Shaking the numbness from his mind, Logan looked up to find himself outside the tavern. His sword lay on the cobblestones beside him as fearful screams exploded from within the tavern. A tidal wave of people rushed free of the building, blindly fleeing some unseen terror inside. Unexpectedly, two men were batted skyward as the demonic Groathit crashed out of the tavern, flames belching from his fang-rimmed mouth. Malevolent red eyes trained in on Logan, and the transformed mouth drew back in a crocodilian smile. With a strangled shout, Logan scurried to his feet, gripping tightly to his sword. The metamorphosed Groathit disregarded the weapon, lumbering menacingly toward the young man. A grey form suddenly leapt atop the wizard, a dagger plunging deep into his neck. Roaring in anger rather than pain, the demon-wizard pulled free the blade, releasing a geyser of blood. An arm swung about, catching Moknay on the side of his head and flinging him head over heels. Logan watched in horror as the Murderer sailed across the street and landed with a crash in a silversmith's shop. The terror increased as Logan saw Moknay slump against a circle of bricks and lay still.
Waving an iron-clawed hand, Groathit healed the wound on his neck. The rush of blood slowed to a trickle until that too faded to pink scar tissue. The gleam in the spellcaster's eyes intensified as he slowly turned to face Logan.
Staring at the still form of the Murderer across the street, Logan could feel the fear mutate into a raging fire of anger. Moknay! He had befriended him! He had attempted to rescue him from these infernal Reakthi! And now he was injured-dead, maybe! And it was because of Logan's meddling!
Teeth clenched, Logan swung about to face Groathit. Although his vision was blurred by his intense hatred, he could make out the demonic form of the wizard, fanged mouth drawn back in an evil sneer. Overtaken by his rage, Logan's arm thrust outward, jabbing the point of his sword into a flashing red eye. Streams of blood babbled down Groathit's face as he staggered to one side, screaming in agony, his black-clawed hands protectively covering his injured eye.
'I shall return for you, man from another world,' the magic-user warned, spitting blood. 'Consider yourself fortunate that you are of no use to Vaugen as a corpse!'
Smoke swelled up from the cobblestones, surrounding the wizard with a dense, black curtain of haze. When it dispersed, Groathit was gone.
Drained of his anger and strength, Logan made his way to the silversmith's shop, dragging his sword through the cobblestones behind him. Odd, he told himself, the silversmith's was empty. But where had Moknay gone?
A sudden glint of silver caught Logan's eye, and he hurried over to one corner of the shop. There, embedded in a barrel, was a slim dagger. Beneath it, scrawled in what could have been charcoal, was the message: 'Must go. Keep this or I will cut your head off.'
Smiling with relief, Logan freed the weapon. It was perfectly balanced, he noticed, so it could be used as a missile, but why had the Murderer left so hastily? You would think Logan would at least be able to see him up one of the streets.
The young man froze as he gazed up one road. A small squad of men hurried toward the tavern in military order, all dressed in uniforms. Guessing them to be the Guardsmen Thromar had mentioned, Logan crouched down behind the barrel and waited. Beads of perspiration dotted his brow as he observed the Guards march into the tavern, inspect the damage, and start off again, splitting into smaller troops. A sigh escaped Logan's lips as he scurried out from behind the barrel and started back toward the building where he had left Thromar and Bella. His unexpected entrance may cause some embarrassment, but he could not stay in Eadarus any longer. If he got caught by these Guardsmen, he'd never get to that spellcaster and go home.
As Logan jogged around a corner, another squad of uniformed men came into view. One of the Guards shouted, pointing in Logan's direction, and the others echoed his shout, jerking their swords free of their sheaths. Numerous feet pounded the cobblestones, and Logan glanced around frantically. He couldn't go back-the other troop had been scouting that area.
Logan sprang to his right, clambering upon the closest horse and jerking back the reins. The yellow stallion reared, twisting around and charging down the street. Hooves clattered noisily upon the cobblestones as the stolen horse and thief thundered westward. He had no idea where he was going, Logan realized, but he didn't need to go too far from Eadarus if the Guardsmen didn't pursue.
