Free Return of the Sorceress by Tim Waggoner

hers.
    Kuruk dropped the fishbone back onto the pile and stood. Shiriki waited for him to challenge her assessment, but all he did was lick fish oil from his fingers and smile.
    “Where do you suppose they’re headed?” he asked.
    While Kuruk’s senses were keener than hers, Shiriki was the superior tracker of the two. She stepped away from the burnt-out fire and walked around the area, keeping her graze trained on the ground, reading bent blades of grass and depressions in the soil as easily as a child deciphering an alphabet.
    “They went east,” she said at last. “And the centaur was with them.”
    Kuruk harrumphed though he didn’t seem especially surprised by the revelation. “What lies in that direction?”
    “Depending on how far one travels, the whole of Krynn could be said to be east,” Shiriki said. “But if you mean what’s to the east
near
here, I can only think of one thing: Cairngorn Keep.”
    Kuruk frowned. “What could they want there?”
    Shiriki shrugged. “The human male is Maddoc’s adopted son. Perhaps the boy is leading his companions there in search of sanctuary.”
    “And they have an hour, I mean, one-and-a-half hour’s head start on us,” Kuruk said.
    “They will be forced to avoid certain routes because the centaur is with them,” Shiriki pointed out. “Her equine legs will prevent her from climbing some of the steeper hills between here and the wizard’s keep. They will be forced to detour around them.”
    Kuruk groaned. “I can see where you’re going with this, and my wounded leg is already throbbing.”
    Shiriki punched him on the arm, far harder than necessary. “You are a Kagonesti warrior and a servant of Takhisis. What’s a little climbing to one such as you?”
    “A gigantic pain in the posterior, my cousin,” Kuruk said, then sighed. “Let us waste no more time. The sooner we resume our pursuit, the greater chance we will have of arriving at Cairngorn Keep before our quarry.”
    “And then?” Shiriki said, grinning.
    Kuruk grinned back.
    “And then.”

     
    Nearra opened her eyes and looked around. She sat cross-legged on the floor of a small, unfurnished room lit by candles set into brass wall sconces. A dozen paintings hung on the walls, each encased in elaborate gold frames. The paintings were blank, save the one directly in front of her. It was a rendering of a blue dragon attacking a woodland cottage. Huddled near the cottage were four people and though the figures were so small that it was difficult to make out the details of their features, Nearra knew that she was looking at a painting of herself and her family. She stood to examine the image more closely, but before she could, it began to fade until the painting was blank like all the others.
    A door opened and Maddoc shuffled into the room, followed by Oddvar.
    “As you’ve no doubt guessed by now, your little dive off the tower was interrupted, thanks to my griffin,” Maddoc said. “Did you really think you could escape me that easily?”
    Nearra sighed. “I had rather hoped.” She looked back at the blank painting. “What is this place?”
    Maddoc smiled. He trembled all over, as if he were so weak he could barely stay on his feet. “Merely a place where you could rest and recover from the sleep spell I cast upon you.” A sly tone crept into his voice. “Why do you ask?”
    Nearra knew that whatever had happened in this chamber had been the result of another of the evil wizard’s spells, but if Maddoc wanted to play games, so be it. However, she wasn’t about to play along.
    “Has the sorceress’ spirit emerged?” the Theiwar asked his master.
    Maddoc fixed Nearra with a penetrating gaze, and she had the feeling that he was somehow peering into her mind.
    “Well?” the wizard asked Nearra. “Did she?”
    Nearra thought rapidly. If Maddoc were able to tell which personality was in control of her body, then he wouldn’t need to ask. She gave the wizard what she hoped was an