"Grab cart wheel! Climb!" Umpth called down to him.

Not one to hang about when it was time to leave, Trap grabbed a rear wheel and scrambled up. His weight caused the vehicle to tilt and more manure poured down on the hapless dwarves who were struggling to escape their malodorous confinement. Just as Umpth reached down to give Trap a hand, a dwarf, who had been able to dodge most of the manure, grabbed the opposite rear wheel and started up. His weight was enough to topple the wagon and it slid over the wall.

Trap had just grasped a capstone when the wagon started to slide. He held on, his whole body dangling until Umpth caught him by the arms and pulled him up. In front of the wagon, two sturdy ponies were fighting a loosing battle to keep the weight of the wagon from pulling them into the lower courtyard. Trap whipped out his knife and cut their harnesses. Behind and from below came the crash of the wagon and the shouts of the dwarves.

"Ponies back away from axe, wagon fall over edge, " Umpth said as he picked up his weapon.

Trap decided he would ask the gully dwarf to explain later, but at that moment he knew they had to get away, buy their pots, and leave the exploration of Solanthus for another time. Stopping to buy some pots was one thing, messing around with the dwarves when he needed to rescue Ripple was another.

"Wizard make kender wash, " Umpth said with a sniff as they trotted around the upper part of the building and back out onto the road. Trap bent forward to brush away the muck, but soon gave it up.

Twenty minutes later they had made their hurried purchases and had left Solanthus behind. They rode down the trail until they found the gorge, but the others were nowhere in sight.

"Where go?" Umpth asked.

"I don't know, but we'll find them, " Trap said, angry because Halmarain had demanded that he stay with her, but now she had left them. At least he had found the tracks of the five ponies that she had kept with her.

"Just wait, " he groused at Umpth as they followed Halmarain's trail. "When I find her I am going to tell her… why is she going south? She said the kobolds were going east. "

Trap and Umpth rode through the shallow valleys between the foothills, watching for the tracks of the ponies. The kender had been keeping his eyes on the ground until movement ahead attracted his attention. He looked up to see Halmarain just coming around a hill. She was riding in their direction. When she saw him she spurred up her mount. Behind her, Grod, the pack pony, and the two extra ponies picked up speed.

"No need tracks now, " Umpth said, pointing ahead.

"I can see that, " Trap answered him. "Just wait until she gets here. I'm going to tell her what I think of her leaving us like that. "

When Halmarain approached within speaking distance he opened his mouth to have his say, but she forestalled him.

"I'm glad you came after me, " she said with no apology for leaving the meeting place. "Now we can make a plan. I've found them. "

"Found who?" Trap forgot his anger. Finding things or people was always more interesting than arguing.

"The kobolds who took Ripple and Beglug!" The little wizard shook her head as if she couldn't believe the question.

"Good! Great! Big jiggers! Did you see Ripple and the merchesti? Where are they?" Trap asked.

Halmarain pointed west. "They're coming-"

"I knew there was something strange about following on Krynn, " Trap said. "People who follow always get ahead. Tolem and his friends are in Solanthus. "

"Forget them, " Halmarain said, but before she could say more, Trap took offense.

"I will not forget my sister, " he said, reverting suddenly to the original subject under discussion. Halmarain's face reddened and she was puffing herself up for an explosion when she suddenly took control of her emotions.

"No, we won't, " she agreed. "You're right about the following. What we didn't consider is that we were riding, so we were going faster. Somehow we passed them. "

"Then why did you ride south?" Trap asked.

"Because I hadn't thought we were ahead of them. I was looking for their tracks. I was sure they would have to cross the foothills south of the city. When I didn't find any sign of them, I rode to the top of a hill to look for you and I saw them in the distance. They're coming this way.

"Now, you wanted to make a plan, so let's make one. They're staying in the valleys and don't want to be seen from the city. We have to hurry. They're not more than two miles away. "

"I still think we could all climb up in a tree-"Trap voiced his first plan, which was still his favorite, but Halmarain interrupted.

"Look around you, " she said. "There are very few trees, and those are up on the hillsides. The kobolds won't pass anywhere near them. "

"We could take some large horses and pull down a dam and let the water of a river wash down the valley-"

"Don't be ridiculous! There's no large river or dam near by and even if there was, we'd wash away Ripple and the merchesti… " She stopped, thinking, then brightened suddenly. "A stream! By the marks we saw, Beglug always puts up a struggle when they want him to cross a stream. "

"Beglug no like water, " Grod said.

"Here's what we'll do… "

Halmarain laid out the plan. Trap was disappointed that she used mainly her own ideas, but he had thought of water, and she had given him the best part of the action.

They rode east searching for a watercourse that flowed out of the northern end of the Garnet Mountain range. Half a mile after they crossed the track leading from the south gate of Solanthus toward the mountains, they found what they were looking for. A wide, shallow stream with a muddy bank crossed the path of the kobolds.

Leaving the gully dwarves to hold the ponies, Trap and Halmarain climbed a hill they thought the kobolds would pass and waited. When they were sure of the humanoids' course they scurried and slid back down the slope to join the gully dwarves. When they had tethered the ponies out of sight, they cut four bushes and carried them back to their chosen spot, firmly anchoring them along the path the kobolds would be taking. Luck was with them. The trail would lead the travelers around a rocky outcrop and they would not see the stream until they were within fifty feet of it.

"Now you remember what you are to do?" Halmarain asked Grod as Trap pushed the sharp end of a bush into the soft earth.

"Run, " he answered, his eyes big with worry. "Run, run, run. " He crouched down behind the bush, knocking it over as he tried to hide in its foliage.

"I wish I was sure of the direction you intend to take, " the little wizard said as Trap pushed the end of the bush into the ground again. In minutes they were crouching behind their camouflage. The kender and Grod were hidden on one side of the trail while Umpth and Halmarain were on the other side.

Trap knelt on the ground and waited. For the first two minutes he was full of anticipation, but then he started getting bored. He forced himself to stay physically still, but his mind was active, going over the plan of attack. His agile thoughts skipped through the plan and devised several new ideas.

"Halmarain, " he whispered, looking out from behind his bush.

"Stay down, " she hissed back.

"Oh, okay, I forgot. Look… I just thought of how-"

"Wheel think, " Umpth said softly. "Think kobold come. "

"Now?"Trap whispered.

"Now. "

In moments they heard a twig break, a rock clattered, and a curse in the kobold language came from close by. Trap peeked through the foliage. The first two kobolds were in sight. One was limping, raising his left foot to rub his ankle.

The other spotted the stream, pointed, and they both growled angrily. Trap started to rise, but Grod, who had listened with rapt attention to Halmarain and had obediently repeated everything she had said, put out a hand.