Saving the kender. Escape from Tarsis. hen he left the library, Brian did not expect to make it out of Tarsis alive. He expected to face a well-organized and determined foe, such as the forces of the Blue Lady they had faced at Castle Crownguard and Vingaard, and he resolved to die bravely and take as many draconians with him as possible. Instead, what he and the other knights found when they went into the streets was a drunken, leaderless mob, far more interested in plundering and looting, murdering and raping, than in conquest.
The red dragons posed the biggest threat, and while they were in the skies, breathing down fire upon the city and its hapless inhabitants, the knights were in danger. They sought shelter from the beasts as best they could, ducking into doorways or diving under rubble as the dragons roared overhead, spewing flame, occasionally snatching up some hapless person in their claws and devouring him in midair.
Friend and enemy were both in danger from the dragons, for the reds had no compunction about blistering goblin hide or watching draconians sizzle. At one point, Brian hid beneath a smoldering oak tree alongside a quaking goblin, neither of them daring to move as a red dragon swooped low, searching for more victims. When the dragon had gone, the goblin took a gulp of some liquid from a greasy leather water skin, and, after a moment’s hesitation, offered Brian a drink. Brian should have probably slain the creature, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. The two had shared a moment of terror, and both had survived. Brian politely refused the drink and waved his hand, indicating the goblin could depart. The goblin shrugged, and after a wary glance, he gave Brian a nod, then took to his heels. Derek spent the next ten minutes lecturing Brian sternly on his foolish sentimentality.
The knights had fought their way through the streets to the Red Dragon Inn, doing what they could to save people from the brutish enemy or to ease the suffering of the dying. Most of the foes the knights encountered took one look at their grim faces and bloody swords, and unless they were bolder or drunker than most, ran off. It soon became clear to the knights that once the dragonarmy had gutted Tarsis, the soldiers would depart, slinking away into the night, hung-over and loaded down with spoils and slaves. The Highlord had no plans to occupy this city, merely to destroy it.
Derek never lost sight of his goal, which was to find the Red Dragon Inn and find out what had become of the kender. But as they were walking down a side street near the inn, the knights came upon a draconian and a human soldier bending over a fallen woman, obviously with evil intent. The knights hastened to rescue the woman from the two, but before they could reach them, the draconian and the soldier had escaped into the night, climbing over the rooftops.
“Should we go after them?” Aran asked wearily.
They were all exhausted, half-suffocated from the smoke. Brian’s throat was raw from coughing and parched from thirst. They dared not drink the water from any of the wells, for it all had a reddish tinge to it.
“Pointless,” Derek said, shaking his head. “Brian, see that the woman has come to no harm. Aran, come with me. The inn is in the next block.”
Brian hastened over to help and found a middle-aged man helping the woman to her feet. Brian assumed he must be a relative until, getting a good view of the woman, he saw that she was an elf, and even though her face was smeared with dirt, soot, blood and streaked with tears, her beauty made him catch his breath.
The man rose to his feet at the sight of the armed men, and he stood protectively in front of the woman, prepared to defend her. Brian saw the man was bearded and that he wore robes that must have once been white, though they were now gray from the soot and ash raining down over the city. He stood tall, upright and unafraid, though he had no weapons. A medallion on his chest flickered in the lurid light. He was a cleric.
A cleric and an elf woman.
“Have no fear. I am a Solamnic knight, sir,” said Brian. He turned around and shouted over his shoulder, “Derek! I’ve found them. You must be Elistan, I think,” Brian added, turning back to the two, who were regarding him in astonishment. “And you must be Laurana of Qualinesti. Are you hurt, Mistress? Did they harm you?”
“No, but they meant to,” Laurana said. She seemed dazed, overwhelmed. “It was all so horrible… confusing. One of them seemed to know me. He said the strangest things to me… but how is that possible?”
Elistan put his arm around her. She leaned against him, shivering. “I couldn’t see his face, for he wore a scarf over it, but I saw his eyes…” She shuddered.
“How do you know us, sirs?” Elistan asked as Derek and Aran joined them, both coughing as a gust of smoke came swirling down the street.
“Time for questions later, sir,” said Derek peremptorily. “You are still in danger. Where are the kender, Brightblade, and the rest of your party?” He looked about. “Where is Tanis Half-elven?”
Laurana gave a sob at the name and put her hand to her mouth. Tears flooded down her cheeks, and she staggered weakly. Elistan held her and an elf male came hastening up to her. Brian recognized the elf as Gilthanas. He’d been with Tanis and the others at the library. Gilthanas glanced at the knights, gave a brief nod, then turned to care for his sister. He spoke gently to Laurana in their own language.
“I’ll stay with her,” Gilthanas said in an aside to Elistan. “You see to the kender.”
“Kender,” Derek repeated. “Do you mean Burrfoot? Where is he?”
“Tasslehoff was hurt when a beam fell on him,” Elistan explained, leading the knights back down the alley. “He was near death, but Paladine, in his mercy, brought him back to us. He is over here with the others.”
Brian glanced at Derek, who shook his head and smiled derisively.
“Hullo again, Sir Knights!” Tasslehoff cried, waving his hand and then coughing himself nearly in two as smoke flew down his windpipe.
“Are you sure he’s not hurt?” Brian exclaimed in amazement. “Look at him!’
The kender’s clothes were torn and covered with blood. His jaunty topknot was matted with blood. His face and arms were badly bruised, though the bruises seemed to be fading.
Tasslehoff answered Brian’s question by jumping gamely to his feet.
