Lord Toede by Jeff Grubb Read Free Book Online Page A

as a bridge before, and most of the bark had already peeled away, leaving a smooth,
     straight pole between opposite banks of slippery rock. The kender ideal of ”crossable“ was
     at great odds with the hobgoblin definition of the same, or anyone else's for that matter.
     The water thundered about ten feet below in a torrent, squeezing between the two rocky
     banks before passing over a low falls and into a series of rapids. ”Better berries, you
     say?“ said Taywin, taking the lunch basket from the guard. The guard shook his head, ”I
     don't think it's wise to take the prisoners across, milady.“ ”If I may be so bold,“ broke
     in Toede, ”but the young man, sorry, young kender is correct. In our current condition I
     don't think we could make it across such a narrow crossing.“ He held out his chained hands
     and cocked his head at the young female. Taywin looked at the cuffs as if they had just
     that moment entered her vision. Toede could swear steam was pouring out her ears as her
     brain struggled to grasp the concept that two chained hobgoblins could not cross the
     stream. She touched the iron key that hung around her neck as if it were a holy fetish.
     Then she nodded. ”Right. I'll go across first and see if the berries are truly sweeter.
     Then next time we'll bring more guards and do some major picking.“ With that she turned
     and, with surefooted ease, started to cross the log, ignoring the fact that the crossing
     lacked anything resembling a handrail and was slick with spray. Toede sighed as the young
     kender guard stepped up next to him. ”She's real smart, she is,“ the kender said with a
     grin. ”Very,“ agreed Toede, nodding. ”I notice how she never during the entire morning got
     within an arm's length of me. Not like you are now.“ The kender guard was about to
     respond, but the words (and several of his teeth) were shoved back down his throat by
     Toede's iron-manacled forearm. The guard went down like a lump of suet, and Toede reached
     out and grabbed his spear before it hit the ground. Then he kicked the guard for good
     measure, watching the kender curl up in a small pain-filled ball. The mastiff growled and
     was rewarded with a hard rap across the nose from the spear shaft. The hound retreated two
     paces and growled again, crouching. Toede raised the spear to throw it, and the dog bolted
     for the woods, yip-ping. The kender was still down, spitting blood. Groag looked at Toede
     in shock. ”Why did you do that?“ ”Couldn't you see? He was about to read us a poem,"
     snapped Toede, and started dragging his
    compatriot toward the fallen log. “Come on.” “But we can't get very far in these,” whined
     the lesser hobgoblin, rattling the manacles and chain between them. Toede turned and
     glared at his companion. “But she has the key, and there are two of us. Now come on.”
     Groag said nothing, but reluctantly followed the high-master to the edge of the thundering
     stream. The passage had gotten very slick indeed at the center of the beam, and Tay win
     had reached out her arms to both sides to balance herself. Now she looked back for a
     moment and spotted Toede starting to inch along the beam, shuffling sideways along the
     span. That was her first clue that something had gone wrong. The second clue was the fact
     that he held the guard's spear, about a third of the way down from its flint-tipped head,
     and was using it as a balancing pole. The third clue was that Toede was smiling. It was a
     frightening, ear-to-ear smile. “What's wrong?” Taywin shouted to make herself heard over
     the rushing water. “You shouldn't come out here!” Toede shouted back, “The guard just took
     ill! Bad berries! You'd better come back.” Indeed, beyond Toede on the near bank, the
     guard was clutching his mouth and stomach in obvious pain. Groag stood about three paces
     behind Toede, feeding out the chain and looking worried.