Dragons of Spring Dawning by Weis, Margaret

reminded her of Tanis in a horrifying way.

As if guessing her thoughts, Bakaris clutched her close to him, rubbing his bearded face against her smooth cheek.

“You will be one more woman the half-elf and I have shared-” he whispered hoarsely, then his voice broke off in a bubble of agony.

For an instant, Bakaris’s grip on Laurana’s arm tightened almost past endurance. Then it loosened. His hand slipped from her arm. Laurana tore free of his grip, then spun around to face him.

Blood oozed between Bakaris’s fingers as he clutched at his side where Tasslehoff’s little knife still protruded from the wound. Drawing his own dagger, the man lunged at the defiant kender.

Something snapped in Laurana, letting loose a wild fury and hatred she had not guessed lurked inside her. No longer feeling any fear, no longer caring if she lived or died, Laurana had one thought in mind-she would kill this human male.

With a savage shriek, she flung herself at him, knocking him to the ground. He gave a grunt, then lay still beneath her. Desperately Laurana fought, trying to grab his knife. Then she realized his body was not moving. Slowly she rose to her feet, shaking in reaction.

For a moment she could see nothing through the red mist before her eyes. When it cleared, she saw Tasslehoff roll the body over. Bakaris lay dead. His eyes stared up at the sky, a look of profound shock and surprise on his face. His hand still clutched the dagger he had driven into his own gut.

“What happened?” Laurana whispered, quivering with anger and revulsion.

“You knocked him down and he fell on his knife,” Tas said calmly.

“But before that-”

“Oh, I stuck him,” Tas said. Plucking his knife from the man’s side, he looked at it proudly. “And Caramon told me it wouldn’t be of any use unless I met a vicious rabbit! Wait until I tell him!”

“You know, Laurana,” he continued, somewhat sadly, “everyone always underestimates us kender. Bakaris really should have searched my pouches. Say, that was a neat fainting trick you pulled. Did you-”

“How’s Flint?” Laurana interrupted, not wanting to remember those last few horrible moments. Without quite knowing what she was doing or why, she pulled her cape from her shoulders and threw it down over the bearded face. “We’ve got to get out of here.”

“He’ll be all right,” Tas said, glancing over at the dwarf, who was groaning and shaking his head. “What about the wyvern? Do you think they’ll attack us?”

“I don’t know,” Laurana said, eyeing the animals. The wyvern stared around uneasily, uncertain as to what had happened to their master. “I’ve heard they’re not very smart. They generally won’t act on their own. Maybe-if we don’t make any sudden moves-we can escape into the forest before they figure out what’s happened. Help Flint.”

“Come on, Flint,” Tas said urgently, tugging at the dwarf. “We’ve got to esc-”

The kender’s voice was cut off by a wild cry, a cry of such fear and terror that it made Tas’s hair stand on end. Looking up, he saw Laurana staring at a figure that had-apparently-emerged from the cave. At the sight of the figure, Tasslehoff felt the most terrible sensation sweep over his body. His heart raced, his hands went cold, he couldn’t breathe.

“Flint!” he managed to gasp before his throat closed completely.

The dwarf, hearing a tone in the kender’s voice he’d never heard before, struggled to sit up. “What-”

Tas could only point.

Flint focused his bleary vision in the direction Tas indicated.

“In the name of Reorx,” the dwarf said, his voice breaking, “what is that?”

The figure moved relentlessly toward Laurana, who-held spellbound at its command-could do nothing but stare at it. Dressed in antique armor, it might have been a Knight of Solamnia. But the armor was blackened as if it had been burned by fire. An orange light flared beneath its helm, while the helm itself seemed perched on empty air.

The figure reached out an armored arm. Flint choked in horror. The armored arm did not end in a hand. The knight seemingly grasped hold of Laurana with nothing but air. But she screamed in pain, falling to her knees in front of the ghastly vision. Her head slumped forward, she collapsed, senseless from the chill touch. The knight released his grip, letting the inert body slip to the ground. Bending down, the knight lifted her in his arms.