Kaz the Minotaur h2-1

by Richard A. Knaak

  “A dragon?” Oswal looked at the three. “Surely another of the renegade’s lies! He could not have the power to enslave a dragon, let alone drag one from Paladine knows where! All the dragons are gone!”

  “None of us have seen the dragon in good light, Grand Master,” Kaz replied hastily. “It may be something else- a rare griffon, perhaps. Be that as it may, I think that you have been duped in yet another manner.” He paused at the brief annoyed look on Lord Oswal’s face. Kaz forced himself to be more delicate with his choice of words. “Argaen Ravenshadow never departed Vingaard Keep. In fact, he’s about the only one left in Vingaard besides yourself and-and a few of your most loyal men.”

  “All this time, I thought I was keeping a clear head,” Oswal muttered. “Instead, I’ve been living a delusion. What more?”

  “Why was Ravenshadow to be sent away?”

  “His interest in the works of Galan Dracos was too intense. I saw in him one who treaded a thin line between red and black robes.” The Grand Master’s eyes lit up with partial understanding. “But if Ravenshadow has been here all this time- Paladine! No wonder he pressed for the secrets of the vaults! The elf does not have the magical skills necessary to ferret them out, but that is something Dracos would not need to worry about!”

  Kaz sighed in relief. “You understand the situation now. Good, because we fear that this attack, an illusion like all the rest, is a diversion created by Ravenshadow. He may even now down be in the vaults, working his way through your safeguards at last.”

  “Impossible! Argaen might be able to bypass the magical safeguards, which I doubt, but he could never weave through the networks of traps and false locks.” The elder knight tapped the side of his head. “Only I know those secrets, and I have not faltered there.”

  The minotaur grimaced. “Lord Oswal, I fear that I’ve brought a kender with me. Another companion, if you can believe that.”

  “A kender?” Oswal asked, a quizzical look on his face. “A kender?” The Grand Master shook his head. “A kender!”

  “His name’s Delbin, and I think, judging by Argaen’s ability to manipulate people’s minds, he’s helping the elf break open the vaults.”

  “By the Triumvirate!”

  “How do we reach the vaults, milord?” asked Darius quickly, for Oswal was simply staring out into space, dumbfounded, no doubt picturing the elf plundering armloads of magical treasures-evil treasures.

  “What?… Yes, of course. This way!” The Grand Master led them up the dais to the throne. He touched something on one of the arms, and the chair and the floor below it slid to one side. There was a stairway leading down into the earth.

  “Get a torch, Darius, will you?”

  “At once, Grand Master.”

  “I could light the way with this.” Tesela held up her medallion.

  Oswal shook his head. “I would not risk that yet. Argaen might feel our presence if we make use of the gifts the gods have bestowed upon us. I want to surprise the elf before he even realizes we are coming.”

  As Darius returned with the torch, Kaz looked around for some weapon. He wished now that he had not left his own axe behind. To have it in his hands now…

  “I thought you left that behind,” Tesela commented in mild surprise.

  Kaz gazed down at his hands. His visage was reflected back by the mirrorlike finish of the head of Honor’s Face. He almost dropped it, thinking it just another illusion. It felt real, however. Somehow, it had materialized in his hands just when he needed it. Was it some minor miracle performed by Paladine, or had Sardal Crystalthorn given him a magical weapon?

  “Are you coming, minotaur?” Lord Oswal called from the steps.

  Kaz hefted the axe once and, feeling the good, solid weight of the weapon, shrugged. All that really mattered at the moment, he decided, was that now he had the axe. “Coming.”

  They descended into the cool earth.

  “Lord Oswal,” Darius whispered, “is there more than one entrance to the vaults?”

  “There is. There is one in the chamber where he who commands the Order of the Rose-my nephew, Bennett, holds that position-speaks before his men.”

  “Where is Bennett now?” Kaz asked sourly. He still was not certain just what to think about Huma’s former rival.

  The Grand Master paused, trying to collect his thoughts. “I seem to recall… to recall sending him off to fight… to fight Paladine! But what else have I done these past few years that I do not recall? What have I done to beloved Solamnia?”

