Temple of the Dragonslayer (20 page)

“Maybe we could go around them,” Catriona said.

“Who knows how long that would take?” Davyn said. “It’s hard to say if we’d find another way down into the valley no matter which way we went. As Elidor said, there’s a reason it’s called a pass.”

“And Raedon can fly,” Nearra said. “He’s probably flown over the valley and knows which way is best for us to go.”

“I guess we could always …” Davyn trailed off and looked up at the sky.

Nearra followed his gaze and saw that he was watching a black falcon circling high above them.

“We have to leave,” Davyn said. “Now!”

Nearra and the others looked at him as if he’d suddenly gone crazy.

“What are you talking about?” Elidor said.

“I don’t have time to explain!” Davyn grabbed Nearra’s hand and started to pull her away from the pass, but she hesitated. After Davyn had admitted that he’d lied to them, she’d found herself second-guessing everything he said. She knew she should trust him, but she just couldn’t—

A chorus of battle cries cut through the air, and a horde of goblins poured over the tops of the two hills.

“Ambush!” Jax shouted. He grabbed hold of his battle-axe and charged forward to meet the onrushing goblins.

“Wait!” Davyn shouted. “There are too many of them! We should run!”

If Jax heard the ranger, the minotaur chose not to reply. He raced toward the northern hill and began running up the slope.

These goblins were dressed and armed similarly to the ones they’d fought in the forest, but here were ten times more of them—at least. Fear surged through Nearra, and now it was she who attempted to pull Davyn away.

“Come on!” she shouted.

“No!” Catriona said as she drew her sword. “Into the pass! It’s so narrow that they’ll only be able to come at us one or two at a time!”

“We’ll be trapped in there!” Elidor said. A pair of throwing knives had appeared in the elf’s hands, and he twirled them nervously. “We won’t have enough room to maneuver, and the goblins will overrun us by sheer numbers!”

They all looked at Sindri, but the kender just shrugged. “I’d kind of like to stay here and watch the battle.”

They didn’t have any time left to decide, Nearra thought. The goblins were already three quarters of the way down the hillside. Suddenly, more battle cries erupted behind them, and they turned to see another force of goblins coming at them from the rear.

Now they had no choice. It was the pass or certain death.

As they ran, Catriona shouted, “I’ll take the lead! Sindri, you and Nearra come next. Davyn and Elidor can bring up the rear!”

Davyn looked as if he was going to object, but then he nodded and let go of Nearra’s hand. As Catriona ran ahead of the others, Sindri reached up to take Nearra’s hand, and the companions continued running as fast as they could toward the entrance to the pass.

“What about Jax?” Nearra shouted. She glanced up to see that the minotaur was engaged in battling a group of goblins on the hillside. But a number of the red-skinned creatures had detoured around him and were running down the hill toward her friends. And there was nothing to slow the progress of the goblins racing down the southern hillside, not to mention the goblins coming at them from behind.

“Jax can take care of himself!” Catriona said. “With any luck, he’ll join us on the other side of the pass as soon as he can!”

Catriona’s words failed to comfort Nearra. Yes, Jax was a skilled warrior, but even the mightiest couldn’t defeat an entire army single-handedly, regardless of what occurred in the tall tales bards told. She feared they were abandoning the minotaur to his doom.

But then they plunged into the pass, and Nearra had no more time to worry about Jax. Though it was midday, and the sun shone high overhead, the sunlight failed to penetrate into the pass, and they were instantly shrouded in shadow. The walls were bare earth. The ground was steep and uneven. It was almost impossible to run. The best they could manage was a fast walk.

Rather than feeling safer inside the pass, Nearra felt more vulnerable. The walls were so close. It felt as if they were closing in on her.

“This reminds me of a story I heard once,” Sindri said cheerfully. “About a band of heroes who were traveling through a mountain pass much like this one when a demon-mage cast a
spell to make the mountains slam together and splat! No more heroes!”

Nearra felt her stomach churn and she thought she might throw up.

“Please, Sindri—not now.”

It was difficult to see very far in the gloom, so Nearra more sensed than saw something fall in front of her face. Then she felt a tightening around her midsection, and the next thing she knew, she was yanked off her feet. Her hand tore free from Sindri’s as she was wrenched upward.

“Nearra!” Sindri cried. He jumped up to grab hold of her dangling feet. But it was too late. She was already six feet off the ground and moving fast.

The rope around her dug painfully into her armpits. “Help!” she screamed. Someone had lassoed her. She’d been caught like an animal, and whoever had captured her was pulling her up to the top of one of the hills.

“Nearra!”

Davyn heard Sindri shout. He watched as the kender leaped and tried to catch hold of her as she was pulled upward, but he missed.

“Stop running!” Sindri called. “They’ve captured Nearra!”

The others stopped and they all looked upward. It was hard to see in the shadows, but Davyn could just make out Nearra’s rapidly dwindling form.

“Someone lowered a rope and caught her,” Elidor said. “I can’t see who it is, though.”

