She had no time to develop her thoughts, however. The centaurs had pitched into battle with the goblin and hob shy;goblin captors of the human slaves. And before she knew it, Mynx was fighting for her life from the centaur's back. She wielded that creature's short sword. The centaur, meanwhile, swung a club with deadly accuracy, dashing in the skulls of more than one goblin.

The hobgoblins were well armed with maces, spears, and long swords, and although the centaurs outnumbered them, the horse-creatures were limited to using clubs in close quarter fighting. It proved too crowded for bows and arrows.

The slaves, as before, huddled together and begged for mercy. Finally, one of them shook herself free of the crowd. Ceci Vakon was not dressed the part of a warrior. The mayor's widow still wore the frilly nightrobe she'd had on when Dahos and the temple guards had forced her and her family from their home. Her curly brown hair lay tangled on her shoulders, a yellow ribbon askew in the mass of hair. But there was no mistaking the purpose in her flashing eyes.

"People," Ceci shouted, "we lost one opportunity for freedom because of fear. Are we going to throw away another?"

The fifty humans only bunched closer together. No one replied until Ceci's own daughter spoke up. "Mama, what if we get hurt?" the teen-ager asked softly.

"I'll fight!" cried Ceci's ten-year-old son, jumping up. "Give me a sword!" Soon Ceci's other two sons were clamoring for weapons as well.

Then, as the battle raged around them, the other chil shy;dren in the pack called for weapons. The hobgoblins were too busy evading centaur clubs to notice the insurrection growing in their midst.

A man shamefacedly stepped forward. "I can't have it said that my children'll fight for their freedom and I won't," he said. Another man stepped up, too, and a young woman. They joined Ceci Vakon in exhorting Hed-erick's slaves. "We're with the mayor's wife!"

"Who else is with me?" Ceci cried.

This time all the people roared to their feet, sweeping up whatever they could find in the way of weapons. From a five-year-old lad hurling rocks to a seventy-year-old woman wielding a knitting needle, they tore into their surprised captors.

The hobgoblins and goblins, used to passiveness from the slaves, were thrown utterly off balance. Ceci herself knocked the hobgoblin sergeant down, and Mynx fin shy;ished him with her borrowed sword.

Soon the centaurs and the slaves had slain every hob shy;goblin and goblin, at least two dozen of the creatures. A half-dozen humans and several centaurs also lay dead.

Phytos spoke to the freed slaves. "We are on our way to Erolydon to challenge Hederick. Thou art free now to go where thou wilt."

"I'm with you, centaur!" Ceci Vakon called out stoutly. "I'm a widow because of Hederick's greed. I have a score to settle with the High Theocrat!"

Her daughter seconded her. The rest of the slaves, buoyed by victory, shouted their support as well.

Soon most of the slaves were mounted on centaurs. Other slaves ranged on foot, vowing to follow the attack shy;ing force as quickly as they could.

Phytos called the charge, and they pounded down the forest trails.

Chapter 24

Tarscenian's cell was next to the materbill's. Even if he had wanted to sleep, the noise of the pacing, growling creature would have prevented it.

The old man's cell, at least, had a small window-about the width of his hand and the length of his forearm. Even though the window faced west, he could tell that it would soon be dawn.

"And so, Great Paladine, it ends this way," he whis shy;pered, "with my love dying within the trunk of a vallen-wood tree, and the mages who swore to help us similarly doomed. The Seekers, and those of Gaveley's foul sort, have won. I pray that there may come valiant heroes who can vanquish those who embrace evil."

He paused. "The coming years frighten me, my god. I don't know what they will bring, only that it will be

fearsome indeed, and I will not live to see the outcome. My heart bleeds for the sorrowing world.

"To you, Paladine, my allegiance remains. From you, all blessings flow."

Tarscenian sat quietly for a time after ending his prayer.

He was exhausted beyond imagining.

He knew, too, that he was ready to die.

Dawn had arrived.

* * * * *

"I am very pleased, indeed, to be summoned to your presence, High Theocrat. It is an honor."

Gaveley bowed deeply as his hoarse voice rasped out the words. His face glowed with pleasure. He glanced around Hederick's receiving room with appreciation. His quick eyes noted and evaluated the frescoes on the walls, the inlaid pattern in the floor tile, and the steel and silver statues of the Seeker gods that graced the corners of the room. "I am very, very pleased," he repeated.

His hand stroked the arm of a marble nymph that might have been the goddess Ferae. Gaveley wasn't exactly sure who was whom among the Seeker gods; there were so many of them.

"Certainly, certainly, my friend Gaveley," Hederick murmured, inwardly vowing to have the statue scrubbed later. By the New Gods, how the infidel dressed-inde shy;cently tight blue leggings and matching boots, orange tunic, and a white hat with a green feather. It was enough to give a godly man like the High Theocrat a headache.

Hederick sipped from his early morning goblet of mead. "You warned me about Tarscenian, and you helped deliver him into my hands. For that I am grateful."

"As am I," Gaveley returned. "I know the Seekers are not prone to admitting those of elven blood to their temples." Gaveley inclined his head, but he couldn't quite keep the bitterness-or the sweet triumph.-out of his voice.

Hederick only smiled. Better that Gaveley not know the humans-only rule was Erolydon's alone. Anyway, the temple would soon be reconsecrated. The stain of Gave-ley's presence would then be wiped away.

"We will make tremendous partners, you and I," Gaveley continued with zest. "With my spies and thieves and your wealth, Hederick .. ." He whistled. "You've already got the network set up. You just need someone like me to manage things. Someone with a bent for this kind of business."

The High Theocrat murmured something indistinct, and the half-elf seemed to realize that he'd stumbled across some boundary of etiquette.

"My pardon, please, Your Worship," the thief whis shy;pered smoothly. "The veneration I hold for you, and the excitement of being summoned to your presence, addles my wits a bit, I fear." He bestowed upon Hederick the shining smile that had never failed to disarm Mynx.

Hederick let his lips curve in return. "It's understand shy;able," he said.

"You have business for me, then?" the half-elf asked. "Your messenger led me to believe…"

"Ah, yes," the High Theocrat murmured. "Business. But first we must drink a toast to our-what did you call it, my friend?-our 'partnership.' " Hederick indicated a carafe on a table at Gaveley's elbow. "Please join me." His bulging blue eyes glistened as the half-elf thief poured himself a generous portion of the beverage. Some of the mead slopped over the edge of the glass and stained the table, but still Hederick maintained his pleasant smile.

"A toast," the High Theocrat proclaimed, raising his own full goblet. "To a new association." Then, as Gaveley raised the goblet to his lips, Hederick cried, "Wait! No, we must raise this tribute to the beginning day. It is the Seeker way." He ushered the half-elf to the window and flung open the shutters. "In the name of Sauvay, god of power and vengeance, I bless this mingling of minds." He sipped his mead, then placed the goblet aside as Gaveley quaffed the liquid he'd poured from the carafe.