  The minotaur put a hand on the elder’s shoulder. “The elf is responsible-the elf and something left behind by Dracos. You’ve got a lot of wounds to heal, Grand Master, but none of them are really your fault.”

  “You say that even though I almost had you killed?”

  “Whose doing was that?”

  Lord Oswal shook his head dazedly. “I seem to recall asking, or being asked, who might have knowledge concerning Galan Dracos. Ravenshadow asked me to list those who had been there!”

  Kaz snorted. “Perhaps the elf thought to eliminate any who knew about the renegade’s magic. We can ask him if we get the chance.”

  They moved in silence now, not so much out of a fear that someone might hear but because each of them wondered what they might soon face. Through the trek down the long, winding steps, they battled their own imaginations.

  A sound from below caught their attention. Lord Oswal signaled for a halt. A voice, barely recognizable as the elf’s, echoed upward. What he was saying, they could not understand, except that Argaen was tense, excited.

  The Grand Master turned to Darius and indicated that he should give the torch to Tesela and that she should stay to the rear. The cleric wanted to say something, slightly annoyed at being relegated to a “safe” position, but decided against it. This was, after all, Oswal’s domain.

  Ever so slowly, they continued their descent. They stopped for a second time when they heard a new, higher-pitched voice. Kaz could not help smiling, for the voice was that of his kender companion. Delbin was not only alive, but he was also his usual self, much to Argaen’s dismay, no doubt.

  “How did you first get inside? How long did it take you to learn? The knights must really not want people to get in here, because I never saw such complicated locks! My uncle would’ve loved this place. He’s the best, you know, though he taught me a lot, and I bet he would’ve gotten inside by this time, though maybe this one darn screwy lock would’ve given him some trouble…”

  “Be silent, kender!” Argaen Ravenshadow hissed. “I have to concentrate, or I might miss something! If I do, we may both wind up dead! What would your minotaur friend do without you then?”

  “I wish Kaz was here. He’s always so much fun. You know, I’m getting kind of hungry. Do you have any more of that bread? I like bread, especially with lots of honey on-”

  “How can you concentrate on that lock and babble so?” Obviously the elf was reaching the limit of his patience, but he needed Delbin badly. Had the circumstances been different, Kaz would have found the conversation quite amusing.

  “I think I’ve got it!”

  “At last! The strain is becoming unbearable!”

  Lord Oswal stiffened. The Grand Master reached behind his breastplate and pulled out a chain, at the end of which was a familiar medallion. The elderly knight turned back to Tesela and, with a gesture, indicated her medallion. She nodded and held it tightly with her free hand.

  They crept down the remaining steps, Oswal and Kaz in the forefront. A glittering light emanated from the bottom, where the stairs ended in the entrance to what could only be the chamber of the vaults. Kaz leaned down and peered inside, axe at the ready.

  At first glance, the chamber of the vaults seemed surprisingly large. The ceiling was almost three times the minotaur’s own height, with enough ground space for a company of mounted knights. Another set of stairs stood opposite those used by the foursome. From the marks on the walls and various odd artifacts lyi
ng on the floor or sticking out from the walls, Kaz received a good impression of some of the nastier safeguards the Knights of Solamnia had installed. Those were only the physical traps. Argaen Ravenshadow had evidently dealt successfully with all of the sorcerous traps-at least so far.

  In the center of the room, poised beneath the shimmering crystal that was the source of the light, stood the elf, Argaen Ravenshadow. His robe was of the blackest black, leaving no doubt now as to his loyalty. The dark elf held something in his hands, hands that were raised as if he sought to grasp the illuminating crystal, and he stared straight ahead, as if the Dragonqueen herself were about to burst through the vaults. Not something to be ruled out, Kaz thought pessimistically. Argaen’s hair fluttered outward.

  The vault doors themselves reached nearly to the ceiling. There were three of them, each with a massive relief of one of the three symbols of the knighthood sculpted into it. Argaen’s attention was focused on the one that bore a single massive rose. Delbin was fiddling with something near the handle. He could barely reach it on his tiptoes.

