Tales of Uncle Trapspringer ll-3 Page 23

  "How-" Draaddis bit back his question. Takhisis was clipping her words, a sign she was impatient to get on with her plans. He did not want to irritate her further.

  But the Queen of Dragons and Darkness understood his mind. She gave another hiss that broke another bottle, and then forcibly calmed her emotions.

  "We will be able to use the kender's gate stone in conjunction with the one on the other plane. If we succeed in the first effort, then what is to prevent two people from standing far enough apart to create an opening large enough to bring in more merchesti?"

  "Your mind, my queen, is both wise and subtle. I stand in awe of it. "

  "You have no time to stand, in awe or otherwise, " she replied. "I felt the power of the stones. I felt the tremor of the fabric between planes and after some thought, I understand how they work. It is possible for even the little apprentice to have opened the portal, though she might have been sucked through as well. Fortunately they left her in Lytburg. "

  "Yes, fortunately, " Draaddis agreed.

  "We'll still get the little thieves and that fiend. Then we can open the portal. Once we have the adult merchesti on this side, you and those you command will lead it on a chase to find its young one. "

  The Dark Queen's face lit with a terrible smile.

  "In its trail will be a wake of destruction such as Krynn has never known. "

  "And then you can enter this world, " Draaddis whispered, trembling in anticipation and dread.

  "At which time you and I will travel about the world, opening more portals into Vasmarg, bringing in more merchesti. While they are about their business of destruction in hopes of finding their way home again, we will be building our armies. " "Ostensibly to fight the merchesti?" Draaddis asked.

  Takhisis laughed again, this time with delight.

  "A brilliant and subtle idea, Draaddis. You are growing in wisdom. We will draw our armies from the very people who would fight against us, and by the time they discover their true leader, they will be mine!" Takhisis' smile of triumph died.

  "Draaddis, there is something else I want. "

  "Yes, my queen?"

  "I want those kender alive. You will keep them prisoners in your underground chambers. When I return to Krynn, they will deserve my special attention. "

  "I will do as you ask, my queen, " Draaddis replied with a shudder. He had seen the malice in the goddess's eyes and while he usually felt no sympathy for any creature but himself, he knew the kender would face a horror even he had never known.

  Sladge Grafont, bugbear leader of a motley band of eight bugbears and four hobgoblins, scratched his stomach and grinned. He stood on a steep hillside, staring down at the small campfire in the narrow valley. He had been searching for days, but now he had finally found his quarry. Too canny to charge in until he was sure of his course, he would watch the six around the campfire for a few minutes more.

  In the two years he had been leading the band, they had not lost a single battle, but none had been as important as this one. Death would be his reward if he failed in his mission.

  "Be finding travelers?" Brudge, his second-in-command asked Sladge.

  "Think so, think so, " Sladge answered. "Wizard say travelers be six, and six strangers be camping. "

  Sladge did not like to think about the wizard that had suddenly appeared in his camp three or four-maybe even five-days before. Sladge had trouble keeping days straight. Draaddis Vulter had promised a reward of good, dwarf-made weapons if they found the strangers he was seeking, but he threatened punishment if they didn't do as he asked.

  Shivering at the memory, Sladge reminded himself how the human mage had made a dark shape appear. The black creature, like a dismembered part of a moonless night, had not had a head or feet, or any weapon that the humanoids could see, but it took Mishag. It just enveloped him and he was gone. The wizard had then ordered Sladge to locate and ambush a group traveling east. If he didn't capture them, the black thing would come for him and the rest of his band.

  Sladge scratched again as he stood staring down at the camp. How to attack was his problem. He knew how to attack if he came upon a group unexpectedly. He'd just kill everyone and take anything of value… but this battle would be different.

  The wizard had told him he could destroy and rob the three dwarves, one a Neidar and the other two Aghar. The two kender and the strange little creature that traveled with them were to be taken alive.

