Dragons of Winter Noght by Weis, Margaret

“What about the dragon orb? What were you .doing with it?” Laurana demanded.

“N-nothing.” Silvara stammered. “You must trust me!”

“I don’t see why.” Laurana returned coIdly.

“I have done you no harm-” Silvara began.

“Unless you have sent the knights and the dragon orb into a death trap!” Laurana cried.

“No!” Silvara wrung her hands. “I haven’t! Believe me. They will be safe. That has been my plan all along. Nothing must happen to the dragon orb. Above all, it must not fall into the hands of the elves. That is why I sent it away. That is why I helped you escape!” She glanced around, seeming to sniff the air like an animal. “Come! We have lingered too long.”

“If we go with you at all!” Gilthanas said harshly. “What do you know about the dragon orb?”

“Don’t ask me!” Silvara’s voice was suddenly deep and filled with sadness. Her blue eyes stared into Gilthanas’s with such love that he could not bear to face her. He shook his head, avoiding her gaze. Silvara caught hold of his arm. “Please, shalori, beloved, trust me! Remember what we talked about-at the pool. You said you had to do these things-defy your people, become an outcast, because of what you believed in your heart. I said that I understood, that I had to do the same. Didn’t you believe me?”

Gilthanas stood a moment, his head bowed. “I believed you.” he said softly. Reaching out, he pulled her to him, kissing her silver hair. “We’ll go with you. Come on, Laurana.” Arms around each other, the two trudged off through the snow.

Laurana looked blankly at the others. They avoided her eyes. Then Theros came up to her.

“I’ve lived in this world nearly fifty years, young woman.” he said gently. “Not long to you elves, I know. But we humans live those years-we don’t just let them drift by. And I’ll tell you this-that girl loves your brother as truly as I’ve ever seen woman love man. And he loves her. Such love cannot come to evil. For the sake of their love alone, I’d follow them into a dragons den.”

The smith walked after the two.

“For the sake of my cold feet, I’d follow them into a dragon’s den, if he’d warm my toes!” Flint stamped on the ground. “Come on, let’s go.” Grabbing the kender, he dragged Tas along after the blacksmith.

Laurana remained standing, alone. That she would follow was settled. She had no choice. She wanted to trust Theros’s words. One time, she would have believed the world ran that way. But now she knew much she had believed in was false. Why not love?

All she could see in her mind were the swirling colors of the dragon orb.

The companions traveled east, into the gloom of gathering night. Descending from the high mountain pass, they found the air easier to breathe. The frozen rocks gave way to scraggly pines, then the forests closed in around them once more. Silvara confidently led them at last into a fog-shrouded valley.

The Wilder elf no longer seemed to care about covering their tracks. All that concerned her now was speed. She pushed the group on as if racing the sun across the sky. When night fell, they sank into the tree-rimmed darkness, too tired even to eat. But Silvara allowed them only a few hours restless, aching sleep. When the moons rose, the silver and the red, nearing their fullness now, she urged the companions on.

When anyone questioned, wearily, why they hurried, she only answered, “They are near. They are very near.”

Each assumed she meant the elves, though Laurana had long ago lost the feeling of dark shapes trailing them.

Dawn broke, but the light was filtered through fog so thick Tasslehoff thought he might grab a handful and store it in one of his pouches. The companions walked close together, even holding hands to avoid being separated. The air grew warmer. They shed their wet and heavy cloaks as they stumbled along a trail that seemed to materialize beneath their feet, out of the fog. Silvara walked before them. The faint light shining from her silver hair was their only guide.