The old man found a jar full of chestnuts. They had dried, splitting their skins. He peeled one and ate it. It was so good, he grabbed a handful and nibbled them as he crept from pot to jar to pot.

“Tell me. Master Vvelz, who is Di An? She seems very close to Mors.”

“Just a digger girl, a barren child. She's quite adept at prowling tunnels and stealing small items. As for Mors's affection, I believe they have known each other a long time. There's a rumor that it was Di An who first found Mors after he was blinded and driven out of Vartoom. She took care of him until he was strong again.”

Catchflea spat out a chestnut shell. “And you, when did you join Mors?”

Vvelz dipped a finger in a pot of cracked pepper. He tasted the black powder and coughed violently. “Poison!” he gasped.

“No. Pepper.” Catchflea put a pinch in his mouth. It burned, but not very much. “We use to flavor food.”

Vvelz's eyes were watering. “You Empty Worlders must have iron stomachs!”

Catchflea chewed and swallowed the last of his chestnuts. “Master Vvelz, would you tell me how it came to be that you chose to work against your sister?”

“Ha-ha-shoo!” Vvelz sneezed and rubbed his nose. “Does it matter?” he sniffed. “Is it not enough that I risk my life to help Mors's cause?”

“It matters, yes. It occurs to me that if Li El wanted a spy close to Mors, you would be an excellent choice.” He folded his arms across his chest. “A spy, or even an assassin.”

Vvelz turned his left hand palm up. His eyes widened, and he uttered a short, archaic spell. Catchflea quickly stepped back from him. A spark glowed in the sorcerer's upturned palm. The spark grew into a small flame.

“You want to know, do you? Can you understand if I tell you? I have spent my entire life under the thumb of my heartless, ambitious sibling, who always considered me more servant than kinsman.” Vvelz spoke slowly and softly. “She crushed good and wise sorcerers, whose only fault was not realizing the power of their opponent. She took the love of a brave warrior, bore his son, and then raised that son to hate his father. Her crowning achievement was using Karn to betray Mors. She gave the diggers an entire half-day of rest so that they could attend the ceremony she had prepared for Mors's blinding. That day was-that ceremony was…”

Words failed Vvelz, and he squeezed the flame tightly in his fist. Sparks anddroplets of fire splashed to the floor. “I am ashamed she calls me brother. I will see the end of Li El, no matter who I have to side with.”

Both men were silent. Vvelz was lost in dark thoughts of his sister, and Catchflea, discomfited by the tragic tale, looked beyond the elf's shoulder at the pots. There were so many. Pots and pots of-

“Pepper!” cried Catchflea.

“What?” said Vvelz. “Are you stricken?”

The old soothsayer rushed by Vvelz. “No! No, pepper is the answer!”

Catchflea swept an arm around in a half-circle. “There must be fifty pounds of pepper here,” he said. “If all Hestites are as sensitive to it as you are-”

Vvelz's expression had brightened. “I begin to see! You mean to put this pepper in the warriors' food?”

“No, better! Throw it in their faces! They'll be so smitten with sneezing and weeping, your Blue Sky People will be able to disarm them easily. Riverwind can be rescued that way, too.”

“Why won't our people be sneezing?” Vvelz asked.

The old man froze, his enthusiastic expression giving way to consternation. Then, his face brightened once more. “Why, give them kerchiefs to wear!” he exclaimed. “It will work! Let's tell Mors right away!”

But Mors was not impressed. “I'd rather see you repair these bow-things you found,” he said with annoyance. “I would rather strike the Host from long range than close in with unskilled fighters and toss dust in their faces.”

“Master Mors, even if I could fix all the bows, you would not have enough to make a difference against the entire Host. And archery is not a skill easily learned; it takes much practice, yes.”

“How much practice?” Mors said.

“In Que-Shu, boys are taught archery not long after they learn to walk. A lifetime's practice makes them peerless archers.”

“My people have only to hit close ranks of warriors,” Mors insisted.

Vvelz intervened. “Perhaps we could adopt both plans. The bows will cause great harm to the warriors' spirits, and the pepper will send them to defeat.”

“I don't like it,” Mors grumbled. “True warriors do not fight by throwing dirt in their enemy's eyes. It's not honor-able.”

“Is it honorable to blind their captain and chase him from the city like a worthless beggar?” Vvelz said, knocking Mors's rod from his hand. The blind elf leaped to his feet.

“You gutless hand-waver! I may be blind, but I can break your neck with one hand-”

Di An, who had been listening quietly to all this, grasped Mors's leg and said, “Good Mors, don't hurt him. Master Vvelz seeks only to counsel you.” She retrieved Mors's staff and placed it in his hands. The blind warrior's rough hand gripped her small one.

Mors relaxed. “What is your point?”

Di An looked at Vvelz. The latter said, “You do not owe Li El honorable combat. She is the one you are fighting. The Host is merely her instrument.”

The scarred eyes turned to the sound of Vvelz's voice. “And Karn? What do I owe him? Stinging powder? Darts flung from two hundred paces?”

“You could forgive him,” Catchflea said softly. “He has served Li El all these years, and that should be punishment enough.”

“It was his choice,” Mors said, sitting back down. “Bring the bows and the pepper from the hiding place. We will scourge Li El with flowers if that's what it takes. As for my son, if he will follow us to the world of blue sky and sunlight, I will try to forgive him.”

“And if he won't?” asked Vvelz.

“Then he can lie in the tomb next to his mother.”

Two cohorts, almost a thousand warriors, tramped in ragged lines across the floor of the great cavern. Karn had divided them into four units called Diamond, Ruby, Emerald, and Garnet. He commanded the Ruby Division, and Riverwind was with him, under one of Li El's illusions. He thought he was tracking Loreman and Hollow-sky after their attempt to kill Goldmoon.

“I've not been in these mountains before,” Riverwind said. The wheat field they were crossing was tall and sparse. Wind was uncommon in Hest, but a slight, swirling breeze stirred the weak stands of grain.

“The wretches have hidden from us for years,” Karn said, eyeing the plainsman uncertainly. Talking to the bewitched giant was like talking to a sleepwalker. Karn wasn't sure what the outlander saw or heard in his present state. Shame burned deep in his heart at having to employ this overgrown lout. Karn believed that he was good enough to crush the rebels; he didn't need a befuddled giant to assist him.

Riverwind felt the circling wind and smelled the ever-present smoke in the air. Yet he saw the plain of his homeland under a golden yellow sun. His heart beat fast. Gold-moon was safe only if he could catch and slay the evil men who wanted her dead. His long legs covered the ground in great strides, and his escort was strung out in a long line, trying to keep up.

“Slow down,” Karn said irritably. “Infernal giant,” he added under his breath.

Riverwind did more than slow, he stopped. His keen eyes caught a glint of steel on the slope of the mountain ahead.

“There,” he said, pointing.

“What?” said Karn, shading his eyes from the brazen sun.

“Someone is up there. Carrying a sword. It must be them,” Riverwind said. His pulse quickened in his chest.

Karn saw, not the illusion of mountains, but the abandoned temple where his ancestors had once worshiped. “You're wrong. We checked there already. The diggers must be dispersed in small bands throughout the caverns.”