“Can you cut the rope with one of your knives?” Davyn asked. He knew exactly who had captured Nearra. It was Maddoc, or rather, the wizard’s agents.

“I could. The shadows are no problem for my eyes, but if I did, Nearra would have a long fall ahead of her. And none of us are strong enough to catch her.”

Davyn knew that Jax might be strong enough, but the minotaur wasn’t here. He looked down at the silver ring upon his finger. He could try to use telekinesis to lower her safely, but he wasn’t confident that he could catch her using the ring’s magic before she struck the ground.

Davyn hesitated a moment, but that was all it took.

“I can’t see her anymore,” Elidor said. “They’ve pulled her up and over the edge.”

Davyn knew that elves possessed far greater dexterity than humans. “Elidor, can you climb up after her?”

Elidor considered for a moment. “I can try.” He jabbed one of his knives into the earthen wall before him. It sank halfway to the hilt and held firm.

“This is going to ruin my knives.” Elidor pulled the blade free, reached up as high as he could, and plunged it into the wall again. He hoisted himself up, then reached with his other hand and stabbed the second blade into the earth.

“So what are we supposed to do while Elidor has all the fun?” Sindri asked.

As if in response, a spear thunked into the ground not two feet from where the kender stood.

“Try to keep from making ourselves more of a target than we already are!” Catriona flattened herself against the wall, and Davyn and Sindri did the same as spear after spear rained down upon them.

Ugo grinned as he lifted Nearra up to his face, as if he were a fisherman inspecting his catch.

“Ugo do good!” The ogre licked his lips. He looked as if he were trying to decide whether to eat her now or eat her later.

“Yes, you did. Just remember that she belongs to Maddoc.”

Nearra looked down and instantly recognized Oddvar standing next to Ugo, his hood pulled over his head to protect him from the sunlight. She shuddered. Nearra feared the Theiwar
as much, if not more, than the ogre because Oddvar worked for Maddoc. Standing behind the dark dwarf and grinning with mouthfuls of sharp teeth were the three goblins that had chased Nearra after she had awakened on the forest path.

Oddvar cupped his hands to his mouth and shouted. “We’ve got her! Seal off the pass!”

Nearra felt a stab of horror upon hearing Oddvar’s command. “You can’t do that!”

The Theiwar grinned from within the shadows of his hood. “Of course we can. My large friend here helped us loosen the ground on both hills just above the entrance and exit to the pass. It won’t take much to start a pair of avalanches.”

Nearra glanced back and forth. Four groups of goblins had jammed spears into the ground on both ends of the hills. As she watched, they pried and pushed and dug until the soil began to tear free and slide down into the pass. Nearra could hear chunks of dirt falling, knocking rocks loose from the walls of the pass as it fell. She prayed that none of her friends were standing underneath either of the goblin-made avalanches.

“Your friends are trapped,” Oddvar said. “And don’t think that the minotaur will be coming to your rescue any time soon. He has several hundred goblins to deal with at the moment.”

Nearra’s hopes fell. That’s exactly what she had been thinking. She knew she had only one defense; she’d have to try to control the strange power that dwelled within her if she was to have any chance of escaping and aiding her friends. The tingling sensation always seemed to come over her when she was in danger and afraid—and both were certainly the case right now.

“Lower the girl down to me,” Oddvar commanded Ugo. The ogre instantly let the rope slack and Nearra fell to the ground. She landed awkwardly on her ankle and the pain shot up through her leg. But she didn’t wince.

Nearra willed her hands to start tingling. Come on, she thought.

The Theiwar reached into his tunic and brought out a small bottle and a handkerchief.

“What are you going to do with me?” She felt the first faint sensation of warmth and tingling in her fingers. Just a few moments more …

Oddvar uncorked the stopper and poured a small amount of noxious-smelling liquid onto the handkerchief. “This is just a little something to make you sleep so you don’t cause us any trouble as we travel.”

The warm tingling was growing more intense. “Travel where?”

In answer, the dark dwarf grabbed the back of Nearra’s head and pressed the handkerchief against her face. Nearra struggled then tried to hold her breath. She kicked at Oddvar, but it felt as if her foot connected with solid rock.

She could only hold her breath for so long, especially after the exertion of thrashing and kicking, and at last she took in a breath of air, inhaling the foul stench of the chemical that soaked the handkerchief. Her nose and throat burned and her eyes watered. She coughed once, twice, and then she began to feel numb all over, as if she were floating free in space. She grew drowsy, and though she fought her hardest to stay awake, it was a losing battle.

The tingling sensation diminished until it was gone.

“Don’t worry about your companions.” Oddvar’s voice sounded like a faint echo coming from somewhere far off in the distance. “While goblins aren’t the most skilled archers on Krynn, they do all right with spears. Once we leave, Drefan, Gifre, and Fyren are going to lead the others in a little target practice—with your friends’ help, of course.”

Nearra could no longer keep her eyes open. The last thing she heard was the Theiwar’s cruel laughter following her down into darkness.