Dragons of Winter Night - Margaret Weis [19]
Tanis thought of Kitiara and he thought of Laurana, but he was interested to note that the old painful thrill didn’t knot his soul anymore when he said Kitiara’s name to himself. No, now it was Laurana—the silly little girl who had been no more than a spoiled and irritating child only months before—who made his blood burn and his hands search for excuses to touch her. And now, perhaps, it was too late.
When he reached the end of the street, he glanced back again, hoping to give her some sort of sign. Let her know he understood. Let her know he’d been a fool. Let her know he—
But the curtain was drawn.
5
The riot. Tas disappears.
Alhana Starbreeze.
Foul knight …”
A rock struck Sturm on the shoulder. The knight flinched, though the stone could have caused him little pain through his armor. Tanis, looking at his pale face and quivering moustache, knew the pain was deeper than a weapon could inflict.
The crowds grew as the companions were marched through the street and word of their coming spread. Sturm walked with dignity, his head held proudly, ignoring the taunts and jeers. Although their guards shoved the crowd back time and again, they did it half-heartedly and the crowd knew it. More rocks were thrown, as were other objects even less pleasant. Soon all of the companions were cut and bleeding and covered with garbage and filth.
Tanis knew Sturm would never stoop to retaliation, not on this rabble, but the half-elf had to keep a firm grip on Flint. Even then, he was in constant fear the angry dwarf would charge past the guards and start breaking heads. But in watching Flint, Tanis had forgotten Tasslehoff.
Besides being quite casual in respect to other people’s property, kenders have another unendearing characteristic known as the “taunt.” All kenders possess this talent to a greater or lesser degree. It is how their diminutive race has managed to thrive and survive in a world of knights and warriors, trolls and hobgoblins. The taunt is the ability to insult an enemy and work him into such a fever pitch of rage that he loses his head and begins fighting wildly and erratically. Tas was a master at the taunt, though he rarely found a need to use it when traveling with his warrior friends. But Tas decided to take full advantage of this opportunity.
He began to shout insults back.
Too late Tanis realized what was happening. In vain he tried to shut him up. Tas was at the front of the line, the half-elf at the back, and there was no way to gag the kender.
Such insults as “foul knight” and “elven scum” lacked imagination, Tas felt. He decided to show these people exactly how much range and scope for variety were available in the Common language. Tasslehoff’s insults were masterpieces of creativity and ingenuity. Unfortunately, they also tended to be extremely personal and occasionally rather crude, delivered with an air of charming innocence.
“Is that your nose or a disease? Can those fleas crawling on your body do tricks? Was your mother a gully dwarf?” were only the beginning. Matters went rapidly down hill from there.
The guards began eyeing the angry crowd in alarm, while the constable gave the order to hurry the prisoners’ march. What he had seen as a victory procession exhibiting trophies of conquest appeared to be disintegrating into a full-scale riot.
“Shut that kender up!” he yelled furiously.
Tanis tried desperately to reach Tasslehoff, but the struggling guards and the surging crowd made it impossible. Gilthanas was knocked off his feet. Sturm bent over the elf, trying to protect him. Flint was kicking and flailing about in a rage. Tanis had just neared Tasslehoff when he was hit in the face with a tomato and momentarily blinded.
“Hey, constable, you know what you could do with that whistle? You could—”
Tasslehoff