“The dead have no right to judge the living,” Kaz shouted.

“The dead have every right,” retorted the dreadwolf. “But you still have a chance to forego a trial.”

“How?” A storm seemed to be brewing. For the first time, Kaz realized that, aside from the seated figures, the dreadwolf, and himself, there was nothing else, not even a landscape.

“Tell me what you know!” the dreadwolf cried.

“Know?” The minotaur’s head was pounding.

“Do you know anything?”

“About-about what?”

“The citadel! When you joined with the knights in the battle against Galan Dracos!”

Kaz was sick of being pushed, beaten, and judged by others. With a roar, he raised a huge axe, one he could not recall having a moment before, and charged the dreadwolf. To his everlasting pleasure, the beast gave a very human scream and fled.

The other figures faded away. Only the storm still raged, but for some reason, the minotaur did not feel threatened by it.

As thunder shook him, Kaz realized that it was calling his name. He tried to answer, but his words came out as a groan. Then he felt himself vanish, even as the others had vanished. He felt no shock, only relief…

“Great gods, what have they done to you?” a feminine voice whispered at the edge of his dreams. It was a softer, higher voice than Helati’s, and the only one he could compare it to was that of Gwyneth, Huma’s love. She had died, as in his dream, defending the knight from death by the claws of the Dark Queen. Had Paladine allowed her to come back? Was she here to take him to Huma so that they could fight side by side again?

“Minotaur,” the voice whispered, “you must awake. There is little time. I do not know how strong their resistance is.”

Kaz tried to open his eyes. The memories of his beating came back to him, and with it the anger. He started to breathe fast, his blood boiling.

“No!” the unseen one hissed. Delicate hands turned his head until he could see the newcomer. In the dark, it took him time to place the young human face. Only when he saw the medallion hanging over her robe did he remember her name.

“Tesela?” The minotaur’s words came out as little more than a croak. The cleric quickly shushed him.

“I’m sorry I could get here no sooner, minotaur. The people in the village were no help. They sided with Drew when Delbin and I forced the truth from him.” She took her medallion and leaned toward the ropes. Kaz felt them fall away. With a helpless grunt, he slid to one side, landing on an already sore shoulder.

“I’m sorry!” Tesela whispered hastily. The composure she had worn during their first encounter had slipped away, revealing a frightened young woman.

“No time,” Kaz managed to hiss. “Can you heal me?”

“It would take too long here. I’ve put a sleeping spell on the others, but I have no experience with minotaurs. I don’t know how strong they are.”

“Very. Undo the-the bonds around my wrists.”

She touched the medallion to the ropes. Kaz felt them loosen and whispered thanks to Paladine as the circulation returned to his arms. Tesela helped him to his feet. “We have horses waiting.”

“Horses?” he muttered.

The cleric pointed toward the river.

“Let’s go.” Despite his great pride, Kaz was forced to accept the human female’s assistance. He stumbled several times but did not stop. Each grunt of pain sounded as loud as the thunder in his dream, and he expected the minotaurs to come rushing after them at any moment.

The horses became a shadowy mass ahead of them. Tesela, still helping to support him, was looking down, trying to avoid tripping. With the powers given to her, she could have used the medallion to light their way, but she feared to risk sending up a glow. For now, the darkness was not only a hindrance, but it was also an ally.

The horses were there, but so was something else. For an instant, Kaz thought he saw one of the nightmares of his dream, the dreadwolf. The white, ghostly form seemed to pause only long enough to acknowledge him. When Kaz blinked again, it was gone.

“Is something wrong?” Tesela asked nervously.

“I-I thought I saw something by the horses.”

“That would be Delbin. He was the one who told me everything, only he couldn’t understand how he had escaped. The minotaur who followed him had him trapped, even he knew that, but then she-it was a female-turned away in the wrong direction. It was fortunate for both of you that he was so lucky.”

Kaz made no reply. Instead he asked, “How did you find me?”

“Delbin picked up the trail. I understand kender are good at that sometimes. He’s very surprising.”

“So I keep discovering.”

As the horses became distinctive shapes, Kaz could see that sitting on a pony nearly hidden by the two larger mounts was Delbin himself. The kender succeeded in restraining himself to a simple, “Kaz!” and a wave. From the way he squirmed in the saddle, the minotaur knew that his kender companion had much more he wanted to say. For a kender, Delbin was showing remarkable forbearance.

“We should be safe now. With the horses, we’ll easily be able to outrun the others,” Tesela was saying. “And once we cross the river, I can take the time to heal you properly.”

Kaz felt his head swim. “I… think you… had better… help…”

He went to his knees.

“Delbin, help me!” Tesela cried.

The kender leaped from the saddle and landed feetfirst no more than a yard from the others. He helped Tesela lift Kaz to a standing position.

The minotaur was breathing hard. “Get me… onto the horse. I’ll be… able to manage… from there.”

It took some doing. At last, seated on his horse, Kaz gazed blurry-eyed at the human. “You sound… so uncertain. I thought… you had done this before.”

Despite the darkness, he imagined her face reddening. “I’ve only been a cleric for a short time-two, maybe three months. Another healer had passed through only recently. I saw him heal the bones of a man who had fallen. When my father heard about the cleric-he wanted to marry me off to the son of one of the town officials-he made certain I was never able to speak to him.” Tesela mounted. “I cried bitterly. Helping people seemed like such a wonderful thing to do. I fell asleep crying, only to wake with a weight on my chest.”

‘The medallion?” Delbin asked eagerly.

“I found it useful that very night. It can unbind things like ropes and locks. Healing someone takes longer, since it’s more delicate.”

‘Then we’d best move on.” Kaz paused, then added, “It would be best if we crossed the river now, while they still sleep.”

“That could be dangerous.”

He did not even look at her. “So is remaining here.”

Kaz urged his horse forward. The riverbank was bright in comparison to the forest, and Kaz glanced up at the two moons. Tonight he would have been happier with no moon at all. He was about to look away when he realized that something was amiss with Solinari, the luminous moon that represented the waxing of white magic. A small portion near the bottom was missing, almost as if a bite had been taken out of it.

“What’s wrong?” Tesela asked.

Kaz blinked, and the moon was restored. He turned his attention to the river before them. “Nothing. I was debating where the best place to cross might be.”

The river raged as he had never seen it. Kaz began to have second thoughts about crossing immediately. He turned to his companions. “How was it where you crossed?”

Tesela glanced at the kender. Delbin shrugged. “No worse, no better. It’s not that deep, though, Kaz, because I was able to get across, and even in the dark, Surefoot should have no trouble. He’s a good pony, and if he can make it, then that huge animal you have should be able to walk across with no problems because he’s so much bigger and stronger than Surefoot.”