you turn them. Remember, it wouldn’t take much to persuade me to cut your throat.»
He said it softly, almost gently, and there was a chilling silence. The Mwellret’s eyes narrowed into slits.
«Havess the magicss!» he hissed angrily. «Needss nothing from me! Leavess me!»
Garret Jax brought the point of the long knife tight against the other’s scaled throat. «You go.»
Cloaks wrapped close about them, they pulled open the heavy wooden doors of the darkened prison and stepped out into the light. Rain fell in blinding sheets from gray, clouded skies, blown against the fortress walls by the wind. Heads bent against its force, the four started across the muddied yard toward the battlements that lay immediately north. Scattered knots of Gnome Hunters passed them by without slowing, anxious only to get in out of the weather. On the watchtowers, sentries huddled in the shelter of stonework nooks and bays, miserable with the cold and damp. No one cared anything about the little party that crossed below. No one even gave them a second glance.
Slanter took the lead as the north battlements drew near, guiding them past small lakes of surface water and mudholes to where a pair of iron–grated doors closed away a small court. They pushed through the doors and crossed quickly to a covered entry that led into a squat stone–and–timber watchtower. Wordlessly, the Gnome unlatched the shadowed wooden door and led the way inside.
An anteway lay within, brightened by the light of torches jammed into holders on either side of the door. Brushing the water from their cloaks, they paused momentarily while Slanter moved to the edge of a darkened corridor leading left beneath the battlement. After peering into the gloom, the Gnome beckoned for them to follow. Garet Jax snatched one of the torches from its bracket, handed it to Jair, and motioned him after Slanter.
A narrow hall opened before them, lined with doors that stretched into the darkness ahead.
«Storerooms,” Slanter informed Jair, winking.
They stepped into the hall. Slanter slipped cautiously ahead; at the third door, he stopped and knocked softly.
«It’s us,” he whispered into the latch.
The latch released with a snap, the door swung wide, and Elb Foraker, Helt, and Edain Elessedil appeared. Smiles creasing their battered faces, they surrounded Jair and gripped his hand warmly.
«Are you all right, Jair?» the Elven Prince asked at once, his own face bruised and cut so badly that the Valeman was immediately afraid for him. The Elf saw his concern and dismissed it with a shrug. «Just a few scratches. I found an escape passage, but it opened on a thorn bush. Nothing that won’t quickly heal. But you — are you truly all right?»
«I’m fine now, Edain.» Jair hugged him impulsively.
Helt and Foraker were battered about the face and hands as well, the result Jair supposed of having the greater part of that battlement wall fall on them. «I can’t believe that you’re all here!» The Valeman swallowed hard against the knot forming in his throat.
«Couldn’t very well leave you behind, now could we, Jair?» The giant Borderman gripped his arm warmly with one great hand. «Yours is the magic that we need to heal the Silver River.»
Jair grinned happily, and Foraker stepped close, eyes fixing on the Mwellret. «I see that you were able to bring him.»
Garet Jax nodded without comment. While the others had been greeting Jair anew, he had stayed with Stythys, the long knife pointed at the Mwellret’s throat.
«Little peopless be ssorry they takess me!» the creature hissed venomously. «Findss a way to make them ssorry!»
Slanter spit distastefully into the earth. Foraker pointed at the Mwellret. «You alone are responsible for what happens to you now, Stythys. Had you not taken the Valeman, you would have been left alone. Since you did take him, you’ll have to answer for it. You’re going to see us safely out of this place, then safely through the forests north and into the Ravenshorn. Steer us wrong just once, and I’ll let Slanter do to you what he’d like to have done in the first place.» He glanced at the Gnome. «And remember, Stythys, he knows the way as well, so think carefully before you attempt any deception.»
«Let’s be gone from here!» Slanter growled anxiously.
