martial note in my soul! I hear the clash of steel, the
thunder of hooves and the strident call of the battle
trumpet! I imagine the wings of dragons, good and evil,
blotting out the sky. I picture the blasts of powerful
magicks, the gallant charge of the knights!
But forgive me. I have not forgotten that the historian is
a dispassionate reporter of the truth. Such flights of fancy
are for poets, not scholars such as I. I shall try to control
my emotions. Nevertheless, as I relate the exciting story of
a young elven princess who changed the face of Krynn in
a few short weeks – the sharp, dangerous attacks that
baffled her foes, the fast marches across the plains placing
her miles from her supposed location, and of course, her
epic victory at Margaard Ford – I trust that Your
Excellency will forgive an occasional exclamatory aside.
In studies, I will examine the topic primarily from
the viewpoint of the Army of Solamnia. The records of the
dragonarmies were relatively well kept, and have been
researched by many scribes. The campaigns from the
Golden General’s side, on the other hand, have only been
discussed in the histories of the Knights of Solamnia. To
read them, one might think that the contributions of the
good dragons to these battles was merely to fan the
battlefield with their wings, cooling the sweat from the
brows of the hard-riding knights to whom the laurels
really belonged! In my own reports, I shall strive for a
greater degree of objectivity – as befits a proper historian.
I now commence my task in the musty library of the
High Clerist’s Tower at Westgate Pass. Extensive records
from a variety of sources have yielded themselves to my
diligence. Gunthar Uth Wistan’s account, formulated on
the distant island of Ergoth from reports received by that
venerable captain from his knights in the field, proves
surprisingly complete – and accurate. (He does a
remarkable job, Excellency, of separating the wheat from
the chaff as regards the reports received from his
enthusiastic warriors!) The records of the interviews
conducted with the captured dragonarmy general Bakaris
also shed a good light on the campaign. Also, I have been
afforded the aid of a hitherto unknown source: a young
human female named Mellison (no surname, apparently),
self-appointed servant of the general. I have found the
tattered remnants of a diary she kept during the short
period of the campaign (it is amazing in the extreme to
think that this sweeping series of battles lasted a mere
twenty days!).
Mellison had been born and raised in a small village
on the Plains of Solamnia. When the dragons came, her
community was scorched, and her parents slain (or,
perhaps, taken as slaves). Mellison, alone from the
village, managed to escape to the shelter of the High
Clerist’s Tower and, eventually, Palanthas.
I do not know how she met the elf woman who would
become the Golden General – those pages, at the start of
Mellison’s diary, have been destroyed. However, by the
time Laurana had been appointed by Gunthar Uth Wistan,
Grand Master of Solamnia, to command the knights and
the army of Palanthas, the human girl had attached herself
to the elf woman.
Mellison proved very useful to the general, preparing
Laurana’s tent for those nights when the general was able
to steal a few hours’ sleep; and Mellison always fanned a
blaze into light for her mistress’s predawn awakenings.
Though the young woman participated in none of the
battles, her observations of Laurana’s campfire councils
have provided us with key insights into the development
of the campaign.
The first of these discussions occurred on the field
below this very tower, and it is here that Mellison gives us
a picture of Laurana’s council of war. Present were the elf
woman, the two Knights of the Crown – Sirs Patrick and
Markham – who served as her chief lieutenants, and two
unnamed knights of the other orders. Mellison refers to
them, in her childlike hand, as “Lord Sword” and “Sir
Rose.” Gilthanas – Laurana’s brother and proud prince of
the Qualinesti elves – also attended.
(Incidentally, Your Grace, the letters sent by Gilthanas