“Berem!” said Tanis in exasperation.
“Don’t feel good . . .” Berem muttered sullenly.
“How old did you say he was?” Apoletta asked.
“Over three hundred years, or so he claims” Tanis said in disgust. “If you believe only half of what he says, that cuts it down to one hundred and fifty, which doesn’t seem too plausible either, not for a human.”
“You know,” replied Apoletta thoughtfully, “the Queen’s Temple at Neraka is a mystery to us. It appeared suddenly, after the Cataclysm, so far as we have been able to determine. Now we find this man who would trace his own history to that same time and place.”
“It is strange…” said Tanis, glancing again at Berem.
“Yes. It may be nothing more than coincidence, but follow coincidence far enough and you’ll find it tied to fate, so my husband says.” Apoletta smiled.
“Coincidence or not, I don’t see myself walking into the Temple of the Queen of Darkness and asking why she’s searching the world for a man with a green gemstone buried in his chest,” Tanis said wryly, sitting down near the water’s edge again.
“I suppose not,” Apoletta admitted. “It’s hard to believe though, from what you say, that she has grown so powerful. What have the good dragons been doing all this time?”
“Good dragons!” Tanis repeated, astounded. “What good dragons?”
Now it was Apoletta’s turn to look amazed. “Why, the good dragons. The silver dragons and gold dragons. Bronze dragons. And the dragonlances. Surely the silver dragons gave you those that were in their keeping…”
“I never heard of silver dragons,” Tanis replied, “except in some old song about Huma. The same with dragonlances. We’ve been searching for them so long without a trace, I was beginning to believe they didn’t exist except in children’s stories.”
“I don’t like this.” Apoletta rested her chin on her hands, her face drawn and pale. “Something’s wrong. Where are the good dragons? Why aren’t they fighting? At first I discounted rumors of the sea dragons’ return, for I knew the good dragons would never permit it. But if the good dragons have disappeared, as I must believe from talking with you, Half-Elf, then I fear my people truly are in danger.” She lifted her head, listening. “Ah, good, here comes my husband with the rest of your friends.” She pushed away from the edge. “He and I can go back to my people and discuss what we must do-”
“Wait!” Tanis said, hearing footsteps coming down the marble stairs. “You’ve got to show us the way out! We can’t stay here!”
“But I don’t know the way out,” Apoletta said, her hands making circles in the water as she kept herself afloat. “Neither does Zebulah. It was never our concern.”
“We could wander through these ruins for weeks!” Tanis cried. “Or maybe forever! You’re not certain people do escape from this place, are you? Maybe they just die!”
“As I said,” Apoletta repeated coldly, “it was never our concern.”
“Well, make it your concern!” Tanis shouted. His voice echoed back eerily across the water. Berem looked up at him and shrank away in alarm. Apoletta’s eyes narrowed in anger. Tanis drew in a deep breath, then bit his lip, suddenly ashamed.
“I’m sorry-” he began, but then Goldmoon came up to him, placing her hand on his arm.
“Tanis? What is it?” she asked.
“Nothing that can be helped.” Sighing, he glanced past her. “Did you find Caramon and Tika? Are they all right?”
“Yes, we found them,” Goldmoon answered, her gaze following Tanis’s. Together they watched the two come slowly down the stairs behind Riverwind and Zebulah. Tika was staring around in wonder. Caramon, Tanis noticed, kept his eyes focused straight ahead. Seeing the man’s face, Tanis looked back at Goldmoon.
“You didn’t answer my second question?” he said softly.
“Tika’s all right,” Goldmoon answered. “As for Caramon-” She shook her head.
Tanis looked back at Caramon and could barely restrain an exclamation of dismay. He would not have recognized the jovial, good-natured warrior in this man with the grim, tear-streaked face, the haunted, shadowed eyes.
Seeing Tanis’s shocked look, Tika drew near Caramon and slipped her hand through his arm. At her touch, the warrior seemed to awaken from his dark thoughts. He smiled down at her. But there was something in Caramon’s smile-a gentleness, a sorrow-that had never been there before.
Page: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113