Dwarven Nations - Hammer And Axe Part 45

"Then, Lord Gunthar," the Speaker said, ''the elves declare that-from this time on-we are at war!"

Humans and elves bath headed for the dragon orb that sat upon its golden stand, its milky white insides swirling gently within the crystal. Gunthar shouted For order time and again, banging the hilt of his sward upon the table. The Speaker spoke a ie4v words sharply in elven, staring hard at his son, Porthios, and finally order was restored.

)3u t the atmosphere snapped I_ke the air before a storm. Gunklrar talked. The Speaker answered'. The Speaker talked. Gunthar answered. The dark-skinned mariner lost his temper and made a few cutting remarks about elves. The lord of the Silvanesti reduced him to quivering anger with his sarcastic rejoinders. Several of the knights left, only to return armed to the teeth. They came to stand near Gunthar, their hands on their weapons. The elves, led by Porthios, rose to surround their own leaders. Gnosh, his report held fast in his hand, began to realize he warn"t going to be asked to give it.

Ta.s.slehoff looked around despairingly for Elistan. He kept hoping desperately the cleric would come. Elistan could calm these people down. Or maybe Laurana.

Where was sheT There'd been no ward of his friends, the elves had told the kender coldly. She and her brother had apparently vanished in the wilderness. l shouldn't lave left them, Tas thought. l shouldn't be here. Why, why did this crazy old mage bring me7 I'm useless! Maybe Fizban could do something? Tas looked at the mage hopefully, but Fizban was sound asleep!

"Please, wake up!" Tas begged, shaking him. "Somebody's got to do something!"

At that moment, he heard Lord Gunthar yell, "The dragon orb is not yours by right! Lady Laurana and the others were bringing it to us when they were s.h.i.+pwrecked! You tried to keep it on Ergoth by force, and your own daughter-"

",Mention not my daughter!" the Speaker said in a deep, . harsh voice. "I do not have a daughter:'

Something broke within Ta.s.slehoff. Confused memories of Laurana fighting desperately against the evil wizard whoj guarded the orb, Laurana battling draconians, Laurana tiring her bow at the white dragon;.

Laurana ministering to him sari tenderly when bed been near death. To be cast off by her owl people when she was working so desperately to save them,~ when she had sacrificed so much ...

"Stop this!" Ta.s.slehoff heard himself yelling at the top of his voice. "Stop this right now and listen to me!" ~ Suddenly he saw, to his astonishment, that everrjone haac stopped talking and was staring at him.

Now that he had his audience, Tas realized he didn.'t ha ^ any idea what to say to all of these important pecVie.But knew he had to say something. After all, he thought, this is fault-I read about these d.a.m.n orbs.. Gulping, he slid off ~~'

bench and walked toward the Whitestone and the two host' groups cl.u.s.tered around it. He thought he saw-out of the corner of his eye-Fizban grinning from under his hat.

"I-I . . ." The kender stammered, wondering what to say. He was saved by a sudden inspiration.

"I demand the right to represent my people;' Ta.s.slehoff said proudly, "and take my place on the advisory council:'

Flipping his ta.s.sle of brown hair over his shoulder, the kender came to stand right in front of the dragon orb. Looking up, he could see the Whitestone towering over it and over him. Tas stared at the stone, s.h.i.+vering, then quickly turned his gaze from the rock to Gunthar and the Speaker of the Suns.

And then Ta.s.slehoff knew what he had to do. He began to shake with fear. He- Ta.s.slehoff Burrfoot-who'd never been afraid of anything in his life! He'd faced dragons without tremb;ing, but the knowledge of what he was going to do now appalled him. His hands felt as if he'd been making s...o...b..a.l.l.s without gloves on.

His tongue seemed to belong in some larger person"s mouth. But Tas was resolute.

He just had to keep them talking, keep them from guessing what he planned.

"You've never taken us kenders very seriously; you know," Tas began, his voice sounding too loud and shrill in his own ears, "and I can't say I blame you much.

We don't have a strong sense of responsibility, I guess, and we are probably too curious for own goad-but, I ask you, how are you going to find out anything if you're not curious?"

Tas could see the ;Speaker's face turn to steel, even Lord Gunthar was scowling.

