“What do you propose now?” Panamon Creel demanded. “We’ve lost the trail entirely. We don’t even know if our Gnome friend got out of that stuff alive. In fact, I don’t see how he could have managed it.

“We’ll have to keep looking for him,” Shea replied evenly.

“While those flying creatures keep looking for us,” the other pointed out quickly. “The odds are becoming a little more than I bargained for, Shea. I don’t mind telling you that I’m rapidly losing interest in this chase specially when I don’t know what it is I’m fighting. We almost died back there, and I couldn’t even see what was killing us!”

Shea nodded understandingly, suddenly in command of the situation. For the first time in his life, Panamon Creel was worried about staying alive, even if it meant backing away with a severely wounded pride. It was up to Shea to make sure that the journey would continue now. Keltset stood apart from the two men, the soft brown eyes fixed on the Valeman as the heavy brows knitted in understanding. Again Shea was struck with the intelligence he saw, deep-rooted and unimposing in the gentle eyes of the massive creature. He still knew nothing about the giant Troll, but there was a great deal he wanted to learn. Keltset was the key to some strange, important secret that not even Panamon Creel knew, for all his boasting of their close friendship.

“The choices are limited,” the little Valeman replied at last. “We can search for Orl Fane on this side of the mist and take our chances with the Skull creatures, or we can risk another journey back. . .”

He trailed off ominously, leaving the thought unspoken as he watched Panamon turn a shade paler.

“I’m not going back through that-at least not right away,” the unnerved thief declared vehemently. He shook his head emphatically, the piked hand raising quickly to ward off the very air that carried such an insane suggestion. Then, almost sheepishly, the familiar broad smile returned as the old Panamon Creel reassumed command of his wits. He was too hardened an individual, too much a professional in the game of life, to allow anything to frighten him for very long. Grimly, he fought down the memories of what he had felt while stumbling blindly through the dead world within the darkness, calling on his long experience as an adventurer and border thief to rebuild his confidence. If he was destined to die in this venture, then he would meet it with the courage and determination that had carried him through so many hard years.

“Now let’s think this situation through a minute,” he mused, pacing away from them and back again. The old swagger and grit were returning. “If the Gnome did not make it out of the mist barrier, then the Sword will still be in there-we can get it anytime. But if he escaped, as we did, then where…?”

He paused in midsentence, his eyes studying the surrounding countryside as he tried to narrow the possibilities. Keltset stepped quickly to his side and pointed directly north to the jagged peaks that marked the borders of the Skull Kingdom.