Dragons of Spring Dawning - Margaret Weis [62]
“No,” scoffed Tas. “It’s a trick! A draconian gave it to me! Besides Kitiara’s a Dragon Highlord now. What would Tanis be doing with her—”
Laurana turned her face away abruptly. Tasslehoff stopped and glanced at Flint, whose own face suddenly seemed to age.
“So that’s it,” the dwarf said softly. “We saw you talking to Kitiara on the wall of the High Clerist’s Tower. You were discussing more than Sturm’s death, weren’t you?”
Laurana nodded, wordlessly, staring at her hands in her lap.
“I never told you,” she murmured in a voice barely audible, “I couldn’t … I kept hoping.… Kitiara said … said she’d left Tanis in—some place called Flotsam … to look after things while she was gone.”
“Liar!” said Tas promptly.
“No.” Laurana shook her head. “When she says we are two women who understand each other, she’s right. She wasn’t lying. She was telling the truth, I know. And at the Tower she mentioned the dream.” Laurana lifted her head. “Do you remember the dream?”
Flint nodded uncomfortably. Tasslehoff shuffled his feet.
“Only Tanis could have told her about the dream we all shared,” Laurana continued, swallowing a choking feeling in her throat. “I saw him with her in the dream, just as I saw Sturm’s death. The dream’s coming true.…”
“Now wait a minute,” Flint said gruffly, grabbing hold of reality as a drowning man grabs a piece of wood. “You said yourself you saw your own death in the dream, right after Sturm’s. And you didn’t die. And nothing hacked up Sturm’s body, either.”
“I haven’t died yet, like I did in the dream,” Tas said helpfully. “And I’ve picked lots of locks, well, not lots, but a few here and there, and none were poisoned. Besides, Laurana, Tanis wouldn’t—”
Flint shot Tas a warning glance. The kender lapsed into silence. But Laurana had seen the glance and understood. Her lips tightened.
“Yes, he would. You both know it. He loves her.” Laurana was quiet a moment, then, “I’m going. I’ll exchange Bakaris.”
Flint heaved a sigh. He had seen this coming. “Laurana—”
“Wait a minute, Flint,” she interrupted. “If Tanis received a message saying you were dying, what would he do?”
“That’s not the point,” Flint mumbled.
“If he had to go into the Abyss itself, past a thousand dragons, he’d come to you—”
“Perhaps and perhaps not,” said Flint gruffly. “Not if he was leader of an army. Not if he had responsibilities, people depending on him. He’d know I’d understand—”
Laurana’s face might have been carved of marble, so impassive and pure and cold was her expression. “I never asked for these responsibilities. I never wanted them. We can make it look as if Bakaris escaped—”
“Don’t do it, Laurana!” Tas begged. “He’s the officer who brought back Derek and Lord Alfred’s body at the High Clerist’s Tower, the officer you shot in the arm with the arrow. He hates you, Laurana! I—I saw the way he looked at you the day we captured him!”
Flint’s brows drew together. “The lords and your brother are still below. We’ll discuss the best way to handle this—”
“I’m not discussing anything,” Laurana stated, lifting her chin in the old imperious gesture the dwarf knew so well. “I’m the general. It’s my decision.”
“Maybe you should ask someone’s advice—”
Laurana regarded the dwarf with bitter amusement. “Whose?” she asked. “Gilthanas’s? What would I say? That Kitiara and I want to exchange lovers? No, we’ll tell no one. What would the knights have done with Bakaris anyway? Execute him according to knightly ritual. They owe me something for all I’ve done. I’ll take Bakaris as payment.”
“Laurana”—Flint tried desperately to think of some way to penetrate her frozen mask—“there is a protocol that must be followed in prisoner exchange. You’re right. You are the general, and you must know how important this is! You were in your father’s court long enough—” That was a mistake. The dwarf knew it as soon as he opened his mouth and he groaned inwardly.
“I am no longer in my father’s court!” Laurana flashed. “And to the Abyss with protocol!” Rising to her feet, she regarded Flint coldly, as if he were someone she had just met. The