Ник О'Донохью - Kender, Gully Dwarves, and Gnomes

The warhorse’s great speed quickly ate away at the distance between Torbin and the minotaur. The knight saw his adversary stand at first notice of the noise and turn quickly toward him. The minotaur was unarmed, but there were a large number of long wooden shafts beside it. The man-beast could easily reach one of them long before Torbin came close enough to strike.

Nevertheless, the minotaur made no move toward its weapons. Torbin’s grim determination gave way to puzzled indignation. He had never struck down an unarmed foe. It went against everything he considered honorable, even when fighting a creature such as the minotaur.

They would close soon. The minotaur had still not reached for a weapon and, in fact, looked ready to die. With a sudden curse, the young knight pulled sharply on the reins of his horse, trying desperately to go around the creature rather than run into it. He did not think even a minotaur could survive the blows of a trained warhorse if the victim had no intention of defending itself.

The horse finally allowed itself to be turned. For several seconds, man and steed whirled wildly around as the horse fought to rebalance itself. Torbin lost his sword in an attempt to keep the reins from slipping from his hands. The horse snorted loudly and then slowed. The knight was able to regain his own balance and pull the horse to a halt. It was then that he first noticed the loss of his weapon.

He twisted around and locked gazes with the minotaur. The massive creature calmly walked over to the sword and picked it up. Turning it so that the hilt pointed toward Torbin, the minotaur returned it to him. The knight blinked, then accepted the blade. The minotaur returned to its carving, staring once more out at the Blood Sea while it worked.

Torbin led his horse so that the minotaur’s view would be blocked. The creature looked up at him. Torbin pointed the sword at the minotaur.

“Will you stand and fight? I’ve always been told that minotaurs were courageous, fierce warriors, not cowards!”

The man-beast’s nostrils flared, but it made no attempt to attack. Instead, it put down one stick and began work on another. Torbin grew angrier. How was he to prove himself if his adversary refused to fight? His sense of honor prevented him from striking an opponent who refused battle.

The minotaur chose that moment to talk. Its voice was deep and tended to rumble like thunder. “I would rather talk than fight, Knight of Solamnia, who is too far from home. Please, join me.”

It took several seconds for the words to sink in. Tor-bin stared at the minotaur. With those first words the minotaur became a person, not an “it” like so many people, including Torbin, considered the individual members of the minotaur race to be. Torbin accepted the invitation without thinking. It did not occur to him until he had dismounted and sheathed his blade that the minotaur could have easily skewered him several times.

“Sit here.” His unusual host indicated a spot next to his own. Torbin followed his lead.

“Who are you? Why do you disturb me? I have done nothing save sharpen a few sticks.” The minotaur was genuinely annoyed, as if this were his personal beach and no one else’s. He paused in his labors to inspect the latest stick. Grunting, he threw it away.

Torbin, who had not expected to play question games with a full-grown minotaur, took some time in answering. He was still not sure that he was not sitting in some sort of elaborate trap. Minotaurs were highly intelligent creatures who enjoyed proving their superiority over other races.

The minotaur repeated his questions. Torbin saw no reason not to relate the truth. The creature nodded as he listened to him go over the story of his arrival in Dragon’s Point, the fears of the people there, and what the town elders had asked of him.

The creature shook his head. “Humans! So ready to fall prey to the shadows of fear. Your race has a mind; it should learn to use it.”

Torbin did not disagree, but felt the case was rather overstated. Men, he told the minotaur, were not all the same. Some were brave, some were fools, some had honor, some were thieves.

“Let us talk of honor.” The minotaur’s gaze was oddly intent. He had completely abandoned his woodwork.

Having never studied the minotaurs or their way of life, Torbin allowed the man-beast to go first. The creature turned his eyes once more to the sea. Torbin looked, but could see nothing but the eternal motion of waves rolling toward the shore.

“Minotaurs, like some men, believe that honor is first and foremost.”

The knight nodded. “Without honor, a man’s life is worthless. He is damned. The tale of Lord Soth is legend among the Knights of Solamnia.”

“I have heard the tale. The knight who abandoned his mate for an elf woman, condemned now to haunt the halls of his castle, reliving his crimes to his family and friends.”

“That is essentially correct.”

The man-beast seemed to consider something. “Was he an honorable man before this great transgression?”

“To my knowledge. As I understand it, he was high ly thought of by all among the orders. That is what makes his crime that much more terrible. To abandon honor so abruptly. It is unthinkable.”

“Apparently not. Soth did so. I wonder what he felt?”

Torbin shrugged. Only Soth knew, and no one was going to take the risk to ask him.

The minotaur blinked. “On the islands, honor is everything. It sets us above the lesser races. The elves claim they are honorable, but they are perhaps the greatest tricksters other than kender. Worse yet, they will not fight. They run and hide, shouting all the while that it’s none of their concern, they had nothing to do with it, it wasn’t their fault. In the end, they are an old, cowardly people.”

Torbin, who had never met an elf face-to-face and had heard a number of stories concerning them, could not judge how much truth the minotaur’s statements contained. He did know, however, of the rather egotistical attitude of the minotaurs in general.

“One day, the minotaurs will swarm from the islands and conquer all of Krynn. Our leader claims that. His predecessor claimed that we are the supreme race.”

Fearing the conversation was steering toward the blind rhetoric of superiority the minotaurs were famous for, Torbin dared to interrupt. “You were speaking of honor?”

The minotaur nodded. “On Mithas and Kothas, we fight for our place in society. In the name of honor, we slay one another. A minotaur who does not fight has no honor. He is a coward, a non-being.”

“A cruel society. The Knights of Solamnia would never permit such useless bloodshed.”

The minotaur gave a fierce snort. Torbin froze, sure that the man-beast was preparing to jump him. As the snorting continued, the young knight realized the minotaur was laughing. There was no humor in his laughter, though.

“I have heard many tales of the Knights of Solamnia. You are well respected by my people. There are stories of bands of knights who have fought on, refusing to yield their position, until all are dead. Forget that in many circumstances they could have retreated to better ground, to fight another day. I have heard of knights who have taken their own lives because they have shamed themselves before their fellows.”

Torbin’s hand went to the hilt of his sword. “What you say is true; there are such tales. Yet, you twist them so that they sound like acts of—”

“Blind pride and stupidity. Are honor and pride really so important to you, young knight? If a friend died because you were lax, would you leave the Knighthood?”

“A knight who fails in his duty is not worthy of his title.” The quote by one of his instructors came to Tor-bin with little difficulty.