Dragonlance 15 - Dragons Of A Fallen Sun (44 page)

to Marshal Medan at the masquerade last night. He suspects me

of having dealings with the rebels. He urged me to use my influ-

ence to make them cease their acts of terror and disruption. The

dragon Beryl is grown paranoid lately. She threatenes to send her

armies to attack us. We are not yet prepared if she should."

"Pay no heed to Medan, Laurana. He is concerned only with

saving his own precious skin," said Palin.

"I believe that he means well, Palin," Laurana returned.

"Medan has no love for the dragon."

"He has no love for anyone except himself. Don't be fooled

by his show of concern. Medan avoids trouble for Medan, that

is all. He is caught in a quandary. If the attacks and sabotage

continue, his superiors will relieve him of his command, and

from what I've heard of their new Lord of the Night Targonne,

Medan might well be relieved of his head. Now, if you will

excuse me, I will go divest myself of this heavy cloak. I will meet

you in the atrium."

Palin departed, the folds of his black traveling cloak sweeping

behind him. His stance was straight, his walk quick and firm.

Laurana looked after him, troubled.

"Madam," said Gerard, finding his tongue at last. "1 agree

with Palin. You must not trust this Marshal Medan. He is a Dark

Knight, and although they speak of honor and sacrifice their

words are empty and hollow as their souls."

"I know you are right," Laurana said. "Still, I have seen the

seed of good fall in the darkest swamp to grow strong and beau-

tiful though it was poisoned by the most noxious miasma. And I

have seen the same seed, nurtured by the softest rains and the

brightest sunshine, grow twisted and ugly, to bear a bitter fruit."

She continued to gaze after Palin. Sighing, she shook her head

and turned around. "Come along, Tas. I would like you and

Gerard to see the rest of the wonders I have in my house."

Cheerfully dripping, Tasslehoff climbed out of the pond. "You

go ahead, Gerard. I want to talk to Laurana alone for a moment.

It's a secret," he added.

Laurana smiled at the k;ender. "Very well, Tas. Tell me your

secret. Kalindas," she said to the elf who had been waiting

silently all this time, "escort Gerard to the house. Show him to

one of the guest rooms."

Kalindas did as commanded. As he showed Gerard the way

to the house, the elf's tone was gracious, but he kept his hand on

the hilt of his sword.

When they were alone, Laurana turned to the kender.

"Yes, Tas," she said. "What is it?"

Tas looked extremely anxious. "This is very important, Lau-

rana. Are you sure I'm Tasslehoff? Are you extremely sure?"

"Yes, Tas, I'm sure," Laurana said, smiling indulgently. "1 don't

know how or why, but I am quite certain you are Tasslehoff."

"It's just that I don't feel like Tasslehoff," Tas continued

earnestly.

"You don't seem yourself, Tas, that is true," Laurana replied.

"You are not ~s joyful as I remember you to be. Perhaps you are

grieving for ~ramon. He led a full life, Tas, a life of love and

wonder and joy~e had his share of sorrow and trouble, but the

dark days only made the days of light shine brighter. You were

his good friend. He loved you. Don't be sad. He wouldn't want

you to be unhappy."

"That's not what's making me unhappy," Tas protested.

"That is, I was unhappy when Caramon died because it was so

unexpected, even though I was expecting it. And I still some-

times have a lump of unhappiness right here in my tluoat when

I think about him being gone, but I can manage a lump. It's the

other feeling I can't manage, because I never felt anything like it

before."

"I see. Perhaps we could talk about this later, Tas," Laurana

said and started toward the house.

Tas caught hold of her sleeve, hung on for dear life. "It's the

feeling that came to me when I saw the dragon!"

"What dragon?" Laurana stopped, turned back. "When did

you see a dragon?"

