we left on this quest?' asked the minotaur, raising a thick eyebrow. 'If that's a sample of how your new world is going to be, I confess I find it lacking. I threw off that spell, thanks only to my willpower — the same willpower that allowed me to survive long enough in this mad wilderness to be found by that pathetic kender. Besides, I really have no quarrel with slavery or killing — as long as it is the minotaurs who are doing the enslaving and murdering. It is the way of the world. You elves should really come out of your forests once in a while and see what the world's all about.'
Sweat dripped from the minotaur's broad snout. 'This has gone on long enough. You have had your fun tonight. And now I'd like some fun myself.' It stepped forward, arms and chain swinging back and around.
The elf raised a hand. 'Elekonia Xanes,' he said, pointing his index finger in the minotaur's direction.
A pulsing stream of white light burst from the elf's finger, flashed into the minotaur's chest. The beast flinched and threw back its head, roaring in agony. Then it came on, maddened, the long chain lashing down to strike at the elf's head. The goblin came to his senses and rolled to get out of the way.
The elf gave a strangled cry when the chain struck him. The goblin heard the chain lash down again, and again, and he kept rolling to get away.
Then he remembered his wish.
He remembered it perfectly.
He stopped rolling and held onto the sword's hilt as he lay on his chest, facing away from the smashing and rattling sounds as the minotaur flailed at the fallen elf.
'I wish,' began the goblin in a choking voice, his chest burning and his hands shaking, 'that I would be — '
He heard the minotaur's earth-shattering roar directly behind him. Panicked, he brought the sword up as the minotaur leaped at him.
It was cold, but the goblin didn't feel the cold very much. The chill from the ground seeped into his body and through his bones, but it seemed very distant and not very real. It was odd that he felt no pain. For some reason, he thought that he should.
Someone was calling, someone close by. The goblin opened his eyes and saw dark gray clouds rolling overhead, heard the wind tossing the tree branches. Something cold and wet struck him on the forehead. Rain, maybe.
A new sound began. It was the stupid kender. He was crying. The goblin stirred, trying to look in the kender's direction, but he couldn't move very well. He found it hard to breathe.
Footsteps thumped over to his side. Small, cold hands touched his cheeks, wiping away dirt and blood. Turning his head, he saw a thin face with tangled brown hair and brown eyes.
'Are you alive?' the kender asked, his voice almost breaking. 'I saw you move. Please say you're alive.'
The goblin licked his lips. His mouth felt very dry, and it tasted awful. 'Yes,' he said. It hurt to speak; the wind almost carried his voice away.
'I'm sorry I wasn't here,' the kender said, choking back his sobs. His hands continued to clean the goblin's face. 'I got lost last night because of the explosion and the wind, and I crashed in some bushes. I came down far away and kept falling over things and getting stuck in briars and almost twisted my ankle. What happened?'
'Fight,' the goblin managed to say. Was the kender going to talk him to death? He suspected that he was dying anyway. Then he remembered. 'Minotaur,' he whispered fearfully, trying to look around.
'The minotaur's over there.' The kender waved an arm blindly to his right. 'I'm sorry. He… he's dead.' The kender started to cry again but fought it down. 'The humans killed him with the gem sword. The elf's dead, too. The humans beat him up. I don't want you to die, too.'
With a sudden effort, the goblin forced himself to sit up a few inches and looked in the direction the kender had indicated. The minotaur lay collapsed in a dirty brown heap, the sword's silver blade protruding from its back. The goblin remembered now the minotaur's roar as it had leapt upon the blade, its full weight smashing into the
