Dragonlance Tales II, Vol. 2 – The Cataclysm

blacksmith’s shop to wash his face before lunch like he

always does, and I knew I was saved. I would ask Kroogi

the question first.

I smiled at Kroogi and sat up straight when he came

over, only he wasn’t looking at me. He was looking at the

knight and the knight was looking back, and neither was

looking away, and they didn’t look too happy about seeing

each other. I waved at Kroogi to get his attention, but he

didn’t wave back. He slowly stripped off his shirt to wash,

and you could see the old tribal tattoos on his chest and

arms from when he was a warrior with the Red Thunder

People who lived east of here before they all died from

fighting or being sick, which was why Kroogi left them.

The knight stared at Kroogi’s tattoos and Kroogi stared at

the knight’s armor, and neither of them said a thing.

“Kroogi!” I said, waving my arms. “Kroogi, I have a

question. Do you have a moment?” I felt safe asking

Kroogi, because he was real quiet and never did anything

mean, even if Jarvis said Kroogi once cut two men in half

using a hand axe in a battle with Istarian army renegades

before the fall of Istar, but that wasn’t anything anyone

would hold against him, as Istarian army renegades were

not very nice and they’re mostly dead now anyway.

Kroogi didn’t look at me, because he was still staring at

the knight, and then Kroogi began flexing his huge arm and

chest muscles so you could see the places where spears or

swords or arrows had cut him here and there. Finally, he

looked away and bent down to soak his shirt in the fountain

water, ignoring the knight.

Several more people had wandered over to the fountain

in the meantime, so I knew I’d have lots of other people to

ask if the knight or Kroogi didn’t give me an answer.

“Kroogi!” I said.

Kroogi glanced at me as he began to wash himself using

his shirt, and I knew I could go ahead and ask my question.

He never said much, but he always made what he said

count.

“I just have one question,” I said, and cleared my throat.

It would be easier to get a response from the knight after

asking Kroogi first. “Kroogi, do you think the gods did right

in dropping the flaming mountain on Istar so that – ”

“Yes,” said Kroogi. He lifted his wet shirt and ran it

across his chest, washing away the ash and dust.

“Wait,” I said. “I didn’t get to finish the question. Do

you think the gods did right when – ”

“Yes,” he said again. ‘They did right in killing the

murdering mongrel dogs of Istar and their Solamnic iron-

assed lackeys. The blessed gods, praise their names, did

right in crushing out the Kingpriest’s filth and purifying the

lands that Istar and Solamnia had defiled, washing them

with clean fire and water.” He dabbed at his forehead. His

face never changed expression. It rarely did.

“Oh,” I said in surprise. This was easier than I’d

thought. “Oh, well, would you – ”

“I agree that the gods did right,” interrupted the knight.

His voice was like low thunder from a distant storm. “They

killed the mad murderers of Istar, who would have chained

or slain us all, but afterward they allowed evil to roam the

lands in the form of ignorant, filthy, barbarian scum who

spread plague as they looted and burned their way across

the injured lands. The gods did right in destroying Istar, but

they didn’t finish the job when they let hordes of masterless

vermin prey on innocent and law-abiding people. The gods

instead left the cleaning up to those with the wisdom to

separate the grain from the chaff, and the strength to dispose

of the chaff properly.”

Well, I thought this was great! Here I had two people who

completely agreed that the gods had done right. I was going

to ask both of them to detail their answers just a little bit

more, when Kroogi’s arm snapped put and he Hung his wet

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