"I cannot fight you-according to the Measure-but I do not have to listen to you insult a woman who is as good as she is courageous;' Sturm said, turning upon his heel to leave.
"Don't you ever walk away From me!" Derek cried. Leaping forward, he grabbed Sturm's shoulder. Sturm whirled in anger, his hand on his sword. Derek reached for his weapon as well, and it seemed for a moment that the Measure might be forgotten. But Flint laid a restraining hand oar his friend. Sturm drew a deep breath arid lifted this hand away from the hilt.
"Say what you have to say, Derek!" Sturm's voice quivered,
"You're finished, Brightblade. Tomorrow I'm leading knights onto the field. No more skulking in this miserable r prison. By tomorrow night, my name will be legend!'
Flint looked up at Sturm in alarm. The knight's face drained of blood. "Derek;' Sturm said softly; "you're There are thousands of them! They'll cut you to ribbonst"
"Yes, that's what you'd like to see, isn't it?" Deaek snee 'Be ready at dawn, Brightblade:'
That eight, TasslehofE-cold, hungry, ands boreal-deci that the beak way to take his mind off his stomach was explore his surroundings. There are plenty of places to things here, thought Tas. This is one of the strangest bull I've ever sees.
The Torwer of the High Clerist sat =o:idly .against the west I• of the tNestgate Pass, the Dnly canyon pass, that crossed; Habbakuk Flange of mountains separating eastern Sole , from Pa]anthas. As the Dragon Hig~alord knew, anyone to reach Pal anthaa other than by this route would have vet hundreds of miles around the mountains, or Ehro deser:, ar by sea. And ships entering the Gates of Pal.adiare' easy targets for the gnomes' fire-throwing catapults.
The High. Clerist's Tavrea had beer. built during the ?Wok. Flint knew a lot .about the archi.=ecture of this
35'~
the dwarves having been instrumental in designing and building most of it. But they had not built ar designed this Tower. In fact, Flint wondered who had--figuring the person must have beenreither drunk or insane.
An outer curtain wall of stale formed an octagon as the Tower's base. Each point of the octagonal wall was surmounted by a turret. Battlements ran along the top of the curtain wall between turrets. A inner octagonal wall formed the base of a series of towers and buttresses tha t swept gracefully upward to the central Tower itself.
This was fairly standard design, but what puzzled the dwarf was the lack of internal defense points.. Three great steel doers breached the outer wall, instead of one door-as would seem most reasonable, since three doors took an incredible number of men to defend. Each door opened into a narrow courtyard at the far end of which stood a partcullia leading directly into a huge hallway. Each of these three h.a]]way^s met in the heart of the Tower itself!
"Might as well invite the enemy inside for tea!'` the dwarf had
grumbled. "Stupidest way to build a fortress I ever says;.^•
No one entered the Tower. To. the knights, it was i~a.G-i.olate.
The only one who could enter the Tower was the High Clerist t
himself, and since there was no High Clerist, the knig)4t.s would
defend the Tower walls with their lives, but not one of them could set foot in its sacred halls.
Originally the Tower had merely guarded the pass, not
blocked it. But the Palanthians had later built an addition to
the main structure that sealed off tl~:e pass, It was in this addition that the knights and the footmen were living- No one even thought of entering the Tower itself.
No one except Tasslehoff.
Driven by his insatiable curiosit~r and his gnawing hunger, the kender made his way along the to
knights on guard duty eyed him p of the outer wall. The
one hand, their wari .IX 'gripping their swards
purses in the atiher„ Hut they relaxed' ass soon theas he passed, and Tas was able to. slip down the steps into the central courtyard. only shadows walked down here. The torches burned, no guard was posted. Broad steps le.d up to 6e steel portcullis Tas padded up the stairs toward the great yawning archway and peered eagerly through the bars. Nothing. He sighed. The darkness beyond was so intense he might have been staring into the Abyss itself.
Frustrated, he pushed up on the portcullis-more out of habit than hope, for only Caramon or ten knights would have the strength necessary to raise it.
To the kender's astonishment, the portcullis began to rise, making the most god-awful screeching! Grabbing for it, Tas dragged it slowly to a halt. The kender looked fearfully up at the battlements, expecting to see the entire garrison thundering .,' down to capture him. But apparently the knights were listening only to the growlings of their empty stomachs.
Tas turned back to the portcullis. There was a small space open between the sharp iron spikes and the stone workspace just big enough for a kender. Tas didn't waste any time or stop to consider the consequences. Flattening himself, he wriggled beneath the spikes.
He found himself in a large, wide hall-nearly fifty feet across. He could see just a short distance. There were of torches on the wall, however. After a few jumps, Tas reach one and lit it from Flint's tinder box he found in his pouch.
Now Tas could see the gigantic hall clearly. It ran strai ahead, right into the heart of the Tower. Strange c0Iru ' ranged along either side, like jagged teeth. Peering behind o he sale nothing but an alcove.
The hall itself was empty. Disappointed, Tas continued w ing down it, hoping to find something interesting. He came second portcullis, already raised, much to his chagrin. " thing easy is more trouble than it's worth;' was am old ke saying. Tas walked beneat:n that portcullis into a second way, narrower than the first-only about ten feet widewith the same strange-, toothlike columns on either side.
Why build a tower s,o easy to enter? Tas wondered.
outer wall was formidable, but once past that, five dwarves could take this place. Tas peered up. And w h''I hugO The main hall was thirty feet high!
Perhaps the knights back in. those days had been giants,kendEr speculated with irteTest as he crept down the hall, , ing into open doors and pakiing into corners.
At the -end of the se:orrd hallway, he found a third port ,
This one was different from the other two, and as strange as the rest of the Tower. This portcullis had two halves, which slid together to join in the center. Oddest of all, there was a large hole cut right through the middle of the doors!
Crawling through this hole, Tas found himself in a smaller
room. Across from him stood two huge steel doors. Pushing on them casually, he was startled to find them locked. None of the
portcullises had been locked. There was nothing to protect.
Well, at least here was something to keep him occupied and
make him forget about his empty stomach. Climbing onto a stone bench, Tas stuck his torch into a wall sconce, then began to fumble through his pouches. He Finally discovered the set of lock-picking devices that are a kenders birthright-I% insult the door's purpose by locking it?" is a favorite kender expression.
Quickly Tas selected the proper tool and set to work. The lock was simple. There was a slight click, and Tas pocketed his
tools with satisfaction as the door swung inward. The kender stood a moment, listening carefully. He could hear nothing. Peering inside, he could see nothing. Climbing up on the bench again, he retrieved his torch and crept carefully through the steel doors.
Holding his torch aloft, he found himself in a great, wide, circular room. Tas sighed. The great room was empty except for a dust-covered object that resembled .an ancient fountain
standing squarely in the center. This was the end of the corridor, too, for though there were tyro more sets of double doors leading out of the room, it was obvious to the kender that they