Flint strode forward, his hands getting a firm grip on the axe handle. “There’s only one creature I hate worse than a gully dwarf,” he muttered, “and that’s a goblin!”
The goblin dove at Flint, hoping to knock him down. Flint swung his axe with deadly accuracy and timing. A goblin head rolled into the dust, the body crashing to the ground.
“What are you slime doing in Solace?” Tanis asked, meeting the clumsy stab of another goblin skillfully. Their swords crossed and held for a moment, then Tanis shoved the goblin backward. “Do you work for the High Theocrat?”
“Theocrat?” The goblin gurgled with laughter. Swinging its weapon wildly, it ran at Tanis. “That fool? Our Fewmaster works for the-ugh!” The creature impaled itself on Tanis’s sword. It groaned, then slid off onto the ground.
“Damn!” Tanis swore and stared at the dead goblin in frustration. “The clumsy idiot! I didn’t want to kill it-just find out who hired it.”
“You’ll find out who hired us-sooner than you’d like!” snarled another goblin, rushing at the distracted half-elf. Tanis turned quickly and disarmed the creature. He kicked it in its stomach and the goblin crumpled over.
Another goblin sprang at Flint before the dwarf had time to recover from his lethal swing. He staggered backward, trying to regain his balance.
Then Tasslehoff’s shrill voice rang out. “These scum will fight for anyone, Tanis. Throw them some dog meat once in a while and they’re yours forev-”
“Dog meat!” The goblin croaked and turned from Flint in a rage. “How about kender meat, you little squeaker!” The goblin flapped toward the apparently unarmed kender, its purplish red hands grasping for his neck. Tas, without ever losing the innocent, childlike expression on his face, reached into his fleecy vest, whipped out a dagger, and threw it-all in one motion. The goblin clutched his chest and fell with a groan.
There was a sound of flapping feet as the remaining goblin fled. The battle was over.
Tanis sheathed his sword, grimacing in disgust at the stinking bodies; the smell reminded him of rotting fish. Flint wiped black goblin blood from his axe blade. Tas stared mournfully at the body of the goblin he killed. It had fallen face-down, his dagger buried underneath.
“I’ll get it for you,” Tanis offered, preparing to roll the body over.
“No.” Tas made a face. “I don’t want it back. You can never get rid of the smell, you know.”
Tanis nodded. Flint fastened his axe in its carrier again, and the three continued on down the path.
The lights of Solace grew brighter as darkness deepened. The smell of the wood smoke on the chill night air brought thoughts of food and warmth-and safety. The companions hurried their steps. They did not speak for a long time, each hearing Flint’s words echo in his mind: Goblins. In Solace.
Finally, however, the irrepressible kender giggled.
“Besides,” he said, “that dagger was Flint’s!”
2
Return to the Inn.
A shock. The oath is broken.
Nearly everyone in Solace managed to drop into the Inn of the Last Home sometime during the evening hours these days. People felt safer in crowds.
Solace had long been a crossroads for travelers. They came northeast from Haven, the Seeker capital. They came from the elven kingdom of Qualinesti to the south. Sometimes they came from the east, across the barren Plains of Abanasinia. Throughout the civilized world, the Inn of the Last Home was known as a traveler’s refuge and center for news. It was to the Inn that the three friends turned their steps.
The huge, convoluted trunk rose through the surrounding trees. Against the shadow of the vallenwood, the colored panes of the Inn’s stained-glass windows glittered brightly, and sounds of life drifted down from the windows. Lanterns, hanging from the tree limbs, lit the winding stairway. Though the autumn night was settling chill amid the vallenwoods of Solace, the travelers felt the companionship and memories warm the soul and wash away the aches and sorrows of the road.
The Inn was so crowded on this night that the three were continually forced to stand aside on the stairs to let men, women, and children pass them. Tanis noticed that people glanced at him and his companions with suspicion-not with the welcoming looks they would have given five years ago.