The War Of The Lance (37 page)

my end on my shoulders, since Fizban's shoulders are higher than mine. But I held my end
up in the air and Fizban managed the butt-end. We lifted up two of the lances and ran off
with them.

And while we were running, Fizban said some more of those spider-foot words and the next
thing I knew I was running straight into . . .

You guessed it. Huma's Tomb.

“Oh, now, really!” I began, quite put out. But I didn't get the rest of my sentence
finished, which was probably just as well, since it would have most likely made Fizban
angry and he might have sent my topknot to join my eyebrows.

The reason I didn't get the rest of my sentence finished was that we weren't alone in
Huma's Tomb anymore. A knight was there. A knight in full battle armor and he was kneeling
beside the bier in the silver moonlight, with tears rolling down his cheeks.

“Thank you, Paladine!” he was saying, over and over again in a tone that made me feel I'd
like to go off somewhere and be very, very quiet for a long time.

But the lances were growing extremely heavy, and I'm afraid I dropped my end, which caused
Fizban to overbalance and nearly tumble over backward, and he dropped his butt-end. Which
meant we both dropped the middles. The lances fell to the stone floor with quite a
remarkable-sounding clatter.

The knight nearly leapt out of his armor. Jumping to his feet, he drew his sword and
whipped right around and glared at us.

He had taken off his helmet to pray. He was older, about thirty, I guess. His hair was
dark red and he wore it in two long braids. His eyes were green as the vallenwood leaves
in Solace, where I live when I'm not out adventuring or residing in jails. Only his eyes
didn't look green as leaves just at the moment. They looked hard and cold as the ice in
Ice Wall.

I don't know what the knight expected - maybe a dragon or at least a draconian, or
possibly a goblin or two. What he obviously didn't expect was Fizban and me.

The knight's face, when he saw us, slipped from fierce into muddled and puzzled, but it
hardened again right off.

“A wizard,” he said in the same tone of voice he might have said “ogre dung.” “And a
kender.” (I won't tell you what THAT sounded like!) “What are you two doing here? How dare
you defile this sacred place?”

He was getting himself all worked up and waving his sword around in a way that was quite
careless and might have hurt somebody - namely me, because I was suddenly closest, Fizban
having reached out and pulled me in front of him.

“Now wait just a minute, Sir Knight,” said Fizban, quite bravely, I thought, especially
since he was using me for a shield, and my small body wouldn't have done much to stop that
knight's sharp sword, “we're not defiling anything. We came in here to pay our respects,
same as you, only Huma was out. Not in, you see,” the wizard added, gesturing vaguely to
the empty bier. “So we ... er ... decided to wait a bit, give him a chance to come back.”

The knight stared at us for quite a long time. He would have stroked his moustaches, I
thought, like Sturm did when he was thinking hard, except that this knight didn't have any
moustaches, yet. Only the beginnings of some, like he was just starting to grow them out.
He lowered the sword a little, little bit.

“You are a white-robed wizard?” he asked.

Fizban held out his sleeve. “White as snow.” Actually it wasn't, having been draggled
through the mud and spotted with blood from my nose and slobber from both of us and ashes
from the burning tree and some soot we'd picked up in the dragonlance forge.

Fizban's robes didn't impress the knight. He raised his sword again and his face was
extremely grim. “I don't trust wizards of any color robe. And I don't like kender.”

Well, I was just about to express my opinion of knights, which I thought might help him -
(Tanis says we should come to know our own faults, to be better persons) - but Fizban
grabbed hold of my topknot and lifted me up like you pick up a rabbit by the ears and
shuffled me off to one side.

“How did you find this sacred place, Sir Knight?” Fizban asked, and I saw his eyes go
cunning and shrewd like they do sometimes when they're not vague and

confused. "I was led here by the light of the fire of two burning

trees and a celestial shower of white and purple stars . . ." The knight's voice faded to
an awed breath.

Fizban smirked at me. “And you said I wasn't much of a wizard!”

The knight appeared dazed. He lowered his sword again. “You did that? You led me here
purposefully?”

“Well, of course,” said Fizban. “Knew you were coming all along.”

I was about to explain to the knight about my singed eyebrows and even offer to show him
where they'd been, in case he was interested, but Fizban accidently trod on my foot at
that moment.

