Read Dragonlance 15 - Dragons Of A Fallen Sun Online
Authors: Margaret Weis
children, Goldmoon's tears flowed again. She wept silently,
however, and never took her rapt gaze from the kender.
Tasslehoff came to a halt, mainly because his voice gave out.
He was given a restorative glass of water and lay back down on
the cushions.
"Well, what do you think of his tale, First Master?" Palin
asked.
"A time in which Riverwind did not die," Goldmoon mur-
mured. " A time in which we grow old together. Is it possible?"
"I used the device," Palin said. "1 went back into the past,
hoping to find the moment in time when we traded one future for
the other. I had hoped to find such a moment, thinking that I
might be able to effect a change."
"That would be very dangerous," Goldmoon said, her tone
sharp-edged.
"Yes, well, it doesn't matter if it was or it wasn't," Palin re-
turned, "because I did not find such a moment in our past."
"That is just as well," Goldmoon began.
Palin interrupted her. "First Master," he said, "I found no past
at all.
"What do you mean? No past?"
"I went back in time," Palin said. "I saw the end of the Chaos
War. I witnessed the departure of the gods. When I looked
beyond that, when I tried to see the beginning of the Chaos War,
when I tried to see events that had come before that, I saw noth-
ing but a vast and empty darkness, like looking down into an
enormous well."
"What does this mean?" Goldmoon asked.
"I don't know, First Master." Palin looked at Tasslehoff. "What
I do know is this: Many years ago, Tasslehoff Burrfoot died. At
least, he was supposed to die. As you see, here he sits, very much
alive."
"That is why you wanted to send him back to die," Goldmoon
murmured, looking sorrowfully at Tas.
"Perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps that wouldn't make any
difference. I am the first to admit that I do not understand time
journeying," Palin said ruefully. "Only one of our order does, and
that is Dalamar. But none know if he is dead or alive or how to
find him if he is alive."
"Dalamar!" Goldmoon's expression darkened. "When I heard
of his disappearance and that of the Tower of High Sorcery, I re-
member thinking how wonderful it was that some good had
come out of the evil of these times. I know others liked and
trusted him - Tanis, for example, and your father. But every time
I saw him, I saw that he walked in shadow, and more than that,
that he liked the shadow. He wrapped it around him, hiding his
deeds. I believe Tanis and Caramon were deceived by him and I,
for one, hope he has left this world. Bad as things are, they are
better than if he were here. I trust," she added sharply, "that you
will have nothing to do with him, should he happen to reappear."
"There seems little likelihood Dalamar will enter into this at
all," Palin returned impatiently. "If he is not dead, he is where we
are not likely to ever find him. Now that I have spoken to you,
First Master, what I find most singular is that all these strange
eyents happened the night of the storm."
"There was a voice in that storm," Goldmoon said, shivering.
"It filled me with terror, though I could not understand what it
said." She looked again at Tas. "The question is, what do we do
now?"
"That is up to Tas," Palin replied. "The fate of the world in the
hands of a kender." He looked very grim.
Tas rose, with dignity, to his feet. "I'll give the matter serious
thought," he announced. "The decision isn't easy. I have lots of
things to consider. But before I go away to think and to help Co-
nundrum map the hedge maze, which I promised I would do
before I left, I want to say one thing. If you people had left the fate
of the world in the hands of kender all along, you probably
wouldn't be in this mess."
Leaving that shot to rankle in Palin's bosom, Tasslehoff
Burrfoot left the room.
CHAPTER TWENTYFOUR
SLEEP,LOVE; FOREVER SLEEP
Over a week had passed since Mina had received her orders to
march on Silvanesti. During that time, Silvanoshei had been
crowned king of the Silvanesti kingdom that slumbered be-
neath its protective shield, unaware of doom marching nearer.
Galdar had spent three days racing to Khur to deliver Mina's
orders to General Dogah. He had spent another three days trav-
eling south from Khur, eager to meet up with Mina and her
troops, following the route she'd shown him on her map. Finding
them was easy. He could see signs of their passing all along the
way-wheel ruts, footprints, abandoned equipment. If he could
find the army this easily, so could the ogres.
Galdar marched with bowed head, slogging through the mud,
rain running into his eyes, dripping from his muzzle. The rain
had been falling for two days straight now, ever since Galdar's
return, with no letup in sight. Not a soft drizzly summer shower,
either, but a lancing, wind-driven rain that chilled the spirit and
cast a gloom over the soul.
The men were wet through, cold, and miserable. The trail was
slick with mud that was either so slippery no man could stand on
it or was so sticky that it nearly sucked the men's boots off their
feet. The heavily laden supply wagons were mired in the mud at
least thrice daily, requiring the men to put poles beneath the
wheels and heave them out. Galdar's strength was called upon
during these mishaps. The minotaur's back and shoulders ached
with the strain, for he often had to lift the wagon to free the
wheel.
The soldiers began to actively hate the rain, to view it as the
enemy, never mind ogres. The rain beating on the soldiers' helms
sounded like someone constantly drumming on a tin pot, or so
one grumbled. Captain Samuval and his archers worried that the
feathers with which the arrows were fletched were so wet and
bedraggled that the arrows would not fly accurately.
Mina required the men to be up and marching with the
dawn, always supposing there was a dawn, which there hadn't
been for the last few days. They marched until the twilight grew
so gloomy that the officers feared the wagon masters would
drive off the road in the darkness. The wood was too wet for
even the most experienced fire-builder to have any success. Their
food tasted of mud. They slept in the mud, with mud for a pillow
and rain for a blanket. The next morning they wer~ up and
marching again. Marching to glory with Mina. So all fi\rmly be-
lieved. So all knew.
