Dragonlance 10 - The Second Generation (2 page)

"They've come to admire the color of the leaves," Caramon pointed out to his wife. "Most of these mages could have simply magicked themselves to the tower without bothering to stop anywhere in between."

Tika could only laugh and shrug and agree with her husband that, yes, it must be the leaves, and so Caramon went about inordinately pleased with himself for the rest of the day. Neither made mention of the fact that each mage who came to stay in the inn brought with him or her a small token of esteem and remembrance for Caramon's twin brother, Raistlin. A mage of great power, and far greater ambition, Raistlin had turned to evil and very nearly destroyed the world. But he had redeemed himself at the end by the sacrifice of his own life, over twenty years ago. One small room in the inn was deemed Raistlin's Room and was now filled with various tokens (some of them magical) left to commemorate the wizard's life. (No kender were ever permitted anywhere near this room!)

The Wizards' Conclave was only three days away, and this night, for the first time in a week, the inn was empty. The mages had all traveled on, for the Wayreth Forest is a tricky place—you do not find the forest, it finds you. All mages, even the highest of their rank, knew that they might spend at least a day wandering about, waiting for the forest to appear.

And so the mages were gone, and none of the regulars had yet come back. The townsfolk, both of Solace and neighboring communities, who stopped by the inn nightly for either the ale or Tika's spiced potatoes or both, stayed away when the mages came. Magic-users were tolerated on Ansalon, (unlike the old days, when they'd been persecuted), but they were not trusted, not even the white-robed mages, who were dedicated to good.

The first year the conclave had been held—several years after the War of the Lance—Caramon had opened his inn to mages (many inns refuse to serve them). There had been trouble. The regular customers had complained loudly and bitterly, and one had even been drunk enough to attempt to bully and torment a young red-robed wizard.

That was one of the few times anyone in Solace could remember seeing Caramon angry, and it was still talked of to this day, though not in Caramon's presence. The drunk was carried out of the inn feet first, after his friends had removed his head from a fork in a tree branch grown into the inn. After that, whenever a conclave occurred, the regulars took their business to other taverns, and Caramon served the mages. When the conclave ended, the regulars returned, and life went on as normal.

"But tonight," said Caramon, pausing in his work to look admiringly at his wife, "we get to go to bed early."

They had been married some twenty-two years, and Caramon was still firmly convinced that he had married the most beautiful woman in Krynn. They had five children, three boys: Tanin, twenty years old, at the time of this story; Sturm, who was nineteen; sixteen-year-old Palin; and two small girls, Laura and Dezra, ages five and four. The two older boys longed to be knights and were always off in search of adventure, which is where they were this night. The youngest boy, Palin, was studying magic. ("It's a passing fancy," Caramon said. "The boy'll soon outgrow it.") As for the little girls… well, theirs is another story.

"It'll be nice," Caramon repeated, "to get to bed early for a change." Sweeping the floor vigorously, Tika pursed her mouth, so that she wouldn't give herself away by laughing, and replied, with a sigh, "Yes, the gods be praised. I'm so tired, I'll probably fall asleep before my head hits the pillow."

Caramon looked anxious. He dropped the cloth he was using to dry the freshly washed mugs and sidled around the bar. "You're not that tired, are you, my dear? Palin's at school, and the two older boys are away visiting Goldmoon and Riverwind, and the girls are in bed, and it's just the two of us, and I thought we might… well… have a little time to… uh… talk."

Tika turned away so that he wouldn't see her grin. "Yes, yes, I am tired," she said, heaving another weary sigh. "I had all those beds to make up, plus the new cook to supervise, and the accounts to settle…"

Caramon's shoulders slumped. "Well, that's all right," he mumbled. "Why don't you just go on to bed, and I'll finish—"

Tika threw down her broom. Laughing, she flung her arms around her husband—as far as they would go. Caramon's girth had increased markedly over the years.

"You big doorknob," she said fondly. "I was only teasing. Of course, we'll go to bed and 'talk,' but you just remember that 'talking' was what got us the boys and the girls in the first place! Come on." She tugged playfully at his apron. "Douse the lights and bolt the door. We'll leave the rest of the work until morning."

Caramon, grinning, slammed shut the door. He was just about to slide the heavy wooden bar across it when there came a faint knock from outside.

