"Wizard say can kill all but kender and thing with hoofs. How tell from here which be hoof-feeted?" Sladge asked. His wisest course was to do exactly as the wizard asked, which meant keeping all his people under strict control. For that, he needed a careful plan.
Brudge scratched his own belly, his head, and his pointed left ear. He looked around, seeking an answer.
"Can kill dwarves, " he growled, low in his throat, his bloodlust already rising. He was still fingering his throwing weapon. Brudge was too smart to endanger himself unnecessarily. That was why he was second-in-command.
"But do something, else sleep ends plans, " Brudge said, pointing to the rest of the band. They were sitting on the side of the hill, slumped against the boles of the trees while their leaders made their plans. "Take earth shake to be waking them. "
Sladge knew his companion was right. They had been searching for the travelers for days with very little rest. At the moment they were running on push time, he called it, understanding but not knowing any other way to describe the nervous energy that came from pushing the body past ordinary limits. Still, he knew they had to use that energy or lose it to fatigue.
"Creep quiet down hill, " Sladge instructed. "Be close, must see which is hoof-feeted before kill the rest. " He waited for Brudge to pass the word to the others and then led the way. His sneak attack might have succeeded if his own fatigue had not caused him to step on a lose rock. He slid twenty feet, snapping twigs off bushes and causing a small rock slide.
Chapter 30
My Uncle Trapspringer did admit that his journey with the little wizard, the gully dwarves, and the merchesti was interesting…
"Wheel say somebody comes!"
The gully dwarf's warning brought Trap out of a deep sleep straight to his feet. Ripple was just as quick, her whippik in her hand.
Umpth slept with his ear against the rusty rim of the wheel, and as usual, he was the first to give the alarm.
"What-what is it?" Halmarain asked, looking around. She had been on guard for the last few hours of the night, but she sat in a huddle, her head nodding as she napped.
"Wheel say somebody comes, " Umpth repeated.
Halmarain glared at the gully dwarf and rose, looking around. "Who is it?" she asked. "And where is Trap?"
"He put on Orander's ring of invisibility, " Ripple said, scrounging in her pouch with her left hand while she held her whippik in the other.
Meanwhile Trap, unseen by the others, had walked away from the fire. At first he heard nothing, then from high on the hillside to the north, he caught the hiss of a whispered sibilant. He slipped away from camp and up the hill. In the darkness he passed the humanoids, and would have missed them completely, but the bugbear bringing up the end of the line stubbed his toe on a rock and staggered into a tree, snapping a branch.
"Oh-ho!" Trap murmured. "Sneak up on us, will you?" He hurried down the slope until he was pacing the last humanoid. He took a grip on the metal-shod end of his hoopak and thrust the forked end between the knees of the bugbear. The humanoid gave a howl and tumbled down the hill, bowling over four hobgoblins and three more bugbears. In an effort to stop themselves from falling, they grabbed at each other.
The would-be ambushers rolled down the hill taking the steepest path, which was a dry watercourse. They rolled over rocks and boulders as they went. As the watercourse angled, they tumbled down the southern side of the small hill's spur, downstream from the camp.
Trap dashed after them, fascinated by the combination of legs, arms, and weapons sticking out of the ball of tangled bugbears and hobgoblins. He discovered he was too interested when he tripped over a tree root and went flying over a steep incline. He landed on the huddle of tangled bodies.
The reaching hand of a bugbear grabbed the back of his vest and the kender found himself rolling with the rest. Most of his attention was taken up with his own progress, but he did hear the clang of a metal helmet. It sounded as if some head had struck a rock.
Being part of a ball was a new experience, but when the tangle rolled over, he found himself on the bottom. The bangs, bruises, and the weight of the large humanoids were uncomfortable and not fun at all. Luckily when the tumble reached the bottom of the incline, the kender was near the top. The bugbear released his hold on the ken-der's vest and he quickly rolled away. Others were struggling to their feet, though one bugbear and two hobgoblins lay where they had stopped. One of the larger humanoids had a badly dented helmet.
The others were half stunned and staggered about. They had reached the bottom of the incline, only three paces from the creek, but around a bend in the stream and were out of sight of the camp. Stunned and seemingly unaware of where they were, they were no immediate threat to the adventurers. Trap, bruised and battered but not really injured, shook himself and staggered toward the four bugbears who had not been caught in the fall. They too were off course, searching for their stray companions.
The ring's spell of invisibility still held, so he had no fear of getting close to them. First he walked in the footsteps of the last in line, then stepped up between the last two. They were whispering to each other, talking right over his head.
Trap decided it was fun, being able to sneak up on people without their knowing he was there. It would be more fun if he understood their speech, but even if he couldn't he liked being where he was. He was looking up at the huge creature beside him when he slid on a stone and nearly lost his balance. His right arm shot out as he flailed to keep from falling and the sharp, steel tipped point of his hoopak jabbed one of the first two in the back.
The big humanoid turned and snarled at the bugbear who followed him. He was answered in a tone of surprise and denial. Trap grinned, walked quietly for a few steps, and poked the bugbear in the buttocks. The big goblin-kin snarled again, but he didn't turn around. The third time, Trap jabbed harder and then skipped out of the way as his victim turned on his companion.
The enraged bugbear howled in rage and knocked his companion down. The surprised follower barked out a string of oaths and kicked at the first. Their angry shouts echoed through the hills. The two others, angry that their surprise attack had failed, turned on the two fighters and clouted them with the butts of their spears.
The kender skipped on ahead and reached the camp. Ripple had been busy. She and Grod had thrown the saddles on the ponies. She had tightened the saddle girths on three while Halmarain and Umpth kept watch.
"I've slowed them, but they're coming, " Trap whispered to Ripple, who jumped and skittered away from the disembodied voice. Still, she was not one to squeak and squeal.
"You're wearing one of Orander's rings, " she said. "I wish I knew what to do with mine. "
"Put it on and see what happens, " he suggested as he took a quick look over his shoulder. Since the attackers weren't yet in sight, he tightened two of the cinches while Ripple finished with the sixth. Trap looked around for the little fiend. If they could get him into his saddle, they might have a chance to flee the humanoids.
"I don't see Beglug, " he said, peering into the shadows.
"Where is he?" Halmarain demanded.
The little fiend had disappeared.
"Beglug gone?" Umpth asked, looking around, his dirty face twisted with concern.
"Maybe the wheel can find him, " Halmarain snapped. Then her voice softened. "It's my fault. I couldn't saddle the ponies; I should have been watching him. "
"You were watching for an attack, " Ripple said, always ready with sympathy and understanding.