Adobe Acrobat Format - The Grey Company

Tadsbro shook himself off and picked himself up from the ground. He saw the giant moving
towards Riklaun and Tizer and motioned for then to wait. Tad quietly moved up behind the giant and leapt.
He drove his sword into the back to the giant and they fell. Tad pulled his sword out of the giant's back and
wiped it off.
"Quel undome heru en amin," Tadsbro said. "What brings you out this way, Captain?"
"We are on our way to Nightsedge, in search of an elf named Rand. Tizer said. Would you care to
accompany us?"
Tadsbro looked at his two friends, "Let's get to the inn first, I could use a rest."
* * * * *
Above the outskirts of Floodblest a sky-blue kitten with sapphire colored wings hovered above the
treetops. It watched and listened for a moment as Tizer and Riklaun spoke together regarding their next
move. It then darted overhead and landed upon the roof of the Inn. A glitter of crystal hanging about the
Tressym's neck flashed in the moonlight. The words
Maer Cath
Bonded of Sheilandri
were finely etched upon the tag.
The kitten curled up in a convenient corner of the thatched roof and continued watching a winged
shape which circled in ever tightening spirals above the Rankled Boar Inn.
Chapter 9
A low, grey tower came into view as Sheil dropped out of the brisk western wind and descended
towards her destination. She breathed deeply of Shadowdale's night air and landed at the front door of the
old tower. Glancing behind her at the cracked flagstone path, the wind elf noticed several glyphs of
warding. Shrugging disconcertedly, she knocked upon the wooden door and waited.
After a few moments the door opened and a middle-aged human stands there rubbing his eyes of
sleep.
"Lhaeo, I must speak with Elminster as soon as possible. Tis a matter of life or death." Sheil stated
as he reluctantly allowed her to enter.
"Ahhhh, Life or Death. I have those forms around here somewhere." Lhaeo shuffled through huge
stacks of papers and books and, after an hour, finally smiled. "Here they are." He carried over a stack of
papers one foot thick and placed it upon her lap. "All of these forms must be filled out and then you will be
placed upon the one year waiting list. You are lucky. The less pressing cases go onto the five year waiting
list." Lhaeo grinned at the wind elf and walked back to his desk. "Just let me know when you finish those
and I have another stack for you."
A glimmer of mischief lighted her eyes as a gust of wind whirled about the room. The stack of
papers upon her lap vanished in the whirling cyclone.
"All done. Shall we go wake Elminster now?"
Lhaeo slapped his forehead as he frantically tried to catch the flow of paper leaving through a
small window. Muttering something about disrespectful wind elves, Lhaeo gave up and sat in a nearby
chair.
Elminster shimmered into the center of the room and gazed about. "Trouble Lhaeo?" Glancing at
the giggling wind elf, Elminster sighed deeply. "Aye, trouble indeed." The elder mage pulled a scroll case
from his cloak and handed it to Sheil. "Here is a recipe for the antidote to the poison which afflicts Brisid. I
trust ye will take it in exchange for a quick departure and an end to your paper cyclone."
The wind elf nodded affirmatively and winked. She darted out the open window as the cyclone
subsided, depositing the papers in a neat stack at Lhaeo's feet.
Sheil flew up into a nearby tree and sat on a branch. Sliding the scroll from it's case, the wind elf
read the intricate writing:
"The antidote is a standard healing potion mixed with Stoneroot and snake venom."