You wouldn't think one old man, especially one who looks as frail and skinny as Fizban,
could be so heavy, but he was. And I couldn't make him understand that he was standing on
my foot - he kept shushing me and telling me to have respect for my elders and that kender
should be seen and not heard and maybe not even seen - and by the time I managed to pull
my foot out from under his, he and the knight were talking about something else.

“Tell me exactly what happened,” Fizban was saying. “Very important, from a wizard's
standpoint.”

“You might tell us your name, too,” I suggested.

“I am Owen of the House of Glendower,” said the knight but that was all he would tell us.
He was still holding his sword and still staring at Fizban as if trying to decide whether
to clap him heartily on the shoulder or clout him a good one on the headbone.

“I'm Tasslehoff Burroot,” I said, holding out my hand politely, “and I have a house
myself, in Solace, only it doesn't have a name. And maybe I don't even have a house
anymore now,” I added, remembering what I'd seen of Solace the last time I was there and
growing kind of sad at the thought.

The knight raised his eyebrows (HE had eyebrows) and was staring at me now.

“But that's all right,” I said, thinking Owen Glendower might be feeling sorry for me
because my house had most likely been burned down by dragons. “Tika said I could come live
with her, if I ever see Tika again,” I added, and that made me sadder still, because I
hadn't seen Tika in a

long time either. “You came all the way from Solace?” asked Owen

Glendower, and he sounded no end astonished. “Some of us came a lot farther than that,”
Fizban said

solemnly, only the knight didn't hear him, which was probably just as well.

“Yes, we came from Solace,” I explained. “A large group of us, only some of us aren't with
us anymore. There was Tanis and Raistlin and Caramon and Tika, only we lost them in
Tarsis, and that left Sturm and Elistan and Derek Crownguard and they went to - ”

“Derek Crownguard!” Owen gasped. “You traveled with Derek Crownguard?”

“I'm not finished,” I said, eyeing him sternly. “And it isn't polite to interrupt. Tanis
says so. Inside there's Laurana and Flint and Theros - ”

“But it's Sir Derek I'm searching for,” said the knight, completely ignoring me. (I'm not
certain but I believe that ignoring people is against their knightly code, though Sturm
often ignored me, now that I come to think of it. But Tanis says that if ignoring kender
isn't in the Measure it should be.)

“I'm a courier from Lord Gunthar and I've been sent to find Sir Derek - ”

“You've just missed him,” I said, and tried to look sad about it, though I wasn't, not in
the least. “He went off with the dragon orb.”

“The what?” Owen stared at me.

“Dragon HERB,” said Fizban, giving me a tug on the topknot that made tears come to my
eyes. “Similar to wolf-bane. Only different.”

Well, I had no idea what he was talking about, but it wasn't important anyway and I could
see Owen was getting a bit impatient. So I went on.

“I don't know why you were looking for him. Derek Crownguard is NOT a nice person,” I
informed him.

“Describe him to me,” said Owen.

“Don't you know him?” I asked, amazed. “How can you find him if you don't know him?”

“Just describe him, kender,” growled the knight.

“Tasslehoff Burrfoot,” I reminded him. Obviously he'd forgotten. "Well, Derek's mad at
most everyone all the time and he's not at all polite and I don't think he has

much common sense either, if you want my opinion." Well, as it turned out, Owen didn't
want my opinion; what he wanted was a description of what Derek looked

like, not what he acted like, so I gave him that, too. My description seemed to please
him, only it was hard to tell, because he was so confused.

“Yes, that's Derek Crownguard,” he said. “You've described him perfectly. You must be
telling the truth.”

He thought another moment, then looked at Huma's bier, to see if it might help, and it
looked very peaceful and beautiful in the moonlight. (If you are wondering why there was
moonlight when there should have been fog, keep listening and I'll explain later on when
the moonlight has its proper turn.)

“I was sent to find Derek Crownguard,” Owen said, talking slowly, as if he might decide to
stop any moment and take back everything he'd just said. "I have . . . dispatches for him.
But I lost his trail, and I prayed to Paladine to help me find it again. That night, in a
dream, I was told to seek Huma's resting place. I didn't know where it was - no one knows.
But I was told that if I studied Solinari, on a cloudless night, I would see a map on the
moon's surface. The next night, I did so. I saw what appeared to be a map of my homeland,
Southern Ergoth. I have walked these mountains and valleys thirty years, yet I never knew
this place existed. I followed Solinari's guidance, but then fog overtook me. I could no
longer see the moon.

