Tasslehoff, catching sight of a brilliant, colorful flash, crept closer. “What is that?” he asked, even though he knew the answer. Raistlin, too, was staring at the object with wide glittering eyes.
Bupu shrugged. “Pretty rock,” she said without interest, searching through the bag once more.
“An emerald!” Raistlin wheezed.
Bupu glanced up. “You like?” she asked Raistlin.
“Very much!” The mage gasped.
“You keep,” Bupu put the jewel in the mage’s hand. Then, with a cry of triumph, she brought out what she had been searching for. Tas, leaning up close to see the new wonder, drew back in disgust. It was a dead-very dead-lizard. There was a piece of chewed-on leather cord tied around the lizard’s stiff tail. Bupu held it toward Raistlin.
“You wear around neck,” she said. “Cure cough.”
The mage, accustomed to handling much more unpleasant objects than this, smiled at Bupu and thanked her, but declined the cure, assuring her that his cough was much improved. She looked at him dubiously, but he did seem better-the spasm had passed. After a moment, she shrugged and put the lizard back into her bag. Raistlin, examining the emerald with expert eyes, stared coldly at Tasslehoff. The kender, sighing, turned his back and continued down the pipe. Raistlin slipped the stone into one of the secret inner pockets sewn into his robes.
When a branch pipe joined theirs, Tas looked questioningly at the gully dwarf. Bupu hesitantly pointed south, into the new pipe. Tas entered slowly. “This is stee-” he gasped as he began to slide rapidly down. He tried to slow his descent, but the slime was too thick. Caramon’s explosive oath, echoing down the pipe from behind him, told the kender that his companions were having the same problem. Suddenly Tas saw light ahead of him. The tunnel was coming to an end-but where? Tas had a vivid vision of bursting out five hundred feet above nothing. But there wasn’t anything he could do to stop himself. The light grew brighter, and Tasslehoff shot out the end of the pipe with a small shriek.
Raistlin slid out of the pipe, nearly falling on Bupu. The mage, looking around, thought for an instant that he had tumbled into a fire. Great, billowing clouds of white rolled around the room. Raistlin began to cough and gasp for breath.
“Wha-?” Flint flew out of the end of the pipe, falling on his hands and knees. He peered through the cloud. “Poison?” He gasped crawling over to the mage. Raistlin shook his head, but he couldn’t answer. Bupu clutched the mage, dragging him toward the door. Goldmoon slid out on her stomach, knocking the breath from her body. Riverwind tumbled out, twisting his body to avoid hitting Goldmoon. There was a clanging bang as Caramon’s shield shot from the pipe. Caramon’s spiked armor and broad girth had slowed him enough so that he was able to crawl out of the pipe. But he was bruised and battered and covered with green filth. By the time Tanis arrived, everyone was gagging in the powdery atmosphere.
“What in the name of the Abyss?” Tanis said, astonished, then promptly choked as he inhaled a lungful of the white stuff. “Get out of here,” he croaked. “Where’s that gully dwarf?”
Bupu appeared in the doorway. She had taken Raistlin out of the room and was now motioning to the others. They emerged thankfully into the unclouded air and slumped down to rest among the ruins of a street. Tanis hoped they weren’t waiting for an army of draconians. Suddenly he looked up. “Where’s Tas?” he asked in alarm, staggering to his feet.
“Here I am,” said a choked and miserable voice.
Tanis whirled around.
Tasslehoff-at least Tanis presumed it was Tasslehoff-stood before him. The kender was covered from topknot to toes in a thick, white, pasty substance. All Tanis could see of him were two brown eyes blinking out of a white mask.
“What happened?” the half-elf asked. He had never seen anyone quite so miserable as the bedraggled kender.
Tasslehoff didn’t answer. He just pointed back inside.
Tanis, fearing something disastrous, ran over and peered cautiously through the crumbling doorway. The white cloud had dissipated so that he could see around the room now. Over in one corner-directly opposite the pipe opening-stood a number of large, bulging sacks. Two of them had been split open, spilling a mass of white onto the floor.