With the Gnome leading, the little band passed down the narrow hall through a series of still smaller corridors and arrived at the foot of a winding stone stairway. Slanter put a finger to his lips in warning. In single file, they began to climb. From somewhere above, faint and distant yet, the guttural sound of Gnome voices reached their ears. A small wooden door stood closed at the top of the stairs. Slanter paused momentarily, listened, then cracked the door and peered out. Satisfied, he beckoned them through.
They stood in a massive armory, its floor piled with stacks of weapons, armor, and provisions. Gray light filtered down through high, barred windows. The chamber was empty, and Slanter led the way hurriedly toward a door set into the far wall.
He was almost there when the door abruptly swung open from the opposite side, and he found himself face to face with an entire squad of Gnome Hunters.
The Gnomes hesitated, seeing first Slanter, then the odd gathering of faces that followed after him. It was when they caught sight of Foraker that their hands flew to their weapons.
«No luck this time, boy!» Slanter howled, flinging himself protectively in front of Jair.
The Gnome Hunters came at them in a rush, but already the dark figure of Garet Jax was moving, the slender sword darting. Down went the foremost of the attackers, and then Foraker was beside the Weapons Master, his two–edged axe thrusting back the rest. Behind them, Stythys turned and broke for the door through which they had come, but Helt was on him like a cat, bearing him to the floor. They skidded into a stack of pikes, and the pikes tumbled down about them in a clash of wood and iron.
The Gnome Hunters stood and fought before the open door a moment longer as Garet Jax and Foraker pressed in on them. Then, with a howl of anger, they broke and fled. The Weapons Master and the Dwarf gave chase as far as the doorway; but seeing that pursuit was pointless, they turned quickly to help the struggling Helt. Together, they hauled Stythys back to his feet, the Mwellret hissing venomously, his scaled body swelling until he rose above even the giant Borderman. Holding the lizard firm, they dragged him to where Slanter and Jair stood peering down the corridor without.
From both ends of the corridor, cries of alarm answered those of the fleeing Gnome Hunters.
«Which way do we run?» Garet Jax snapped at Slanter.
Wordlessly, the Gnome turned right, away from the fleeing Hunters, moving down the corridor at a quick trot and motioning the others to follow. They came after him in a knot, Stythys urged on by the long knife Garet Jax held against his ribs.
«Sstupid little peopless!» the Mwellret rasped in fury. «Diess here in the prissonss!»
The hall divided before them. To the left, a gathering of Gnomes caught sight of them and charged with weapons drawn. Slanter wheeled and took the little company right. Ahead, a Gnome Hunter darted from a doorway, but Foraker bowled him over without slowing, banging the fellow’s helmeted head against the stone block walls with jarring force. Cries of pursuit rose up all about.
«Slanter!» Jair cried suddenly in warning.
Too late. The Gnome had stumbled into the midst of a swarm of armed Hunters that had burst unexpectedly from an adjoining hall. He went down in a tangle of arms and legs, crying out. Thrusting Stythys at Helt, Garet Jax went to his aid, Foraker and Edain Elessedil a step behind. Weapons glittered sharply in the gray half–light and cries of pain and anger filled the hall. The rescuers swept into the Gnomes, thrusting them back from the fallen Slanter. Garet Jax was like a cat at hunt, fluid and swift, as he parried and cut with the slender sword. The Gnomes gave way. Aided by Edain Elessedil, Slanter struggled to his feet once more.
«Slanter! Get us out of here!» Elb Foraker roared, the great, two–edged axe before him.
«Ahead!» Slanter coughed and staggered forward.
Surging through the Gnomes that still barred their way, the little company raced down the corridor, dragging the reluctant Stythys with them. Gnome Hunters sprang at them from everywhere, but they threw back the attackers with ferocious determination. Slanter went down again, tripped by the haft of a short spear thrust before him. Instantly Foraker was there, broadax hammering at the attacker and one hand dragging Slanter back up. The cries from behind them became a solid roar as hundreds of Gnomes flooded the hallway about the armory door and gave chase.
