Elfshadow - Elaine Cunningham [0]
The Harpers 02 - Elfshadow
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Release Date: December, 2nd, 2005
Arilyn's throat tightened in foreboding, for at her side the moonblade glowed with an ominous blue light.
"What's all that about?" Danilo asked, pointing.
"A danger warning," she explained tersely, looking around for whatever the moonblade sensed.
"A glowing sword. How very quaint," he drawled. "Tell me, does it come in green? If so, where can I get one?"
The lack of concern in the nobleman's voice infuriated Arilyn. "There are goblins about," she stressed in a quiet voice. "Surely not even you could find such creatures amusing."
Danilo pursed his lips and considered this. "Actually, there was this little fellow down in Cormyr…"
Her retort was interrupted by an unearthly screech. It split the air and hung, reverberating, over the marsh. Then, from behind the ridge of a nearby hillock rose half a score of enormous, scale-covered nightmares. Arilyn had heard tales of the lizard men of Chelimber Marsh, but the reality was a horror beyond telling.
THE HARPERS
A semi-secret organization for Good, the Harpers fight for freedom and justice in a world populated by tyrants, evil mages, and dread creatures beyond imagination.
Each novel in the Harpers Series is a complete story in itself, detailing some of the most unusual and compelling tales in the magical world known as the Forgotten Realms.
ELFSHADOW
Copyright 1991 TSR, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.
All characters in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
This book is protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America. Any reproduction or other unauthorized use of the material or artwork contained herein is prohibited without the express written permission of TSR, Inc.
Random House and its affiliate companies have worldwide distribution rights in the book trade for English language products of TSR, Inc.
Distributed to the book and hobby trade in the United Kingdom by TSR Ltd.
Cover Art by Fred Fields.
DRAGONLANCE and FORGOTTEN REALMS are registered trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. The TSR logo is a trademark owned by TSR, Inc.
First Printing: October 1991
Printed in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 90-71501
98765432
ISBN: 1-56076-117-2
TSR, Inc. TSR Ltd.
P.O. Box 756 120 Church End, Cherry Hinton
Lake Geneva, Cambridge CB1 3LB
WI 53147 U.S.A. United Kingdom
For Andrew, my firstborn and my friend.
Acknowledgements
I would like to thank Bette Suska for teaching me that words could be both toys and treasures; Marilyn Kooiman for suggesting that someone so weird ought to write fantasy; and Jim Lowder for his guidance, good humor, and astonishing patience.
Prelude
The elf emerged in a glade, a small verdant meadow ringed by a tight circle of vast, ancient oaks. His path had brought him to a spot of rare beauty that, to the untrained eye, appeared to be utterly untouched. Never had the elf seen a place more deeply green; a few determined shafts of early morning sunlight filtered through leaves and vines until even the air around him seemed dense and alive. At his feet, emerald droplets of dew clung to the grass. The elf's seeking eyes narrowed in speculation. Dropping to his knees, he studied the grass until he found it-an almost imperceptible path where the dew had been shaken loose from the ankle-high grass. Yes, his prey had come this way.
Quickly he followed the dew trail to where it slipped between two of the giant oaks. He parted a curtain of vines and stepped out of the glade, blinking away the bright morning sun. Once his eyes had adjusted to the dim light of the woodland, he saw a narrow dirt path winding through the trees.
His quarry did not know that they were being followed, so why wouldn't they take the easiest way through the forest? The elf slipped through the underbrush and set off down the path. There was little to indicate that other footsteps had preceded his,