“What the -” Caramon glared at him angrily.
“Come on!” Tas said, tugging at him. “We’ve got to go!
Thanks for the help,” he panted, dragging Caramon to the
door. “Where did you say you saw her?”
“About ten miles east of here. You’ll find a trail out back,
behind the tavern. Branches off the main road. Follow it and
it’ll take you through the forest. Used to be a short cut to Gate-
way, before it got too dangerous to travel.”
“Thanks again!” Tas pushed Caramon, still protesting, out
the door.
“Confound it, what’s the hurry,” Caramon snarled angrily,
jerking away from Tas’s prodding hands. “We coulda at least
had dinner…. ”
“Caramon!” said Tas urgently, dancing up and down.
“Think! Remember! Don’t you realize where she is, Ten miles
east of here! Look – “Yanking open one of his pouches, Tas
pulled out a whole sheaf of maps. Hurriedly, he sorted through
them, tossing them onto the ground in his haste. “Look,” he
repeated finally, unrolling one and thrusting it into Caramon’s
flushed face.
The big man peered at it, trying to bring it into focus.
“Huh,”
“Oh, for – Look, here’s where we are, near as I can figure.
And here’s Haven, still south of us. Across here is Gateway.
Here’s the path they were talking about and here -” Tas’s finger
pointed.
Caramon squinted. “Dark-dar-dar Darken Wood,” he mum-
bled. “Darken Wood. That seems familiar….”
“Of course it seems familiar! We nearly died there!” Tas
yelled, waving his arms. “It took Raistlin to save us -”
Seeing Caramon scowl, Tas hurried on. “What if she should
wander in there alone,” he asked pleadingly.
Caramon looked out into the forest, his bleary eyes peering
at the narrow, overgrown trail. His scowl deepened. “I suppose
you expect me to stop her,” he grumbled.
“Well, naturally we’ll have to stop her!” Tas began, then
came to a sudden halt. “You never meant to,” the kender said
softly, staring at Caramon. “All along, you never meant to go
after her. You were just going to stumble around here for a few
days, have a few drinks, a few laughs, then go back to Tika, tell
her you’re a miserable failure, figuring she’d take you back,
same as usual -”
“So what did you expect me to do?” Caramon growled, turn-
ing away from Tas’s reproachful gaze. “How can I help this
woman find the Tower of High Sorcery, Tas?” He began to
whimper. “I don’t want to find it! I swore I’d never go near that
foul place again! They destroyed him there, Tas. When he came
out, his skin was that strange gold color. They gave him those
cursed eyes so that all he sees is death. They shattered his body.
He couldn’t take a breath without coughing. And they made
him… they made him kill me!” Caramon choked and buried
his face in his hands, sobbing in pain, trembling in terror.
“He-he didn’t kill you, Caramon,” Tas said, feeling com-
pletely helpless. “Tanis told me. It was just an image of you.
And he was sick and scared and hurting real bad inside. He
didn’t know what he was doing -”
But Caramon only shook his head. And the tender-hearted
kender couldn’t blame him. No wonder he doesn’t want to go
back there, Tas thought remorsefully. Perhaps I should take
him home. He certainly isn’t much good to anyone in this state.
But then Tas remembered Lady Crysania, out there all alone,
blundering into Darken Wood….
“I talked to a spirit there once,” Tas murmured, “but I’m not
certain they’d remember me. And there’re goblins out there.
And, while I’m not afraid of them, I don’t suppose I’d be much
good fighting off more than three or four.”
Tasslehoff was at a loss. If only Tanis were here! The half-elf
always knew what to say, what to do. He’d make Caramon lis-
ten to reason. But Tanis isn’t here, said a stern voice inside of
the kender that sounded at times suspiciously like Flint. It’s up
to you, you doorknob!
I don’t want it to be up to me! Tas wailed, then waited for a
moment to see if the voice answered. It didn’t. He was alone.