dagger decorated with roses on the hilt. Imagine my
surprise!
“Is this yours?” I asked wistfully, because it was such
a truly elegant dagger.
“No, it belongs to Lord Gunthar. Hand it over.”
“I guess he must have dropped it,” I said, and gave it to
Tanis. After all, I have my own dagger, which I call
Rabbitslayer, but that’s another story.
Tanis turned to Caramon, saying something about
tying someone’s hands and head up in a sack. That
sounded extremely interesting, but I didn’t hear who it was
they were talking about because I suddenly saw someone I
wasn’t expecting to see.
Someone I didn’t want to see.
Someone I wasn’t supposed to see.
I felt very strange for a moment, kind of like you feel
right after you’ve been clunked in the head and right
before you see all the stars and bright lights, then
everything goes dark.
I looked at him very closely. And then I realized it
couldn’t have been him because he was too young. I mean,
I hadn’t seen this knight for ten years and I guess he must
have aged during that time. So I was feeling a little better,
when I saw the other knight. He was standing a little ways
behind the first man I’d seen. Then I realized that the
younger man must be his son. I still hoped I might be
wrong. It had been ten years, after all.
I tugged on Tanis’s sleeve.
“Is that Owen Glendower over there?” I asked,
pointing.
Tanis looked. “No, that’s Owen’s son, Gwynfor. Owen
Glendower is the one standing in back, over by the
lances.” Then he looked at me and he frowned. “How do
you know Owen Glendower? I didn’t meet him until after
the war was over.”
“I don’t know him,” I said, feeling sicker than ever.
“But you just said his name and asked me if that was
him.”
Tanis is thick-headed, sometimes.
“Whose name?” I asked, truly miserable.
“Owen Glendower’s!”
I didn’t think Tanis should shout on a Formal
Occasion and I told him so.
“Never heard of him,” I added. And then, to make
matters worse, in walked Theros Ironfeld!
Do you know who Theros Ironfeld is? I’m sure you do,
but I think I should mention it, in case you’ve forgotten.
Theros is the blacksmith with the silver arm who forged
the dragonlances from the magical pool of dragonmetal
that some people think is under the Silver Dragon
Mountain.
“Theros, tool” I was having trouble breathing.
“Yes, of course,” Tanis said. “It is the tenth
anniversary of the Forging of the Lance. Didn’t you know
that? It says so right on your invitation. We’re meeting
here to honor Sir Owen Glendower, the first knight who
ever used the dragonlance against a dragon.”
It didn’t say that on MY invitation! I fished it out of my
pouch and looked at it again. My invitation said we were
honoring SIR (Splot)OWER.
Well, let me tell you it was a wonder I didn’t fall down
on the spot in a state of nervous prostration. (I’m not
certain what that is, but it describes the way I felt.)
“I’m not feeling very good, Tanis,” I said, putting one
hand to my forehead and the other to my stomach, for they
both were acting very queer. “I think I’ll go lie down.”
I meant to leave, truly. I was going to get as far from
that Silver Dragon Mountain as possible. Only I didn’t tell
Tanis that, because he and Laurana and Caramon had all
been so glad to see me and were so nice about wanting me
around. I didn’t want to hurt their feelings.
But Tanis took hold of my arm and said, “No, you’re
staying with me, at least until after the ceremony.”
That was awfully good of him, if inconvenient and
uncomfortable for me. I decided maybe I could get
through the ceremony, especially if Owen Glendower
didn’t talk to me, and I suspected that he wouldn’t want to
talk to me anymore than I wanted to talk to him. Tanis
said all I would have to do was go up with him when my
name was called out by Lord Gunthar as one of the Heroes