The robed figure stepped away quickly before anyone could suggest that he himself lead the party to the cells. Scurn glanced at Kaz, who kept his expression neutral.
A couple of minutes later, the acolyte returned with what was obviously a novice. The novice, a shorter, muscular minotaur, seemed caught between fear and anger, most of it aimed at his superior.
"This one will take you to the cells. Be about your business, then depart this building. Make certain the prisoner is completely secure before you leave, or it'll be your heads. In the morning, someone will alert His Holiness."
He turned away again before there could be any objection. The novice watched him depart, then looked at the others with a scowl on his face. "Come this way. Walk quietly, for the high priest rests now."
"Will we be passing near his chambers?" Scurn asked on his own. Fliara shifted ever so slightly toward him.
"No, his private rooms are beyond the great audience chamber. The cells are below."
Kaz was relieved to hear that. The farther they were from Jopfer's rooms, the better.
The novice led them down one corridor after another, gradually descending into the bowels of the temple. All along their journey, the eyes of Sargas watched them.
Here was a relief of Sargas saving the first minotaurs. Over there was a tapestry showing him building the border mountains. One image showed Sargas raising ships from the sea. Artisans had worked diligently to create the illusion that Sargas watched the viewer even as he performed his miracles.
They descended deeper. Kaz counted the levels in his head, estimating distance and time. He hoped the cells would not be much farther. One fortunate thing was that they had passed only a few sentries and never more than a pair at one station.
"This level is where the traitor should go," the novice finally said, just when Kaz was beginning to think they were never going to reach the bottom. "We'll take him down-"
The entire party paused as four sentries blocked their path. Unlike the previous ones they had passed, these sentries were alert and bristling.
"No one comes down this way," commanded a dark minotaur who was the apparent leader. "By orders of the high priest."
"We have a prisoner-" the novice began.
"No one."
"The high priest'll want this one in a special place," Scurn interrupted. Fliara's weapon had suddenly found itself nudging his back. "He's a companion of the renegade we've been searching for."
"We've got our orders."
Scurn tried again. "He's also a friend of the kender you have prisoner. The high priest will be glad to have him nearby. He'll be able to make use of him. Leverage and that sort of thing."
For the first time, the sentries seemed uncertain. The leader looked at his companions, then at Kaz. "I don't know…"
Ganth glanced at his son. Kaz nodded slightly. Choosing a moment when the guards' attention was elsewhere, he stepped past Ganth and Scurn, in front of the guard leader and one of the other sentries. Raising his hands, he brought forth Honor's Face.
Startled, the guards looked up at the magical axe as if it were Sargas himself. Kaz quickly lowered the axe shaft with both hands and struck wide, hitting them both. The flat side of the axe head caught the second sentry squarely, knocking him completely over. The leader stumbled back, stunned but able to keep his footing.
Ganth reached out and shoved the novice's head back against the wall. The novice struck the wall hard and, with a grunt of astonishment, slid to the floor.
"Don't try anything!" Fliara commanded Scurn, who had started to reach for a weapon dropped by the guard leader.
Ganth seized the guard leader and threw him against the wall, just as he had done to the novice. Hecar and Kaz moved forward. The remaining pair of guards, suddenly outnumbered, backed away. They did not get far before Kaz and Helati's brother caught up to them.
Kaz made the most of his axe in the narrow passage, swinging it diagonally. This action forced one guard back, while leaving Kaz wide open to an attack from the other. Hecar filled the gap, however, countering the other minotaur's attempted thrust and bringing his blade up underneath, stabbing the guard in the stomach.
The death of Hecar's foe drained the fight from the remaining temple guard. He dropped his blade and fell to one knee, hands over his head. "I yield myself."
Hecar came up and took charge. Their foes had been too stunned to give an alarm. To Ganth, Kaz said, "We need to bind him and put them in another cell. The dead one, too."
"What about him?" Kaz's father asked, indicating Scurn.
"We still need him. Just make certain he knows what'll happen if he opens his mouth at the wrong time."
"I think Fliara's taught him about that already."
They gathered up the guards and located the nearest cell. From the pouches on their belts the party removed rope and cloth. Within a few minutes, the guards were secure. The only traces that remained in the hallway were i some bloodstains, which they could do nothing to hide. "I have the keys," Hecar said, holding them up and dangling them. "Now we just need to find him. Surprised he hasn't picked the locks himself and met us already." Kaz brought the head of his axe to bear on the one guard still conscious. "I'm going to remove the cloth around your muzzle, and you're going to answer the question I'm about to ask. You get one chance, or you join your dead friend. Understand?"
The guard nodded.
"Good. Now where's the kender?"
The guard answered, "Third corridor, second cell, but you'll regret-"
Replacing the cloth over the prisoner's protests, Kaz joined the others. "Let's go."
With Fliara keeping an eye on a suspiciously docile Scurn, the group hurried in that direction. The halls were darker here, only an occasional torch illuminating the area. As they passed each cell, Kaz peered inside. He had had a notion to free the other prisoners, but not one cell was occupied.
"Jopfer must want a lot of privacy for the kender," Ganth remarked. "There should be at least a few poor heretics being retrained down here."
Kaz was the first to reach the third corridor. He peered inside, seeing little more than darkness. These cells were far larger. The torchlight barely illuminated part of a chair and possibly a small table.
He tugged on the door. It opened.
Delbin had escaped… but where was he now?
"Kaz! Look what I just found!" Hecar came toward him with a squirming bundle. It was a gully dwarf. "This is the same one I think helped capture me. He did something to my harness!" The minotaur raised the sorry figure up so he could look it in the face. The legs of the gully dwarf… a male, Kaz thought… kept spinning, though his feet were high off the floor. "Well, now we can talk about the lesson I'm going to teach you-"
"Hecar-"
"No hurt Galump!" the gully dwarf pleaded. "Galump is Delbin's friend! Good friend!"
"What's that?" Kaz moved forward, seizing Hecar's arm. He had his companion lower the creature called Galump to the ground. The creature tried to dash away, but Hecar maintained his grip. "Stop that!" Kaz commanded. In a softer tone, he asked, "You're a friend of Delbin's?"
"Yes! Galump is Delbin's friend! Yes!"
"Do you know where he is? It's important."
The gully dwarf hesitated, then murmured, "High one will eat us if I say… He shouldn't have gone after her." The gully dwarf leaned forward and hesitantly asked, "You Kaz?"
The minotaur blinked. "I am. How did-"
"Delbin's friend." Galump attempted to think. It was manifestly a strain. "Delbin's friend. Delbin wanted to help Galump. Galump help Delbin." He broke into a childlike smile. "I show you."