“I’m fine!” he announced. “A house fell down, blam, right on top on me! My ribs were all smashed in and I was breathing funny when I was breathing at all, which I wasn’t sometimes, and the pain was pretty bad, and I thought I was a goner. But Elistan asked Paladine to save me and he did! Think of that,” the kender added proudly, pausing to cough, “Paladine saved my life!”
“Why he bothered is beyond me,” stated the dwarf, and he gave the kender a poke in the back. “You wouldn’t catch Reorx saving the life of a kender fool enough to let a house fall on top of him!”
“I didn’t let the house fall on me!” Tas explained patiently. “I was running along, minding my own business, and the house gave a sort of jump and a lurch and the next thing I knew-hey, Laurana! Did you hear? A house fell on me and Paladine saved me!”
“Enough!” said Derek. “We must make haste! This place is still crawling with the enemy. Where is the rest of your party, Brightblade? The half-elf and the Lady Alhana?”
“We were separated in the chaos,” said Sturm. He looked exhausted, his face was lined with sorrow and grief. “The inn was hit by dragon-fire. The others…”
Sturm couldn’t go on. He shook his head.
“I see,” said Derek in understanding. “I am sorry for your loss, but we need to get you and your friends to safety.”
“Loss!” Tasslehoff cried shrilly. “What loss? What are you talking about? We can’t leave yet! What about Tanis? And Raistlin and Caramon?”
Flint covered his face with his hand.
“Tas,” said Sturm gently, going down on one knee and putting his hands on the kender’s shoulders, “there’s nothing we could do. The inn collapsed and he and the others were buried underneath-”
“I don’t believe you,” Tas cried. Pulling free of Sturm’s grasp, he staggered weakly in the direction of the inn. “Tanis! Caramon! Raistlin! Don’t give up! I’m coming to save you!”
He did not get far before his knees buckled and he went sprawling. Sturm picked up Tas and carried him back to where the knights were waiting.
“Let go of me! I have to save them! Paladine will bring them back! He brought me back!” Tas fought to free himself from Sturm’s grip.
“Tas,” said Elistan, patting the kender kindly on the shoulder, as Sturm set him on his feet, “our friends are with the gods now. We have to let them go.”
Tas shook his head stubbornly, but his shrieks quieted to sobs and he quit struggling.
“I need you, Tas,” Laurana added, a quiver in her voice. She put her arm around him. “Now that Tanis is… is not here…”
Tasslehoff took hold of Laurana’s hand and squeezed it tight. “I’ll take care of you,” he said. “I promise.”
Derek gathered the group together and started them moving down the street, heading in the direction of the south gate. Sword in hand, Aran took the lead. Brian brought up the rear, as usual. Derek kept close to the kender.
Two days! Brian thought. Only two days ago, I walked through that very same gate. So much had happened, it seemed more like two years.
Brian was more than half-tempted to run back to the library, back to Lillith. He would let Derek and Aran continue on their hunt for the dragon orb. He stopped in the street, and let the others go on ahead.
Derek and Aran. Brian sighed deeply. The two would never make it to Icereach, not without him to mediate between them, curb Derek’s ambition, calm Aran’s wilder impulses. He had made a pledge to the Knight’s Council to go on this quest, and he could not abandon his leader or go back on his sworn word.
Lillith was keeping her word. Though she laughed about being a knight’s daughter, she was a true Solamnic. She would be disappointed in him for breaking his oath. Still, he could not bear to leave, not knowing. He’d seen the horrible things draconians did to women.
A hand touched his arm. Brian looked up to find Elistan standing beside him. “Gilean holds Lillith in his hand,” the cleric said to him. “You need have no fear for her or the others. They are safe. The draconians did not find them.”
Brian stared at the cleric in bewilderment. “How do you-”
The cleric smiled at him. His smile was weary and wan, but reassuring. Elistan went to join the others, and Brian, after another moment’s hesitation, ran after them.
Laurana walked hand in hand with Tas. Gilthanas kept close beside her. Flint came along at their heels; Elistan rested his hand comfortingly on the dwarf’s shoulder. Sturm walked behind, watching over all of them protectively.
Brian regarded them in wonder. A more unusual group of friends could not be found: human, dwarf, kender, elves. Yet the friendship and love these people felt for each other was so strong that nothing could break them, not even death.
Their friendship keeps them going on even after such devastating loss, Brian realized. Each puts aside his or her own grief to comfort and give strength to the others.
Brian felt a pang of envy. He, Aran and Derek had been friends since childhood, and while once they had been close like this, they were not any more. Derek had walled himself off from the other two, sealing himself up inside his soul’s fortress. Aran no longer trusted Derek. He was there to make certain Derek did not fail, or perhaps, Brian thought bleakly, Aran is here to make certain Derek does fail. Aran is Gunthar’s man, after all…
Brian was caught in the middle, the only one to see the cracks between them widening, the only one to see that they might all of them fall into those dark crevices and never be able to find their way out.
The knights and those under their protection left Tarsis safely. No enemy soldier attacked them or molested them or even paid much attention to them. Tarsis lay weltering in a pool of her own blood, writhing in her death throes. Her eyes were dimming, closing to the light. Leaving the city through the gate that had been smashed by the dragons, Brian saw the guard who had taken his money lying dead in a pool of blood.
The knights led their charges safely into the hills, to the cave where they had made camp earlier. Brian could not sleep and he offered to take first turn at guard duty. He sat on the hillside and watched the flames flare and roar, then sink to a sputter, and then, when there was nothing left to consume, the fires died.
And so did Tarsis.