Dragons of Spring Dawning - Margaret Weis [146]
You have done well, Lord Kitiara, came the Dark Queen’s unheard voice, and you will be well rewarded. We will have the elf escorted to the Death Chambers, then I will grant your reward.
“Thank you, Majesty.” Kitiara bowed. “Before our business concludes, I have two favors I beg you grant me.” Thrusting out her hand, she caught Tanis in her strong grip. “I would first present one who seeks service in your great and glorious army.”
Kitiara laid a hand on Tanis’s shoulder, indicating with a firm pressure that he was to kneel. Unable to purge that last glimpse of Laurana from his mind, Tanis hesitated. He could still turn from the darkness. He could stand by Laurana’s side and they would face the end together.
Then he sneered.
How selfish have I become, he asked himself bitterly, that I would even consider sacrificing Laurana in an attempt to cover my own folly? No, I alone will pay for my misdeeds. If I do nothing more that is good in this life, I will save her. And I will carry that knowledge with me as a candle to light my path until the darkness consumes me!
Kitiara’s grip on him tightened painfully, even through the dragonscale armor. The brown eyes behind the dragonhelm began to smolder with anger.
Slowly, his head bowed, Tanis sank to his knees before Her Dark Majesty.
“I present your humble servant, Tanis Half-Elven,” Kitiara resumed coolly, although Tanis thought he could detect a note of relief in her voice. “I have named him commander of my armies, following the untimely death of my late commander, Bakaris.”
Let our new servant come forward, came the voice into Tanis’s mind.
Tanis felt Kit’s hand on his shoulder as he rose, drawing him near. Swiftly she whispered, “Remember, you are Her Dark Majesty’s property now, Tanis. She must be utterly convinced or even I will not be able to save you, and you will not be able to save your elfwoman.”
“I remember,” Tanis said without expression. Shaking free of Kitiara’s grip, the half-elf walked forward to stand on the very edge of the platform, below the Dark Queen’s throne.
Raise your head. Look upon me, came the command.
Tanis braced himself, asking for strength from deep inside him, strength he wasn’t certain he possessed. If I falter, Laurana is lost. For the sake of love, I must banish love. Tanis lifted his eyes.
His gaze was caught and held. Mesmerized, he stared at the shadowy form, unable to free himself. There was no need to fabricate awe and a horrible reverence, for that came to him as it comes to all mortals who glimpse Her Dark Majesty. But even as he felt compelled to worship, he realized that, deep inside, he was free still. Her power was not complete. She could not consume him against his will. Though Takhisis fought not to reveal this weakness, Tanis was conscious of the great struggle she waged to enter the world.
Her shadowy form wavered before his eyes, revealing herself in all her guises, proving she had control over none. First she appeared to him as the five-headed dragon of Solamnic legend. Then the form shifted and she was the Temptress—a woman whose beauty men might die to possess. Then the form shifted once again. Now she was the Dark Warrior, a tall and powerful Knight of Evil, who held death in his mailed hand.
But even as the forms shifted, the dark eyes remained constant, staring into Tanis’s soul, eyes of the five dragon heads, eyes of the beautiful Temptress, eyes of the fearful Warrior. Tanis felt himself shrivel beneath the scrutiny. He could not bear it, he did not have the strength. Abjectly he sank once more to his knees, groveling before the Queen, despising himself as behind him he heard an anguished, choking cry.
9
Horns of doom.
L umbering down the northern corridor in search of Berem, Caramon ignored the startled yells and calls and grasping hands of prisoners reaching out from the barred cells. But there was no sight of Berem and no sign of his passing. He tried asking the other prisoners if they had seen him, but most were so unhinged