a good nursemaid of something.»
Jair grinned. «I’d say they’re right.»
The expression that crossed the Gnome’s face then caused Jair to turn away quickly, his face a carefully frozen mask. Chuckling inwardly, he was in the process of reaching for his boots when he abruptly remembered the vision crystal and the Silver Dust. He had not seen either while dressing. He had not felt them in his pockets. The grin he had allowed to slip back over his face faded. He ran his hands over his clothing. Nothing! Frantically, he pawed through his bedding, his bedclothes, and everything in sight. The vision crystal and the Silver Dust were gone. Then he thought back to the night previous, to the long jump into the Cillidellan. Had he lost them in the lake?
«Looking for something?»
Jair stiffened. It was Slanter speaking, his voice laced with false concern. Jair turned. «Slanter, what have you done… ?»
«Me?» the other interrupted quickly, feigned innocence in the crafty face. «Your devoted nursemaid?»
Jair was furious. «Where are they, Slanter? Where did you put them?»
Now it was the Gnome’s turn to grin. «Enjoyable as this is — and believe me, it is enjoyable — I have better things to do. So if it’s the pouch and the crystal you’re looking for, the Weapons Master has them. Took them off you last night when they brought you in here and stripped you. Wouldn’t trust them to my care, of course.»
He folded his arms across his chest contentedly. «Now let’s put an end to this. Or do you need help dressing, too?»
Jair flushed, finished dressing, then wordlessly walked over to the wooden door and knocked. When the door opened, he informed the Dwarf standing guard that they would like to go out. The Dwarf frowned, told them to stay put, glanced suspiciously at Slanter, and pulled the door firmly shut again.
Growing curiosity over the absence of any sort of battle without and impatience with things in general notwithstanding, they had to wait fully an hour before the door to the room opened a second time, and the guard at last beckoned them to follow. Leaving the room hastily, they turned down a windowless corridor that ran past dozens of doors similar to the one they had just passed through, climbed a series of stairs, and emerged on battlements overlooking the murky waters of the Cillidellan. Wind and a faint spray blew off the lake into their faces, the midday air chill and hard. Here, too, the day was still and expectant, cloaked in mist and banks of low–hanging clouds that stretched between the peaks that sheltered the locks and dams. Dwarf sentries patrolled the walls, eyes shifting watchfully through the haze. There was no sign of the Gnome armies, save for the distant flicker of the watchfires, reddish specks of light in the gray.
The Dwarf took them down off the battlements, turning into a broad courtyard that spanned the center of the high dam where it walled away the Cillidellan. North and south of where they walked, the towers and parapets of the Dwarf fortress rose up against the leaden sky, stretching away into mist. It was an eerie, ghostly look that the day lent to the citadel, shrouding it in halflight and haze so that it almost seemed as if it were something strayed from a dream that threatened to be gone in a moment’s time upon waking. Few Dwarves were in evidence here, the vast courtyard all but deserted. Stairwells burrowed down into the stone at regular intervals — black tunnels that Jair presumed must run to the inner workings of the locks below.
They had almost crossed the empty courtyard when a shout brought them up short, and Edain Elessedil came running to greet them. Grinning broadly, his injured arm and shoulder heavily wrapped, he went to Jair at once and extended his hand in greeting.
«Safe and sound after all, Jair Ohmsford!» He put his good arm about the other as they turned once more to follow their taciturn guide. «Feeling better, I hope?»
«Much better.» Jair smiled back. «How is your arm?»
«Just a small scratch. A little stiff and nothing more. But what a night! Lucky that any of us got through safely. And this one!»
He indicated Slanter, who trailed a step behind. «His escape was nothing short of miraculous! Did he tell you?»
Jair shook his head, and Edain Elessedil promptly informed him of all that had befallen Slanter and Helt during their harrowing walk through the Gnome encampment the previous night. Jair listened with growing astonishment, casting more than one glance back at the Gnome. Beneath a mask of studied indifference, Slanter was looking a bit embarrassed by all the attention.
«Simplest way out, that’s all,” Slanter announced gruffly when the effusive Elf had finished his tale. Jair was smart enough not to make anything more out of it.
Their guide took them up a stairway onto the battlement on the northern watch, then led them through a set of double–doors into an atrium filled with plants and trees, flourishing in an obviously transplanted bed of black earth beneath glass and open sky. Even here, within the high mountains, the Dwarves carried with them something of their home, Jair thought in admiration.
Beyond the gardens. lay a terrace occupied by tables and benches.
«Wait here,” the Dwarf ordered and left them.
When he had gone, Jair turned back to Edain. «Why is there no battle being fought this day, Elven Prince? What of the Gnome armies?»
Edain Elessedil shook his head. «No one seems certain what has happened. The locks and dams have been under siege for almost a week. Each day, the Gnomes attack both exposures of the fortress. But today, no attack has come. The Gnomes gather at their siege lines and watch us — nothing more. It appears as if they are waiting for something.»
«I don’t like the sound of that,” Slanter muttered.
«Nor do the Dwarves,” Edain said quietly. «Runners have been sent to Culhaven and scouts slip through the underground tunnels to the rear of the Gnome army to keep watch.» He hesitated, then glanced at Jair. «Garet Jax is out there, too.»
Jair started. «He is? Why? Where has he gone?»
«I don’t know,” the Elf shook his head slowly. «He said nothing to me. I don’t think he’s left us. I think he’s simply out looking around. He took Helt with him.»
«Scouting on his own, then.» Slanter frowned. «He would do that.»
«Who can say?» The Elf tried a quick smile. «The Weapons Master keeps his own counsel, Slanter.»
«Dark reasons and dark purposes drive that one,” the Gnome muttered, almost to himself.
They stood in silence then for a few moments, not looking at each other, lost in their private speculations of the actions of Garet Jax. Jair remembered Slanter telling him that it was the Weapons Master who had possession now of the vision crystal and the Silver Dust. That meant that if anything were to happen to Garet Jax, the magic of the King of the Silver River would be lost. And that meant that Jair’s only chance of helping Brin would be lost as well.
The sound of the door opening brought them about, and Foraker appeared from out of the fortress. He came quickly to where they stood and greeted each with a handshake.
«Rested, Ohmsford?» he asked gruffly, and Jair nodded. «Good. I’ve asked that dinner be brought to us here on the terrace, so why don’t we find a table and sit?»
He motioned to the table closest to them, and the other three joined him there. The trees and shrubs of the gardens darkened further the gray cast of the late afternoon, so candles were lighted against the gloom. Moments later, a meal of beef, cheese, bread, soup, and ale was brought, and they began to eat. Jair was surprised to discover how hungry he was.
When the meal was finished, Foraker pushed back from the table and began fishing through his pockets. «I have something for you.» He glanced briefly toward Jair. «Ah–ha, here we are.»
He held in his hand the bag of Silver Dust and the vision crystal on its silver chain. He pushed them across the table to the Valeman. «Garet said to give these to you. Said to keep them safe until you woke. He had a message for you, too. He said to tell you that you showed courage last night.»
Surprise flashed over the Valeman’s face, and he experienced a sudden, intense feeling of pride. He glanced self–consciously at Edain Elessedil and Slanter, then back to the Dwarf.
«Where is he now?» he stammered.
Foraker shrugged. «He’s gone with the Borderman to explore a passage that will take us out from the fortress behind the Gnome siege lines north. He wants to be certain it’s safe before we all go. And we go at
