"That's an idea," Trap said, thinking he would really love to tell a tale of someone going to the moons.
"And you'll have to have him eaten by a real dragon," the little wizard said, staring into the distance. For once she sounded enthusiastic. "How many times and ways do you think he could drown?"
"In the sea, and a river, and in a well…" Trap was thinking over the wizard's idea.
"And how many things could he fall from?" Halmarain asked.
"Off a roof, and a cliff, and out of a tree…" Ripple added suggestions. "You're right, every kender will want an Uncle Trapspringer," she agreed.
"You'll need to think up some more tales," Halmarain said to Trap. "Where else could he go? What else could he see and do?"
"I don't know," Trap said and fell silent, thinking about the suggestions the others had made.
"He could see lots of places," Ripple said. "We're seeing some of Krynn, but I don't think it's the best part. How long do you think it will take us to reach Palanthus?"
"One, possibly two weeks," Trap said. "And the journey might still be fun. There could be all sorts of creatures to see on the way and I bet most will be friendly. Then, Palanthus is a large city and there's probably lots to do and see there."
"Palnnus got dumps?" asked Grod. Usually the gully dwarves just talked among themselves, but they liked listening to the others.
"Aghar like Palnnus?" Umpth asked.
"Sure. You'll like it a lot," Trap said. "Lots of dumps and other gully dwarves, and a lot of places that would make a good This Place, and maybe this one won't get knocked flat… but then it might, because lots of kender go there. We'll find you a good This Place."
"Maybe new This Place near dump," Grod said, clapping his hands in anticipation.
"Jiggy biggies! Jiggy biggies!" Umpth shouted, mangling the kender's favorite expletive. "Maybe big dump," Umpth clapped his own hands. With four hands clapping, there were none left for the wheel. It stopped, remained balanced, and started rolling backward.
"Wheel!" Umpth shouted, but he was too late to catch it.
Trap looked back and saw the wagon wheel taking off on its own. He turned his pony and galloped after it. Behind him he could hear the dwarves, Ripple, and Halmarain shouting. Beglug wailed because the young merchesti could not understand the trouble.
Trap's mount did its best, but the wheel had gathered momentum oh the slope. It changed course when it came to a steep incline that led west, between two high hills. It slowed as it rolled part of the way up the first hill, bounced into a little gully and hurtled off in a different direction. It left the kender behind as he slowed his pony to keep it from losing its footing on the rocky slope.
At the bottom of the slope he urged his mount to a gallop again, but the wheel was out of sight. He raced after it, thinking the chase was at least more fun than riding through the valleys. He had traveled nearly a mile when he saw it again, rolling up a slope, slowing until he thought it might fall over.
It struck something, too small for him to see what, though it could have been a rock. The wheel bounced off course, just enough for it to roll back down the far angle of the slope.
"Gosh! It just keeps going! It must be magic," he told the pony. "I don't see how it could stay upright so long otherwise."
The wheel gathered momentum again and continued down the slope, rolled to a stop and fell over in the grass not thirty yards from the end of a village street.
Trap rode his pony forward and stopped by the wheel, letting his mount drop its head to graze while he dismounted and picked up the runaway wheel. His sharp ears had caught the distressed calls of the gully dwarves and the thud of hooves so he knew Ripple and the Aghar were following. Moments after Ripple came into sight, leading the dwarves, Halmarain appeared with the two other ponies following.
The gully dwarves scrambled out of their saddles to check the wheel. By the time the little wizard arrived they were satisfied.
"Wheel find-here," Umpth said, pointing to the village.
"Good Aghar magic, this wheel," Grod replied, helping his brother examine it for damage.
"More better magic than short human," Umpth said. "She no find-here"-he pointed toward the village again-"Aghar magic find."
"That monstrosity did not find this village, it rolled to the lowest point-"
"It did. It rolled here on its own," Ripple said, irritated with the wizard's complaints. "And it did find a village, you can see that for yourself and-"
"Mad she no find," Umpth said to Grod.
"No do herself," Grod nodded as he answered. "Mad she no find."
"I am not jealous of those dirty-"
"Are you here for the celebration?" A strange voice called, interrupting the argument.
They turned to see the strangest creature on all Krynn. It stood as tall as a man, but with a lion's head and a humanoid body covered with feathers.
Chapter 12
The group stared in silence as the strange creature approached. Trap started forward, eager to meet this odd being. Halmarain pulled her axe, though she had no experience in using it. The weight of the weapon nearly pulled the tiny human out of the saddle.
When the creature saw her weapon, he stopped, laughed, raised his hands, and lifted his lion's head off his shoulders. Beneath it they saw a smiling human face.
"Forgive me if I startled you," he said. "This is Wizards' Day in Deepdel. We forget that not all of Krynn knows of our yearly celebration."
"Oh, look! It's a costume!" Ripple said, sliding from her saddle and hurrying forward to see it better.
"Celebration?" Trap asked brightly. "You're having a party? Wow, that's great. Can we come?"
"Of course you can." the strange man replied. "Once a year-on Wizard's Day-we have a village party. It's in honor of a battle between two wizards that took place here a millennia ago. Oh, where are my manners? My name is Earne Jomann. My father is the mayor.
"Later this afternoon, we will enact the historic battle. We welcome travelers any day of the year, but on this day there is a condition to entering the village. You must wear a costume. Only a few of the pageant players are allowed to be without one because of their parts in the reenactment."
"We thank you, but we must continue our journey," Halmarain said.
"No," Ripple objected. "We want to see the costumes-"
"Kender…" Earne Jomann interrupted, his eyes narrowing. His smile disappeared and he stared at them with suspicion. "You will be seeking the traveler that stopped here earlier? A man heavily cloaked and hooded? He was seeking two kender traveling with a dwarf."
"Seeking us? Who was he? Do we have any friends here?" Trap said, wondering who might be searching for them. "He could not have been looking for us, we don't know anyone in Solamnia-until today," he added hope-fully.
"No, we are four dwarves, not one. He must not have been searching for these kender," Halmarain spoke up quickly, lowering her voice so she sounded like a dwarf.
Earne Jomann seemed to relax. "I'm glad of that; he wasn't the sort of person I'd want as a friend."
"Thank you for your invitation," Halmarain said. "We will join your celebration if you'll give us a little time to prepare for the occasion."
Earne bowed and replaced his lion's head. "Then I will see you soon in the village square," he said, turning away.