  He must also keep his band from searching and robbing the kender, though how he was to do that, he was unsure. They had seen the wizard, they had heard his threats, but would they remember when their blood was hot for killing and pillaging? He did not want to be fed to the black thing because some of his people forgot they must follow the wizard's rules. "Be going now?" Brudge asked.

  "Want to be moving too quick, no think, " the leader chided his companion.

  "Can be using atl-atl, " Brudge suggested, brandishing his short spear and the throwing stick.

  "Brains be leaking out, " Sladge grumbled. Brudge was always too impatient. Sladge also wondered if he was a little bit of a coward. His second-in-command always wanted to attack from a distance. He didn't care for hand-to-hand fighting.

  "Wizard say can kill all but kender and thing with hoofs. How tell from here which be hoof-feeted?" Sladge asked. His wisest course was to do exactly as the wizard asked, which meant keeping all his people under strict control. For that, he needed a careful plan.

  Brudge scratched his own belly, his head, and his pointed left ear. He looked around, seeking an answer.

  "Can kill dwarves, " he growled, low in his throat, his bloodlust already rising. He was still fingering his throwing weapon. Brudge was too smart to endanger himself unnecessarily. That was why he was second-in-command.

  "But do something, else sleep ends plans, " Brudge said, pointing to the rest of the band. They were sitting on the side of the hill, slumped against the boles of the trees while their leaders made their plans. "Take earth shake to be waking them. "

  Sladge knew his companion was right. They had been searching for the travelers for days with very little rest. At the moment they were running on push time, he called it, understanding but not knowing any other way to describe the nervous energy that came from pushing the body past ordinary limits. Still, he knew they had to use that energy or lose it to fatigue.

  "Creep quiet down hill, " Sladge instructed. "Be close, must see which is hoof-feeted before kill the rest. " He waited for Brudge to pass the word to the others and then led the way. His sneak attack might have succeeded if his own fatigue had not caused him to step on a lose rock. He slid twenty feet, snapping twigs off bushes and causing a small rock slide.

  Chapter 30

  My Uncle Trapspringer did admit that his journey with the little wizard, the gully dwarves, and the merchesti was interesting…

  "Wheel say somebody comes!"

  The gully dwarf's warning brought Trap out of a deep sleep straight to his feet. Ripple was just as quick, her whippik in her hand.

  Umpth slept with his ear against the rusty rim of the wheel, and as usual, he was the first to give the alarm.

  "What-what is it?" Halmarain asked, looking around. She had been on guard for the last few hours of the night, but she sat in a huddle, her head nodding as she napped.

  "Wheel say somebody comes, " Umpth repeated.

  Halmarain glared at the gully dwarf and rose, looking around. "Who is it?" she asked. "And where is Trap?"

  "He put on Orander's ring of invisibility, " Ripple said, scrounging in her pouch with her left hand while she held her whippik in the other.

  Meanwhile Trap, unseen by the others, had walked away from the fire. At first he heard nothing, then from high on the hillside to the north, he caught the hiss of a whispered sibilant. He slipped away from camp and up the hill. In the darkness he passed the humanoids, and would have missed them completely, but the bugbear bringing up the end of the line stubbed his toe on a rock and staggered
into a tree, snapping a branch.

  "Oh-ho!" Trap murmured. "Sneak up on us, will you?" He hurried down the slope until he was pacing the last humanoid. He took a grip on the metal-shod end of his hoopak and thrust the forked end between the knees of the bugbear. The humanoid gave a howl and tumbled down the hill, bowling over four hobgoblins and three more bugbears. In an effort to stop themselves from falling, they grabbed at each other.

  The would-be ambushers rolled down the hill taking the steepest path, which was a dry watercourse. They rolled over rocks and boulders as they went. As the watercourse angled, they tumbled down the southern side of the small hill's spur, downstream from the camp.

  Trap dashed after them, fascinated by the combination of legs, arms, and weapons sticking out of the ball of tangled bugbears and hobgoblins. He discovered he was too interested when he tripped over a tree root and went flying over a steep incline. He landed on the huddle of tangled bodies.

