stairs that led up to the top. I’D never have known about the
caves or the stairs or the bridge.”
Flint shook his head. “I don’t suppose Tanis’s tracking
or Raistlin’s light-weaving had anything to do with the fact
that you’re here and safe, lad?”
Keli did not quail before the dwarf’s gruff question, but
defended his friend. “They did, and I thank you all for what
you’ve done. But – but you were almost too late. And – ”
Keli foundered, looking from one to the other. They were
still amused, and Keli could not understand what was so
funny. “And – Tas DID save my life.”
“Risked your neck about a half a dozen more times
than you remember or know about is more like it,” Flint
growled. “It’s lucky you are that you’re here to tell us the
tale.
“Look at you, lad, you’re half-starved despite eating a
rabbit and a half, and dead tired. Get some sleep now, you’ll
see the right of the matter in the morning.”
“I know the right of it,” Keli maintained. He looked to
Tas, who only shrugged.
“They’re a little slow,” the kender drawled. He grinned
then, suddenly, and that grin was like the flash of a comet
across a midnight sky. “But they always manage to catch
up.” He stretched and yawned hugely. He shot one quick
look at Flint and then winked at Keli. That wink, always
trouble for someone, sparked Keli’s smile.
Flint started to protest, but Tas only grinned again. He
waved an off-hand goodnight and went to find a place to
sleep. As tired as he was, Keli knew he wouldn’t be able to
sleep yet. He settled down more comfortably near the fire
and sighed.
After a moment Tanis said, “We’ll have to get you
home somehow, Keli.”
“Just back to Seven Wells would be fine,” Keli
murmured. “I’m sure my horse is still there and there is the
message to be delivered to my father’s friend.”
“Oh, no,” Flint rumbled. “If we let you out of our sight
now, who knows what you’ll get yourself into next? Home,
lad, and the message can be delivered along the way.” He
reached into his pack, pulled out a block of wood, and
applied his dagger’s blade silently for a time. Keli would
have offered his thanks, but Tanis caught his eye and stilled
him with a smile and a shake of his head.
When Flint looked up again, he spoke not to Keli but to
Tanis.
“If we’ve any sense at all, we’ll make for home
ourselves after we’ve delivered this lad and his message.”
That was not what the half-elf had expected to hear.
“Back to Solace this early in the summer?”
Flint was quiet for a long moment. When he spoke at
last his voice was rough. Almost cold, Keli thought.
“I thought he was dead,” Flint said, and Keli knew it
was Tas of whom he spoke. “I really did. I didn’t fear it.
Fear still allows you to slip hope in behind it. I thought he
was dead from the minute I saw my mark 6n that rock, and I
didn’t expect to find anything else.
“It is a bad thing to be without hope.” He cleared his
throat softly and went on. “And Caramon. When he didn’t
come up from the lake, when Sturm had to dive to find him,
I thought, between the first time and the last, that he was
dead, too.”
Keli felt that fear, and heard it in the dwarf’s voice. His
eyes were not so hard now, his expression not nearly as
forbidding as it had been. An odd look graced his rough
features, but Keli could not put a name to it. He’d seen the
look before on his father’s face.
Tanis poked up the fire and by its flare Keli saw that he,
too, had thought his friends dead. When he spoke, though, it
was not to reassure himself but Flint. “They’re all right
now.”
The old dwarf drew a long breath and let it out in a heavy
sigh. He looked at his young friends sleeping around the
fire: Caramon, his scabbarded sword lying near to hand;