Dragonlance 15 - Dragons Of A Fallen Sun (85 page)

adage, dating back from the time of their great hero, Kaz,

maintained that dragons had only one side: their own. Galdar

heard the dragon's death roar, felt the ground shake from the

beast's fall, and wondered only what portent this held for

them. For Mina.

Captain Samuval joined Galdar to watch the fight. He

brought the minotaur food-rat, caught in the cave-and drink.

Galdar drank the water, but he refused the rat meat. The men had

little enough to eat as it was. Others needed it more than he did.

Captain Samuval shrugged and ate the rat himself. Galdar con-

tinued hi's watch.

The hours passed. The wounded groaned quietly, died qui-

etly. The sun started to fall, a blood-red sun, dropping behind its

curtain of gauze. The sun was distorted and misshapen, looking

like no sun Galdar had ever before seen. He shifted his gaze away.

He did not like seeing the sun through the shield, wondered how

the elves could stand it.

His eyes closed in spite of himself. He was nodding off,

drowsing on his feet, when Captain Samuval's voice sounded

right next to him, seemed to explode over the minotaur like a

fireball.

"Would you look at that!"

Galdar's eyes flared open. He fumbled for his sword. "What?

Where?"

"The sun!" Captain Samuval said. "No, don't look at it di-

rectly. It will blind you!" He shaded his eyes with his hand,

peered out from beneath the shadow. "Damn!"

Galdar looked heavenward. The light was so bright it made

his eyes water, and he had to look hurriedly away. He wiped the

tears from his muzzle and squinted. The sun had burned away

the gauze. It shone bright and fierce upon the world as if it were

a new-made sun and was exulting in its power. He lowered his

gaze, half-blinded.

Mina stood before him, bathed in the blood-red light of the

new-born sun.

Galdar was about to raise a shout of joy, but she laid a finger

on her lips, counseling silence. The minotaur settled for a huge

grin. He did not tell her he was thankful to see her. She had prom-

ised she would return to them, and he did not want her to think

he doubted. In truth, he had not doubted. Not in his heart. He

jerked a thumb toward the horizon.

"What does it mean?" he asked.

"The shield is lowered," Mina replied. She was pale and

weary to the point of falling. She reached out her hand, and

Galdar was honored and proud to support her with his arm, his

right arm. "The spell is broken. As we speak, the forces of General

Dogah, many thousands strong, are marching across the border

of Silvanesti."

Leaning on Galdar' s strong arm, Mina entered the cave. The

men would have cheered, but she cautioned them to silence.

The men gathered around he4 reached out their hands to

touch her. Tired as she was, she said a word to each one of them,

calling each by name. She would not eat or drink or rest until she

had visited the wounded and asked the G~d to heal them. She

prayed over everyone of the dead, as well, holding the cold

hands in her own, her head bowed.

Then and only then would she drink water and sit down to

rest. She summoned her Knights and officers to a council

of war.

"We have only to continue a little while longer in hiding," she

told them. "My plan is to meet up with the armies of General

Dogah and join them in the capture of Silvanost."

"How soon can he be here?" Samuval asked.

"Dogah and his forces will be able to march rapidly," MiRa

replied. "He will meet no resistance. The elven border patrol was

pulled back to deal with us. Their army is in disarray. Their gen-

eral is dead. The shield has fallen."

"How, Mina?" Galdar asked and others echoed his wonder.

"Tell us how you brought down the shield?"

"I told the king the truth," Mina said. "I told him that the

shield was killing his people. Their king himself brought down

the shield."

The Knights laughed, enjoying the fine irony. They were in ex-

cellent spirits, cheered and heartened by Mina's return and the

miraculous lowering of the magical shield, which had for so long

kept them from striking at their enemy.

Turning to ask Mina a question, Galdar saw that she had

fallen asleep. Gently, he lifted her in his arms and carried her-

she was a light as a child-to the bed he had made for her him-

sel£ a blanket spread over dried pine needles in a niche in the

rock wall. He eased her down, covered her with a blanket. She

never opened her eyes.

The minotaur settled himself near her, seated with his broad

back against the rocky wall to guard her sleep.

Captain Samuval came to keep watch beside Galdar. The cap-

tain offered the minotaur more rat meat, and this time Galdar did

not refuse.

"Why would the king lower the shield?" Galdar wondered,

crunching the rat, bones and all. "Why would he bring down the

elves' o~y defense? It doesn't make any sense. Elves are sneaky.

Perhaps it is a trap."

"No trap," said Samuval. Bunching up a blanket, he shoved it

beneath his head and stretched himself out on the cold cavern

floor. "You will see, my friend. In a week's time, we'll be walking

arm and arm down the streets of Silvanost."

"But why would he do such a thing?" Galdar persisted.

"Why else?" Samuval said, yawning until his jaws cracked.

"You saw the way he looked at her. You saw her take him captive.

He did it for love of her, of course."

Galdar settled himself. He considered the answer, decided

that his comrade was right. Before he slept, he whispered the

words softly to the night.

"For love of Mina."

EPILOGUE

Far from where Mina slept, guarded by her troops, Gilthas

watched from a window of the Tower of the Speaker of the

Sun as the sun lifted higher into the sky. He imagined its

rays gilding the spears of the armies of Beryl as that army

marched across the border into Qualinesti. The Solamnic, Gerard,

had suggested a plan, a desperate plan, and now he and Marshal

Medan waited for Gilthas to make a decision, a decision that

would either mean salvation for his people or would end in their

ultimate destruction. Gilthas would make that decision. He

would make it because he was their king. But he would put off

the decision for the moment. He would spend this moment

watching the sun shimmer on the green leaves of the trees of his

homeland

On Schallsea, Tasslehoff and Palin watched Beryl and her

minions fly closer and closer. They heard the trumpets blasting,

heard people crying out in terror, They heard them cry for Gold-

moon, but she was gone. The broken bits of the magical Device of

Time Journeying lay scattered on the floor, the light of the jewels

dimmed by the shadows of the wings of dragons.

Goldmoon did not see the sun. She did not! see the dragons.

She was far beneath the ocean, wrapped In Its darkness. The

gnome expostulated and sweated and raced here and dashed

there, mopping up water, sopping up oil, cranking cranks and

pumping bellows. Goldmoon paid no attention to him. She had

been absorbed by the darkness. She traveled northward with the

river of the dead.

Silvanoshei stood alone in the Garden of Astarin, beside the

dying Shield Tree, and watched the new-made blazing sun wither

the tree's roots.

Poised on the borders of Silvanesti, General Dogah of the

Knights of Neraka watched the sun emerge from the crysallis of

the fallen shield. The next morning, when the sun had mounted

into the sky, when it shone clear and bright, General Dogah gave

his army the order to march.