direction, transporting their stock in horse-driven carts or pushcarts or lugging bundles on their backs and heads.

The wagons could not pass the priests, slowed to a funereal pace. Those traveling by foot were luckier, or so it

seemed at first. They would start to circle around the double lines of the priests, walk about halfway, then

suddenly stop in the road, fearful of moving, or fall hastily back.

Those on horseback who attempted to ride around the group failed when their animals shied nervously,

dancing sideways

into the brush, or balked completely, refusing to even come near the priests.

"What is it? What's going on?" Flint grumbled, waking from a refreshing nap in the warm autumn sun. He stood

up inside the wagon, clumped his way forward. "What's the delay? At this rate, we'll arrive in Haven in time to do the

May dance."

"Those priests up ahead," said Tanis. "They won't move off the road and no one can get around them."

"Maybe they don't know we're back here," Flint suggested. "Someone should tell them."

The driver of the lead wagon was attempting to do just that. He was shouting-politely shouting-for the priests to

move to the side of the roadway. The priests paid no attention. They might have been deaf, every one of them. They

continued walking down the center.

"This is ridiculous!" said Kit. "I'll go talk to them."

She strode forward, her cape whipping around her, her sword rattling. Tasslehoff dashed after her.

"No, Tas, Kit! Wait- Blast!" Tanis swore softly.

Tossing the reins to the startled Raistlin, the half-elf hastily climbed out of the wagon and hurried after the two.

Raistlin grappled uncertainly with the reins; he'd never driven a wagon before in his life. Fortunately Caramon

jumped up on the wagon. He brought the cart to a halt, watching.

Few creatures on Krynn can move as fast as an excited kender. By the time Tanis caught up with Kitiara,

Tasslehoff was far ahead of them both. Tanis shouted for Tas to stop, but few creatures on Krynn are as deaf as an

excited kender. Before Tanis could reach him, Tas was alongside one of the priests, a bald man, the tallest in line,

who was bringing up the rear of the file on the right-hand side.

Tas reached out his hand in order to introduce himself, and then the kender performed an extremely remarkable

feat, jumping two feet in the air straight up and three feet back simultaneously, to land in a confusion of bags and

pouches in the middle of a hedgerow.

Tanis and Kit reached the kender as he was extricating himself and his pouches from the clinging branches of the

hedge.

"He has a snake, Tanis!" Tasslehoff cried, brushing leaves and twigs from his best orange-and-green plaid

trousers. "Each one of the priests is carrying a snake wrapped around his arm!"

"Snakes?" Kit wrinkled her nose, gazed after the priests in disgust. "What are they doing with snakes?"

"It was very exciting," Tas reported. "I went up to the first priest, and I was going to introduce myself, which is only

polite, you know, except that he wouldn't look at me or talk to me. I reached out my hand to pluck at his sleeve,

figuring he hadn't seen me, and the snake reared up its head and hissed at me," Tasslehoff said, thrilled almost past

the ability to speak. Almost.

"I was just about to ask him if I could pet it-snakes have such wonderful dry skin-when it darted out its head at

me, and that's when I jumped backward. I was bitten by a snake once when I was a little kender, and while being

snake-bit is certainly an interesting experience, it's not one that should be repeated too often. As you say, Tanis, it's

not conducive to one's health. Es pecially because I think this snake was of the poisonous sort. It had a hood over its

head and a forked tongue and little beady eyes. Could one of you help me get this pouch loose? It's stuck on that

branch."

Tanis untangled the straps of the pouch. By this time, Flint and Raistlin and Sturm had joined them, leaving a

disgruntled Caramon to guard the wagon.

"From your description, the snake would appear to be a viper," Raistlin observed. "But I've never heard of vipers

being found anywhere outside the Plains of Dust."

"If so, the viper must have had its fangs drawn," said Sturm. "I cannot imagine any sane person would walk along

the road carrying a poisonous snake!"

"Then you have very limited imagination, brother," said a peddler, coming up level with them. "Though I'm not