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“Something’s wrong. Do you want me to go with you?”
Tanis, seeing the weariness in the knight’s face, shook his head, “You get the others organized.” Dressed in a winter traveling cloak of white, he prepared to climb the snow-covered, rock-strewn hills, Ready to start, he felt a cold hand on his arm. He turned and looked into the eyes of the mage.
“I will come with you,” Raistlin whispered.
Tanis stared at him in astonishment, then glanced up at the hills. The climb would not be an easy one, and he knew the mage’s dislike of extreme physical exertion. Raistlin saw his glance and understood.
“My brother will help me,” he said, beckoning to Caramon, who appeared startled but stood up immediately and came over to stand beside his brother. “I would look upon the city of Tarsis the Beautiful.”
Tanis regarded him uneasily, but Raistlin’s face was as impassive and cold as the metal it resembled.
“Very well,” the hall-elf said, studying Raistlin. “But you’ll show up an the face of that mountain like a blood stain. Cover yourself with a white robe.” The half-elf’s sardonic smile was an almost perfect imitation of Raistlin’s own. “Borrow one from Elistan.”
Tanis, standing on the top of the hill overlooking the legendary seaport city of Tarsis the Beautiful, began to swear softly. Wispy clouds of steam floated from his lips with the hot wards. Drawing the hood of his heavy cloak over his head, he stared down into tire city in bitter disappointment.
Caramon nudged hits twin. “Raist,” he said. “What’s the matter? I don’t understand.”
Raistlin coughed. “Your brains are in your swordarm, my brother.” the mage whispered caustically. “Look upon Tarsis, legendary seaport city. What do you see?”
“Well…” Caramon squinted. “It’s one of the biggest cities I’ve seen. And there acre ships-just like we heard-”
“The white-winged ships of Tarsis the Beautiful,” Raistlin quoted bitterly. “You look upon the ships, my brother. Do you notice anything peculiar about them?”
“They’re not in very good shape. The sails are ragged and-” Caramon blinked. Thin he gasped. “There’s no water!”
“Most observant.”
“But the kender’s map-”
“Dated before the Cataclysm.” Tanis interrupted. “Damn it, I should have known! I should have considered this possibility ‘Tarsis the Beautiful’-legendary seaport-now landlocked!”
“And has been for three hundred years, undoubtedly.” Raistlin whispered. “When the fiery mountain fell from the sky, it created seas-as we saw in Xak Tsaroth-but it also destroyed them. What do we do with the refugees now, Half-elf”
“I don’t know,” Tanis snapped irritably. He stared down at the city, then turned away. “It’s no good standing around here. The sea isn’t going to comeback just for our benefit. ” He turned away and walked slowly down the cliff.
“What will we do?” Caramon asked his brother. “We can’t go back to Southgate. I know something or someone was dogging our footsteps.” He glanced around worriedly. “I feel eyes watching-even now.”
Raistlin put his hand through his brothers arm. For a rare instant, the two looked remarkably alike. Light and darkness were not more different than the twins.
“You are wise to trust your feelings, my brother,” Raistlin said softly “great danger and great evil surround us, I have felt it growing on me since the people arrived in Southgate, I tried to warn them-” He broke off in a fit of coughing.
“How do you know?” Caramon asked.
Raistlin shook his head, unable to answer for long moments. Then, when the spasm had passed, he drew a shuddering breath and glanced at his brother irritably. “Haven’t you learned yet” he said bitterly. “I know! Put it at that. I paid for my knowledge in the Towers of High Sorcery. I paid for it with my body and very nearly my reason. I paid for it with-” Raistlin stopped, looking at his twin.
Caramon was pale and silent as always whenever the Testing was mentioned. He started to say something, choked, then cleared his throat. “It’s just that I don’t understand-‘”
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