"Oh, blast!" Tika frowned. "Who could that be at this time of night?" Hastily, she blew out the candle in her hand. "Pretend we didn't hear it. Maybe they'll go away."

"I don't know," the soft-hearted Caramon began. "It's going to frost tonight—"

"Oh, Caramon!" Tika said, exasperated. "There are other inns—" The knocking was repeated, louder this time, and a voice called, "Innkeep? I'm sorry it's late, but I am alone and in desperate need."

"It's a woman," said Caramon, and Tika knew she'd lost.

Her husband might—just might—be persuaded to allow a man to go in search of another inn on a cold night, but a woman, especially one traveling alone—never.

It didn't hurt to argue a bit anyway. "And what's a lone female doing wandering about at this time of night? Up to no good, I'll wager."

"Oh, now, Tika," began Caramon, in the wheedling tone she knew so well, "you can't say that. Maybe she's going to visit a sick relative and darkness caught her on the road or—" Tika lit the candle. "Go ahead. Open up."

"I'm coming," the big man roared. Heading for the door, he paused, glanced back at his wife.

"You should toss a log onto the kitchen fire. She might be hungry."

"Then she can eat cold meat and cheese," Tika snapped, slamming the candle down on the table.

Tika had red hair and, though its color had grayed and softened with age, her temper had not. Caramon dropped the subject of hot food.

"She's probably real tired," he said, hoping to pacify his wife. "Likely she'll go straight to her room."

"Humpf!" Tika snorted. "Are you going to open the door or let her freeze out there?" Arms akimbo, she glared at her husband.

Caramon, flushing and ducking his head, hastened to open the door.

A woman stood framed in the doorway. She was not what either had expected, however, and even the soft-hearted Caramon, at the sight of her, appeared to have second thoughts about letting her in. She was heavily cloaked and booted and wore the helm and leather gloves indicative of a dragon rider.

That in itself was not unusual; many dragon riders passed through Solace these days. But the helm and cloak and gloves were a deep blue, trimmed in black. The light caught a glint of blue scales, glistening on her leather breeches and black boots. A blue dragon rider. Such a person had not been seen in Solace since the days of the war, for good reason. Had she been discovered in daylight, she would have been stoned. Or, at the very least, arrested and made prisoner. Even these days, twenty-five years after the end of the war, the people of Solace remembered clearly the blue dragons that had burned and leveled their town, killed many of their kin. And there were veterans who'd fought in the War of the Lance—Caramon and Tika among them—who recalled with hatred the blue dragons and their riders, servants of the Queen of Darkness. The eyes in the shadow of the blue helm met Caramon's steadily. "Do you have a room for the night, Innkeep? I have ridden far, and I am very tired."

The voice that came from behind the mask sounded wistful, weary… and nervous. The woman kept to the shadows that had gathered around the door. Awaiting Caramon's answer, she glanced over her shoulder twice, looking not at the ground, but at the skies. Caramon turned to his wife. Tika was a shrewd judge of character—an easy skill to acquire, if you like people, which Tika did. She gave a quick, abrupt nod.

Caramon backed up and motioned for the dragon rider to enter. She took one final look over her shoulder, then hastily slid inside, keeping out of the direct light. Caramon himself took a look out the door before he shut it.

The sky was brightly lit; the red and the silver moons were up and close together, though not as close as they'd be in a few days' time. The black moon was out there, too, somewhere, the moon only those who worshipped the Dark Queen could see. These celestial bodies held sway over three forces: good, evil, and the balance between.

Caramon slammed the door shut and dropped the heavy bar across it. The woman flinched at the sound of the bar thudding into place. She'd been trying to unlatch the clasp of the pin that held her cloak together—a large brooch wrought of mother-of-pearl that gave off a faint and eerie glow in the dimness of the candlelit inn. Her hands shook, and she dropped the brooch to the floor. Caramon bent and started to pick it up. The woman moved quickly to forestall him, attempted to hide it.

Caramon stopped her, frowning. "An odd adornment," he said, forcing open the woman's hand for Tika to view the pin. He found, now that he studied it, that he was loath to touch it. Tika peered at the brooch. Her lips tightened. Perhaps she was thinking her infallible judge of character had failed her at last. "A black lily."

