She kissed him on the forehead. "I'm sorry," said Brandella. "I can't help you."
He tried to speak again, shaking his head and imploring her with his eyes.
"I love you," she said, "but Tanis is telling the truth. Listen to me: I heard your ancient, brave heart beating, and I spoke to you. I sensed your presence all around me. You're dying, remembering how we used to be. Except that I will be no more when you… when you die. You didn't want that, so you sent Tanis to get me. I know it sounds impossible, but it's true. I wish you could believe it."
Kishpa grew wild-eyed with frustration and made more sounds that she could not understand. He obviously wanted her to remove the gag. She shook her head and stroked his hair, as black as hers but straight.
"I'm going with Tanis to the place where you're dying, nearly a hundred years in the future," she whispered. "He hopes that the magic will work better there. No matter what happens-" She couldn't say anymore. She simply leaned over him, hugged him, and kissed his eyes.
He was choking on the gag, trying to talk to her, but Tanis pulled her away.
Kishpa began thrashing on the ground, trying to get free.
"Let's get going," Scowarr urged.
"You're not coming," Tanis replied.
"He's eventually going to work himself out of his bonds," said Little Shoulders. "When he does, what he'd do to me if I were here would not be funny. And funny is my life's work. So I'm going with the two of you."
26
Travelling at night was unheard of; the roads could be deadly. A person could just as easily fall into a ditch and break a leg in the darkness as fall into a pack of thieves. Tanis, Brandella, and Scowarr had no choice, however. They had to brave the blackness. With only one torch to light their way, they set out to the east. They hadn't gotten far, though, before Brandella ordered, "Stop!" "What is it?" Scowarr asked anxiously. His light brown hair stood up in bunches all over his head. Tonight he looked more like a comedian than the savior of Ankatavaka.
Brandella gestured. "Lean the torch closer to Tanis."
The puzzled half-elf stood still as Little Shoulders dipped the torch in his direction.
"Just as I thought: blood," Brandella said reproachfully. "How come you didn't tell me?"
"I…"
She cut him off, saying, "Never mind. I know. You didn't want to worry me. Or the wounds don't hurt. Or some other silly excuse. Well, we're stopping right here and now and cleaning those wounds so that you don't die on us."
"There's no time-" Tanis attempted again.
"Quiet!" she ordered. This was no introspective weaver; Tanis saw the Brandella who had rained arrows on the attacking humans-was it less than a day before? "You risked your life for me; the least I can do is risk my future for you," she said briskly. "We're stopping!"
There was no use arguing. Tanis let her inspect the cuts and clean them with yet another piece of cloth-this one gleaned, under protest, from Scowarr's new suit.
"At least the cuts no longer bleed," Brandella said, working so close to the wound that Tanis felt her breath on his skin. "Still, I wish we had salve."
"It's all right," Tanis assured her. Her hands were warm, and her touch was gentle-that was medicine enough for the half-elf.
Finally, Brandella declared them able to continue on their way. They marched throughout much of the night, stopping only for the weaver to check occasionally on Tanis's wounds. Eventually, though, exhaustion began to overwhelm them.
"We'll make better time in the morning if we get some sleep before dawn," Scowarr suggested after he tripped and fell over a boulder on the side of the trail. He rubbed the shinbone he'd barked against the granite.
"He's right," conceded Brandella.
Reluctantly, Tanis agreed. They found a flat, grassy stretch of ground just off the trail and settled in for a short rest. Scowarr offered to take the first watch.
He promptly fell asleep.
Tanis bolted awake. A sound had penetrated his slumber. Blinking his eyes in the gray misty dawn, he saw that the torch had gone out. He sat up and listened again, wondering what had awakened him. Was it an animal in the brush? Could it simply have been a dream? Had Scowarr snored too loudly7
"Snored!" Tanis expostulated softly. "Scowarr!"
The slender human only shifted and murmured. The sound that had awakened him came again from farther down the trail, echoing in the cavernous forest. It was a scream, faint but unmistakable.
"Get up!" Tanis cried, leaping to his feet and grabbing his sword.
"Huh?" Scowarr mumbled. He stared with glassy eyes. "I wasn't asleep!"
Brandella rose cautiously to her feet. She could have been a deer, her feet moved so silently through the glade. She said nothing, but her eyes were questioning.
"Follow after me, but keep quiet," Tanis said. "Don't show yourselves if you can help it." And with that, Tanis took off at a dead run down the trail.
He left the scabbard behind; his exposed sword glowed red with anticipation. Trees flashed by as he raced down the path. The screaming was louder now. He was getting close, and he slowed. The cries seemed to be coming from just beyond the bend.
The trail turned, and so did he-right into a band of four goblins who were attacking the dwarf, Mertwig, and his wife, Yeblidod. She was screaming, and pelting the orange creatures with rocks. Mertwig was bleeding, but he continued to battle the beasts. However, there were simply too many of the creatures for the game dwarf. He swung his powerful battle-axe, yet it was not enough. He had been stabbed several times, and a long. broken goblin tooth protruded from his right leg. Nevertheless, he fought on.
Tanis charged into the goblins, shouting curses at them with every swing of his blade.
The creatures, who tended to enjoy a fight as long as the odds were heavily in their favor, didn't seem to mind a second opponent. Two to one weren't bad odds, after all, and the exhausted dwarf was ready to fall.
The tallest of the goblins, a dirty orange monster with lemon yellow eyes, stood closest to Tanis. It swiveled to face the half-elf, holding a broadsword in one hand and a club that looked suspiciously like a human thigh bone in the other. With a simple flick of his wrist, the tall goblin threw the club directly at Tanis's head. It flew end over end, and Tanis used his sword to split the bone in half- the long wayl
The startled creature who had tossed the club snorted ' and muttered a word in goblin. Tanis, who spoke a few phrases of the goblin tongue, smiled humorlessly. The word had been "Luck!" The goblin swung his sword at the oncoming stranger, obviously expecting Tanis to foolishly run right into the cutting edge of his blade. Tanis kept coming. Luck, indeed.
Tanis did run into the arc of the swinging edge of the goblin's sword, but he deftly parried the blow. Stepping in close, he swung his balled fist into the creature's throat. The goblin fell to the ground, choking.
Seeing this, the three others abandoned their fight with Mertwig to take on the surprising new threat. Two of the goblins came at Tanis, one beast swinging a battle- axe in its long arms, the other goblin a bloody broadsword. The third began to circle around behind the half-elf, holding a hatchet.
It was soon close behind Tanis, hatchet raised and ready-when it fell over sideways, a large rock striking it hard in the side of the face, smashing cheekbone and nose.
Brandella had thrown the granite missile.
Scowarr ran to the downed goblin to make sure it didn't rise again. He kneeled over the dazed creature and asked, "Are you the kind of unlucky goblin who, if it rained soup, would only have a fork in your hand?"
The creature didn't laugh. It couldn't. Its throat was cut. The eyes, dull in death as in life, rolled back in their sockets.