Read Dragonlance 15 - Dragons Of A Fallen Sun Online
Authors: Margaret Weis
respectable. Under Bight's protection and encouragement, good
and honest merchants moved into the city. Both the Solamnic
Knights and the Knights of Neraka approached Bight, each side
offering to move into Sanction and provide protection from the
other.
Bight trusted neither side, refused to allow either to enter.
Angry, the Knights of Neraka argued that Sanction was part of
the land given to them by the Council in return for their service
during the Chaos War. The Knights of Solamnia continued to try
to negotiate with Bight, who continued to refuse all their offers
of aid.
Meanwhile the Dark Knights, now calling themselves Knights
of Neraka, were growing in strength, in wealth, and in power-
for it was they who collected the tribute due the dragons. They
watched Sanction as the cat watches the mouse hole. The Knights
of Neraka had long coveted the port that woulq allow them a
base of operations from which they could sail forth and gain a
firm hold on all the lands surrounding New Sea. Seeing that the
mice were busy biting and clawing each other, the cat pounced.
The Knights of Neraka laid siege to Sanction. They expected
the siege to be a long one. As soon as the Dark Knights attacked
the city, its fractured elements would unite in its defense. The
Knights were patient, however. They could not starve the city
into submission; blockade runners continued to bring supplies
into Sanction. But the Knights of Neraka could shut down all
overland trade routes. Thus the Knights of Neraka effectively
strangled the merchants and brought Sanction's economy to ruin.
Pressured by the demands of the citizens, Hogan Bight had
agreed within the last year to permit the Solamnic Knights to
send in a force to bolster the city's flagging defenses. At first, the
Knights were welcomed as saviors. The people of Sanction ex-
pected the Knights would put an immediate end to the siege. The
Solamnics replied that they had to study the situation. After
months of watching the Knights study, the people again urged
the Solamnics to break the siege. The Knights replied that their
numbers were too few. They needed reinforcements.
Nightly the besiegers bombarded the city with boulders and
fiery bales of hay flung from catapults. The burning hay bales
started blazes, the boulders knocked holes in buildings. People
died, property was destroyed. No one could get a good night's
sleep. As the leadership of the Knights of Neraka had calcu-
lated, the excitement and fervor of Sanction's residents, which
had burned hot when first defending their city against the foe,
cooled as the siege dragged out month after month. They found
fault with the Solamnics, called them cowards. The Knights re-
torted that the citizens were hot-heads who would have them
all die for nothing. Hearing reports from their spies that the
unity was starting to crack, the Knights of Neraka began to
build up their forces for an all-out, major assault. Their leader-
ship waited only for a sign that the cracks had penetrated to the
enemy's heart.
A large valley known as Zhakar Valley lay to the east of Sanc-
tion. Early in the siege, the Knights of Neraka had gained control
of this valley and all of the passes that led from Sanction into the
valley. Hidden in the foothills of the Zhakar Mountains, the
valley was being used by the ~ghts as a staging area for their
armIes.
"The Zhakar Valley is our destination," Mina told her
Knights. But when asked why, what they would do there, she
would say nothing other than, "We are called."
Mina and her forces arrived at noon. The sun was high in a
cloudless sky, seeming to stare down upon all below with avid
expectation, an expectation that sucked up the wind, left the air
still and hot.
Mina brought her small command to a halt at the entrance to
the valley. Directly opposite them, across the valley, was a pass
known as Beckard's Cut. Through the cut, the Knights could see
the besieged city, see a small portion of the wall that surrounded
Sanction. Between the Knights and Sanction lay their own army.
Another city had sprung up in the valley, a city of tents and camp-
fires, wagons and draft animals, soldiers and camp followers.
Mina and her Knights had arrived at a propitious time, seem-
ingly. The camp of the Knights of Neraka rang with cheers. Trum-
pets blared, officers bellowed, companies formed on the road.
Already the lead forces were marching through the cut, heading
toward Sanction. Others were quickly following.
"Good," said Mina. "We are in time."
She galloped her horse down the steep road, her Knights
followed after. They heard in the trumpets the melody of the song
they had heard in their sleep. Hearts pounded, pulses quickened,
yet they had no idea why.
"Find out what is going on," Mina instructed Galdar.
The minotaur nabbed the first officer he could locate, ques-
tioned the man. Returning to Mina, the minotaur grinned and
rubbed his hands.
"The cursed Solamnics have left the city!" he reported. "The
wizard who runs Sanction has thrown the Solamnic Knights out
on their ears. Kicked them in the ass. Sent them packing. If you
look" -Galdar turned, pointed through Beckard' s Cut-"you can
see their ships, those little black dots on the horizon."
The Knights under Mina's command began to cheer. Mina
looked at the distant ships, but she did not smile. Foxfire stirred
restlessly, shook his mane and pawed the ground.
"You brought us here in good time, Mina," Galdar continued
with enthusiasm. "They are preparing to launch the final assault.
This day, we'll drink Sanction's blood. This night, we'll drink
Sanction ale!"
The men laughed. Mina said nothing, her expression indi-
cated neither elation nor joy. Her amber eyes roved the army
camp, seeking something and not finding what she wanted, ap-
parently, for a small frown line appeared between her brows. Her
lips pursed in displeasure. She continued her search and finally,
her expression cleared. She nodded to herself and patted Foxfire's
neck, calming him.
"Galdar, do you see that company of archers over there?"
Galdar looked, found them, indicated that he did.
"They do not wear the livery of the Knights of Neraka."
"They are a mercenary company," Galdar explained. "In our
pay, but they fight under their own officers."
"Excellent. Bring their commander to me."
