Crossing his arms, Delbin, trying to look firm, replied, "I'm not going back. I want to go with you."
"Oh, you're going to come with me, all right. I don't really have a choice now. Any time wasted means Hecar might die… if he isn't dead already. You should've kept going south, but now that you're with me, understand this. Don't stray. Obey every command I give you, even if it seems demeaning or confusing. You're going to act as my slave as long as we're in the kingdoms. I'll have to treat you like one. It's your only chance of coming out of this in one living piece. You understand that, Delbin?"
The kender was undaunted. "I understand… and I'm not afraid. Not with you by me, Kaz."
Kaz released an audible sigh. "You've got too much faith in me… or did your man in gray tell you something else?"
"No, he didn't say anything else in the dream."
"Did you dream about him while you were riding south? Is that why you came back after me?"
"I only dreamt about him once." Delbin seemed sincerely perplexed.
"You didn't see him during the storm?"
"No, Kaz."
The minotaur gave up. "All right. Mount up. I'll lead the horse a little while until the trail gets better, then we'll ride together for a time. Remember what I said. We may start running across my people, especially an outland patrol or something."
"I'll do good, Kaz. You'll see."
"You'll have to."
The sky never completely cleared, but no additional rain fell. The good weather stayed with them the entire day and the next two as well, by which time they had reached the empire's southernmost border. They were fortunate, at least as far as Kaz was concerned, not to meet anyone else, but that changed as soon as the pair, both mounted, entered the first border pass. A party approached in the opposite direction. Kaz quickly made Delbin dismount. He then looped a noose he had made earlier over the kender's head, tightening it just enough for appearances.
"Looks like a patrol, Delbin. You know what we discussed. Stay quiet and act frightened and obedient. Pretend you've been walking for a while."
"Okay, Kaz." Neither the kender's giggle nor his smile bolstered Kaz's confidence.
They were spotted moments later. The other party immediately turned toward them, cutting them off. The newcomers were indeed members of a patrol, one that had been out in the wilds for some time. The leader, an elder female with two fingers missing from her right hand, called for the two to halt.
"Who're you and what are you doing coming up through this passage?"
"My name's Edder of the clan Mascun." Mascun was an obscure clan that Kaz knew about only because one of his close comrades, during the years he had fought as a slave-soldier, belonged to it. Edder had been a competent warrior whose lack of originality had finally gotten him run through by a Solamnic lancer. No one, not even a minotaur, ought to stand fast when a trained knight on a war-horse came barreling toward him with a long, sturdy lance aimed for his chest. In his excitement, Edder had forgotten that critical bit of common sense.
The female seemed satisfied with his answer, but frowned at Kaz's companion. With her mutilated hand she pointed at Delbin. "And what in the name of Sargas is that thing doing with you?"
"I caught him trying to steal food from my camp. He seemed fit enough, so I made him a deal. He serves me or he dies. He's found out it's safer to serve me. It is only proper. After all, we are destined to be the masters of all soon enough, aren't we?" Kaz looked meaningfully at the others. All of them had served as slave-soldiers. Becoming masters of slaves would certainly be to their liking if they were typical of the minotaurs he recalled from his own experience.
The other minotaurs nodded or muttered agreement. The female smiled. "Before long, maybe we'll all have one of those."
"A kender? Why bother?" snorted another. "Let's just wipe 'em all out. Let's wipe out all the lesser races! All of Krynn will belong to us then! We should start with this one here. The only good kender is a dead one, eh?"
More than one member of the patrol seemed to find this an agreeable thought. Kaz decided to cut off the notion before it could gain further support. "And do you feel like cleaning the streets or dumping the refuse? Scrubbing the docks clean? Why should we do that when there are lessers to do it for us! We're meant for battle and adventure, not demeaning tasks like that! If we are to be the masters of Krynn, then we must have menials to command."
"I like the thought of a few slaves of my own," agreed the patrol leader. "I spent all my life obeying humans and ogres who I could've squeezed to death with just this hand!" She held up the three-fingered hand for him to see, grinning. "I like that thought a lot."
"And it'll be soon, won't it, Telia?" called one of her comrades.
She nodded, her attention still fixed on Kaz. "But not soon enough for me, y'know?"
Kaz grinned back. "I'd sell you this one, but I think I've got him trained real nice. Maybe on my way back out… if I'm tired of him by then." Kaz urged the horse along. "May your ancestors guide you."
To his hidden relief, Telia replied, "And yours." She shook her head. "Watch that kender, though. Give me a human slave over one of those. I wouldn't trust a mischievous kender."
"He learned what happens when he disobeys." Kaz showed them the wound on the leg. "Come along!" he snarled at Delbin. "We've got a long way to go yet." The kender, mouth clamped, hurried to keep up.
"Mind you watch yourself, Edder," the patrol leader called. "The clerics have been touchy the past few weeks. They've had the guard clamp more than a few in irons for not cooperating. Do what they say and do it fast, and maybe you'll be all right."
"My thanks." He waved, then turned so that none of them could see his face. Whispering, Kaz said to Delbin, "You'll have to hold out until we're far enough so that they won't see us. Then I'll let you ride for a while. A couple more days, though, and we'll both have to walk most of the time. The trail winds."
The kender said nothing, but nodded ever so slightly. Kaz was impressed. Delbin was clever enough to know to keep his mouth shut, and trotted alongside the horse as if he could have done so all day.
They were troubled no more that day, though at one point they did see a trio of riders heading south. Kaz studied them from hiding. While he had nurtured the wild hope that one of them might be Hecar, none of them was. The riders stayed to another trail and soon were lost from sight. Kaz let Delbin ride a little, knowing he would soon have to make the kender walk almost all the time.
On the third day in the mountains, during their midday meal, Delbin looked around at the high peaks and said, with typical kender awe, "I've never seen mountains so high, Kaz!"
"They're among the highest."
"Were there ever dragons here?"
Kaz snorted. "Oh, there were dragons here, all right! Mostly blacks, reds, and blues. This was a favored ground of theirs during the war. More to the north, though. That's where the warlord Crynus kept the bulk of his army. Now there was a true monster, worse than any dragon. Remember what I told you about him?"
As Delbin nodded, Kaz recalled the story he had related to the kender. Until his death, Crynus, a human, had been the Dark Queen's favorite commander. Under his command, her forces had brought desolation to much of the northern and eastern parts of Ansalon. If not for Huma, Gwyneth the silver dragon, and Kaz himself, Crynus likely would have crushed the knighthood and brought Ansalon under his lady's sway. Huma, though, had cleaved the warlord's head from his body in an epic combat… then had been forced to find another way to kill him when that had not proven sufficient detriment.