The kender edged nearer the dragon orb.

"4Ire cause lots of trouble, I suppose, without meaning to, and occasionally some of us do happen to acquire certain things which aren't ours. But one thing the kender know is-' Ta.s.slehoff broke into a run. Quick and lithe as a mouse, he sipped easily through the hands that tried to catch him, reaching the dragon orb within a matter of seconds. Faces blurred ar ound hinn, mouths opened, shrieking and yelling at him. But they were too late.

Ir, one swift srnocth movement, Ta.s.slehoff hurled the dragon ors at the huge, gleaming Whitestone.

The round, gleaming crystal-its insides swirling in a3itation-hung sus~emded in the air for long, long seconds. Tas wondered if the orb had the power to halt its flight. But it DRAGONLANCE CHRONICLES.

was just a fevered impression in the kender's mind.

The dragon orb struck the rock and shattered, bursting into a thousand sparkling pieces. For an instant, a ball of milky white smoke hung in the air, as if trying desperately to hold itself together. Then the warm, springlikebreeze of the glade caught it and swept it apart.

There was intense, awful silence.

'She kender stood, looking calmly down at the shattered dragon orb.

"We know;" he said in a small voice that dropped into the dreadful silence like a tiny drop of rain, "we should be fighting dragons. Not each other."

No one moved. No one spoke- Then there was a thump.

Gnoeh had fainted.

The silence broke-almost as shattering as the breaking of the orb. Lord Gunthar and the Speaker bath lunged at Tas. One caught hold of the kender's left shoulder, one his .right.

"What have you done?" Lord Gunthar's :ace was livid, his; eyes wild as he gripped the kender with trembling hands.

"Yore have brought death upon us all!" The Speaker's finget bit into Tas's flesh like the claws of a predatory bird. "You haves5 destroyed our only hope!"

"And for that, he himself will be the first to die!"

I3nrthios-tall, grim-faced el5lord-loomed above the cow Bring kender, his sword glistening in his hand. The lend stood his ground between the elven king .and the knight, ' small face pale, his expression. defiant. He had known when commited his crime ahat death would be the penalty.

Tanis will be unhappy over what I've done" Tas than sadly. But at least he''II hear that I died bravely.

"Now, now, now. . :" said a sleepy voice. "No ones going t die! At least not at this moment. Quit waving that swo around, Porthios! Someone lI get hurt:"

Tas peered out from under a heaving sea of arms and s.h.i.+n arrnar to see Fizban, yawning, step over the inert body of gnam.e and totter toward them. Elves and humans made Ecr [-,:m. to pa.s.s, as if compelled to do so by an unseen force Porthios whirled to face Fizban, so angry that saliva bubbl or, his lips and his speech was nearly incoherent.

"Beware, old man, or you will share in the punishment['

"I said quit waving that sword around;" Fizban snapped irritably, wiggling a finger at the sword.

Parthios dropped his weapon with a wild cry. Clutching his stinging, burning hand, he stared down at the sword in astonishment-the hilt had grown thorns!

Fizban came to stand next to the elflord and regarded him angrily.

"You're a fine young man, but you should have been taught some respect for your elders. I said to put that sword down and I meant it! Maybe you'll believe me next time!" Fizban's baleful gaze switched to the Speaker. "And you, Solostaran, were a good man about two hundred years ago. Managed to raise three fine children-three fine children, I said. Don't give me any of this nonsense about not having a daughter. You have one, and a fine girl she is. More sense than her father. Must take after her mother's side. Where was I? Oh, yes. you brought up Tanis Half-Elven, too. You know, Solastaran, between the four of these young people, we might save this world get.

"Now I want everyone to take his seat. Yes, you, too, Lord Gunthar. Come along, Solostaran, I'll help. We old men have to stick together. Tao bad you're such a d.a.m.n fool:"

Muttering into his beard, Fizban led the astounded Speaker :a his chair.

Porthios, his face twisted inpain, stumbled back to his seat with the help of his warriors.

Slowly the a.s.sembled elves and knights sat down, murmuring among themselves-all casting dark looks at the shattered dragon orb that lay beneath the Whitestone.

