“Do you think they’ll attack?” he asked eagerly. “I’ve never seen an actual siege, though maybe it won’t be a very long one, since there are so few-”
“You up there! Kaz, is that you?”
“The Grand Master!” Ferril whispered reverently.
“Yes, Lord Oswal.” Kaz shushed the kender, who had been about to speak again.
“Can you see the riders?”
‘They’ll be with us before long.”
“How many?”
Kaz looked at Ferril. “Somewhere between a hundred and two hundred. We can’t make them out any better.”
There was a pause as the Grand Master evidently digested this information. He was determined to be in command.
“You four will have to protect the gates alone, I’m afraid,” the elder knight decided.
“I’ll help real good, Grand Master,” Delbin began.
Instead of the consternation that the minotaur expected, the Grand Master chuckled. After a moment, Oswal said, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t laugh. Three knights, a minotaur, and a kender guarding the front gates of Vingaard Keep! A kender guarding Vingaard Keep from possible invasion! No offense is meant, Delbin, but I never thought to see the day!”
“I’ll be a good fighter, honest!”
“I’m certain you will.” To the defenders as a whole, he added, “Call out the moment you know whether they are friend or foe. May Paladine and his sons watch over you.” Lord Oswal turned and departed, undoubtedly to rally his few other stalwarts.
“How does he keep going?” muttered Kaz.
“He is the Grand Master,” Ferril answered simply, as if that explained everything.
Before very long, the newcomers were near enough to make out. The men were obviously armored well, but in the dim moonlight, it was still impossible to tell anything specific about their appearance. Kaz glanced up at Solinari. Over a third of the moon was gone, as if eaten up. Slowly it dawned on Kaz that another body was overwhelming Solinari. It was a moon that represented the darkness within men and other races-Nuitari, the black moon, whose presence, overshadowing its bright rival, could not be a good omen.
“There are sure a lot of them, Kaz.”
“I know, Delbin.”
“They’ve got banners and lances and everything.”
“We’d better pray they’re friends, then.”
The riders slowed a few hundred yards from Vingaard. A small group, maybe five or six, started forward.
“They’re Solamnic Knights, Kaz.”
“Let’s let them talk first.”
“Who guards the gates up there? I see someone!” the apparent leader shouted.
Kaz stiffened. Relief that these were true Solamnic Knights and not marauders in disguise washed over him, tempered a bit, however, by his personal feelings concerning the knight who had spoken.
Ferril responded to the call. “I am in charge of the gates!”
“Why did you not respond to our horn?”
“Ours cannot be located, milord, and the situation here has not warranted time for a thorough look.”
The company leader’s voice softened. “The Grand Master… how fares he?”
“All things considered, well, milord.” Ferril continued.
“Forgive me, but I must ask you to identify yourselves before we dare open the gates.”
“Understandable. Know that I am Bennett, Lord of the Order of the Rose, nephew to Oswal, Grand Master of the knighthood. I have with me some two hundred fellow knights. How-how fares Vingaard Keep, man? Are there still enemies that must be rooted out?”
Kaz chose to call out before the sentry could respond. “Vingaard Keep struggles back to normality, Bennett, which does not mean that all of its enemies were mere figments.”
Bennett stood in his saddle and peered up. Kaz was standing too far away from the nearest torch to be made out clearly. “Who is that? Your voice sounds familiar! What order do you belong to?”
“The order of survival, human. I’m not one of you, but you know me just the same.” Kaz shifted over so he was visible.
“A minotaur!” the man next to Bennett shouted. More than one man unsheathed his sword. “Vingaard is in the hands of the enemy!”
“Be still!” Bennett commanded sharply. To Kaz, he said, “I do not think you are part of an enemy force. I think you are a minotaur with definite suicidal tendencies, else why would you have come where you were supposedly wanted for crimes-eh, Kaz?”
The minotaur laughed grimly. “Call me an optimist.”
This time, it was Bennett who chuckled. “You have nothing to fear, Kaz, not from me or anyone here.”
“Milord!” Ferril saluted and leaned back to call down to the knight standing by the gates. “Open the gates for the Lord of the Order of the Rose!”
While the gates were unbolted and opened, Oswal’s nephew signaled back to his men. The column slowly began to move forward. There were scattered, tired cheers from some of the returning band.
Kaz glanced at Delbin, who was watching the parade of armored figures with delight. While the kender was thus occupied, the minotaur descended from the wall to meet Bennett.
Some of the men were milling around on their horses, staring at the long-neglected interior of the keep with mild shock.
“A word with you, human,” Kaz called.
A look of annoyance briefly flashed across Bennett’s face before he succeeded in controlling himself. “There will be time to speak later, Kaz. Right now, I would speak to my uncle. We have much to discuss.”
“Then I’ll come with you. I can fill you in on some of it.”
“As you please.”
Bennett dismounted and handed the reins of his horse to another knight. Kaz began almost immediately to relate what he knew, going through the madness and illusions, the meeting with Argaen Ravenshadow and the subsequent betrayal of his party, Lord Oswal’s struggle, and the destruction of the vaults and much of the keep as the dark elf made good his escape. By the time he was through, Bennett was shaking his head.
“Paladine preserve us! I cannot fathom all you have said, minotaur, and I know there must be much more that my uncle can tell me.”
“I’d hoped that you’d sighted his pet on your way here, since he headed in the general direction of south.”
“Leave this to the knighthood, minotaur. We owe Argaen Ravenshadow for these past few years of manipulation and deceit.”
“I owe him, too. He made a fool of me and nearly succeeded in poisoning me. Through me, he gained access to his prize. I want that elf!”
Bennett turned to face him. “The knighthood will deal with him! He owes us for lives! He owes for disgracing us-”
“I see no reason why you two cannot pursue him together,” a voice called out. “I think that might be best for all concerned.”
“Uncle… milord!” Bennett immediately knelt before the elder knight. “Glad I am to see that you are fit!”
“A sham, nephew. I am in fact ready to teeter over, but no one will give me time. Praise be that Paladine chose to make me a cleric as well as a knight, for I doubt I would still be standing if not for his power.”
“You are the foundation of the orders, uncle.”
“And you are still the eager young squire, Bennett.” Lord Oswal bade his nephew to rise. “The two of you should not argue. Kaz, you will need the might of Solamnia behind you. I do not doubt that the dark elf will be found in some dire region. As for you, nephew, respect the knowledge and honor of this minotaur. Huma called him friend. I do now. Learn from his experience. In many ways, Kaz knows more than I.”
“I find that impossible to believe, milord, but I shall do as you say.”
“Fine. What about you, Kaz?”
“You have my word. Argaen Ravenshadow is my goal. I’ve sworn that I’ll hunt him down if I have to travel beyond the ice in the south.”
The Grand Master smiled sourly. “Let us hope it does not come to that.”
‘This is all a bit pointless,” Bennett remarked in exasperation. He looked from his uncle to the minotaur. “I have been told that the magic thief flew south. But where in the south? Surely not Silvanesti or Qualinesti! Ergoth? Kharolis? Where?”