They're ordinary trees, Tas said to himself, shivering. I've talked to spectres in Darken Wood. I've faced three or four dragons. I broke a dragon orb. Just an ordinary grove of trees. I was prisoner in a wizard's castle. I saw a demon from the Abyss. Just a grove of ordinary trees.
Slowly, talking to himself, Tasslehoff inched his way through the oak trees. He didn't go far, not even past the row of trees that formed the outer perimeter of the grove. Because now he could see into the heart of the grove.
Tasslehoff gulped, turned, and ran.
At the sight of the kender running back toward him, Flint knew it was All Over. Something Awful was going to crash out of that grove of trees. The dwarf whirled so rapidly he tripped over his feet and fell sprawling to the pavement. Running up to him, Tas grabbed Flint's belt and pulled him up. Then the two dashed madly down the street, the dwarf running for his very life. He could almost hear gigantic footsteps thudding along behind him. He did not dare turn around. Visions of a slobbering monster drove him on until his heart seemed about to burst from his body. Finally they reached the end of the street.
It was warm. The sun shone.
They could hear the voices of real live people drifting from the crowded streets beyond. Flint stopped, exhausted, gasping for breath. Glancing fearfully back down the street, he was surprised to see it was still empty.
"What was it?" he managed to ask when he could speak past the thudding of his heart.
The kender's face was pale as death. "A-a t-tower..." Tas gulped, puffing.
Flint's eyes opened wide. "A tower?" the dwarf repeated. "I ran all that way - nearly killing myself - and I was running from a tower! I don't suppose" - Flint's bushy eyebrows came together alarmingly - "that the tower was chasing you?"
"N-no," Tas admitted. "It - it just stood there. But it ws the most horrible thing I've ever seen in my life," the kender avowed solemnly, shuddering.