Fizban settled the Speaker in his seat, glowered at Lord Quinath, who thought he had something to say but quickly decided he didn't. Satisfied, the old wage carne back to the front of the Whitestone where Tas stood, shaken and confused.

"You;" Fizban looked at the kender as if he'd never seen him before, "'go and attend to that poor chap:' He Kaved a hand at the gnome, who was still out cold.

Feeling his knees tremble, Ta.s.slehoff walked slowly aver to Gnosh and knelt down beside nice, glad to lank at something other than the angel, fear-filled faces.

'Gnash; he whispered miserably, patting the gnome on the cheek, "I'm sorry. I truly am, I mean about your Life Quest and your fat_Wer's soul and everything.

But there just didn't wean to be anything else to do:"

Fizban turned around slowly and faced the a.s.sembled group, pus.h.i.+ng his hat back on his head. "Yes, I'm going to lecture you. You deserve it, every one of you-so don't sit there looking self-righteous. That kender'"-he pointed at Ta.s.slehoff, who cringed-"has more brains beneath that ridiculous topknot of his than the lot of you have put together. Do you know what would have happened to you if the kender hadn't had the guts to do what he did? Do you? "ell, III tell you. Just let me find a seat here. . . :' Fizban peered around vaguely. "Ah, yes, there. .

:' Nodding in satisfaction, the old mage toddled over and sat down on the ground, leaning his back against the sacred Whitestone!

The a.s.sembled knights gasped in horror. Gunthar leaped to his feet, appalled at this sacrilege.

"No mortal can touch the Whitestone!" he yelled, striding forward.

Fizban slowly turned his head to regard the furious knight. "One more word;' the old mage said solemnly, "and I'll make, your moustaches fall off. Now sit down and shut up!"

Sputtering, Gunthar was brought up short by an imperious; gesture from the old man. The knight could do nothing bu return to his seat.

'Where was I before I was interrupted?" Fizban scowled, Glancing around, his gaze fell on the broken pieces of the orb' "Oh, yes. I was about to tell you a story. One of you would have won the orb, of course. And you would have taken it either to keep it 'safe' or to 'save the world: And, ye, it is cap ble of saving the world, but only if you know how to use'*, Who of you has this knowledge? Who has true strength? orb was created by the greatest, most powerful mages of of All the most powerful-do you understand? It was created b those of the White Robes and these of the Black Robes. It h the essence of both evil and good. The Red Robes brought bo essences together and bound them with their force. Few th are now with the power and strength to understand the orb, fathom its secrets, and to gain mastery over it. Few indeed" Fizban's eyes gleamed-".and none who sit here!"

Silence had fallen now, a profound silence as they llis.tened the old mage, whose voice was strong and carried above rising wind that was blowing the storm clouds from, the sky, "One of you would have taken the orb and used it, and you would have found that you had hurled yourself upon disaster. You would have been broken as surely as the kender broke the orb. As for hope being shattered, I tell you that hope was lost for a time, but now it has been new born-" A sudden gust of wind caught the old mage's hat, blowing it off his head and tossing it playfully away from him. Snarling in irritation, Fizban crawled forward to pick it up.

Just as the mage leaned over, the sun broke through the clouds. There was a blazing flash of silver, followed by a splin- tering, deafening crack as though the land itself had split apart. Half-blinded by the flaring light, people blinked and gazed in fear and awe at the terrifying sight before their eyes.

The Whitestone had been split asunder.

The old magician lay sprawled at its base, his hat clutched in his hand, his other arm flung over his head in terror. Above him, piercing the rock where he had been sitting, was a iong weapon made of gleaming silver. It had been thrown by the silver arm of a black man, who walked over to stand beside it. Accompanying him were three people: an elven woman dressed in leather armor, an old, white-bearded dwarf, and Elistan.

Amid the stunned silence of the crowd, !he black man reached out and lifted the weapon from the splintered remains of the rock. He held it high above his head, and the silver barbed point glittered brightly in the rays of the midday sun.

"I am Theros Ironfeld ," the man called out in a deep voice, "and for the last month I have been forging these!" He shook the weapon in his hand. "I have taken molten silver from the well hidden deep within the heart of the Monument of the Silver Dragon. With the .silver arm given me by the G.o.ds,, I have forged the weapon as legend foretold. And this I -bring to youto all the people of Krynn-that we may join together and defeat the great evil that threatens to engulf us in darkness forever.