According to the mystics, the soldiers would have no chance
to penetrate the magical shield. They would be caught between
the anvil of the shield to their front and the hammer of the ogres
to their back. They would perish ignominiously. The soldiers
scoffed at the mystics. Mina could raise the shield, Mina could
batter it down with a touch of her hand. They believed in her, and
so they followed her. Not a man deserted during that long and ar-
duous march.
They did complain-complained bitterly-about the mud
and the rain and the poor food and the lack of sleep. Their grum-
blings grew louder. Mina could not help but hear them. "What I
want to know is this," one man said loudly, his voice sounding
above the squelching of boots in the mud. "If the God we follow
wants us to win, then why doesn't the Nameless One send us
sunshine and a dry road?"
Galdar marched in his accustomed place at Mina's side. He
glanced up at her. She had heard the grumblings before now and
had ignored them. But this was the first man who had dared
question her god.
Mina reined in her horse, wheeled the animal. She galloped
back along the column, searching for the man who had spoken.
None of his comrades pointed him out, but Mina found him. She
fixed the man with her amber eyes.
"Sub commander Paregin, is it not?" she said.
"Yes, Mina," he replied, defiant.
"You took an arrow in the chest. You were dying. I restored
you to life," Mina said. She was angry. The men had never seen
her angry. Galdar shivered, recalled suddenly the appalling
storm of lightning and thunder that had given her birth.
Paregin's face went red with shame. He mumbled a reply,
lowered his gaze before her.
"Listen to me, Subcommander," Mina said and her voice was
cold and sharp. "If we marched in dry weather under the blazing
sun, it would not be rain drops that pierce your armor but ogre
lances. The gray gloom is a curtain that hides us from the sight of
our enemy. The rain washes away all trace of our passing. Do not
question the God's wisdom, Pare gin, especially since it seems
you have little of your own."
Paregin's face was pale. "Forgive me, Mina," he said through
pallid lips. "I meant no disrespect. I honor the God. I honor you."
He looked at her in adoration. "Would that I had a chance to
prove it!"
Mina's expression softened. Her amber eyes glowed, the only
color in the gray gloom. "You will have that chance, Paregin," she
said gently, "I promise it to you."
Wheeling her horse, she galloped back to the head of the
column, mud flying from the horse's hooves.
The men lowered their heads against the rain and prepared to
march on.
"Mina!" a voice cried from the rear. A figure was slipping and
sliding, hastening toward the front of the line.
Mina halted her steed, turned to see what was amiss. "One of
the rearguard," Galdar reported.
"Mina!" The man arrived panting and out of breath. "Blue
dragons!" he gasped. "From the north." He looked back,
frowned. "I swear, Mina! I saw them. . . ."
"There!" Galdar said, pointing.
Blue dragons, five of them, emerged from the clouds, their
scales glistening with the rain. The ragged column of men slowed
and shuffled to a stop, all staring in alarm.
The dragons were immense creatures, beautiful, awful. The
rain gleamed on scales that were blue as the ice of a frozen lake
beneath a clear winter sky. They rode the storm winds without
fear, their immense wings barely moving to keep the dragons
aloft. They had no fear of the jagged lightning, for their breath
was lightning, could blast a stone tower to rubble or kill a man as
he stood on the ground far below.
Mina said nothing, gave no orders. She calmed her horse, who
shied at the sight of the dragons, and gazed up at them in silence.
The blue dragons flew nearer, and now Galdar could see riders
clad in black armor. One by one, in formation, each of the blue
dragons swooped low over the ragged column of marching men.
The dragomiders and their mounts took a good long look, then
the blue dragons flapped their wings and lifted back up among
the gray clouds.
The dragons were lost to sight, but their presence could still
be felt, oppressing the heart, sapping courage.
"What's going on?" Captain Samuval slogged through the
mud. At the sight of the dragons, his archers had drawn their
bows, fitted their arrows. "What was that all about?"
"Targonne's spies," Galdar growled. "By now he must ~ow
that you countermanded his order and sent General Dogahan
order of your own, Mina. That's treason. He'll have you drawn
and quartered, your head on a spike."
"Then why didn't he attack us?" Captain Samuval demanded,
with a grim glance skyward. "His dragons could have inciner-
ated us where we stood."
"Yes, but what would that gain him?" Mina answered. "He does
not profit by killing us. He does profit if we succeed. He is a short-
sighted, avaricious, grasping, covetous man. A man like Targonne
has never been loyal to anyone in his life, cannot believe anyone else
can be loyal. A man who believes in nothing except the clink of steel
coins mounting one on top of the other cannot understand an-
other's faith. Judging all people by himself, he cannot understand
what is happening here, and consequently he does not know how
to deal with it. I will give him what he wants. Our victory will earn
him the wealth of the Silvanesti nation and Malystrx's favor."
"Are you so certain we will win, Mina?" Galdar asked. "It's
not that I'm doubting," he added hastily. "But five hundred
against the entire Silvanesti nation? And we have yet to march
through ogre lands."
"Of course, we will win, Galdar," Mina replied. "The One
God has decreed it."
Child of battle, child of wa4 child of death, she rode forward,
and the men followed after her through the steadily falling rain.
Mina's army marched southward, following the Thon-
Thalas River. The rain finally stopped. The sun returned, its heat
welcome to the soldiers, though they had to pay for warmth and
dry clothes by redoubling their patrols. They were deep in ogre
lands now.
The ogres were now threatened from the south by the cursed
elves and the Legion of Steel and from the north by their former
allies. Finding they could not dislodge the Knights of Neraka
from the north, the ogres had lately pulled their armies from that