Dragonlance 15 - Dragons Of A Fallen Sun (63 page)

children, Goldmoon's tears flowed again. She wept silently,

however, and never took her rapt gaze from the kender.

Tasslehoff came to a halt, mainly because his voice gave out.

He was given a restorative glass of water and lay back down on

the cushions.

"Well, what do you think of his tale, First Master?" Palin

asked.

"A time in which Riverwind did not die," Goldmoon mur-

mured. " A time in which we grow old together. Is it possible?"

"I used the device," Palin said. "1 went back into the past,

hoping to find the moment in time when we traded one future for

the other. I had hoped to find such a moment, thinking that I

might be able to effect a change."

"That would be very dangerous," Goldmoon said, her tone

sharp-edged.

"Yes, well, it doesn't matter if it was or it wasn't," Palin re-

turned, "because I did not find such a moment in our past."

"That is just as well," Goldmoon began.

Palin interrupted her. "First Master," he said, "I found no past

at all.

"What do you mean? No past?"

"I went back in time," Palin said. "I saw the end of the Chaos

War. I witnessed the departure of the gods. When I looked

beyond that, when I tried to see the beginning of the Chaos War,

when I tried to see events that had come before that, I saw noth-

ing but a vast and empty darkness, like looking down into an

enormous well."

"What does this mean?" Goldmoon asked.

"I don't know, First Master." Palin looked at Tasslehoff. "What

I do know is this: Many years ago, Tasslehoff Burrfoot died. At

least, he was supposed to die. As you see, here he sits, very much

alive."

"That is why you wanted to send him back to die," Goldmoon

murmured, looking sorrowfully at Tas.

"Perhaps I am wrong. Perhaps that wouldn't make any

difference. I am the first to admit that I do not understand time

journeying," Palin said ruefully. "Only one of our order does, and

that is Dalamar. But none know if he is dead or alive or how to

find him if he is alive."

"Dalamar!" Goldmoon's expression darkened. "When I heard

of his disappearance and that of the Tower of High Sorcery, I re-

member thinking how wonderful it was that some good had

come out of the evil of these times. I know others liked and

trusted him - Tanis, for example, and your father. But every time

I saw him, I saw that he walked in shadow, and more than that,

that he liked the shadow. He wrapped it around him, hiding his

deeds. I believe Tanis and Caramon were deceived by him and I,

for one, hope he has left this world. Bad as things are, they are

better than if he were here. I trust," she added sharply, "that you

will have nothing to do with him, should he happen to reappear."

"There seems little likelihood Dalamar will enter into this at

all," Palin returned impatiently. "If he is not dead, he is where we

are not likely to ever find him. Now that I have spoken to you,

First Master, what I find most singular is that all these strange

eyents happened the night of the storm."

"There was a voice in that storm," Goldmoon said, shivering.

"It filled me with terror, though I could not understand what it

said." She looked again at Tas. "The question is, what do we do

now?"

"That is up to Tas," Palin replied. "The fate of the world in the

hands of a kender." He looked very grim.

Tas rose, with dignity, to his feet. "I'll give the matter serious

thought," he announced. "The decision isn't easy. I have lots of

things to consider. But before I go away to think and to help Co-

nundrum map the hedge maze, which I promised I would do

before I left, I want to say one thing. If you people had left the fate

of the world in the hands of kender all along, you probably

wouldn't be in this mess."

Leaving that shot to rankle in Palin's bosom, Tasslehoff

Burrfoot left the room.

CHAPTER TWENTYFOUR

SLEEP,LOVE; FOREVER SLEEP

Over a week had passed since Mina had received her orders to

march on Silvanesti. During that time, Silvanoshei had been

crowned king of the Silvanesti kingdom that slumbered be-

neath its protective shield, unaware of doom marching nearer.

Galdar had spent three days racing to Khur to deliver Mina's

orders to General Dogah. He had spent another three days trav-

eling south from Khur, eager to meet up with Mina and her

troops, following the route she'd shown him on her map. Finding

them was easy. He could see signs of their passing all along the

way-wheel ruts, footprints, abandoned equipment. If he could

find the army this easily, so could the ogres.

Galdar marched with bowed head, slogging through the mud,

rain running into his eyes, dripping from his muzzle. The rain

had been falling for two days straight now, ever since Galdar's

return, with no letup in sight. Not a soft drizzly summer shower,

either, but a lancing, wind-driven rain that chilled the spirit and

cast a gloom over the soul.

The men were wet through, cold, and miserable. The trail was

slick with mud that was either so slippery no man could stand on

it or was so sticky that it nearly sucked the men's boots off their

feet. The heavily laden supply wagons were mired in the mud at

least thrice daily, requiring the men to put poles beneath the

wheels and heave them out. Galdar's strength was called upon

during these mishaps. The minotaur's back and shoulders ached

with the strain, for he often had to lift the wagon to free the

wheel.

The soldiers began to actively hate the rain, to view it as the

enemy, never mind ogres. The rain beating on the soldiers' helms

sounded like someone constantly drumming on a tin pot, or so

one grumbled. Captain Samuval and his archers worried that the

feathers with which the arrows were fletched were so wet and

bedraggled that the arrows would not fly accurately.

Mina required the men to be up and marching with the

dawn, always supposing there was a dawn, which there hadn't

been for the last few days. They marched until the twilight grew

so gloomy that the officers feared the wagon masters would

drive off the road in the darkness. The wood was too wet for

even the most experienced fire-builder to have any success. Their

food tasted of mud. They slept in the mud, with mud for a pillow

and rain for a blanket. The next morning they wer~ up and

marching again. Marching to glory with Mina. So all fi\rmly be-

lieved. So all knew.

