Dragons of the Autumn Twilight - Margaret Weis [191]
“Do not trouble yourself, my lord—” Pyros began, then stopped abruptly, staring at something very strange.
“Trouble myself!” Verminaard fumed. “Why I—” He stopped, too. The object at which both stared was drifting down through the air, gently as a feather.
Fizban’s hat.
Tanis woke everyone in the darkest hour before dawn.
“Well,” said Sturm, “do we go ahead?”
“We have no choice,” Tanis said grimly, looking at the group. “If one of you has betrayed us, then he must live with the knowledge that he has brought about the deaths of innocents. Verminaard will kill not only us, but the hostages as well. I pray that there is no traitor, and so I’m going ahead with our plans.”
No one said anything, but each glanced sideways at the others, suspicion gnawing at all of them.
When the women were awake, Tanis went over the plan again.
“My friends and I will sneak up to the children’s room with Maritta, disguised as the women who usually bring the children breakfast. We’ll lead them to the courtyard,” Tanis said quietly. “You must go about your business as you do every morning. When you are allowed into the exercise area, get the children and start moving immediately toward the mines. Your menfolk will handle the guards there and you can escape safely into the mountains to the south. Do you understand?”
The women nodded silently as they heard the sound of the guards approaching.
“This is it,” Tanis said softly. “Back to your work.”
The women scattered. Tanis beckoned to Tika and Laurana. “If we have been betrayed, you will both be in great danger, since you’ll be guarding the women—” he began.
“We’ll all be in great danger,” Laurana amended coldly. She hadn’t slept all night. She knew that if she released the tight bands she had wrapped around her soul, fear would overwhelm her.
Tanis saw none of this inner turmoil. He thought she appeared unusually pale and exceptionally beautiful this morning. A long-time campaigner himself, his preoccupation made him forget the terrors of a first battle.
Clearing his throat, he said huskily, “Tika, take my advice. Keep your sword in your scabbard. You’re less dangerous that way.” Tika giggled and nodded nervously. “Go say good-bye to Caramon,” Tanis told her.
Tika blushed crimson and, giving Tanis and Laurana a meaningful look, ran off.
Tanis gazed at Laurana steadily for a moment, and—for the first time—saw that her jaw muscles were clenched so tightly the tendons in her neck were stretched. He reached out to hold her, but she was stiff and cold as a draconian’s corpse.
“You don’t have to do this,” Tanis said, releasing her. “This isn’t your fight. Go to the mines with the other women.”
Laurana shook her head, waiting to speak until she was certain her voice was under control. “Tika is not trained for fighting. I am. No matter if it was ‘ceremonial.’ ” She smiled bitterly at Tanis’s look of discomfiture. “I will do my part, Tanis.” His human name came awkwardly to her lips. “Otherwise, you might think I am a traitor.”
“Laurana, please believe me!” Tanis sighed. “I don’t think Gilthanas is a traitor any more than you do! It’s just—damn it, there are so many lives at stake, Laurana! Can’t you realize?”
Feeling his hands on her arms shake, she looked up at him and saw the anguish and the fear in his own face, mirroring the fear she felt inside. Only his was not fear for himself, it was fear for others. She drew a deep breath. “I am sorry, Tanis,” she said. “You are right. Look. The guards are here. It is time to go.”
She turned and walked away without looking back. It didn’t occur to her until it was too late that Tanis might have been silently asking for comfort himself.
Maritta and Goldmoon led the companions up a flight of narrow stairs to the first level. The draconian guards didn’t accompany them, saying something about “special duty.” Tanis asked Maritta if that was usual and she