"While Gerard and I were riding into Qualinesti. The dragon

came around to take a look at us. I was. . ." Tas paused, then

said in a awful whisper, "1 think I was. . . scared." He gazed at

Laurana with round eyes, expecting to see her reel backward

into the pond, stunned with the shock and horror of this unnat-

ural occurrence.

"You were wise to be scared, Tas," Laurana replied, taking the

terrible news quite calmly. "The dragon Beryl is a loathsome,

fearsome beast. Her claws are stained with blood. She is a cruel

tyrant, and you are not the first to be afraid in her presence. Now,

we should not keep the others waiting."

"But it's me, Laurana! Tasslehoff Burrfoot! Hero of the Lance!"

Tas pounded himself frantically on his chest. "I'm not afraid of

anything. There's a giant in the other time who's about to step on

me and probably squash me flat, and that gives me a sort of

squirmy feeling in my stomach when I think about it, but this is

different. "He sighed deeply. "You must be mistaken. I can't be

Tasslehoff and be afraid."

The kender was truly upset, that much was obvious. Laurana

regarded him thoughtfully. "Yes, this is different. This is very

strange. You have been around dragons before, Tas."

"All sorts of dragons, "Tas said proudly. "Blues and reds and

greens and blacks, bronze and copper and silver and gold. I even

flew on the back of one. It was glorious. "

And you never felt dragonfear?"

" I remember thinking that dragons were beautiful in an awful

kind of way. And I felt afraid, but that was for my friends, never

for myself. Much."

"This must have been true of the other kender, as well,"Lau-

rana mused, lithe kender we now call 'afflicted.' Some of them

must have experienced dragonfear years ago, during the War of

the Lance and after. Why would these experiences be different? I

never thought about it."

"Lots of times people don't think about us," Tas said in an un-

derstanding tone. "Don't feel bad"

"But I do feel badly, "Laurana sighed. "We should have done

something to help the kender. It's just that there's been so much

happening that was more important. Or at least it seemed more

important. If this fear is different from dragonfear, I wonder what

it could be? A spell, perhaps?"

"That's it!" Tas shouted. "A spell! A curse!1I He was thrilled.

"I'm under a curse from the dragon. Do you truly think SO?"

"I really don't know-" Laurana began, but the kender was

no longer listening.

"A curse! I'm cursed!" Tasslehoff gave a blissful sigh. "Drag-

ons have done lots of things to me but I've never before had one

curse me! This is almost as good as the time Raistlin magicked me

into a duck pond. Thank you, Laurana," he said, fervently shak-

ing her hand and accidently removing the last of her rings. "You

have no idea what a weight you have taken off my mind. I can be

Tasslehoff now. A cursed Tasslehoff! Let's go tell Palin!

"Say, speaking of Palin," Tas added in a piercing whisper,

"when did he become a Black Robe? The last I saw him, he was

Head of the Order of White Robes! What made him change? Was

it like Raistlin? Is someone else inhabit- habitat-habitating

Palin's body?"

"Black robes, white robes, red robes, the distinction between

one and the other is now gone, Tas," Laurana said. "Palin wore

black robes because he wanted to blend in with the night." She

looked at the kender oddly. "Palin was never Head of the Order

of White Robes. What made you think that?"

"I'm beginning to wonder," Tasslehoff said. "I don't mind

telling you, Laurana, but I'm extremely confused. Maybe someone's

inhabitating my body," he added, but without much hope.

With all the strange feelings and lumps, there just didn't seem

to be room for anyone else in there.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

TASSLEHOFF'S TALE

The Queen Mother's house was built on the side'of a cliff

overlooking Qualinesti. Like all elven structures, the

house blended with nature, seemed a part of the land-

scape, as, indeed, much of it was. The elven builders had con-

structed the house so as to utilize the cliff-face in the design. Seen

from a distance, the house appeared to be a grove of trees grow-

ing on a broad ledge that jutted out from the cliff. Only when one

drew closer, did one see the path leading up to the house and

then one could tell that the trees were in reality walls, their

branches the roof and that cliff was also used for many of the

walls of the house.

