The Gates of Thorbardin (Dragonlance: Heroes Book 5) by Dan Parkinson

Author:Dan Parkinson [Parkinson, Dan]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780786963171
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Publishing
Published: 2012-05-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 16

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FROM THE TOP OF A ROCK OUTCROP, CHANE AND Chess had a view of the path. It was below, and some distance away, and the moonlight cast eerie shadows where the slopes rose above it. But it was a view, and Chane crouched there, staring in wonder at the dark shapes moving down the cutback slope. Dozens were in view, people of all sizes. Some were dwarves, and some were taller—humans, perhaps. Some scampered along the downward path, turning often to look back. Some moved more slowly, clinging to one another; some supporting others, some being carried.

Behind the first wave of refugees came a small knot of figures brandishing spears and swords, moving slowly. A few were shouting at those ahead, urging them on. Others at the rear faced back up the path, their weapons at the ready.

“Somebody’s chasing them,” Chess said. “That’s their rear guard. I wonder who’s after them.”

Slowly the fleeing people made their way down the angled by-path, disappearing by twos and threes as they reached the cutback below and rounded the shoulder there. Shouts and cries carried upward, distorted by the spires and tumbles of the mountainside and by distance.

“Let’s get closer,” Chane decided. “I can’t tell anything from here.” He rose and turned to find the kender already gone, scrambling across tumble-slopes, leaping from stone to stone, heading for a better view of the path. Chane hurried after him.

For long moments the dwarf and the kender were out of sight of the path, but then they emerged on a ledge directly above it and looked down the length of the sloping angle between cutbacks. The path was empty now, as far as they could see. But just opposite the two, in a shadowed canyon from which the path emerged, something was moving, coming toward the turn. Heavy footfalls crunched in the rubble of the path. Footfalls … and a deep, harsh voice that broke into cruel laughter.

“See ’em run!” the voice rumbled up from the shadows. “Blood an’ gore. Me, I go an’ find me more. Bash ’ere skulls an’ break ’ere bones! Let ’em go? Haw! Not me. Not Loam!”

The figure that emerged from the darkness was huge—a massive, wide-bodied thing that loped down the path on bowed, gnarled legs. It carried a huge club in one hand, which it flailed as though it were a twig.

“Make ’em run!” the thing bellowed as it passed directly below the dwarf and the kender. “Make ’em flee! Make ’em die … in agony. Hee, hee!”

It skidded in the rubble, faltered for just an instant, and changed course, heading down the cutback where the fleeing people had gone.

“What in tarnish is that?” Chane whispered.

“Ugly, isn’t it?” the kender said. “They’re even uglier in front. Here, I’ll show you.”

Before Chane could react, the kender stood, drew his hoopak-sling, and sent a large pebble flying after the monster. The pebble bounced off the thing’s skull with a distant thud. Howling, the monster slapped a massive hand to its insulted head and spun around.

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