"I don't know, but pray they quiet down and go away soon or we may not be able to try to escape. Even Honor's Face won't be enough to deal with all those soldiers."
An hour later, however, it was clear that the searchers were not going to leave for quite some time. Kaz fidgeted. He knew how much more difficult it would be to try to enable any of them to escape if they had to do so from the arena itself. But there seemed no choice.
So be it, then. I'll do what I can for them and die myself if need be. Kaz grimaced. And to think I swore I'd never let myself die in the circus, not for the pleasure of the emperor!
Kaz swore a new oath then, one in which he vowed to make certain that neither Polik nor Jopfer would find pleasure in his death.
The night continued to dwindle. Dawn had to be only two or three hours away. Kaz and the others had just about given up hope that the search would end when the halls suddenly grew quiet and the torchlight dimmed. Hecar nudged Ganth, who had dozed off. Kaz twisted in an attempt to see a little more of the hallway, but the bit of blank wall he could make out told him nothing. There might be a legion of sentries out there, and then again there might not be.
"Are you going to try it, Lad?" whispered his father. "Time is getting short."
"Maybe in just a minute-" He cut himself off as a clicking noise warned all three that the door to the cell was being opened. Kaz stared, wondering who or why…
The door moved slowly, then stopped before there was barely enough room for a jackrabbit to slither through. A wary breath later, a small figure peered through the crack and smiled at the trio.
"Delbin!" Kaz barely managed to keep it a whisper.
"Hi, Kaz!" Of course, to Delbin the entire situation was probably like a bizarre game of hide-and-seek. "I found you! I knew it must be you in here when people said they brought in some warrior who didn't have the sense to surrender against a full squad of the guard-"
"Delbin, what are-?"
The wiry figure put a finger to his lips. "Shh! I can't save you now, Kaz, because the guards are coming right back and you can't sneak into the places I can, which they did check, but they don't look very hard or very well, and you wouldn't want to hide in some of those places anyway…" He clamped his mouth shut, then, much more slowly, added, "I just wanted to tell you I think I found a good way to rescue you-"
"Delbin! Get out of here. I want you to get out of Nethosak as I told you to do the first time!" Only Paladine knew how the kender had been able to get in here, but Delbin was only endangering himself. He could not possibly help Kaz. "Go now!"
"But I wanted to tell you how I'll rescue you from-"
"Get going," added Ganth, ears straight as he listened for the return of the State Guard. "Or come morning you might end up helping us entertain the crowds in the arena!"
"You're going to be in the arena?" The kender's tone was so cheerful it grated on the minotaurs. "That'll make it so much easier for me! Just wait!"
To their surprise, the kender stepped back and began closing the door.
"Delbin!" called Kaz as loud as he dared. "Leave the city!"
The door closed, but a moment later, the minotaur's tiny friend pulled himself up so he could see through the bars. Still smiling, Delbin replied, "Oh, don't worry, Kaz! I'm not going to leave without all of you! I'll rescue you tomorrow, real dramatically, when you're in the arena!"
Before Kaz could say anything else, Delbin abruptly dropped out of sight. Several moments later, a sentry thrust his ugly muzzle against the bars.
"No more noise! Sargas take you, you fools! You should get some rest so you can at least put on a half-decent showing before you're all killed." He snorted. "Now quiet down. Soon it'll be first light."
He stepped away from the bars as one of his comrades joined him. The second guard was more agitated.
"A representative of the high priest is here! He's got men of his own, and they're coming down here to search the area and check on the prisoners!"
The first snorted in disbelief. "We just finished searching this place from top to bottom at the orders of the circle! What's a cleric going to find that the guard hasn't?"
"We may find nothing, my son. But then again, we may," replied a third voice. "It is not for us to question the wise actions of His Holiness."
"My-my apologies! I didn't mean-"
Kaz and the others looked at one another. One of Jopfer's acolytes? With a new band to search the cells?
They obviously had not discovered Delbin or someone would have mentioned it already. That was some relief to Kaz.
"I am Brother Merriq. You shall assist us in any way necessary. Those orders come from both your superiors and the office of the high priest."
"Yes, Brother Merriq."
"Search there and there," the prisoners heard the cleric command. "You search over there."
"That's done it, Boys," Ganth commented sourly. "They aren't leaving anytime soon. It's to the arena with us. At least we'll show them how a true warrior fights!"
Kaz shook his head. "I've got a plan for that, too. Riskier, but the only choice we've got, it seems."
"Lad, what could you possibly hope to do in the arena? Is this something to do with that kender?"
He had momentarily forgotten Delbin's plan.… possibly because he did not want to think about what sort of wild notion had been at the core of it. "No, nothing to do with him. We can't talk about it now, though."
His words were truer than he thought. A new face suddenly thrust itself into the barred window. Calculating eyes studied the three forms. "This is them, then?"
"Yes, Brother Merriq."
The representative sniffed. "Not much to look at… and even less to look at come the day. Their combats are scheduled?"
"Aye. Molus has the proper list, but I think the one who's been here longer goes first, then the old one, and then the one called Kaz."
"Change that." Merriq's eyes focused on Kaz, who stared back, determined not to lose this small but crucial test of willpower. "His Holiness would prefer that Kazi-ganthi of the clan Orilg be the first of the three to face combat. Here are his orders."
The sooner I'm out of the way, the better? Or is it that you still think to scare me into renouncing my life and becoming your symbol to the masses?
Clearly Merriq awaited some reaction from Kaz, but when the prisoner did not satisfy his desires, the robed figure turned from the door. "I trust there will be no trouble seeing to it that the change in schedule is made."
"No, Brother Merriq! I'll alert the Master of Combat even now if you like."
"Simply tell him when he arrives. That should prove sufficient, don't you think? He will not argue with it much, will he?"
"As you say, Brother Merriq."
"Open the cell door."
"Yes, Brother Merriq." The door rattled, then swung wide enough to admit both the high priest's man and one of the sentries.
As he entered, Merriq looked around. "This cell was searched from rafter to floor? All corners?"
"Aye, Brother."
"Then it should be secure, I suppose." The tall, robed figure strode over to the captives and stared down at Kaz. "You are Kaziganthi de-Orilg."
"Since you were there when I was brought to your master, that should come as no surprise, even to you."
"A flippant tongue, typical of a heretic and traitor. Also typical of a fool. One would think you might start pleading for clemency by this time."