Dragons of Autumn Twilight - By Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman Page 0,102

the ladder. Tanis went next, holding his torch to light the way for Goldmoon, who came after him. The others followed, climbing slowly down into an access shaft of the city sewage system. The shaft ran about twenty feet straight down, then opened up into a five-foot-wide tunnel that ran north and south.

"Check the depth of the water," Tanis warned the kender as Tas was about to let go of the ladder. The kender, hanging onto the last rung with one hand, lowered his hoopak staff into the dark, swirling water below him. The staff sank about half-way.

"Two feet," said Tas cheerfully. He dropped in with a splash, the water hitting him around the thighs. He looked up at Tanis inquiringly.

"That way," Tanis pointed. "South."

Holding his staff in the air, Tasslehoff let the current sweep him along.

"Where's that diversion?" Sturm asked, his voice echoing.

Tanis had been wondering that himself. "We probably won't be able to hear anything down here." He hoped that was true.

"Raist'll come through. Don't worry," Caramon said grimly.

"Tanis!" Tasslehoff fell back into the half-elf. "There's something down here! I felt it go by my feet."

"Just keep moving," Tanis muttered, "and hope it isn't hungry-"

They waded on in silence, the torchlight flickering off the walls, creating illusions in the mind's eye. More than once, Tanis saw something reach out for him, only to realize it was the shadow cast by Caramon's helm or Tas's hoopak.

The tunnel ran straight south for about two hundred feet, then turned east. The companions stopped. Down the eastern arm of the sewer glimmered a column of dim light, filtering down from above. This-according to Bupu-marked the dragon's lair.

"Douse the torches!" Tanis hissed, plunging his torch in the water. Touching the slimy wall, Tanis followed the kender- Tas's red outline showing up vividly to his elven eyes-through the tunnel. Behind him he heard Flint complaining about the effects of water on his rheumatism.

"Shhhh," Tanis whispered as they drew near the light. Trying to be silent in spite of clanking armor, they soon stood by a slender ladder that ran up to an iron grating.

"No one ever bothers to lock floor gratings." Tas pulled Tanis close to whisper in his ear. "But I'm sure I can open it, if it is."

Tanis nodded. He didn't add that Bupu had been able to open it as well. The art of picking locks was as much a matter of pride to the kender as Slum's moustaches were to the knight.

They all stood watching, knee-deep in water, as Tas skimmed up the ladder.

"I still don't hear anything outside," Sturm muttered.

"Shhhh!" Caramon growled harshly.

The grating had a lock, a simple one that Tas opened in moments. Then he silently lifted the grating and peered out.

Sudden darkness descended on him, darkness so thick and impenetrable it seemed to hit him like a lead weight, nearly making him lose his hold on the grating. Hurriedly he put the grating back into place without making a sound, then slid down the ladder, bumping into Tanis.

"Tas?" the half-elf grabbed him. "Is that you? I can't see. What's going on?"

"I don't know. It just got dark all of a sudden."

"What do you mean, you can't see?" Sturm whispered to Tanis. "What about your elf-talent?"

"Gone," Tanis said grimly, "just as in Darken Wood-and out by the well. . . ."

No one spoke as they stood huddled in the tunnel. All they could hear was the sound of their own breathing and water dripping from the walls.

The dragon was up there-waiting for them.

21

The sacrifice.

The twice-dead city.

Despair blacker than the darkness blinded Tanis. It was my plan, the only way we had a chance to get out of here alive, he thought. It was sound-it should have worked! What went wrong? Raistlin-could he have betrayed us? No! Tanis clenched his fist. No, damn it. The mage was distant, unlikable, impossible to understand, yes, but he was loyal to them, Tanis would swear it. Where was Raistlin? Dead, perhaps. Not that it mattered. They would all be dead.

"Tanis"-the half-elf felt a firm grasp on his arm and recognized Sturm's deep voice-"I know what you're thinking. We have no choice. We're running out of time. This is our only chance to get the Disks. We won't get another."

"I'm going to look," Tanis said. He climbed past the kender and peered through the grate. It was dark, magically dark.

Tanis put his head in his hand and tried to think. Sturm was right, time was running out. Yet how could he trust