Dragonlance Tales II, Vol. 2 – The Cataclysm

to a rock and drop me on a kelp farm, as Jarvis puts it,

which sounds interesting but which I don’t understand, since

that would mean I was underwater.

“What now?” said Jarvis to Goodwife Filster, who then

said a lot of things that weren’t true, like that I was a plague

carrier and a thief and a liar, and she was about to explain

what she meant by my being responsible for the fall of Istar

when Woose, the dwarf, ran into the magistrate’s office and

yelled, “Fire! Fire at Goodwife Filster’s!”

Then Woose saw Goodwife Filster and yelled, “Gods,

woman, your bakery is on fire!” and Goodwife Filster went

all white and staggered like someone had hit her, then she

ran out, and Woose ran out, and Jarvis ran out, but before

Jarvis ran out he locked me in here and said he would be

back.

So here I am with my facts machine and nothing to do. I

should write down some notes on the economic situation in

Newshore after Istar blew up and the crops drowned

because of the ocean that used to be two days north of here

but now comes up to the place where the Karkhovs once

had a giant melon field and is where Ark and I fish for

moonfins, but Jarvis is back now, and he’s waiting for me to

leave my cell after I finish this first.

“What are you writing?” he just now asked me, and

now he’s looking and . . .

*****

Report Number Three

Same day, about an hour after noon

Hi, Astinus! I’m writing this from the rooftop of the

Cats & Kitties, which is really just a tavern with a sign

showing a woman’s bosom with no dress on and isn’t a pet

shop at all, which was what I thought all the time I was

growing up but Ark wouldn’t take me there to find out. It’s

warmer now, and the sun is out and the sky is clear blue,

and I can see lots of bird droppings on the roof from last

year now that the snow is gone, and I might be sitting on

some but I can’t help it. Someone should clean this roof up,

but then no one is supposed to be up here and I wouldn’t be

either except that Magistrate Jarvis said I was safer here

than in jail, and he’s gone to try to calm down the mob

before I show up in town again.

So here I am, writing away on the roof and reading

over some letters that Ark left in the satchel with the facts

machine, and those letters are very interesting, though I

can’t imagine why Ark put them in here since I doubt very

much he meant to send them to you. I think Widow Muffin

wrote these letters to Ark, and she says a lot of things that

make me think that maybe they aren’t telling me the whole

truth whenever Ark asks me to go into town to buy

groceries when Widow Muffin comes over, and when I get

back they tell me they were just talking. I was quite amazed

at some of the things she said, and I don’t think I will ever

be able to look at either her or Ark again and not think

about them playing “warming the weasel,” which I should

probably explain but am too embarrassed to do, and you

wouldn’t believe me anyway.

How I got up here on the roof is an interesting story,

and I will write it down in case it is important. After I left

off last time, Magistrate Jarvis took my satchel away while

I was sending my report through the facts machine inside,

and he took me out of jail, then gave me my satchel back

and said that I could leave now, but I shouldn’t try to talk to

Good-wife Filster for a few years.

“What happened to her bakery?” I asked, and he said,

“Oh, the old windbag left a cloth sitting on an oven when

she went outside, and the cloth caught fire, and that spread

to the wall and ceiling. The place is pretty well ruined now.

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