Dragons of Winter Noght by Weis, Margaret

Silvara fell silent a moment, her eyes staring far away. Absently she reached down to touch the coarse fabric of the cloak covering the dragon orb which lay at her feet.

“Go on,” Gilthanas urged. The elflord had given up all pretext of paddling and sat still, enchanted by Silvara’s beautiful eyes, her musical voice.

Silvara sighed. Dropping the fabric from her hands, she stared out over the water into the shadowy woods. “Their joy was brief,” she said softly. “For the woman had a terrible secret she was not born of woman, but of dragon. Only by her magic did she keep the shape of womankind. But she could no longer lie to Huma. She loved him too much. Fearfully she revealed to Huma what she was, appearing before him one night in her true shape-that of a silver dragon. She hoped he would hate her, even destroy her, for her pain was so great she did not want to live. But, looking at the radiant, magnificent creature before him, the knight saw within her eyes the noble spirit of the woman he loved. Her magic returned her to the shape of woman, and she prayed to Paladine that he give her woman’s shape forever. She would give up her magic and the long life span of the dragons to live in the world with Huma.”

Silvara closed her eyes, her face drawn with pain. Gilthanas, watching her, wondered why she was so affected by this legend.

Reaching out, he touched her hand. She started like a wild animal, drawing back so suddenly the boat rocked.

“I’m sorry.” Gilthanas said. “I didn’t mean to scare you. What happened? What was Paladine’s answer?”

Silvara drew a deep breath. “Paladine granted her wish with a terrible condition. He showed them both the future. If she remained a dragon, she and Huma would be given the Dragonlance and the power to defeat the evil dragons. If she became mortal, she and Huma would live together as man and wife, but the evil dragons would remain in the land forever. Huma vowed he would give up everything-his knighthood, his honor-to remain with her. But she saw the light die in his eyes as he spoke, and, weeping, she knew the answer she must give. The evil dragons must not be allowed to stay in the world. And the silver river, it is said, was formed from the tears shed by the dragon when Huma left her to find the Dragonlance.”

“Nice story. Kind of sad” said Tasslehoff, yawning. “Did old Huma come back? Does the story have a happy ending?”

“Huma’s story does not end happily,” Sturm said, frowning at the kender. “But he died most gloriously in battle, defeating the leader of the dragons, though he himself had sustained a mortal wound. I have heard, though,” the knight added thoughtfully, “that he rode to battle upon a Silver Dragon.”

“And we saw a knight on a silver dragon in Ice Wall,” Tas sand brightly. “He gave Sturm the-”

The knight gave the kender a swift poke in the back. Tao late, Tas remembered that was supposed to be secret.

“I don’t know about a Silver Dragon,” Silvara said, shrugging. “My people know little about Huma. He was, after all, a human. I think they tell this legend only because it is about the river they love, the river who takes their dead.”

At this point, one of the Kaganesti pointed at Gilthanas and said something sharply to Silvara. Gilthanas looked at her, not understanding. The elfmaid smiled- “He asks if you are too grand an elflord to paddle, because-if you are-he will allow your lordship to swim.”

Gilthanas grinned at her, his face flushing. Quickly he picked up his paddle and set to work.

Despite all their efforts-and by the end of the day even Tasslehoff was paddling again-the journey upstream was slow and taxing. By the time they made landfall, their muscles ached with the strain, their hands were bloody and blistered. It was all they could do to drag the boats ashore and help hide them.

“Do you think we’ve thrown off the pursuit?” Laurana asked Theros wearily.

“Does that answer your question?” He pointed downstream.