"So, do you want to buy one of the toys I've made7" questioned the dwarf between swallows of watered slop.

"No. I… I just want to know how you are," Tanis said, and immediately felt foolish.

Hint narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. He seemed to be thinking-work that came hard with all the bad ale he'd consumed.

"What I mean is," Tanis added awkwardly, "how are you managing your business without a helper?"

"What do I need a helper for7 I'm in my prime!" The dwarf sat up defensively. "Well, there may come a time," suggested Tanis, "when you'll want to have someone around to help keep your books, collect debts from those who owe you money, those sorts of things."

Flint downed the last of his mug of ale and called out over his shoulder, "Hey, You, give me another."

The innkeeper was right behind him, listening. "I don't know about the other things you mentioned, young fellow, but Hint here certainly does need someone to drag him out of this place when he's had too much to drink and gets into a fight." He wrinkled a crooked nose, grabbed Hint's tankard, and swabbed the table with a rag that seemed to leave the wooden surface greasier than before.

Tanis smiled. He had pulled the feisty dwarf out of nearly every tavern in Ansalon when they'd traveled the countryside together. But that wouldn't happen for decades yet. "Someday," he said softly to Hint, "you'll have a helper who will do all those things for you."

The dwarf's face folded into disbelief. 'That will be the day I call a kender my friend," scoffed the dwarf.

Tanis choked on his potatoes.

Hey, You poured Tanis some ale to help him wash away the food caught in his throat. The half-elf gratefully drank and was just catching his breath when a hand came down hard on his right shoulder.

"I've been looking for you," said Kishpa.

28

Tanis was tired of running from the Maqe. More than that, he was tired of hearing Kishpa's name on Brandella's lips. What had the mage sacrificed for the woman? What had the mage done to show his deep affection? As far as Tanis was concerned, Kishpa ran a poor second to him in devotion to Brandella. Yet the woman loved Kishpa above all else. And that rankled.

The hand that rested on his shoulder did not worry the half-elf. It was the other hand that concerned him. Once before, Kishpa had held a knife to his back, and he might again. The way Tanis was feeling just then, he was of a mind to break that hand in as many places as he could. Tanis grabbed the hand on his shoulder and jerked forward with his whole body, throwing the mage over his head. Over the surprised Flint's head, as well.

Kishpa landed on his back on top of a wooden table, which crashed to the floor under his weight.

"And here I was suggesting that you stop Flint from fighting," complained Hey, You, quickly tabulating the cost of the table and adding it to Tanis's bill.

"He's good," Hint said approvingly to the innkeeper when Tanis got up and went after the mage. The dwarf protectively picked up his new tankard of ale.

"Yes, but can he afford the damages?" the innkeeper queried, his sad eyes growing more doleful. He'd obviously become resigned to bar fights in his acquaintance with the dwarf.

"I'll pay for anything he breaks," offered Hint. "I haven't seen a good fight since-"

"Since this morning," said Hey, You.

"Helps me digest my breakfast," explained the dwarf. "Did you just see that blow to the belly7 That fellow I was drinking with sure knows how to throw a punch."

"Don't count that other one out," cautioned the innkeeper. "He seems to be able to absorb the punishment."

Tanis fought with a cold fury, his fists burying Kishpa under an avalanche of punches to the stomach and head. The mage rocked with each blow, yet he didn't break and he didn't bleed. Nor, strangely, did he fight back.

Breathing heavily, Tanis picked up Kishpa, held him over his head, and then threw him again, this time against the wall. The mage hit the wall with a thud and then slid to the floor in a heap.

"At least he didn't break anything this time," said the innkeeper.

"All this activity is making me thirsty," complained Hint, watching Tanis manhandle the mage. The dwarf tossed down a mouthful of ale.

Tanis walked toward the wall to pick up Kishpa. Before he got there, though, the mage calmly stood up on his own. The half-elf stopped, wary.

"Wise move," Kishpa snarled. "My magic protected me from your attack. But what is going to protect you from mine?"

"Magicl" protested Flint loudly, jumping to his feet, accidentally knocking the table askew. "Unfair! Nobody said anything about magic."

Tanis eased his way to the left, edging closer to an overturned chair while Kishpa strode toward the half- elf. When Kishpa was right in front of him, Tanis picked up one of the chair's upturned legs and smashed it over the mage's head. It shattered into a dozen pieces. But Kishpa just stood there, giving Tanis a malevolent smile.

The innkeeper scribbled again on the tally sheet. Flint handed him the half-full tankard, which the man took without a word.

Flint watched as Kishpa and Tanis faced off again. • "Where's Brandella?" the mage demanded.

Tanis felt a curious satisfaction. "I don't know. You've missed her."

The half-elf didn't see the mage's hands move. Nobody saw them. Nonetheless, Tanis was struck in the eye by a punch that staggered him. An unseen fist hit him in the cheekbone, nearly knocking him senseless and snapping his head to one side so hard that he spun halfway around. A blow to the stomach left him on his knees. In all of this, Kishpa never moved. Nor did he continue the pummeling once Tanis was down. He merely took a deep breath as though he had labored hard and then quietly stood over the fallen half-elf.

"Reorx's beard!" Flint thundered and charged at Kishpa, butting his head into the mage's back. Caught off-guard, Kishpa fell forward, landing on top of Tanis.

"I wish I had my battle-axe!" the dwarf roared.

He was hardly helpless, though, without his favorite weapon; as Tanis sat up, Hint kneed Kishpa in the small of the back, eliciting a groan from the mage. 'That will teach you to pick on folks with your magic!" the dwarf declared. Then he threw a punch meant to strike the side of the mage's head. He missed, hitting Tanis in the chest, instead.

"Oh. Sorry," said the dwarf as Tanis fell backward.

Meanwhile, Kishpa muttered several words under his breath, words that neither Tanis nor Hint had ever heard before. Without warning, Hint was lifted off the mage's back as if he were a puppet on a set of strings. He hovered in the air near the ceiling.

"Hey, you, get me down from here!" insisted the dwarf.

The innkeeper shrugged thin shoulders. "Don't know how."

"I meant him!" Hint said with exasperation, flailing his arms and legs. The dwarf pointed at the mage. "Let me down, and fight fair!"

"Is two against one 'fair'?" Kishpa asked calmly, blue eyes mild.

'The boy was already down," Hint countered. "It was one against one when I hit you." He aimed an unsuccessful kick at the mage's head.

Tanis began another attempt to get to his feet. The mage took a handful of the half-elf's tunic with one hand, seemingly holding him steady in order to strike him with the other.

"Kishpa!" a new voice sang from the doorway. "Don't!"

The mage twisted to face the door. His eyes sparkled with joy, and a huge grin lit his face. He let go of Tanis and ran to his Brandella. When he did so, Tanis stayed on his feet, but Hint suddenly fell to the floor, hitting the wooden planks with a thud.

'Thanks," the dwarf muttered under his breath, pulling splinters out of his beard.