  The reaching hand of a bugbear grabbed the back of his vest and the kender found himself rolling with the rest. Most of his attention was taken up with his own progress, but he did hear the clang of a metal helmet. It sounded as if some head had struck a rock.

  Being part of a ball was a new experience, but when the tangle rolled over, he found himself on the bottom. The bangs, bruises, and the weight of the large humanoids were uncomfortable and not fun at all. Luckily when the tumble reached the bottom of the incline, the kender was near the top. The bugbear released his hold on the ken-der's vest and he quickly rolled away. Others were struggling to their feet, though one bugbear and two hobgoblins lay where they had stopped. One of the larger humanoids had a badly dented helmet.

  The others were half stunned and staggered about. They had reached the bottom of the incline, only three paces from the creek, but around a bend in the stream and were out of sight of the camp. Stunned and seemingly unaware of where they were, they were no immediate threat to the adventurers. Trap, bruised and battered but not really injured, shook himself and staggered toward the four bugbears who had not been caught in the fall. They too were off course, searching for their stray companions.

  The ring's spell of invisibility still held, so he had no fear of getting close to them. First he walked in the footsteps of the last in line, then stepped up between the last two. They were whispering to each other, talking right over his head.

  Trap decided it was fun, being able to sneak up on people without their knowing he was there. It would be more fun if he understood their speech, but even if he couldn't he liked being where he was. He was looking up at the huge creature beside him when he slid on a stone and nearly lost his balance. His right arm shot out as he flailed to keep from falling and the sharp, steel tipped point of his hoopak jabbed one of the first two in the back.

  The big humanoid turned and snarled at the bugbear who followed him. He was answered in a tone of surprise and denial. Trap grinned, walked quietly for a few steps, and poked the bugbear in the buttocks. The big goblin-kin snarled again, but he didn't turn around. The third time, Trap jabbed harder and then skipped out of the way as his victim turned on his companion.

  The enraged bugbear howled in rage and knocked his companion down. The surprised follower barked out a string of oaths and kicked at the first. Their angry shouts echoed through the hills. The two others, angry that their surprise attack had failed, turned on the two fighters and clouted them with the butts of their spears.

  The kender skipped on ahead and reached the camp. Ripple had been busy. She and Grod had thrown the saddles on the ponies. She had tightened the saddle girths on three while Halmarain and Umpth kept watch.

  "I've slowed them, but they're coming, " Trap whispered to Ripple, who jumped and skittered away from the disembodied voice. Still, she was not one to squeak and squeal.

  "You're wearing one of Orander's rings, " she said. "I wish I knew what to do with mine. "

  "Put it on and see what happens, " he suggested as he took a quick look over his shoulder. Since the attackers weren't yet in sight, he tightened two of the cinches while Ripple finished with the sixth. Trap looked around for the little fiend. If they could get him into his saddle, they might have a chance to flee the humanoids.

  "I don't see Beglug, " he said, peering into the shadows.

  "Where is he?" Halmarain demanded.

  The little fiend had disappeared.

  "Beglug gone?" Umpth asked, looking around, his dirty face twisted with concern.

  "Maybe the wheel can find him, " Halmarain snapped. Then her voice softened. "It's my fault. I couldn't saddle the ponies; I should have been watching him. "

  "You were watching for an attack, " Ripple said, always ready with sympathy and understanding.

  "No one can do everything, " Trap said. "We'll just have to find him, but in the meantime, we'll have to stay here. Maybe he'll come back. "

  "Go find Beglug now, " Umpth said, his ear to the metal rim of the wheel. "Big feet come. "

  "The bugbears, " Trap said, taking a good grip on his hoopak. He reached in his pouch where he kept his slinging stones. He wanted one of the flame balls he had picked up in Deepdel. They should have been easy to find, he reasoned, since he had wrapped them in his extra shirt, but the round stones from the river had worked their way to the bottom of the pouch and in the darkness he could not tell one from the other.

