Dragonlance Tales, Vol. 3 – Love and War
Tales I
Volume 3
LOVE and WAR
Edited by MARGARET WEIS AND TRACY HICKMAN
FOREWORD
Fitting it is that the many years of creative work on
the DRAGONLANCER saga should come to a provisory
culmination with this collection of short stories, the most
pleasing and powerful yet. Some of the writers represented
in this volume are veterans of TALES 1 and 2, and certain of
them will continue to write about the world of Krynn in an
exciting series of DRAGONLANCE novels in the
immediate future.
“A Good Knights Tale” by Harold Bakst suitably begins
this volume that has love and war as its theme. Told by a
Knight of Solamnia, it is a tale that involves both love and
war – the warring of passions of a selfish father’s heart.
Love is painted in a more tender aspect in “A Painter’s
Vision,” by Barbara Siegel and Scott Siegel, but then what
can you expect when a dragon gets himself involved?
The story of love as sacrifice is recounted, along with
the tale of the undead who haunt Darken Wood, in another
of Nick O’Donohoe’s revisionist interpretations of a portion
of DRAGONS OF AUTUMN TWILIGHT.
“Hide and Go Seek” by Nancy Berberick is the story of
the love friends bear each other as Tasslehoff risks his life
to save that of a kidnapped child.
“By the Measure” recounts the courage of a Knight of
Solamnia fighting impossible odds. Written by Richard A.
Knaak, this is the haunting story of a young knight’s
courage and devotion to his Order.
The adventures of a very young Sturm are recorded in
“The Exiles” by Paul Thompson and Tonya Carter. The boy
learns his first lessons in courage, facing an evil cleric of
the Dark Queen.
A lighter moment is presented in “Heart of Goldmoon” by
Laura Hickman and Kate Novak. A tale of romance and
adventure, it tells of the first meeting of Riverwind and
Goldmoon and how the Que-shu princess came to learn of
the existence of the true gods.
Continuing in the romantic vein, “Raistlin’s Daughter”
written by myself and Dezra Despain, relays a strange
legend currently circulating in Krynn. It will end, for the
time being, the DRAGONLANCER saga with – what else –
a question mark.
“Silver and Steel” is the legend of Huma’s final battle
with the Dark Queen. There are many such legends about
the valor of Huma, but this one, written by Kevin Randle, is
a gritty, moving account of war that will not soon be
forgotten.
It is fitting that the book end with “From the Yearning
for War and War’s End,” Michael Williams’s poignant
reminder for us all that war – though sometimes sadly
necessary – is a destroyer of both love and of life.
Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
A Good Knight’s Tale
Harold Bakst
In those chaotic years just after the Cataclysm, when
the frightened citizens of Xak Tsaroth were fleeing their
beloved but decimated city, there was among them a certain
half-elf by the name of Aril Witherwind, who, while others
sought only refuge, took to roaming the countryside,
carrying upon his bent back a huge, black tome.
Even without his peculiar burden, which he held by a
leather strap thrown across one shoulder, Aril Witherwind
was, as far as half-elves went, a strange one. Though he was
properly tall and willowy, and he had the fair hair, pale
skin, and blue eyes typical of his kind, he seemed not at all
interested in his appearance and had, indeed, a slovenliness
about him: His shoes were often unbuckled, his shirt hung
out of his pants, and his hair was usually in a tangle. He
often went days without shaving so that fine, blond hairs
covered his jaw like down. In addition to everything else, he
wore thick, metal-rimmed eyeglasses.
All this, though, had a simple enough explanation:
Aril Witherwind was, by his own definition, an academic.
More particularly, he was one of the many itinerant
folklorists who appeared on Krynn just after the Cataclysm.
“The Cataclysm threatens to extinguish our rich past,”
he would explain in his gentle but enthusiastic voice to
whoever gave him a moment of time. “And if peace should