The Nether Scroll - Lynn Abbey [75]
"You want to wait until after midnight." Rozt'a saw through Druhallen's caution. "You want to change your mind."
"I'd feel safer with different spells. You'd be safer."
Dru withered a little in their disappointment and when Rozt'a suggested that she could follow the goblin as he searched for a way into the mines that didn't expose them to scrutiny, he agreed even though a part of him felt that they shouldn't be splitting up.
There were more mysteries in Dekanter than a man could count, starting with ancient Netheril and working forward in time to the Beast Lord and the real reason Amarandaris and the Black Network had pulled their slave market out of this place. If he'd had the time, the magic, and the muscle, Dru would have liked to unravel a few of those mysteries. Lacking all those things, he easily stifled his curiosity and hoped only to escape with the golden scroll.
He returned to the horses and Tiep, scouting campsites along the way.
"You and I make the night's camp," he told the youth when they were together. "Rozt'a's gone off with the goblin to find tomorrow's way in. I spotted a blind gully with runoff pool. If we can get the horses in, they'll have plenty of water and won't go wandering. We'll take them in one at a time. You grab Hopper-" He took Star's rein. If they could get him and Hopper up the path, the others would follow peacefully.
Tiep proved a non-cooperative partner. "You let Rozt'a go off alone with Sheemzher?" He'd folded his arms across his chest.
"Do you think Rozt'a can't handle a goblin, Tiep? Should I mention that to her when she gets back?"
"Tymora protect me! Don't do that!" Tiep snatched Hopper's rein and fell in behind Druhallen.
"What then? I thought you and the goblin had made peace."
"We did," Tiep replied with a notable lack of enthusiasm. "As much peace as an honest man can make with a liar."
"Right," Dru agreed with a sigh.
Star sulked and balked, but he was thirsty and the smell of running water got him down the last slope.
"You're sure we're going to be able to get them out of here?" Tiep asked when he and Hopper were beside the water.
The slope had been steeper than Dru imagined. They'd all had a few sliding, frightening moments. Dru had wrenched his shoulder keeping Star upright and Hopper was favoring the hoof he'd cracked before they got to Parnast.
"Well push 'em out one at a time, if we have to. It was here or leave them on the bogs. If the goblins catch sight of them, they'll eat them all." After emptying one of the forage-filled nets, Dru handed the green wood poles to Tiep. "Strip them down while I heat the pitch and dip the rushes."
They had three torches finished when Rozt'a and Sheemzher returned.
"He found it," Rozt'a announced. Dru watched Tiep roll his eyes skyward. "We went down as far as we could-as far as I could without light. Why Ao made their eyes better than ours is something I'll never understand."
Dru wound another length of pitch-dripping greenery around the working end of a torch. Rozt'a wouldn't have given up sunlight or far-sight for all the moonlight in the world, but that didn't keep her from complaining. He understood the frustration-and a few of the races did have undisputedly better vision than humans did-but not the goblins. One had only to look at Sheemzher's watery eyes to know that.
Rozt'a hefted one of the finished torches. She tested the pitch to see if it would light. "We could take these and check it out, Dru-go down and really see what we're up against before you're up against midnight decisions."
Druhallenadvocated caution. Intruth, he was anxious… afraid. Rozt'a, Sheemzher, even Tiep were cut from different cloth than he. They were fighters, hunters, or gamblers and would rather be in the middle of a situation than mapping it from the outside. Dru had probably done more damage to life and limb than the three of them combined, but always in reaction. He didn't start fights, didn't deliberately expose himself to danger-
"We won't steal