Trap skittered over a pile of books to take a look; Ripple came right behind him. They stood gazing over the edge of the overturned table at a creature that shivered as it crouched on the floor. It stared at them with eyes enlarged by fright. The little monster was basically humanoid in shape and face, though it's skin was a deep gray-green. Its nose resembled a bird's beak. It's mouth was wider than any humanoid's and as it gave a defensive snarl, it exposed a mouth full of thick, strong teeth.
"What a strange creature. Is it an animal?" Ripple asked, looking back over her shoulder at the wizard. "Is it magic? Did Orander make it?"
"What animal?" Halmarain snapped. "The only living thing in here other than me came with you."
"This didn't," Trap said. "I've seen something like it before-I forget where-but I certainly don't know what it is." "Don't know," Umpth said.
"Wizard make, maybe," Grod agreed with Ripple.
"Hello," Trap said, extending his hand to the little monster. He introduced himself, Ripple, and the two gully dwarves. The odd little stranger just stared at him and whimpered.
Trap gave the creature a sufficiency of attention and turned away. As he looked about the room, he tried to figure out just where the magic portal had been. Then he realized why the strange creature was so familiar.
"I know!" he announced in triumph. "It looks like the monster! The one that grabbed me and pulled me through the portal."-he hurried back to look at the little stranger again-"Yes, it has the same face."
The little wizard had remained sitting on her stool, her hands up over her face, but now she pulled them down and stared at Trap. In the meantime Trap had spotted an unbroken bottle on the floor and had picked it up. Inside were two dead and dried lizards. He stood, turning the bottle in his hands.
"Well? Tell me about this thing," Halmarain prompted.
"There are two of them, and they're dead," Trap replied as he gazed into the bottle. "How did you get them inside? The neck is awfully small."
"No, about the creature on the other side of the portal," the little human insisted.
"Oh, that one, it was ten… maybe even twenty times larger than this one."-he peered over the edge of the overturned table again-"Look, its shivering so it must have come from a hotter place and it was hot on the other side of the magic door… do you think you could open the portal and let in some heat? It is a little chilly in here."
"You're right!" Ripple announced. "I felt the hot wind in the passage and I bet it was blown through the portal and if the thing that grabbed you was so much larger, then this must be its baby."
When Ripple suggested the origin of the creature, Halmarain rose and used her foot to push books and debris out of her path. She walked over to look behind the overturned table. Lying on its side, the width of the table made a wall too high for her to see over, so Trap obligingly searched out another stool. She climbed up and raised her staff to get a better look at the newcomer.
The strange being that had only whimpered at the sight of the kender and gully dwarves, snarled at the little wizard and lashed out with a clawed hand.
Startled, Halmarain jumped from the bench and backed away.
"Don't do that!" Ripple ordered. "You be nice!"
In answer, the creature whimpered again.
When the newcomer was quiet, the little wizard stared at the blank top of the overturned table that was its shelter, her eyes thoughtful.
"I've seen something like it before," she said thoughtfully, gazing around the room. Her attention focused on the scattered books. She squared her shoulders and glared at the kender.
"Help me pick up these books and get them back on the shelf. I've seen a drawing of it in one of the books of magic. If I can find the reference, I can tell where Orander went. Maybe we can help him."
"I'd love to look at magic books, do they have pictures?" Ripple was more than willing to help.
"You can pick them up, bring them to me and help put them on the shelf," Halmarain said shortly. "If you open one, you'll probably lose a hand. They're protected by spells." She gave Trap a hard look. "You helped to create this mess, so you'll help clean it up."
"I said I was sorry," Trap said. He had already apologized, and her repeated accusations were irritating. Still, he would like to talk to the wizard, which was impossible unless they could open the portal again. He was unfamiliar with books, but he liked handling them. A few had fallen open and he was fascinated by the pictures he could see.
"If there's a spell on these books, why are some open?" Ripple asked. She had always been quick to pick up a fallacy.
"Because they were already open, we were studying them," the little wizard said. "The ones that were on the shelves are still shut. Now get busy and pick them up!"
"I don't mind helping you, but not if you're going to yell at us," Ripple announced. "You haven't been very friendly, you know. You haven't offered to show us any nice magic or anything."
Halmarain's face reddened with rage. "You've come in here, messed up a spell, endangered Orander's life or-" she stopped. "But then, you're kender. Typically kender, I guess. Please help me pick up the books and work out my problems, then I'll show you some magic."
"Oh good, we're going to see magic after all," Trap said, hardly able to contain his enthusiasm. They cleared a spot in the middle of the floor and moved a table close to the row of shelves where the books had been. As he helped pick up the red-bound tomes, Trap spotted a small object on the floor and picked it up also. At first he thought it was just a small chip off the walls. On closer inspection, he discovered it was round, some sort of glass, gray-green and carved with a spiral of tiny figures. The surface had been carefully roughened to keep it from shining.
"Are we picking up the books or not?" Halmarain glared at him before turning her attention to Umpth. "And you, you keep an eye on that monster in the corner."
Trap slipped the little glass disk into his pouch so it would not get lost again in the clutter. He wanted to ask the wizard about it when she was in a better mood.
Chapter 5
Astinus the Chronicler dipped his pen and his words flowed on the parchment…
Deep beneath the ruins of Pey, Draaddis Vulter and his god, Takhisis, watched the activity in Orander's laboratory. At least he supposed the Queen of Darkness still watched. By the power of the viewing disk on the mirror, he could not see the globe to know if she was still giving her attention to the activities of the kender, the gully dwarves, and the little wizard.
It was enough to know she had not turned her attention and her frustration back on him. Still, he doubted it would be long before she did. His god was his greatest joy and his greatest terror. For years he had been paying a price for having taken her gifts and misusing them.
Ambition had been his trap. In his youth he worked and studied until he became proficient enough to take his Test in the Tower of High Sorcery. His examination had been easier than he'd expected. His joy was short lived; he was sneeringly told he had nothing to brag about. All the orders needed minor wizards, those who could serve but would not have the talent to advance to the point where they challenged master wizards and the leadership of the order. For them the Test was not as strenuous.