Dragons of the Autumn Twilight - Margaret Weis [141]
“Maybe we can shut the mines down,” Caramon suggested.
“That’s a thought,” Tanis mused. “How many draconians does Lord Verminaard have guarding the mines?”
“Two!” Sestun said, holding up ten grubby fingers.
Tanis sighed, remembering where they had heard that before.
Sestun looked at him hopefully. “There be only two dragons, too.”
“Two dragons!” Tanis said incredulously.
“Not more than two.”
Caramon groaned and settled back. The warrior had been giving dragon fighting serious thought ever since Xak Tsaroth. He and Sturm had reviewed every tale about Huma, the only known dragon fighter the knight could remember. Unfortunately, no one had ever taken the legends of Huma seriously before (except the Solamnic Knights, for which they were ridiculed), so much of Huma’s tale had been distorted by time or forgotten.
“A knight of truth and power, who called down the gods themselves and forged the mighty Dragonlance,” Caramon murmured now, glancing at Sturm, who lay asleep on the straw-covered floor of their prison.
“Dragonlance?” muttered Fizban, waking with a snort. “Dragonlance? Who said anything about the Dragonlance?”
“My brother,” Raistlin whispered, smiling bitterly. “Quoting the Canticle. It seems he and the knight have taken a fancy to children’s stories that have come to haunt them.”
“Good story, Huma and the Dragonlance,” said the old man, stroking his beard.
“Story—that’s all it is.” Caramon yawned and scratched his chest. “Who knows if it’s real or if the Dragonlance was real or if even Huma was real?”
“We know the dragons are real,” Raistlin murmured.
“Huma was real,” Fizban said softly. “And so was the Dragonlance.” The old man’s face grew sad.
“Was it?” Caramon sat up. “Can you describe it?”
“Of course!” Fizban sniffed disdainfully.
Everyone was listening now. Fizban was, in fact, a bit disconcerted by his audience for his stories.
“It was a weapon similar to—no, it wasn’t. Actually it was—no, it wasn’t that either. It was closer to … almost a … rather it was, sort of a—lance, that’s it! A lance!” He nodded earnestly. “And it was quite good against dragons.”
“I’m taking a nap,” Caramon grumbled.
Tanis smiled and shook his head. Sitting back against the bars, he wearily closed his eyes. Soon everyone except Raistlin and Tasslehoff fell into a fitful sleep. The kender, wide awake and bored, looked at Raistlin hopefully. Sometimes, if Raistlin was in a good mood, he would tell stories about magic-users of old. But the mage, wrapped in his red robes, was staring curiously at Fizban. The old man sat on a bench, snoring gently, his head bobbing up and down as the cart jounced over the road. Raistlin’s golden eyes narrowed to gleaming slits as though he had been struck by a new and disturbing thought. After a moment, he pulled his hood up over his head and leaned back, his face lost in the shadows.
Tasslehoff sighed. Then, glancing around, he saw Sestun walking near the cage. The kender brightened. Here, he knew, was an appreciative audience for his stories.
Tasslehoff, calling him over, began to relate one of his own personal favorites. The two moons sank. The prisoners slept. The hobgoblins trailed along behind, half-asleep, talking about making camp soon. Fewmaster Toede rode up ahead, dreaming about promotion. Behind the Fewmaster, the draconians muttered among themselves in their harsh language, casting baleful glances at Toede when he wasn’t looking.
Tasslehoff sat, swinging his legs over the side of the cage, talking to Sestun. The kender noticed without seeming to that Gilthanas was only pretending to sleep. Tas saw the elf’s eyes open and glance quickly around when he thought no one was watching. This intrigued Tas immensely. It seemed almost as if Gilthanas was watching or waiting for something. The kender lost the thread of his story.
“And so I … uh … grabbed a rock from my pouch, threw it and—thunk—hit the wizard right on the head,” Tas finished hurriedly. “The demon grabbed the wizard by the foot and dragged him down into the depths of the Abyss.”
“But first demon thank