Dragons of the Hourglass Mage

Dragons of the Hourglass Mage Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman

This book is dedicated to the memory of our friend, editor and mentor, Brian Thomsen, who would have appreciated the irony.

Canticle of the Dragon

By Michael Williams

Hear the sage as his song descends
like heaven’s rain or tears,
and washes the years, the dust of many stories
from the High Tale of the Dragonlance.
For in ages deep, past memory and word,
in the first blush of the world
when the three moons rose from the lap of the forest,
dragons, terrible and great,
made war on this world of Krynn.

Yet out of the darkness of dragons,
out of our cries for light
in the blank face of the black moon soaring,
a banked light flared in Solamnia,
a knight of truth and of power,
who called down the gods themselves
and forged the mighty Dragonlance, piercing the soul
of dragonkind, driving the shade of their wings
from the brightening shores of Krynn.

Thus Huma, Knight of Solamnia, Lightbringer, First Lancer,
followed his light to the foot of the Khalkist Mountains,
to the stone feet of the gods,
to the crouched silence of their temple.
He called down the Lancemakers, he took on
their unspeakable power to crush the unspeakable evil,
to thrust the coiling darkness
back down the tunnel of the dragon’s throat.

Paladine, the Great God of Good, shone at the side of Huma,
strengthening the lance of his strong right arm,
and Huma, ablaze in a thousand moons,
banished the Queen of Darkness,
banished the swarm of her shrieking hosts
back to the senseless kingdom of death, where their curses
swooped upon nothing and nothing
deep below the brightening land.

Thus ended in thunder the Age of Dreams
and began the Age of Might,
when Istar, kingdom of light and truth, arose in the east,
where minarets of white and gold
spired to the sun and to the sun’s glory,
announcing the passing of evil,
and Istar, who mothered and cradled the long summers of good,
shone like a meteor
in the white skies of the just.

Yet in the fullness of sunlight
the Kingpriest of Istar saw shadows;
At night he saw the trees as things with daggers, the streams
blackened and thickened under the silent moon.
He searched books for the path of Huma,
for scrolls, signs, and spells
so that he, too, might summon the gods, might find
their aid in his holy aims,
might purge the world of sin.

Then came the time of dark and death
as the gods turned from the world.
A mountain of fire crashed like a comet through Istar,
the city split like a skull in the flames,
mountains burst from once-fertile valleys,
seas poured into the graves of mountains,
the deserts sighed on abandoned floors of the seas,
the highways of Krynn erupted
and became the paths of the dead.

Thus began the Age of Despair.
The roads were tangled.
The winds and the sandstorms dwelt in the husks of cities,
The plains and mountains became our home.
As the old gods lost their power,
we called to the blank sky
into the cold, dividing gray to the ears of new gods.
The sky is calm, silent, unmoving.
We had yet to hear their answer.

Then to the east, to the Sunken City
scarred in its loss of blue light,
came the Heroes, the Innfellows, heirs to the burdens,
out of their tunnels and their arching forests,
out of the lowness of plains, the lowness
of huts in the valleys,
the stunned farms under the warlords and darkness.
They came serving the light,
the covered flames of healing and grace.

From there, pursued by the armies,
the cold and glittering legions, they came
bearing the staff to the arms of the shattered city,
where below the weeds and the birdcall,
below the vallenwood, below forever,
below the riding darkness itself,
a hole in the darkness called to the source of light,
drawing all light to the core of light,
to the first fullness of its godly dazzle.

FOREWORD

This book, Dragons of the Hourglass Mage , concludes the Lost Chronicles series. Our goal in these books has been to tell the previously untold and unknown stories of the Innfellows during the War of the Lance, a period covered by the Dragonlance Chronicles . Although these books can be read on their own, readers will find that they will have a far more complete idea and understanding of what is happening to whom and where and why it is happening if they read the complete series of Dragonlance Chronicles before reading the Lost Chronicles . The end of the War of the Lance was chronicled by Astinus of Palanthas in a volume that came to be known as Dragons of Spring Dawning . In that book, we follow the adventures of the Heroes of the Lance: Tanis Half-Elven; Flint Fireforge; Tasslehoff Burrfoot; Caramon Majere; and their friends Laurana, the Golden General; Tika Waylan; Riverwind; and Goldmoon; and we recount how they finally defeat the Queen of Darkness. This book deals with one of the heroes of the Lance, Raistlin Majere, whose story was never told, but without whom the other Heroes could never have succeeded. If you would like to follow the complete tale, Astinus suggests that you read Dragons of Spring Dawning first then read this book after. If you would just like to share Raistlin’s dark and perilous adventures, then simply keep on reading. At the time this book begins, the Heroes of the Lance have been separated by the war. Tanis; Caramon and Raistlin; and Tika, Riverwind, and Goldmoon travel to the nightmare land of Silvanesti and from there to Flotsam. Laurana, Sturm Brightblade, Flint, and Tasslehoff travel to Icewall and from there to the High Clerist’s Tower, where Sturm sacrifices his life for the cause of Light. Laurana helps defeat Kitiara and her dragonarmy at the battle of the High Clerist’s Tower. She, Flint, and Tas travel to Palanthas, where Laurana is made the Golden General, in charge of the human and elf forces now battling Takhisis. Once in Flotsam, Tanis meets his former lover, Kitiara, and is shocked to discover that she is now a Dragon Highlord in Takhisis’s evil army. But though she is on the side of evil, he cannot resist her dark eyes and crooked smile. The two again become lovers. Kitiara urges Tanis to join her army. He cannot abandon his friends and the cause of Light. Torn by guilt, he leaves Kit and joins his friends on a ship fleeing Flotsam. On board the ship is also Berem Everman, sought by the Queen of Darkness. Hearing the Everman is on this ship, Kitiara flies her dragon in pursuit. Desperate to escape, Berem steers the ship into a maelstrom. Raistlin Majere believes the ship is doomed, and he uses the magical dragon orb he obtained in Silvanesti to save himself, leaving his twin brother and friends to die. His magic carries him to the Great Library of Palanthas. The spellcasting proves too much for him. He is on the verge of death when Astinus accidentally provides Raistlin with the key that will not only restore him to life, but unlock the mystery of his divided soul. Raistlin arrives in Palanthas on the twenty-sixth day of the month of Rannmont. We take up his story several days later, on the first day of the month of Mishamont.

Astinus, Chronicler of the History of Krynn, writes: On the Twenty-sixth Day of the Month of Mishamont, Year 352 AC, in the city of Neraka, the Temple of Takhisis falls. The Dragon Queen is banished from the world. Her armies go down to defeat. Much of the credit for this victory is given to the Heroes of the Lance, who fought valiantly for the Forces of Light. History should note, however, that the Light would have been doomed to failure if not for one man who chose to walk in Darkness.