According to the mystics, the soldiers would have no chance

to penetrate the magical shield. They would be caught between

the anvil of the shield to their front and the hammer of the ogres

to their back. They would perish ignominiously. The soldiers

scoffed at the mystics. Mina could raise the shield, Mina could

batter it down with a touch of her hand. They believed in her, and

so they followed her. Not a man deserted during that long and ar-

duous march.

They did complain-complained bitterly-about the mud

and the rain and the poor food and the lack of sleep. Their grum-

blings grew louder. Mina could not help but hear them. "What I

want to know is this," one man said loudly, his voice sounding

above the squelching of boots in the mud. "If the God we follow

wants us to win, then why doesn't the Nameless One send us

sunshine and a dry road?"

Galdar marched in his accustomed place at Mina's side. He

glanced up at her. She had heard the grumblings before now and

had ignored them. But this was the first man who had dared

question her god.

Mina reined in her horse, wheeled the animal. She galloped

back along the column, searching for the man who had spoken.

None of his comrades pointed him out, but Mina found him. She

fixed the man with her amber eyes.

"Sub commander Paregin, is it not?" she said.

"Yes, Mina," he replied, defiant.

"You took an arrow in the chest. You were dying. I restored

you to life," Mina said. She was angry. The men had never seen

her angry. Galdar shivered, recalled suddenly the appalling

storm of lightning and thunder that had given her birth.

Paregin's face went red with shame. He mumbled a reply,

lowered his gaze before her.

"Listen to me, Subcommander," Mina said and her voice was

cold and sharp. "If we marched in dry weather under the blazing

sun, it would not be rain drops that pierce your armor but ogre

lances. The gray gloom is a curtain that hides us from the sight of

our enemy. The rain washes away all trace of our passing. Do not

question the God's wisdom, Pare gin, especially since it seems

you have little of your own."

Paregin's face was pale. "Forgive me, Mina," he said through

pallid lips. "I meant no disrespect. I honor the God. I honor you."

He looked at her in adoration. "Would that I had a chance to

prove it!"

Mina's expression softened. Her amber eyes glowed, the only

color in the gray gloom. "You will have that chance, Paregin," she

said gently, "I promise it to you."

Wheeling her horse, she galloped back to the head of the

column, mud flying from the horse's hooves.

The men lowered their heads against the rain and prepared to

march on.

"Mina!" a voice cried from the rear. A figure was slipping and

sliding, hastening toward the front of the line.

Mina halted her steed, turned to see what was amiss. "One of

the rearguard," Galdar reported.

"Mina!" The man arrived panting and out of breath. "Blue

dragons!" he gasped. "From the north." He looked back,

frowned. "I swear, Mina! I saw them. . . ."

"There!" Galdar said, pointing.

Blue dragons, five of them, emerged from the clouds, their

scales glistening with the rain. The ragged column of men slowed

and shuffled to a stop, all staring in alarm.

The dragons were immense creatures, beautiful, awful. The

rain gleamed on scales that were blue as the ice of a frozen lake

beneath a clear winter sky. They rode the storm winds without

fear, their immense wings barely moving to keep the dragons

aloft. They had no fear of the jagged lightning, for their breath

was lightning, could blast a stone tower to rubble or kill a man as

he stood on the ground far below.

Mina said nothing, gave no orders. She calmed her horse, who

shied at the sight of the dragons, and gazed up at them in silence.

The blue dragons flew nearer, and now Galdar could see riders

clad in black armor. One by one, in formation, each of the blue

dragons swooped low over the ragged column of marching men.

The dragomiders and their mounts took a good long look, then

the blue dragons flapped their wings and lifted back up among

the gray clouds.

The dragons were lost to sight, but their presence could still

be felt, oppressing the heart, sapping courage.

"What's going on?" Captain Samuval slogged through the

mud. At the sight of the dragons, his archers had drawn their

bows, fitted their arrows. "What was that all about?"

"Targonne's spies," Galdar growled. "By now he must ~ow

that you countermanded his order and sent General Dogahan

order of your own, Mina. That's treason. He'll have you drawn

and quartered, your head on a spike."

"Then why didn't he attack us?" Captain Samuval demanded,

with a grim glance skyward. "His dragons could have inciner-

ated us where we stood."

"Yes, but what would that gain him?" Mina answered. "He does

not profit by killing us. He does profit if we succeed. He is a short-

sighted, avaricious, grasping, covetous man. A man like Targonne

has never been loyal to anyone in his life, cannot believe anyone else

can be loyal. A man who believes in nothing except the clink of steel

coins mounting one on top of the other cannot understand an-

other's faith. Judging all people by himself, he cannot understand

what is happening here, and consequently he does not know how

to deal with it. I will give him what he wants. Our victory will earn

him the wealth of the Silvanesti nation and Malystrx's favor."

"Are you so certain we will win, Mina?" Galdar asked. "It's

not that I'm doubting," he added hastily. "But five hundred

against the entire Silvanesti nation? And we have yet to march

through ogre lands."

"Of course, we will win, Galdar," Mina replied. "The One

God has decreed it."

Child of battle, child of wa4 child of death, she rode forward,

and the men followed after her through the steadily falling rain.

Mina's army marched southward, following the Thon-

Thalas River. The rain finally stopped. The sun returned, its heat

welcome to the soldiers, though they had to pay for warmth and

dry clothes by redoubling their patrols. They were deep in ogre

lands now.

The ogres were now threatened from the south by the cursed

elves and the Legion of Steel and from the north by their former

allies. Finding they could not dislodge the Knights of Neraka

from the north, the ogres had lately pulled their armies from that