"I bring you-the Dragonlance!"

With that, Theros thrust the weapon deep into the ground. It stood, straight and s.h.i.+ning, amid 6e broken pieces of the dragon orb.

An unexpected journey.

fished;' Laurana said. "I am free to leave" "Yes;" Elistan said slowly; "and ll,tknd now my task is fig I know why you leave"Laurana flushed and lowered her eyes-"but where will 9n?" , "Silvanesti," she replied. "The last place I saw him..' "Only in a dream-" "No, that was more than a dream;' Laurana replied, shw dering. "It was real. He was there. He is alive and I must fin him:"

"Surely, my dear, you should stay here, then;" Elistan suggested. "You say that in the dream he had found a dragon orb. If he has it, he will come to Sancrist :".

Laurana did not answer. Unhappy and irresolute, she stared out the window of Lard Gunthar's castle where she, Elistan, Flint, and Ta.s.slehoff were staying as his guests.

She should have been with the elves. Before they left TvNhitestone Glade, her father had asked her to come back with them to Southern Ergoth . But Laurana refused. Although she did not say it, she knew she would never live among her people again.

Her father had not pressed her, and-in his eyes-she saw that he heard her unspoken words. Elves aged by years, not by days, as did humans. For her father, it seemed as if tune had accelerated and he was changing even as she watched.

She feet as though she were seeing him through Raistlin's hourgla.s.s eyes, and the thought was terrifying. Yet the news she brought him only increased his bitter unhappiness. Gilthanas had not returned. Nor could Laurana tell her father where his beloved son had gone, for the journey he and Silvara made was dark and fraught with peril. Laurana bold her father only that Gilthanas was not dead.

"You know where he is?" the Speaker asked after a pause.

"I do," Laurana answered, "or rather-I know where he goes:'

"Acrd you cannot speak of this, even to me-his father?"

Laurana shook her head steadfastly. "No, Speaker, I cannot. Forgive me, but we agreed when the decision was made to undertake this desperate action that those of us who knew would tell no one. No one,." she repeated.

"So you do not trust me-"

Laurana sighed. Her eyes went to the shattered Whitestone. "Father,.' she said, "you nearly went to war . . . with the only People who pan help save us . . . .

Her father had not replied, but-in his cool farewell arid in the way he leaned upon the arm of his elder .child-he made it clear to Laurana that he now had cn7y one child.

Theras went with the elves. Following his dramatic presentation of the dragonlance, the Council of Whitestone had voted unanirai.ously to make more of these weapons. and unite all races in the fight against the dragonarmies.

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DRAGONLANCE CHRONICLES.

"At present;" Theros announced, "we have only those few lances I was able to forge by myself within a month's time, and I bring several ancient lances the Silver Dragons hid at the time the dragons were banished from the world. But we'll need more-many more. I need men to help me!"

The elves agreed to provide men to help make the dragonlances, but whether or not they would help fight- "That remains a matter we must discuss;" the Speaker said.

"Don't discuss it too long," Flint Fireforge snapped, "or you might find yourself discussing it with a Dragon Highlord:'

"The elves keep their own counsel and ask far no advice from, dwarves;' the Speaker replied coldly. "Besides, we do not even, know if these lances work! The legend said they were to be forged by one of the Silver Arm, that is certain.

But it also says that the Hammer of Kharas .vas needed in the forging. Where '

the Hammer now?" he asked Theros.

"The Hammer could not be brought here in time, even if ' could be kept from the dragonarmies. The Hammer of Khar was required in days of old, because man's skill v.~as not, '.

cient by itself to produce the lances. Mine is;' he added proudl "You saw what the lance did to that rock:"

"We shall see what it does to dragons;" the Speaker said, the Second Council of Whitestone drew to a close. Gunth proposed at the last that the lances Theros had brought w' him be sent to the knights in Palanthas.

These thoughts pa.s.sed through Laurana's mind as she st out across the bleak winter landscape. It would've snowing the valley soon, Lord Gunthar said.