Dragons of Spring Dawning - Margaret Weis [74]
“That Bakaris is up to no good!” the dwarf muttered to Tas.
“What?” said Tas, turning around.
“I said that Bakaris is up to no good!” the dwarf shouted. “And I’ll wager he’s acting on his own and not following orders, either. That Gakhan-character wasn’t at all pleased about being ordered off.”
“What?” Tas yelled. “I can’t hear! All this wind—”
“Oh, never mind!” The dwarf felt dizzy all of a sudden. He was finding it hard to breathe. Trying to take his mind off himself, he stared gloomily down at the tree tops emerging from the shadows as the sun began to rise.
After flying for about an hour, Bakaris made a motion with his hand and the wyvern began slowly circling, searching for a clear place to land on the heavily forested mountainside. Pointing at a small clearing just barely visible among the trees, Bakaris shouted instructions to the lead beast. The wyvern landed as ordered and Bakaris climbed down.
Flint glanced around, his fears growing. There was no sign of any fortress. No sign of life of any kind. They were in a small cleared area, surrounded by tall pine trees whose ancient limbs were so thick and tangled that they effectively shut out most of the sun’s light. Around them, the forest was dark and filled with moving shadows. At one end of the clearing Flint saw a small cave, carved out of the cliff face.
“Where are we?” Laurana asked sternly. “This can’t possibly be Dargaard Keep. Why are we stopping?”
“Astute observation, General,” Bakaris said pleasantly. “Dargaard Keep is about a mile farther up the mountain. They’re not expecting us yet. The Dark Lady probably hasn’t even had her breakfast. We wouldn’t want to be impolite and disturb her, would we?” He glanced over at Tas and Flint. “You two—stay put,” he instructed as the kender seemed about to jump down. Tas froze.
Moving to stand near Laurana, Bakaris placed his hand on the neck of the wyvern. The beast’s lidless eyes followed his every move as expectantly as a dog waiting to be fed.
“You get down, Lady Laurana,” Bakaris said with lethal softness, coming quite near her as she sat upon the wyvern’s back, regarding him scornfully. “We’ve time for a little … breakfast ourselves.…”
Laurana’s eyes flashed. Her hand moved to her sword with such conviction she almost convinced herself it was there. “Stand away from me!” she commanded with such presence that, for a moment, Bakaris halted. Then, grinning, he reached up and grabbed hold of her wrist.
“No, lady. I wouldn’t struggle. Remember the wyvern—and your friends over there. One word from me, and they will die very nasty deaths!”
Cringing, Laurana looked over to see the wyvern’s scorpion tail poised above Flint’s back. The beast quivered with anticipation of the kill.
“No! Laurana,” Flint began in agony, but she cast a sharp glance at him, reminding him that she was still the general. Her face drained of life, she allowed Bakaris to help her down.
“There, I thought you looked hungry,” Bakaris said, grinning.
“Let them go!” Laurana demanded. “It’s me you want—”
“You’re right there,” Bakaris said, grabbing hold of her around her waist. “But their presence seems to insure your good behavior.”
“Don’t you worry about us, Laurana!” Flint roared.
“Shut up, dwarf!” Bakaris cried in a rage. Shoving Laurana back against the body of the wyvern, he turned to stare at the dwarf and the kender. Flint’s blood chilled as he saw the wild madness in the man’s eyes.
“I—I think we’d better do as he says, Flint,” Tas said, swallowing. “He’ll hurt Laurana—”
“Hurt her? Oh, not much,” Bakaris said, laughing. “She will still be useful to Kitiara for whatever purpose she may have in mind. But don’t move, dwarf. I may forget myself!” Bakaris warned, hearing Flint choke in anger. He turned back to Laurana. “As it is, Kitiara