“It was all so much easier when you were here with me,” she said. “Together we were…” Goldmoon closed her eyes and a lone tear edged over her cheek. “When we were together, I was complete.”
“Morning already?” Feril yawned, stretched, and stood. She looked refreshed, her eyes clear and bright. “That was quite a storm last night. It woke me several times.” She smiled at Palin and ran her fingers through her curly hair in an effort to comb it. She nudged Rig with her foot. “Let’s get moving. Palin looks like he’s impatient.”
“He’s been talking to himself,” Blister said as she climbed to her feet and gazed up at the bright morning sky. “About the Blue.”
The mariner grumbled and pushed himself up. The cuts on his chest still looked fresh. He grimaced when he moved, then allowed Feril to smear what was left of her healing poultice across his cuts. “The stronghold,” he said, as his eyes met the Kagonesti’s. She was quick to turn away. “It shouldn’t be far from here—if the wyverns can be believed.” He drained the last of his waterskins, then refilled them by dipping into the crevices where the night’s rain had collected. “Let’s see if we can make it before noon. I don’t want to be traveling in the middle of the day again.”
Palin silently agreed, falling in step with Blister behind the mariner and the elf. He fished about in his pocket for something to eat, retrieved a strip of dried beef, tore off a piece, and then offered the rest to the kender. Rig and Feril also ate as they walked.
By midmorning they’d passed by the cluster of cacti and the ridge of black rocks, and the Kagonesti’s keen vision spotted part of a black, volcano-like structure between sand dunes located to the north. Even from a distance it looked ominous and unnatural.
“A tower of Khellendros’s stronghold,” Feril said with certainty. “Relgoth can’t be far.”
As they drew closer, more of the black sand castle could be viewed, along with the small city of which it was a part The structure looked as if it had erupted from the earth itself, and its sprawling bulk was stretched across the ruins of almost half of the town.
Palin, Blister, Rig, and Feril settled themselves behind a dune near Relgoth that was tall enough to provide a view over the city wall. Peering over the top, they could see many buildings—most of them in ruins—and a small stone castle in the center of the town. A few people moved about the streets, but it was clear that Relgoth was not all it had once been.
The stronghold dominated the view, its black sand sparkling in the sunlight and smothering the buildings beneath it. The castle had three towers that rose to a height of thirty feet or more, with windows in the shape of dragon scales scattered along their lengths. The tops of the towers were linked by a formidable wall, across which several Knights of Takhisis were patrolling. The stronghold also appeared to be encircled by a deep moat.
“Wow!” Blister said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Khellendros,” Palin whispered. “The dragon must have used his magic to build this place. He must have found a way to harden the sand like stone. Impressive.” He stared at the expansive courtyard of the castle, and at a diagram etched into the center of it. The sorcerer was too far away to make out the curious markings. “If only my eyes were better” he said.
“I can make it out.” Feril followed his gaze with a frown. “It’s like the symbol in the dragon’s cave.”
“So the dragon turns people into spawn here?” Blister asked.
“Convenient,” Palin said. “That way the dragon doesn’t have to transport unwilling prisoners, only obedient spawn.”
In the northeast quarter of the courtyard, a military formation of a couple dozen Knights of Takhisis stood just beyond a drawbridge. They were taking orders from a black-cloaked man who paced back and forth in front of them. Nearby, a wide path led to the city gates and out into the desert. The path was guarded by knights and appeared to be the only way in or out of Relgoth.
“What are those beasts?” the Kagonesti poked her finger over the top of the dune, indicating four gray, hairless behemoths that were being led into the courtyard. “They’re spectacular.”
“Elephants,” Rig whispered. “Definitely not native to around here. Haven’t seen many in my travels, but I know you can find them around Kharolis, and in parts of Kern and Nordmaar. It took a lot of work to bring them here.”
“We’re a long way from those countries,” she said. “I’ve never seen any animals like them. They’re magnificent. Let’s move closer”
“Wait a minute,” Palin warned as he put a firm hand on her shoulder. “That stronghold’s a little too much for us to tackle—even if we did go back to the ship and enlist the others to help. Look at all of those knights, and the brutes.”
“Brutes?” Rig followed Palin’s line of sight and perceived a quartet of tall, blue-skinned men walking behind the elephants. They were exceedingly muscular and wore little clothing—blue loincloths and primitive jewelry. The men were barefoot. “Knights and brutes. Black and blue men, like the wyverns said.**
“That’s blue paint,” the sorcerer added. “They’re warriors, also not from around here. Barbarians, some would call them, but they’re not stupid. From everything I’ve heard, they’re pretty formidable fighters. And the blue paint is supposed to protect or heal them in some way.”
“I wonder where they’re keeping the prisoners?” Feril mused. She was still watching the elephants. “Let’s see if we can find out.”
The Kagonesti closed her eyes and laid her head against the sand. Warm and coarse, it was pleasing to her, and she let her senses drift into the dune, focusing on one grain and then another. As she slipped further away from Palin, Rig, and Blister, she felt herself become part of the desert, so vast, yet comprised of so many tiny grains of sand. She reached out to the next grain and the next, rapidly moving from one to another until her senses stretched past the dunes, under the city wall, and beneath the assembled Knights of Takhisis.
“What do you hear?” she whispered to the sand, her voice sounding soft and breathy.
“We will leave at sunset, when it is cooler to travel,” the Kagonesti heard the knight-commander say to his men. The words were as loud as if the man was standing in front of her. “We will head to Palanthas, take whatever prisoners are in the city’s jails and return them here. Their minds are already tainted by evil, and it will not be difficult for the dragon to transform them into spawn. The Storm Over Krynn will be pleased, and we will be suitably rewarded. Your time is your own until sunset Dismissed.”
The knights gathered in small groups in the shade of the walls of the courtyard as Feril’s thoughts wandered to the sand beneath the feet of the brutes tending the gray behemoths.
“Share the words with me,” she continued. Two of the blue-painted warriors were conversing, their talk centering on the amazing amount of food and water the great animals consumed. But when their conversation drifted to the subject of the prisoners, the elf increased her concentration.
“Prisoners, more the knights want,” the larger of the two fellows said. He was more than seven feet tall, with incredibly broad shoulders and a shaved head. His voice was clear and low-pitched, and his accent was unusual. “Prisoners, well more than a hundred now. Tower is almost full.”