“So much is changing in the world, perhaps the hearts of the dwarves have changed as well,” Tanis suggested.
Flint gave an explosive snort and went off to finish his packing, leaving Tanis to try to placate an extremely disappointed kender.
“Please, please, please let me go, Tanis!” Tasslehoff begged. He sat on a chair—the same chair to which he had recently been tied—and kicked his feet against the legs. “It’s only fair, you know. After all, you’re using one of my very best maps.”
“You along!” Flint rumbled from the other side of the cave. “We’d be shut out for the next three hundred years. The dwarves would never let a kender beneath the mountain.”
“I think they would,” Tas said eagerly. “Dwarves and kender are related, after all.”
“We are not!” Flint roared.
“We are so,” Tas argued. “First there were gnomes, then there was the Graygem and the gnomes tried to catch it, and something happened—I forget what—and Reorx changed some of the gnomes into dwarves and some into kender, so you see, we’re first cousins, Flint.” The dwarf began to sputter.
“Why don’t you wait for me outside?” Tanis said to the dwarf.
Flint glared at Tas then picked up his pack and stomped out.
“Please, Tanis,” Tas begged, looking up at him with pleading eyes. “You know you need me to keep you out of trouble.”
“I need you here much more, Tas,” said Tanis.
Tasslehoff shook his head glumly. “You’re just saying that.”
“With Sturm, Caramon, and Raistlin gone, and Flint and I gone, who’s going to look after Tika? And Laurana? And Riverwind and Goldmoon?”
Tas thought this over. “Riverwind has Goldmoon. Laurana’s got Elistan… What’s the matter, Tanis? Does your stomach hurt?”
“No, my stomach doesn’t hurt,” Tanis said irritably. He didn’t know why any mention of Laurana and Elistan should suddenly put him in a bad humor. What they did was none of his concern.
“It’s just you made the kind of face people make when their stomach hurts—”
“My stomach doesn’t hurt!” Tanis said.
“That’s good,” Tas remarked. “Nothing’s worse than a stomach ache when you’re starting on a long journey. You’re right. Tika doesn’t have anyone since Caramon’s gone. I’ll stay to take care of her.”
“Thank you, Tas,” said Tanis. “That’s a burden off my mind.”
“I’d better go be with her right now,” Tas added, charmed with his new responsibility. “She might be in danger.”
Actually, the kender was the one who was in danger. Tika never woke before noon if she could help it, and dawn was only just now breaking. Tanis didn’t like to think what would happen to poor Tas when he barged in on her at this time of day.
Tanis found Riverwind and Goldmoon waiting for him. She greeted him with a gentle kiss.
“I will ask the gods to walk with you, Tanis,” she said to him, adding with a mischievous smile, “whether you want them to or not.”
Tanis gave a somewhat sheepish grin and scratched his beard. He didn’t know what to say, and to change the subject, he turned to Riverwind.
“Thank you for accepting this charge, my friend,” Tanis told him. “I know the decision was not an easy one, nor will your task be easy, I’m afraid. You know what you must do, where you must go if the valley is attacked?”
“I know.” Riverwind’s expression was dark, though he said quietly, “The gods are with us. Hopefully such an attack will not happen.”
The gods are with Verminaard more than us, Tanis thought wryly. They brought him back to life. He merely nodded, however, and shaking Riverwind’s hand, Tanis reminded him once more of the location of the meeting place they agreed upon—a village of gully dwarves at the very foot of the mountain where Flint said the legendary gate to Thorbardin could be found. Flint had reluctantly, and only after much persuasion, revealed the presence of the village. He refused to say how he knew about it, but Tanis suspected that this was where the old dwarf had been captured by gully dwarves a few years before and imprisoned, the details of which harrowing ordeal Flint never discussed.
Riverwind indicated a rolled-up map tucked in his belt. He had drawn the map last night in consultation with Flint and one of Tasslehoff’s maps.
“I know where the village is located,” said Riverwind. “It is on the other side of the mountains, and as of now, we have no way of crossing those mountains.”
“There’s a pass,” Flint said stolidly.
“You keep saying that, but my people have scouted the area and they can’t find any sign of one.”
“Are your people dwarves? When they are, come talk to me,” Flint grunted. He carried both a battle-axe and a pick-axe in a harness on his back. He adjusted these more comfortably then glowered at Tanis. “If we’re going, we should be going, not standing around here palavering.”
“We’ll be off, then. We’ll blaze a trail for you to follow if you have to. I hope you—” He halted in mid sentence, a shiver of fear clenching his gut. His flesh crawled, and the hair on the back of his neck prickled. The old wives would have said someone was walking across his grave. Goldmoon had gone pale and Riverwind’s breath came fast, his hands clenched. Flint whipped out his axe, searching for the foe, but the feeling passed, and no enemy appeared.
“Dragons,” said Flint grimly.
“They are up there,” Goldmoon said, shivering and hugging her cloak close around her, “watching us.”
Riverwind stood with his head tilted back, searching the skies. Tanis joined him, but neither could see anything in the pale blue dawn. Both looked at each other and acknowledged the truth.
“Whether we see them or not, they’re up there. Make the people ready, Riverwind. If trouble does come, you won’t have much time to escape.”
Tanis stood a moment more, searching for some word of hope or comfort. He couldn’t find any to give. Hefting his pack, he and the dwarf started off down the path.
Flint paused to shout back over his shoulder. “Bring pick-axes!”
“Pick-axes!” Riverwind repeated, frowning. “Does he mean for us to hack our way through the mountains? I don’t like this. I begin to think I made the wrong decision. Our people should have gone off on their own.”
“Your reasons for making this decision were sound, my husband. Not even the Que-Kiri warriors challenged you when you told them your decision. They are sensible enough to realize that there is safety in numbers. Do not start second guessing yourself. The chieftain who looks behind while he walks forward will stumble and fall. That is what my father always said.”
“Damn your father!” Riverwind said angrily. “His decisions were not always right! He was the one who ordered the people to stone me, or have you forgotten that, Chieftain’s Daughter?” He stalked off, leaving Goldmoon to stare after him in astonishment.
“He didn’t mean it,” said Laurana, coming up the hillside to stand beside her. “Sorry, I couldn’t help overhearing. He is worried, that is all. He bears a great responsibility.”
“1 know.” Goldmoon sighed bleakly. “I am no help, I fear. He is right. I should not keep comparing him to my father. I meant to offer advice; that is all. My father was a wise man and a good chief. He made a mistake, but it was because he did not understand.” She looked after her husband and sighed again. “I love him so much, yet it seems I hurt him more than I would hurt my worst enemy.”
“Love gives us a power to hurt that hate cannot match,” Laurana said softly. She looked after Flint and Tanis, who were shapeless forms in the gray dawn, descending into the valley.