  Since they could not run away and leave the little merchesti behind, they led the ponies up the western side of the hill behind them and stood their ground on the forested slope just above the campfire. Three large trees separated them from the clear area around the campsite. No one made a decision or gave an order, it just seemed the thing to do.

  On the opposite slope they heard snarls and muttered orders as the group of humanoids regrouped for their attack. A howl and a growled order suggested the leader was having trouble with his troops.

  Grod announced his intention to find Beglug and disappeared up the hillside. Umpth, his expression full of fear, dashed back and forth from the campsite to the ponies, bringing the packs and the bedding they had not had time to load onto the pack pony. No one warned him that in his desire to gather up their possessions, he was pointing the way to where the others hid. By the time he finished his trotting, the ponies were loaded. If they could locate the other gully dwarf and the little fiend, they could escape.

  "Go find Beglug?" Umpth suggested in a frightened voice. He threw a timid glance over his shoulder. "All go find Beglug. "

  "We can't be running around in the woods in the dark, " Halmarain said. "Our only chance is to stay together, though I can't think what we can do against bugbears. " Her voice trembled, but she stood ready.

  "See if you can remember a spell, " Ripple suggested to Halmarain. "Maybe if you decide on one before they attack, you can use your magic. "

  "I'm trying, " the little wizard whispered and muttered under her breath. She squeaked slightly as they saw movement under the trees on the other side of the stream. The dozen large humanoids stepped out into the moonlight across the stream from the campfire. They had not seen the four travelers beneath the shadows of the trees on the hillside, nor the ponies tethered further up the slope.

  "Now it wears out, " Trap muttered in disgust as he discovered he was visible again. "If we ever see Orander again, I'm going to speak to him about his magic. " He took off the ring and stored it back in his pouch, feeling for the second one.

  "I wish this ring had some magic, " Ripple said, holding up her hand for him to see she was wearing the ring she had taken from Orander's chest. "I wish it would make me twice as large as a bugbear and then they'd see something-oops!"

  Branches snapped as Ripple shot up to nearly fifteen feet in height.

  "Wow! Big jiggies! How did you do that?" her brother asked, stepping quickly away from the enlarging feet of his sister. "Can you make me big too?"

  "I don't know how I did it, " she said as she stepped away from the confining tree limbs. As she pushed one aside, the
y heard a squall of fear. Ripple looked up, reached out and plucked Beglug out of the tree. When she lowered him to the ground, he looked around with sleepy eyes and yawned widely.

  "If Grod were here we could… " Trap had intended to say "leave, " but there was no point. Their talk, the noise of Ripple's growth, and Beglug's howl of fright had drawn the bugbears. They had not seen Ripple, since she was still hidden from them by the leaves of the tall trees.

  The largest of the bugbears charged toward the trees, but after three steps he stopped, roared at the others, and let them pass him by. He followed close behind, whacking two bugbears whose pace had slowed. They splashed through the stream, passed the dying campfire, and started up the slope.

  Ripple pushed past the concealing trees and stepped into the open to meet the first two attackers. The human-oids skidded to a stop and stared up at her. Both were bugbears, seven feet tall and used to thinking of themselves as the largest and most fierce creatures in the world. They stood staring, their low foreheads wrinkled in confusion, their tall, pointed ears twitching.

  "Hello, " Ripple said as she reached out and grabbed the nearest by the arm and slung him back on his companions.

  "I'm glad you came to visit, " she caught the second's spear which he pointed at her as he tried to back away. His own grip on his weapon jerked him forward.

  "Let's play a game. "

  She caught him up by the shoulder and slammed him into three others, knocking all four back into the stream.

  Trap had found the second of the two rings he had taken from Orander's treasure chest. He slipped it on his finger, drew a stone from his pouch and fitted it into the sling of his hoopak. He caught sight of the largest bugbear who had slipped out from behind the rest of the retreating group. The humanoid used the night shadows to slip around behind Ripple.