  The Grand Master’s hand touched Kaz. The two looked at one another. Lord Oswal smiled grimly and whispered, “The time is upon us! Be ready to strike when I do!”

  Clutching tight the symbol of his belief in the power of Paladine, the elder knight closed his eyes and whispered something.

  The effect on Argaen Ravenshadow was immediate. His eyes lit up and he turned to where the four had been concealed. “No! No!” he screamed.

  Kaz had already covered half the distance between like a beast, the minotaur swung the massive axe high over his head. One sweep would send his adversary to the floor…

  It was like striking a stone wall, only he struck nothing. Instead, he went flying backward, bowling over the hapless Darius as he did so, soon ending his flight with a heavy thud against the wall near the stairway. Kaz hit the floor like a sack of rocks, still conscious but too stunned to do anything.

  Oddly unperturbed by the chaos around him, Delbin shouted out, “I got it! I should write this down, you know, because this is the best adventure I’ve had y-”

  “Be silent, you fool!”

  “Argaen Ravenshadow!” The Grand Master stepped out into the open, the symbol of Paladine gleaming brilliantly on his chest. “Your tricks have proven insufficient! Now face me directly, and let us see if your power can save you from judgment!” Behind him, Tesela crouched, clutching her own medallion.

  The elf’s expression became even more desperate. He stuffed the object he had been holding into one pocket of his robe, while with his other hand, he pulled something from another pocket. With amazing speed, he threw a handful of tiny spheres at the elder knight.

  As Ravenshadow had done with Kaz, so, too, did the Grand Master do with the spheres. The tiny projectiles bounced off an invisible shield and rebounded to various portions of the chamber.

  “Is that the best you can do? You are no mage, elf! As I suspected when first you came, you are nothing more than a thief of magic, with little actual power to call your own-”

  The tiny spheres began bursting, filling the chamber of the vaults with shock waves of sound and blinding flashes. Caught unaware by the dark elf’s ploy, Lord Oswal stumbled back, his eyesight blinded and his senses, already weak from his long ordeal, in disarray.

  Through watery eyes, Kaz saw Argaen rush to the vault door where Delbin stood. The elf shoved the hesitant kender aside. Kaz forced himself to his feet and stumbled forward.

  Argaen Ravenshadow tugged the massive vault door open. Despite his slim appearance, his strength apparently was considerable. The door began to swing outward, and the illumination of the chamber was suddenly transformed into a hellish green glow that sent chills down the minotaur’s spine. There was no warmth in the glow, but rather a malevolent presence that was somehow familiar.

  “Aaaah!” The shriek was Argaen’s, and it was not one of triumph.

  The intensity of the emerald glow was like a physical force, buffeting the members of the party. The Grand Master fell back, his body too weak, his mind too worn. No one could have done more.

  Kaz stumbled to one knee. Two hands helped him up and Tesela, her face aglow with the strength of Mishakal, smiled bravely at him. She, too, was under a great strain.

  “I’m not a warrior, Kazl Let Mishakal watch over you, give you strength! It’s the only help I can give!” Though there was no other sound, it was difficult to make out her voice, almost as if she were speaking from a distance.

  The minotaur nodded. He thought about turning around and retrieving his battle-axe, only to discover, as before, that it was already in his hands. A grim smile played over his animal features. This was the sort of magic he could learn to like.

  “See to Darius and the others!” he shouted, then stalked defiantly toward the open vault.

  Even before he reached the doorway, Kaz had a good idea what it was he faced. It was the same tremendous power he had felt from a distance when the surviving dragonriders had swooped down on the citadel of the mad mage…

  He stepped in front of the open vault and confirmed his own fears. With the sorcerous staff of his childhood friend, the slain wizard, Magius, Huma had attacked Galan Dracos. Dracos’s power had been shattered, so had Huma said, and this thing that radiated it should have been nothing more than a thousand glass fragments. Yet this evil thing had evidently reformed itself, albeit incompletely, judging by the cracks and gaps, and now it rested solidly on a pile of broken artifacts gathered from the ruins of the magic-user’s citadel.

