"I'll try to remember that."
The high priest turned away from them.
As they were taken from the audience chamber, Ganth muttered, "I can't believe what's become of that lad! He's turned into a foul creature, he has!"
"What're you talking about?" asked Kaz, only partly paying attention. He had been thinking that despite their predicament, this was still an opportunity. Hecar would be in the circus also. This would be a chance to speak to him. Kaz knew the circus well, including the underground passages and gates. Once they located Hecar, he could see a possibility of the three of them escaping. Honor's Face would prove invaluable there. Scurn might have it for now, but it would turn up when Kaz needed it. It always did.
"It's him! Jopfer!" Ganth hissed. "He sailed on Gladiator when Hecar did, then went to work for a member of the circle. He was a studious boy who should've been seated in the circle by now. How, by old Sargas, did he come to be the high priest… and why does he act as if he doesn't know us?"
"Jopfer?" Slowly the name brought recognition. That was why the high priest seemed familiar. Kaz had a memory for faces, even ones he had seen only once, but that had been years ago and Jopfer was much older now. "He was one of Hecar's best friends, once." Hands shoved both of them forward. "Pick up the pace and stop talking!"
Kaz grunted, wishing his hands were untied. To Ganth, he finally muttered, "Well he's not one now."
With some concern, the high priest watched the two prisoners depart. Kaziganthi was a minotaur of impressive personality, the type that could be a great asset to his plans if only it were possible to make the prisoner see that his best hopes lay in cooperation, not defiance. A minotaur like this one, however, would be hard to break, much less bend. The techniques that could have been employed would leave him a shell. Someone like Kaziganthi would grow only more stubborn under torture. The high priest knew that. He had spent lifetimes studying the race.
No, Kaziganthi and his equally recalcitrant sire were best left to the circus for the time being. If, in the end, the former could not be convinced to join, not even for the sake of his companions, then the master cleric would see to it that their deaths would make them sterling examples of what happened to those who defied the destiny he had worked so long to impress upon the minds of his children. Their deaths would spell the end of Kaziganthi's settlement. There would be no more desertions. The plan he had worked on for so long, first for her, and now, astonishingly enough, for himself, had to proceed. There would be a master of Krynn, and it would be he.
I will let neither a rebellious minotaur… nor a potentially volatile infant… destroy what I have worked centuries to build, he thought. The minotaur will die in the arena if necessary, and the female… my female… will remain my permanent guest. So it will be.
Thinking of the other, the one who was most important to his continued existence, the high priest decided it was time to visit again his secret guest. If the fools who followed his commands only knew what she was, they would have fled from the citadel in outright fear. Fortunately, even she did not truly understand the truth.
By the time she did, she would be his puppet. By then, Kaziganthi de-Orilg would also be his to control… or dead and burned, a memory of ashes soon to fade from the minds of his children.
However, there was one matter with which the hooded cleric still had to deal. He reached to his side and pulled an almost invisible cord. A few moments later, one of his chief acolytes appeared.
"Yes, Holiness?"
"Tell the emperor I wish to see him… now."
"Yes, Holiness."
The high priest ignored the acolyte's departure; his thoughts returned to the future. His future.
I will not let this opportunity escape me. The world is ripe for my picking… and the minotaur, if he will not obey, is expendable in the end.
Chapter 8
Helati carried the infants outside and stared in the direction in which Kaz had ridden off so many days ago. She knew he would not suddenly come riding up to her, but the desire to see him was so strong that she could not help but continue to wait and hope. The twins were unusually quiet, as if they, too, watched for their father's return.
"Not back yet, is he?"
She had been so preoccupied that she had not even heard the newcomer. Turning, Helati shook her head and replied, "No, Brogan, but it's much too early. You know how long it takes to reach the empire, much less Nethosak. He will have just entered the city by this time."
"Which doesn't make us any less concerned about him." Brogan walked up next to her and leaned forward. His voice was steady. "Just say the word, Helati, and I'll gather the others. We'll ride to Nethosak and help him."
"I can't do that, because he wouldn't want me to do that. Kaz works best with little assistance from others."
"Then what about that kender? I still can't believe you'd tell that little thief where he is but not let us follow! What aid can one of those creatures give a minotaur?"
The twins began acting up. Helati hushed them. "You don't really know Delbin or you wouldn't ask that. He's a kender, true, but he's come to Kaz's rescue more than once."
Brogan snorted. "I find that hard to believe."
The conversation died abruptly as the sound of hoof-beats made both look up. Helati's heart pounded, but her wild hope that it was Kaz and her brother faded as she saw that the riders were unfamiliar. There were two, yes, but one was a male and the other a female. New additions to their community, they had a look to them she had come to recognize.
"May your ancestors watch over you," Helati said, approaching.
"And yours, you," replied the male. He glanced briefly at Brogan, then returned his gaze to Helati. "I am Zurgas, and this is my mate, Keeli. Is this the clan Kaziganthi? We were told we could find others like us here. Others… who have tired of the old ways."
Clan Kaziganthi. Helati glanced at Brogan, who, despite their conversation, could not repress a smile. Kaz's fame had grown more than either of them had realized if the settlement was already being called by such a title among the people.
"This is the place, friends," Brogan replied, "and you're welcome here."
The two riders looked relieved, but Helati, despite her forced smile, was not. If these minotaurs had come to call the settlement the clan of Kaziganthi, then so did others.
Soon, if not already, the emperor's people would hear of this new clan, one that did not acknowledge the power of the emperor, the circle, or the high priest.
What would happen if they heard of this while Kaz was still in Nethosak?
It was not until the next day that Kaz was reunited with Hecar.
An older minotaur with half his teeth missing chuckled as they were led into the prison section of the circus. He eyed Kaz with great joy.
"I heard they had you in their clutches! By Sargas! It'll be good to see you in the circus again, even if it's for a short time!"
"What's that, Molus?" asked one of the guards, curious at the jailer's remark. "Who's this supposed to be?"
"You're young. You would've been a child. This is Kaziganthi, of the clan Orilg!"
"I know who he is."
Molus shook his head. "You know a name. This is Kaz the Undefeatable! He fought his way to the rank of Supreme Champion! He was the greatest gladiator in all the empire! There's been none like him since!"