“I’ve brought you food!” The elf carried a plate of bread and a pot of thick vegetable soup to the table.

“Most kind of you, Master Ravenshadow,” Darius said politely.

“Where do you get your supplies?” Tesela asked, sniffing the soup. Delbin was trying desperately to pull the pot from her hands. Argaen reached over and pried the kender away with a shake of his head. Delbin smiled and kept his hands at his sides, but his eyes kept drifting to the food.

“There are wells in the keep, and one of them nearby serves as one of the knighthood’s storage areas. Because it is partly underground, it helps to preserve the food. I am afraid that the meat spoiled long ago, but plants can last for months. As for the preparation of the food, you can thank what little sorcery I have. I’ve grown fond of human foods. Elven dishes are too ethereal for my tastes these days.” Argaen gave another broad smile.

“The supplies in Vingaard could help some of those villages to the south,” Tesela said rather harshly.

“You are welcome to try, cleric. I am only one person and the immediate need, if you will pardon me for saying so, is here.”

Tesela’s expression indicated that she did not share the elf’s view. For the past few years, the elf had been working here uselessly while other people were barely surviving. But what could she expect from an elf?

“How do your studies go, Argaen?” the minotaur asked. “Have you discovered something?”

The elf gave him a crooked smile. “I may have learned something that will change the entire situation. You will know before long, I promise you that. Please, eat.”

The smell of the soup was mouth-watering. Kaz, used to rations and living off the land, forgot all his worries and took the pot from Tesela, who was beginning to look as if she was never going to get around to eating. Darius took out a knife and cut the bread into equal pieces. Delbin hopped up and down with anxiousness.

Argaen looked down at the kender. “Delbin, before you eat, could I ask a favor of you?”

Delbin looked at the food, then at the elf, then at the food again.

“It involves an interesting lock.”

The kender’s eyes gleamed. “Where is it?”

‘This way.” Elf and kender swept out of the room. Kaz snorted in amusement. Trust Argaen to come up with the one thing more important to a kender than food.

They each took a share of the soup and the bread. The bread was still warm and had that delicious taste only a fresh-baked loaf could have. Kaz decided there and then that sorcery had its useful aspect after all. Perhaps there was some way that Argaen could teach him the minimum spells for whipping up a stew.

“Truly, this is excellent,” Darius succeeded in saying between mouthfuls.

Tesela, on the other hand, was not so enthusiastic. “It smells good, but there’s a funny taste to it.”

“Tastes fine to me.” Kaz was just finishing the contents of his bowl and trying to calculate exactly how much they had to leave for Delbin.

“I’m not saying it’s not delicious, but the taste just doesn’t seem quite right.”

“Would you trade some bread for your soup? I’ll eat it if you don’t want it.” Kaz hoped she would take his offer.

She gave him a smile but declined. “The bread is good, but the soup is healthier. Maybe it’s just me.”

Kaz, disappointed, watched her take a couple more swallows. As she took the second one, he noticed something.

“Human… Tesela… why does your medallion glow?”

“What?” The cleric put her bowl down with a clatter and stared at the artifact hanging from the chain around her neck. “I’ve never seen it do that before!”

“Does it have to pulse like that, Milady Tesela?” Darius asked. He was sweating. “It makes my head spin.”

“I don’t know what it’s supposed to do, because I don’t know why it’s doing it!”

“It must be… must be…” Kaz could not recall what it was he had wanted to say. Like Darius, he was sweating profusely now. “I…”

A groan from Darius prompted him to turn his head, though the action took an eternity as far as the minotaur was concerned. He watched helplessly as the knight fell to the floor. Tesela moved to aid him, but she herself was having trouble standing straight. Kaz felt his mind begin to separate from his body. With what little of his wits remained, he put one clawed hand against his leg and sank his nails into his leg. The pain washed over him, reviving him somewhat.

Tesela, he could see, was no longer trying to reach Darius. Instead, she was on her knees and holding the medallion above her head. The strain was obvious on her face.

Half-delirious, Kaz rose to his full height and stumbled toward the hall. Delbin, his mind repeated. Delbin had to be in danger! He made it halfway before his legs gave out and he fell onto the floor. Delbin in danger… and Argaenl

Kaz could no longer move. Even breath seemed a laborious thing, almost a waste of time. Argaen. The minotaur’s mind slowly made the connection. It had to be. It simply had to be.

“Mishakal! I plead with you! These two are needed! I know I’m not the best of your clerics and my skills are few, but give me the strength to bring them back!”

The harsh voice broke through the sweet, warm darkness that had enveloped Kaz like a fur. He wanted to tell the voice to leave him in the quiet solitude of his slumber. What right did the voice have to disturb him? He was tired and needed rest, a long rest.

“Kaz! Hear me!”

He wanted to tell the human to go away. The human named Tesela. The human named Tesela who was a cleric. The human cleric named Tesela who was trying to pull him from his sleep.

Wot sleep! a part of him whispered.

His mind, which seemed to have fragmented, began to coalesce again. Tesela was a cleric of Mishakal. She would not disturb him without a reason. The human was trying to help him. The thought of a feeble, human female helping a full-grown male minotaur amused him for some reason, and he started to laugh. It came out as a gurgle.

Tesela must have heard it, for her voice became excited. ‘Thank you, Mishakalf Thank you!”

“Stop…” Kaz forced his mouth and tongue to work. “Stop shouting… in my ears.”

“Kaz!” He felt the warmth of another body on his. The minotaur began to feel other things as well, especially a nauseating sensation swelling in his stomach.

“Move!” He bellowed in a voice loud enough to make his own ears ring. Tesela moved away from him, and Kaz rolled over just in time to keep from drenching his own body with vomit. It seemed for some time that every meal he had ever eaten was departing his body in haste. Gradually, however, he finished. Disgusted, he rolled away.

It was some time before Kaz felt up to facing the others. Tesela gave him water and a cloth. Wiping his snout dry, the minotaur glanced at the two humans. Both were pale, especially Darius, who looked at least as bad as Kaz felt.

“What… what happened?”

“We all became ill,” Tesela said gravely. “We were poisoned, I think.”

“I had a wild notion about that before I-” Kaz’s eyes widened. “Tesela, how close was I to death?”

“As close as Darius. You’re bigger, but you finished your bowl. He was only halfway through.” The cleric beamed. “Mishakal guided my hand. Through the medallion, she could protect me, but not you. I had to act as her channel. That was what the medallion’s glow meant. It was warning us of the danger.”

Kaz stumbled to his feet. The selfsame pot of soup still sat on the table. Kaz sent the pot and its contents flying. “Sargas take that elf! Where is he?” The minotaur turned his gaze toward the window. “It’s dark. How long has it been?”

“Midnight is upon us,” Darius offered. “We owe a great deal to the lady here, and to her mistress.”