The north wall of the atrium was made of the rocky slope of

the cliff face. Flowers and small trees blossomed, birds sang in the

trees. A stream of water ran down the cliff, splashing into many

small pools along the way. As each pool varied in depth, the

sound of the falling water differed from pool to pool, producing

a wondrous harmony of musical sound.

Tasslehoff was quite enchanted with the fact that there was a

real waterfall inside the house and he climbed upon the rocks,

slipping perilously on the slippery surface. He loudly exclaimed

over the wonder of every bird's nest, uprooted a rare plant

while trying to pick its flower and was forcibly removed by

Kalindas when the kender insisted on trying to climb clear up to

the ceiling.

This was Tasslehoff. The more Palin watched, the more he re-

membered and the more he became convinced that this kender

was the kender he had known well over thirty years ago. He

noted that Laurana watched Tas, as well. She watched him with a

bewilderment tinged with wonder. Palin supposed it was per-

fectly plausible that Tasslefhoff could have been wandering the

world for thirty-eight years and had finally taken it into his head

to drop by for a chat with Caramon.

Palin discarded the notion. Another kender might have done

so, but not Tasslehoff. He was a unique kender, as Caramon liked

to say. Or perhaps, not so unique as all that. Perhaps if they had

taken time to come to know another kender, they might have dis-

covered that they were all loyal and compassionate friends. But if

Tas had not been roaming the world for.~lmost forty years, than

where had he been?

Palin listened attentively to the Knight's story of Tas's ap-

pearance in the tomb the night of the., storm (most remarkable,

Palin made a mental note of this occurrence), Caramon's recogni-

tion, his subsequent death and his last words to Sir Gerard.

"Your father was upset that he could not find his brother

Raistlin. He said that Raistlin had promised to wait for him. And

then came your father's dying request, sir," said Gerard in con-

clusion. "He asked me to take Tasslehoff to Dalamar. I would

have to assume that to be the wizard, Dalamar, of infamous

repute?"

"I suppose so," said Palin evasively, determined to betray

nothing of his thoughts.

"According to the Measure, sir, I am honor bound to fulfill a

request made by the dying. But since the wizard Dalamar has dis-

appeared and no one has heard from him in many years, I'm not

Iquite certain what to do."

"Nor am I," Palin said.

His father's final words intrigued Palin. He was well aware of

his father's firmly held belief that Raistlin would not depart this

mortal plane until his twin had joined him.

"We're twins, Raist and I," Caramon would say. " And because

we're twins, one of us can't leave this world and move on to the

next without the other. The gods granted Raist peace in sleep, but

then they woke him up during the Chaos War and it was then

that he told me he would wait for me."

Raistlin had indeed returned from the dead during the Chaos

War. He had gone to the Inn of the Last Home and had spent

some time with Caramon. During that time, Raistlin had, accord-

ing to Caramon, sought his brother's forgiveness. Palin had never

questioned his father's faith in his faithless brother, though he

had privately thought that Caramon was indulging ~ wishful

thinking.

Still Palin did not feel he had the right to try to dissuade Cara-

mon of his belief. After all, none could say for certain what hap-

pened to the souls of those who died.

"The kender maintains that he traveled forward in time and

that he came here with the help of the magical device." Gerard

shook his head, smiled. "At least it's the most original excuse I've

heard from one of the little thieves."

"It's not an excuse," Tas said loudly. He had attempted to in-

terrupt Gerard at several key points in the story, until finally the

knight had threatened to gag him again if he wasn't quiet. "I

didn't steal the device. Fizban gave it to me. And I did travel for-

ward in time. Twice. The first time I was late and the second time

I . . . don't know what happened."

"Let me see the magical artifact, Sir Gerard," Palin said. "Per-

haps that will help us arrive at an answer."

"I'll show you!" Tas offered eagerly. He fumbled about in his