Di An and Catchflea worked their way around the ledge. They had to press close to the cliff face. Brud kept going.

Riverwind was halfway to the falls when they were spotted by the goblins. A shout went up. “Now we're in for it,” he muttered. He tried to increase his pace.

Bolts flicked at them, bouncing off the stone wall. Brud appeared on the other side of the falls and waved. He ducked into another hole in the cliff face and vanished.

“I told you he was a worm!”

“Could we keep moving, yes? That last arrow almost parted my hair!”

A rumble from below proved to be the sound of the goblins moving a full-fledged ballista into the street. They loaded the cup with assorted stones and pulled the trigger rope. The throwing arm threshed forward, sending a shower of fist-sized rocks at the trio. One struck Di An in the back. She cried out briefly and lost her hold.

“Di An!” Riverwind shouted. Her slight body disappeared below his line of sight.

There was not time to grieve or worry. The lizard men ordered the goblins to winch down the ballista and fire again. This time Catchflea was pummeled by four or five stones. He lost his stance and plunged from sight.

Riverwind was only yards from the falls. His heart pounded, not only for his own danger, but for the fate of Di An and Catchflea. Spray was dampening his face when a large rock hit him behind the knees. His legs folded, and he dropped backward off the ledge.

I'm falling again, he thought calmly. Will this be the last time?

The Lizard men were used to having their slaves, the gully dwarves, try to escape. They kept rock-throwing bal-listae handy in the streets to knock the little folk off the cavern wall, should they try to leave. Since dead slaves could do little work, the lizard men had stretched large nets around the base of the walls to catch the Aghar. Now those nets caught Di An, Catchflea, and Riverwind. Goblins cut the ropes, and the whole net assembly collapsed inward, trapping the three of them.

Before they could fight or flee, each was plucked from the net by several goblins. Heavy manacles were snapped on the two men. Di An was tied with leather thongs, as her wrists were too small for the fetters. At the direction of the two brawny lizard men, the three were marched down the street toward the place they'd glimpsed earlier.

They were halted by a gated entry on the left side of the street. More armed goblins opened the gate, and the captives were driven in. Within was an entryway. A larger room was visible through the open door. The goblin soldiers pushed them to the right, to a large cell. Without a word, the three were shoved into the cell and the door closed behind them.

Catchflea sagged to the floor. All the good spirit seemed to have left him. He laid his head against the wall and closed his eyes. Riverwind strained against his fetters, but the wrought iron was nearly an inch thick. The door was no better-oak strapped with iron, four inches thick. It did indeed seem hopeless.

Di An sniffed her bonds and started chewing at them. The leather was tough, but she was able to gnaw through one strap in about half an hour.

“Good!” Riverwind said encouragingly. “Keep it up!”

“My jaw hurts,” the girl complained, but she resumed chewing.

She never had a chance to finish. The door opened, revealing a lizard man wearing an officer's gold badge.

“Come! The commander would see you,” he said.

A full dozen goblin guards were drawn up outside. Riverwind, Di An, and Catchflea were marched through the empty hall into another courtyard. Smells of cooking drifted in the air, torturing the hungry travelers' stomachs.

“To the right! Quick march!” roared the officer. The cadence of heavy feet increased. A large waterfall cascaded down the cliff face to their right. It flooded out the old street. The lizard men had built a wooden bridge across the swelling stream. Facing them was the blank east wall of the palace. Someone had restored the walls, but left the columned facade in ruins.

They headed for that facade. Standing among the stumps of the broken pillars was the largest, most grandly dressed lizard man they'd seen yet, undoubtedly the commander. Unlike the other, horn-beaked, lizards, the commander had a flat face, covered with small, colored scales. Also unlike them, he had no tail or wings. He wore brilliantly shiny metal armor and a sweeping blue cape. An awful air of majesty and self-confident power surrounded him.

“Shanz, are these the intruders?”

“It is they, Commander Thouriss,” said the officer. “No others have turned up.”

“Keep alert. Humans have the irritating habit of congregating in large numbers.” The lesser officer bowed and left the prisoners facing Thouriss. The goblin guards fanned out, making a barrier between the captives and the plaza.

“Why are you here?” he said, planting his clawed hands on his hips. He was much more humanlike than the stooped, beak-nosed lizard men.

“We're lost,” said Riverwind.

“Are you? Name yourselves.”

The Que-Shu men told Thouriss who they were. The commander pointed at Di An. “Who is this?” he rumbled.

“A waif we adopted on our journey,” said Catchflea. “An orphan. She mends our clothes and fixes our meals.”

“She is not human.” Di An was cringing between the two men. Thouriss pointed at her again. “Come forward, creature, that I may see you better.” When Di An didn't respond, a guard prodded her with the butt of his pike.

“Who are you?” demanded Thouriss.

“Di An.” It was all she could say. The commander's vast green eyes bored into hers.

“Where are you from, Deee Ahhnn?” He drew out the simple syllables, making them sound strange and potent.

The elf girl swallowed and opened her mouth, but she was so frightened no sound came out. Riverwind interjected, “Silvanesti. The girl is from Silvanesti.”

Thouriss blinked his milky, membranous eyelids. “So, you have been in the east. How did you find it?”

“Uh, find it?”

“Are not the borders of Silvanesti closed to foreigners?”

“We found the girl wandering, yes,” Catchflea said quickly. “It was in the New Coast region that we met.”

Thouriss took a step closer to Di An. “Why did you flee Silvanesti, elf?”

She flinched at the forbidden word. Riverwind hoped her anger would overcome her fear.

“She's too frightened to speak,” Riverwind said.

“Are you frightened of me, little one?” Thouriss towered almost three feet over the elf girl. He reached down and pinched the back of her dress in two fingers, lifting Di An off the ground. She began to weep. He brought her close to his serpentine face.

“Why did you run away?” he said. “Why?”

“Leave her alone!” Riverwind cried. A guard hit him with the shaft of his pike. Riverwind whirled and kicked the armored goblin in the knee. He toppled with a ringing crash. Other guards closed in. Riverwind ran up the shallow steps until he was within arm's length of Thouriss.

“Put her down!” he said.

Thouriss waved the guards away. He held the weeping girl to Riverwind, who lifted his fettered arms and took her.

“This affection your race has for others is very interesting,” he said. “I do not understand it, but it is interesting. You knew I could kill you, yet you risked your life to intercede for her. Why?”

“I will not stand by and watch your bullying!” Riverwind said. The elf girl was clinging to him, her face buried in his shirt. “I care what happens to her.”

Thouriss did not display any anger. Instead, he seemed intrigued by Riverwind's response. “Interesting,” he said. “I must consult Krago on this.”

He dispatched a guard to the closed corridor on the right. Shortly, the goblin returned with a cowled figure who clutched a large, ancient book. The cowled one walked slowly, his face bent to the written page.