  Like a dragon atop its horde, the great emerald sphere of Galan Dracos, the same sphere that had almost made the renegade sorcerer victorious, glistened malevolently at the minotaur.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Fragments. That was all that remained of the emerald sphere, according to Huma. The sphere had been the channel for the power Galan Dracos had craved… power he had drawn from beyond even the Abyss, power that would have allowed his mistress her full dark glory in the mortal realm of Krynn. Without the sphere, the Dark Queen would have been weakened, as are all gods who enter this plane of existence. Dracos had found a way, though, through his unorthodox manner of experimentation, to cheat this basic law. He had also planned to cheat Takhisis as well and to add her power to his own. However, in a moment of desperation, Huma had thrown the Staff of Magius like a well-aimed lance at the emerald sphere. Where the finest steel could not even scratch the artifact’s surface, the magical staff had driven through virtually unimpeded, shattering both the emerald sphere and its creator’s dream.

  Somehow the sphere, over a period of time, had drawn itself back together. It was imperfect, though, and even from where he stood, half-blinded by its evil glory, Kaz could see the many cracks and gaps. Not all of the sphere had been gathered back together; some pieces had no doubt been buried or thrown far from the wreckage of the citadel. It was amazing that the knights had located so many.

  Half-draped over the flickering artifact, blood staining his right side, was Argaen Ravenshadow. More and more, it appeared that the true Argaen Ravenshadow was a mad thief of sorcery. The dark elf smiled as he looked up and noticed the minotaur, as if for the first time.

  “I never imagined it could be so… wonderful,” he whispered. The glow made him look positively ghoulish. “This is what comes from being unfettered by the Conclave’s stodgy rules! This is true magic!”

  “It’s death, elf. Likely yours.” Kaz hefted the axe.

  Argaen rose from the sphere, strain evident in every move. Blood was still dripping from a massive wound below his left shoulder. Had it been a little farther to the right, the elf would have been a walking corpse. “The knighthood… is very thorough. I did not expect a… a further safety measure within the vault itself. It… it almost succeeded in its task.”

  “It may still succeed. You look about done, thief.”

  The elf’s smile grew broader. “A small matter now. I have access to more power than any other mag
e alive. Not only can I heal myself, but in time, I can become nearly a god!”

  Kaz laughed mockingly. “Galan Dracos thought the same thing.”

  “He was in the midst of a war.”

  “And you have only me. I think I might be enough for you, though.” Kaz took a step toward the elf and his prize.

  “Are you?”

  This time it was not as if the minotaur had hit a stone wall. Rather, it was more like walking into soft cheese. Kaz struggled forward, feeling each step more and more of an effort.

  The distance that separated the two was diminishing slowly, when Kaz saw the elf reach into a pocket in his robes and pull out a tiny figurine. It was, Kaz noted, the same figurine that Delbin had “accidentally” picked up once before. With that realization, the minotaur was abruptly released by whatever spell held him in thrall. His advantage was short-lived, however, because even as he ran, he saw the tiny figurine in Ravenshadow’s outstretched hand swell in size and fly off. The figurine landed in front of him, effectively cutting him off from the elf. It continued to grow and grow.

  The nightflyer! Darius had been slightly amiss in his assumption that he had been attacked by a dragon, for, though the thing that Kaz was now desperately backing away from had the wings, body, and jaws of a dragon, it was not that legendary beast. It was not even alive, at least by normal standards.

  It was a stone dragon, perfect in every detail-a statue, a figurine, animated by some sorcery. Still it continued to grow. Already its head nearly brushed the ceiling of the vault. Kaz watched in horrified wonder as seemingly immobile wings flapped lightly. He wondered how the thing, so much heavier than a true dragon, could fly.

  The stone behemoth opened its great maw wide and roared a silent challenge. Whereas it had been given a mouth with huge, sharp-chiseled teeth, fangs, and a forked tongue longer than the minotaur’s arm, the creator could not endow the strange creature with a throat. The back of the mouth ended in solid rock. It could not make a sound.

  Still the creature continued to grow, and Kaz wondered whether it would keep swelling until it filled all the space in the huge vault.