They pursued.
Its green mane and tail billowing out behind it, Logan's horse galloped onward. More Guards materialized from around corners, expressing their surprise and trailing after the young man. Gripping the reins protectively, Logan chanced a look behind him and almost fell out of the saddle. Three Guardsmen kept up the pursuit, mounted on darkly colored horses. Muttering an unhappy curse, Logan turned back around and swerved his horse to the right. The town suddenly dropped away behind him, and Logan was back out in the wilderness, following a northwesterly path. The trio of Guardsmen were gradually falling behind, their own mounts tiring much faster than Logan's stolen horse. Still, urged on by the fear of being caught, Logan drove his horse further, directing it off the path and into the forest. Foam began to spot the horse's mouth as Logan spied a large outcropping of rock to his left.
'Not much further,' he told the horse. 'I don't think they'll look for us by the rocks. The area might be too treacherous for them to consider… I hope!'
The yellow-and-green mount raced onward, its head bobbing up and down as if in response to Logan's comment. Clods of dirt the size of silver dollars were kicked up into the air by the thundering hooves, and the many trees and bushes of the forest were green and brown blurs of color.
Logan began to feel the soreness creep into his rump as he continued bouncing up and down in the crude saddle. Abruptly, the stallion broke free of the forest's greenery and Logan drew in the reins. A small, sparkling pond lay before them, positioned just outside the outcropping of rocks. A few large boulders surrounded them, and a cavern gaped in one knoll of stone. A tiny froglike creature sprang into the pool of water and submerged; the water was so clear Logan could still see the amphibian as it descended to the bottom and hid beneath a rock.
Logan dismounted and knelt beside the pond, splashing the clear liquid onto his face. His horse placed its snout into the water, shaking its head back and forth to clear its mouth of its spittle. As some water dribbled down Logan's face, a few droplets splashed into his eyes. An odd tingle filled his sockets, and his contact lenses swirled and blinked themselves clean. Immediately, Logan's vision increased, and he wonderingly touched his face as the sensation in his eyes faded.
The young man was drawn away from the odd feeling when his horse jerked its head up and stiffened. Logan did likewise, turning in the direction of the dark cavern. His ears picked up an almost inaudible crunch, and he hastily led his horse behind a boulder for safety. There, crouched in the shadows, Logan listened, straining to pick out any more noises. Beside him, his newly acquired horse pawed the ground uneasily.
There was a pause of about two minutes until Logan felt that he was just being jumpy. He flashed his mount a grin and began moving around the boulder back toward the pond. The horse, however, balked like a stubborn mule. Logan was almost jerked back as the reins went taut, and he turned to pull the horse out from behind the boulder by force. His clear vision happened to skim the sparkling pond as he turned, and he caught the reflection of the monstrosity behind him. With a startled exclamation, Logan spun about and faced the creature.
The sunlight reflected off iron scales as the giant, newt-shaped beast lumbered free of its cavern. Two bullish horns grew from its grotesquely lizardlike face, and massive claws extended from its four limbs, each impaling the ground effortlessly with every shuffling step it took. Its large, oval-shaped eyes flickered as it spotted a prospective meal, and saliva oozed from its mouth.
Swallowing hard, Logan withdrew Moknay's dagger. He was no longer dreaming, he remembered, and the possible death facing him had become much more real.
The creature advanced, its forked tongue flicking between its inch-long fangs.
•3• Jewel
Logan stanced himself for battle, legs spread slightly apart for balance and Moknay's dagger shimmering in his right hand. His arm shook with fear as the iron-scaled creature shambled forward, an angry hiss sounding from its mouth. As the beast took another step in Logan's direction, the fear became overwhelming, and Logan almost swooned. His head felt light and airy, and his legs turned to quivering pillars of gelatin. His grip on his dagger