“The path led into a valley inside the mountains and vanished. I could not find my way out
and have wandered about for days, perhaps. I'm not sure how long: time has lost all
meaning to me. Then I saw a fire, burning in the distance. I followed it, thinking that I
should at least find someone to guide me back to the trail. Then it went out and I was
lost again. Then another fire and then clouds of purple stars and then I discovered this
holy place, Huma's Tomb. And you.”

Looking at us, he shook his head and I could tell we weren't exactly what he'd been
praying to Paladine to find.

“But, if my Lord Crownguard left with the dragon orb, what are you two doing here?” he
asked, after he'd stared at us longer than was really polite. "Why did you

stay behind?“ ”We're under an enchantment,“ I said. ”Isn't it exciting?

Well, to be honest, not all that exciting. Actually it's been pretty boring, not to
mention cold and icky and damp. The Dark Queen has put us under a spell, you see. And we
can't get out of here because every time we leave we keep coming back. And we have to get
out of here because we're on a Very Important Mission to . . . to . . . "

I stopped because I wasn't quite sure what our Important Mission was.

“Lord Gunthar. Important mission to Lord Gunthar,” said Fizban. “Must see him right away.
Most urgent.”

“You're under black enchantment?” Owen pulled back from us both, raised his sword, and
laid his hand on Huma's bier.

“Well, now. As to the enchantment part.” Fizban scratched his head. “It could be that I
exagger - ”

“Oh, yes!” I averred. (I'm fond of that word, averred.) “The Dark Queen is most dreadfully
afraid of Fizban, here. He's a great and powerful wizard.”

Fizban blushed and took off his hat and twirled it around in his hands. “I do my best,” he
said modestly.

“Why did you send for me?” Owen asked, and he still seemed suspicious.

Fizban appeared somewhat at a loss. “Well, I... you see . . . that is . . .”

“I know! I know!” I cried, standing on my tiptoes and raising my hand in the air. Of
course, anyone who's ever been a child knows the reason, but maybe knights were never
children or maybe he didn't have a mother to tell him stories like my mother told me.
“Only a true knight can break our enchantment!”

Fizban breathed a deep sigh. Taking off his hat, he mopped his forehead with his sleeve.
“Yes, that's it. True knight. Rescue damsels in distress.”

“We're not damsels,” I said, thinking I should be truthful about all this, “but we are in
considerable distress, so I should think that would count. Don't you?”

Owen stood beside Huma's bier, eyeing us, and he still seemed confused and suspicious -
probably because we weren't damsels. I mean, I could see how that would be disappointing,
but it wasn't our fault.

“And there's these dragonlances,” I said, waving my

hand at them, where we'd dropped them, on the floor at the back of the temple. “Only they
don't - ”

“Dragonlances!” Owen breathed, and suddenly, it was like Solinari had dropped right down
out of the sky and burst on top of the knight. His armor was bright, bright silver and he
was so handsome and strong-looking that I could only stare at him in wonder. “You have
found the dragonlances!”

He thrust his sword in its sheath and hurried over to where I'd pointed. At the sight of
the two lances, lying on the floor in the moonlight, Owen cried out loudly in words I
didn't understand and fell down on his knees.

Then he said, in words I could understand, “Praise be to Paladine, These are dragonlances,
true ones, such as Huma used to fight the Dark Queen. I saw the images, carved on the
outside of the Temple.”

He rose to his feet and came to stand before us. “Now I know that you speak the truth. You
plan to take these lances to Lord Gunthar, don't you, Sir Wizard? And the Dark Queen has
laid an enchantment on you to prevent it.”

Fizban swelled up with pride at being called Sir Wizard and I saw him look at me to make
certain I noticed, which I did. I was very happy for him because generally he gets called
other things that aren't so polite.

“Why, uh, yes,” he said, puffing and preening and smoothing his beard. “Yes, that's the
ticket. Take the lances to Lord Gunthar. We should set out right AWAY” “But the lances
don't - ” I began. “ - shine,” said Fizban. “Lances don't shine.” Well, before I could
mention that the lances not only didn't shine but didn't work either, Fizban had upended
one of my pouches, causing my most precious and valuable possessions in the whole world to
spill out all over the floor. By the time I had everything picked up and resorted and
examined and wondered where I'd come by a few things that I didn't recognize, Fizban and
Owen were ready to leave.