Book 1
1
White-winged ships.
Hope lies across the Plains of Dust
Tanis Half-Elven sat in the meeting of the Council of Highseekers and listened, frowning. Though officially the false religion of the Seekers was now dead, the group that made up the political leadership of the eight hundred refugees from Fax Tharkas was still called that.
‘It isn’t that we’re not grateful to the dwarves for allowing us to live here,’ stated Hederick expansively, waving his scarred hand. ‘We are all grateful, I’m certain. Just as we’re grateful to those whose heroism in recovering the Hammer of Kharas made our move here possible.’ Hederick bowed to Tanis, who returned the bow with a brief nod of his head. ‘But we are not dwarves!’
This emphatic statement brought murmurs of approval, causing Hederick to warm to his audience.
‘We humans were never meant to live underground!’ Loud calls of approval and some clapping of hands.
‘We are farmers. We cannot grow food on the side of a mountain! We want lands like the ones we were forced to leave behind. And I say that those who forced us to leave our old homeland should provide us with new!’
‘Does he mean the Dragon Highlords?’ Sturm whispered sarcastically to Tanis. ‘I’m certain they’d be happy to oblige.’
‘The fools ought to be thankful they’re alive!’ Tanis muttered. ‘Look at them, turning to Elistan—as if it were his doing!’ The cleric of Paladine—and leader of the refugees—rose to his feet to answer Hederick.
‘It is because we need new homes,’ Elistan said, his strong baritone resounding through the cavern, ‘that I propose we send a delegation south, to the city of Tarsis the Beautiful.’
Tanis had heard Elistan’s plan before. His mind wandered over the month since he and his companions had returned from Derkin’s Tomb with the sacred Hammer.
The dwarven Thanes, now consolidated under the leadership of Hornfel, were preparing to battle the evil coming from the north. The dwarves did not greatly fear this evil. Their mountain kingdom seemed impregnable. And they had kept the promise they made Tanis in return for the Hammer: the refugees from Pax Tharkas could settle in Southgate, the southernmost part of the mountain kingdom of Thorbardin.
Elistan brought the refugees to Thorbardin. They began trying to rebuild their lives, but the arrangement was not totally satisfactory.
They were safe, to be sure, but the refugees, mostly farmers, were not happy living underground in the huge dwarven caverns. In the spring they could plant crops on the mountainside, but the rocky soil would produce only a bare living. The people wanted to live in the sunshine and fresh air. They did not want to be dependent on the dwarves.
It was Elistan who recalled the ancient legends of Tarsis the Beautiful and its gull-winged ships. But that’s all they were—legends, as Tanis had pointed out when Elistan first mentioned his idea. No one on this part of Ansalon had heard anything about the city of Tarsis since the Cataclysm three hundred years ago. At that time, the dwarves had closed off the mountain kingdom of Thorbardin, effectively shutting off all communication between the south and north, since the only way through the Kharolis Mountains was through Thorbardin.
Tanis listened gloomily as the Council of Highseekers voted unanimously to approve Elistan’s suggestion. They proposed sending a small group of people to Tarsis with instructions to find what ships came into port, where they were bound, and how much it would cost to book passage—or even to buy a ship.
‘And who’s going to lead this group?’ Tanis asked himself silently, though he already knew the answer.
All eyes now turned to him. Before Tanis could speak, Raistlin, who had been listening to all that was said without comment, walked forward to stand before the Council. He stared around at them, his strange eyes glittering golden.
‘You are fools,’ Raistlin said, his whispering voice soft with scorn, ‘and you are living in a fool’s dream. How often must I repeat myself? How often must I remind you of the portent of the stars? What do you say to yourselves when you look into the night sky and see the gaping black holes where the two constellations are missing?’
The Council members shifted in their seats, several exchanging long-suffering glances indicative of boredom.
Raistlin noticed this and continued, his voice growing more and more contemptuous. ‘Yes, I have heard some of you saying that it is nothing more than a natural phenomenon—a thing that happens, perhaps, like the falling of leaves from the trees.’
Several Council members muttered among themselves, nodding. Raistlin watched silently for a moment, his lip curled in derision. Then he spoke once more. ‘I repeat, you are fools. The constellation known as the Queen of Darkness is missing from the sky because the Queen is present here upon Krynn. The Warrior constellation, which represents the ancient God Paladine, as we are told in the Disks of Mishakal, has also returned to Krynn to fight her.’
Raistlin paused. Elistan, who stood among them, was a prophet of Paladine, and many here were converts to this new religion. He could sense the growing anger at what some considered his blasphemy. The idea that gods would become personally involved in the affairs of men! Shocking! But being considered blasphemous had never bothered Raistlin.
His voice rose to a high pitch. ‘Mark well my words! With the Queen of Darkness have come her “shrieking hosts,” as it says in the “Canticle.” And the shrieking hosts are dragons!’ Raistlin drew out the last word into a hiss that, as Flint said, ‘shivered the skin.’
‘We know all this,’ Hederick snapped in impatience. It was past time for the Theocrat’s nightly glass of mulled wine, and his thirst gave him courage to speak. He immediately regretted it, however, when Raistlin’s hourglass eyes seemed to pierce the Theocrat like black arrows. ‘W-what are you driving at?’
‘That peace no longer exists anywhere on Krynn,’ the mage whispered. He waved a frail hand. ‘Find ships, travel where you will. Wherever you go, whenever you look up into the night sky, you will see those gaping black holes. Wherever you go, there will be dragons!’
Raistlin began to cough. His body twisted with the spasms, and he seemed likely to fall, but his twin brother, Caramon, ran forward and caught him in his strong arms.
After Caramon led the mage out of the Council meeting, it seemed as if a dark cloud had been lifted. The Council members shook themselves and laughed—if somewhat shakily—and talked of children’s tales. To think that war had spread to all of Krynn was comic. Why, the war was near an end here in Ansalon already. The Dragon Highlord, Verminaard, had been defeated, his draconian armies driven back.
The Council members stood and stretched and left the chamber to head for the alehouse or their homes.
They forgot they had never asked Tanis if he would lead the group to Tarsis. They simply assumed he would.
Tanis, exchanging grim glances with Sturm, left the cavern. It was his night to stand watch. Even though the dwarves might consider themselves safe in their mountain fortress, Tanis and Sturm insisted that a watch be kept upon the walls leading into Southgate. They had come to respect the Dragon Highlords too much to sleep in peace without it—even underground.
Tanis leaned against the outer wall of Southgate, his face thoughtful and serious. Before him spread a meadow covered by smooth, powdery snow. The night was calm and still. Behind him was the great mass of the Kharolis Mountains. The gate of Southgate was, in fact, a gigantic plug in the side of the mountains. It was part of the dwarven defenses that had kept the world out for three hundred years following the Cataclysm and the destructive Dwarven Wars.
Sixty feet wide at the base and almost half again as high, the gate was operated by a huge mechanism that forced it in and out of the mountain. At least forty feet thick in its center, the gate was as indestructible as any known on Krynn, except for the one matching it in the north. Once shut, they could not be distinguished from the faces of the mountain, such was the craftsmanship of the ancient dwarvenmasons.