"But, Mina, why-"
"Do as I have ordered, Galdar," said Mina.
Her Knights, gathered behind her, exchanged startled
glances, shrugging, wondering. Galdar was about to argue. He
was about to urge Mina to let him join in the final drive toward
victory instead of sending him off on some fool's errand. A jar-
ring, tingling sensation numbed his right arm, felt as if he'd
struck his "funny bone." For one terrifying moment, he could
not move his fingers. Nerves tingled and jangled. The feeling
went away in a moment, leaving him shaken. Probably nothing
more than a pinched nerve, but the tingling reminded him of
what he owed her. Galdar swallowed his arguments and de-
parted on his assignment.
He returned with the archer company's commander, an older
human, in his forties, with the inordinately strong arms of a
bowman. The mercenary officer's expression was sullen, hostile.
He would not have come at all, but it is difficult to say no to a
minotaur who towers over you head, shoulders, and horns and
who is insistent upon your coming.
Mina wore her helm with the visor raised. A wise move,
Galdar thought. The helm shadowed her youthful, girl's face,
kept it hidden.
"What are you orders, Talon Leader?" Mina asked. Her voice
resonated from within the visor, cold and hard as the metal.
The commander looked up at the Knight with a certain
amount of scorn, not the least intimidated.
"I'm no blasted 'talon leader,' Sir Knight," he said and he laid
a nasty, sarcastic emphasis on the word 'sir.' "I hold my rank as
captain of my own command, and we don't take orders from
your kind. Just money. We do whatever we damn well please."
"Speak politely to the talon leader," Galdar growled and gave
the officer a shove that staggered him.
The man wheeled, glowered, reached for his short sword.
Galdar grasped his own sword. His fellow soldiers drew their
blades with a ringing sound. Mina did not move.
"What are your orders, Captain?" she asked again.
Seeing he was outnumbered, the officer slid his sword back
into its sheath, his movement slow and deliberate, to show that
he was still defiant, just not stupid.
"To wait until the assault is launched and then to fire at the
guards on the walls. Sir," he said sulkily, adding in sullen tones,
"We'll be the last ones into the city, which means all the choice
pickings will already be gone."
Mina regarded him speculatively. "You have little respect for
the Knights of Neraka or our cause."
"What cause?" The office gave a brief, barking laugh. "To fill
your own coffers? That's all you care about. You and your foolish
visions." He spat on the ground.
"Yet you were once one of us, Captain Samuval. You were
once a Knight of Takhisis," Mina said. "You quit because the
cause for which you joined was gone. You quit because you no
longer believed."
The captain's eyes widened, his face muscles went slack.
"How did-" He shapped his mouth shut. "What if I was?" he
growled. "I didn't desert if that's what you're thinking. I bought
my way out. I have my papers-"
"lf you do not believe in our cause, why do you continue to
fight for us, Captain?" Mina asked.
Samuval snorted. "Oh, I believe in your cause now, all right"
he said with a leer. "I believe in money, same as the rest of you."
Mina sat her horse, who was still and calm beneath her hand,
and gazed through Beckard's Cut gazed at the city of Sanction.
Galdar had a sudden, strange impression that she could see
through the walls of the city, see through the armor of those de-
fending the city, see through their flesh and their bones to their
very hearts and minds, just as she had seen through him. Just as
she had seen through the captain.
"No one will enter Sanction this day, Captain SamuvaL" said
Mina softly. "The carrion birds will be the ones who find choice
pickings. The ships that you see sailing away are not filled with
Solamnic Knights. The troops that line their decks are in reality
straw dummies wearing the armor of Solamnics Knights. It is a
trap."
Galdar stared, aghast. He believed her. Believed as surely as if
he had seen inside the ships, seen inside the walls to the enemy
army hiding there, ready to spring.
"How do you know this?" the captain demanded.
"What if I gave you something to believe in, Captain Samu-
val?" she asked instead of answering. "What if I make you the
hero of this battle? Would you pledge your loyalty to me?" She
smiled slightly. "I have no money to offer you. I have only this
sure knowledge that I freely share with you-fight for me and on
this day you will come to know the one true god."
Captain Samuval gazed up at her in wordless astonishment.
He looked dazed, lightning-struck.
Mina held out her raw and bleeding hands, palms open. "You
are offered a choice, Captain Samuval. I hold death in one hand.
Glory in the other. Which will it be?"
Samuval scratched his beard. "You're a strange one, Talon
Leader. Not like any of your kind I've ever met before."
He looked back through Beckard's Cut.
"Rumor has spread among the men that the city is abandoned,"
Mina said. "They have heard it will open its gates in surrender.
They have become a mob. They run to their own destruction."
She spoke truly. Ignoring the shouts of the officers, who were
vainly endeavoring to maintain some semblance of order, the foot
soldiers had broken ranks. Galdar watched the army disintegrate,
become in an instant an undisciplined horde rampaging through
the cut. Eager for the kill, eager for spoils. Captain Samuval spat
again in disgust. His expression dark, he looked back at Mina.
"What would you have me do, Talon Leader?"
"Take your company of archers and post them on that ridge
there. Do you see it?" Mina pointed to a foothill overlooking
Beckard's Cut.
"I see it," he said, glancing over his shoulder. "And what do
we do once we're there?"
"My Knights and 1 will take up our positions there. Once ar-
rived, you will await my orders," Mina replied. "When 1 give
those orders, you will obey my commands without question."
She held out her hand, her blood-smeared hand. Was it the
hand that held death or the hand that held life? Galdar wondered.
Perhaps Captain Samuval wondered as well, for he hesitated
before he finally took her hand into his own. His hand was large,
callused from the bowstring, brown and grimy. Her hand was