And so, following the Cataclysm, when it became apparent that the city had been abandoned by the Knights, came the Day of Banishment. The lord of the city was placed in an awkward position. He did not truly believe in the corruption of the Knights, but he knew the people needed something or someone to blame. If he sided with the Knights, he would lose control of the city, and so he was forced to close his eyes to angry mobs that attacked the few Knights remaining in Tarsis. They were driven from the city—or murdered.
After a time, order was restored in Tarsis. The lord and his family established a new army. But much was changed. The people believed the ancient gods they had worshiped for so long had turned away from them. They found new gods to worship, even though these new gods rarely answered prayers. All clerical powers that had been present in the land before the Cataclysm were lost. Clerics with false promises and false hopes proliferated. Charlatan healers walked the land, selling their phony cure-alls.
After a time, many of the people drifted away from Tarsis. No longer did sailors walk the marketplace; elves, dwarves, and other races came no more. The people remaining in Tarsis liked it this way. They began to fear and mistrust the outside world. Strangers were not encouraged.
But Tarsis had been a trade center for so long that those people in the outlying countryside who could still reach Tarsis continued to do so. The outer hub of the city was rebuilt. The inner part—the temples, the schools, the great library—was left in ruins. The bazaar was reopened, only now it was a market for farmers and a forum for false clerics preaching new religions. Peace settled over the town like a blanket. Former days of glory were as a dream and might not have even been believed, but for the evidence in the center of town.
Now, of course, Tarsis heard rumors of war, but these were generally discounted, although the Lord did send his army out to guard the plains to the south. If anyone asked why, he said it was a field exercise, nothing mare. These rumors, after all, had come out of the north, and all knew the Knights of Solamnia were trying desperately to reestablish their power. It was, amazing what lengths the traitorous Knights would go to—even spreading stories of the return of dragons!
This was Tarsis the Beautiful, the city the companions entered that morning, just a short time after sunrise.
4
Arrested! The heroes are separated. An ominous farewell.
The few sleepy guards upon the city walls that morning woke up at the sight of the swordbearing, travel-worn group seeking entry. They did not deny them. They did not even question them—much. A redbearded, soft-spoken half-elf, the like of which had not been seen in Tarsis in decades, said they had traveled far and sought shelter. His companions stood quietly behind him, making no threatening gestures. Yawning, the guards directed them to the Red Dragon Inn.
This might have ended the matter. Tarsis, after all, was beginning to see more and more strange characters as rumors of war spread. But the cloak of one of the humans blew aside as he stepped through the gate, and a guard caught a flash of bright armor in the morning sun. The guard saw the hated and reviled symbol of the Knights of Solamnia on the antique breastplate. Scowling, the guard melted into the shadows, slinking after the group as it walked through the streets of the waking town.
The guard watched them enter the Red Dragon. He waited outside in the cold until he was sure they must be in their rooms. Then, slipping inside, he spoke a few words to the innkeeper. The guard peeped inside the common room and, seeing the group seated and apparently settled for some time, ran off to make his report.
‘This is what comes of trusting a kender’s map!’ said the dwarf irritably, shoving away his empty plate and wiping his hand across his mouth. ‘Takes us to a seaport city with no sea!’
‘It’s not my fault,’ Tas protested. ‘I told Tanis when I gave him the map that it dated before the Cataclysm. “Tas,” Tanis said before we left, “do you have a map that shows us how to get to Tarsis?” I said I did and I gave him this one. It shows Thorbardin, the dwarven Kingdom under the Mountain, and Southgate, and here it shows Tarsis, and everything else was right where the map said it was supposed to be. I can’t help it if something happened to the ocean! I—’
‘That’s enough, Tas.’ Tanis sighed. ‘Nobody’s blaming you. It isn’t anybody’s fault. We just let our hopes get too high.’
The kender, his feelings mollified, retrieved his map, rolled it up, and slid it into his mapcase with all his other precious maps of Krynn. Then he put his small chin in his hands and sat staring around the table at his gloomy companions. They began to discuss what to do next, talking half-heartedly.
Tas grew bored. He wanted to explore this city. There were all kinds of unusual sights and sounds—Flint had been forced to practically drag him along as they entered Tarsis. There was a fabulous marketplace with wonderful things just lying around, waiting to be admired. He had even spotted some other kenders, too, and he wanted to talk to them. He was worried about his homeland. Flint kicked him under the table. Sighing, Tas turned his attention back to Tanis.
‘We’ll spend the night here, rest, and learn what we can, then send word back to Southgate,’ Tanis was saying. ‘Perhaps there is another portcity farther south. Some of us might go on and investigate. What do you think, Elistan?’
The cleric pushed away a plate of uneaten food. ‘I suppose it is our only choice,’ he said sadly. ‘But I will return to Southgate. I cannot be away from the people long. You should come with me, too, my dear.’ He laid his hand over Laurana’s. ‘I cannot dispense with your help.’
Laurana smiled at Elistan. Then, her gaze moving to Tanis, the smile vanished as she saw the half-elf scowl.
‘Riverwind and I have discussed this already. We will return with Elistan,’ Goldmoon said. Her silver-gold hair gleamed in the sunlight streaming through the window. ‘The people need my healing skills.’
‘Besides which, the bridal couple misses the privacy of their tent,’ Caramon said in an audible undertone. Goldmoon flushed a dusky rose color as her husband smiled.
Sturm glanced at Caramon in disgust and turned to Tanis. ‘I will go with you, my friend,’ he offered.
‘Us, too, of course,’ said Caramon promptly.
Sturm frowned, looking at Raistlin, who sat huddled in his red robes near the fire, drinking the strange herbal concoction that eased his cough. ‘I do not think your brother is fit to travel, Caramon—’ Sturm began.
‘You are suddenly very solicitous of my health, knight,’ Raistlin whispered sarcastically. ‘But, then, it is not my health that concerns you, is it, Sturm Brightblade? It is my growing power. You fear me—’
‘That’s enough!’ said Tanis as Sturm’s face darkened.
‘The mage goes back, or I do,’ Sturm said coldly.
‘Sturm—’ Tanis began.
Tasslehoff took this opportunity to leave the table very quietly. Everyone was focused on the argument between the knight, the half-elf, and the magic-user. Tasslehoff skipped out the front door of the Red Dragon, a name he thought particularly funny. But Tanis had not laughed.
Tas thought about that as he walked along, looking at the new sights in delight. Tanis didn’t laugh at anything anymore. The half-elf was certainly carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders, it seemed. Tasslehoff suspected he knew what was wrong with Tanis. The kender took a ring out of one of his pouches and studied it. The ring was golden, of elven make, carved in the form of clinging ivy leaves. He had picked it up in Qualinesti. This time, the ring was not something the kender had ‘acquired.’ It had been thrown at his feet by a heartbroken Laurana after Tanis had returned it to her.