A black, waxen flower with four pointed petals and a blood-red center, the black lily is reputed by elven legend to spring up from the graves of those who have met their deaths by violence. The black lily is said to grow from the heart of the murdered victim and, if plucked, the broken stem will bleed.

The dragon rider snatched her hand away, slid the brooch back into the black fur that trimmed her cloak.

"Where've you left your dragon?" Caramon asked grimly.

"Hidden in a valley near here. You needn't worry, Inn-keep. She's under my control and completely loyal to me. She won't harm anyone." The woman withdrew the blue leather helm she wore to protect her face during flight. "I give you my word." Once the helm was removed, the frightening, formidable dragon rider disappeared. In its place stood a woman of perhaps middle age; it was hard to tell how old she was by looking. Her face was lined, but with sorrow more than years. Her braided hair was gray, prematurely gray, it seemed. Her eyes were not the cruel, hard, merciless eyes of those who serve Takhisis, but were gentle and sad and… frightened.

"And we believe you, my lady," said Tika, with a defiant glance at the silent Caramon—a glance that, to be honest, the big man didn't deserve.

Caramon was always slow to react, not because he was thick-witted (as even his best friends had once thought, in his youth), but because he always considered each new or unusual occurrence from every conceivable angle. Such rumination gave him the appearance of slowness, and frequently drove the quick-thinking among his comrades (including his wife) to distraction. But Caramon refused to be hurried and often came up with some astonishingly insightful conclusions in consequence.

"You're shivering, my lady," Tika added, while her husband stood flat-footed, staring at nothing. Tika left him be. She knew the signs of her husband's mind at work. She drew the woman close to the fire pit. "Sit here. I'll stir up the blaze. Would you like some hot food? It will take me only a minute to whip up the kitchen fire—"

"No, thank you. Don't bother about the fire. It's not the cold that makes me shiver." The woman said the last in a low voice. She fell more than sat on a bench.

Tika dropped the poker she was using to stoke the fire. "What is wrong, my lady? You've escaped some dreadful prison, haven't you? And you're being pursued."

The woman lifted her head and looked at Tika in wonder, then the woman smiled wanly. "You are near the mark. Does so much show in my face?" She put a trembling hand to her lined and faded cheek.

"Husband." Tika stood up briskly. "Where's your sword?"

"Huh?" Jolted from his thoughts, Caramon jerked his head up. "What? Sword?"

"We'll wake the sheriff. Turn out the town militia. Don't worry, my lady." Tika was busily untying her apron. "They won't take you back—"

"Wait! No!" The woman appeared more frightened of all this activity on her behalf than she was of whatever danger threatened her.

"Stop a minute, Tika," Caramon said, resting his hand on his wife's shoulder. And when Caramon spoke in that tone, his headstrong wife always listened. "Calm down." He turned to the dragon rider, who had jumped to her feet in alarm. "Don't worry, my lady. We won't tell anyone you're here until you want us to."

Breathing a sigh of relief, the woman sank back down onto the bench.

"But, darling—" Tika began.

"She came here on purpose, my dear," Caramon interrupted. "She didn't stop at the inn just for a room. She came on purpose to find someone living in Solace. And I don't think she escaped some evil place. I think she left." His voice grew grim. "And I think that when she leaves here, she's going back—of her own free will."

The woman shuddered. Her shoulders hunched, her head bowed. "You are right. I have come to find someone in Solace. You, an innkeeper, you would know where I could locate this man. I must talk to him tonight. I dare not stay long. Time…" Her fingers, in their blue gloves, twisted together. "Time is running out."

Caramon reached for his cloak, which hung on a peg behind the bar. "Who is it? Tell me his name, and I'll run to fetch him. I know everyone living in Solace…"

"Wait a moment." The prudent Tika stopped him. "What do you want with this man?"

"I can tell you his name, but I cannot tell you why I want to see him, more for his sake than my own."

Caramon frowned. "Will this bring whatever danger you're in down on him as well?"

"I can't say!" The woman avoided looking at him. "Perhaps. I'm sorry for it, but…" Slowly, Caramon shook his head. "I can't wake a man in the middle of the night and take him to what may be his doom—"