Dragons of The Dwarven Depths Part 20

"I wouldn't touch it if you paid me," said Caramon, giving the bundles a dark glance. "All right, Your Highness. Lead the way."

Sturm was groggy but appeared to be uninjured, except for some superficial burns on his hands and arms. He plunged into the swamp, wading ankle-deep through the water. The mists rolled and twined about him.

"I just came out of there," Tas protested. "It's not as much fun as you might imagine." He shrugged his shoulders and picked up his hoopak. "Oh well. I guess I can't get any wetter." He jumped in and went floundering after Sturm.

Raistlin grimaced. Kilting up his robes around his knees, he thrust his staff into the murk to test the bottom and then stepped gingerly into the dark water.

Caramon came after him, his hand ready to steady his brother. "It's just that I thought I heard that wraith say something to you, Raist. I thought I heard it call you 'Master'."

"What a vivid imagination you have, my brother," Raistlin returned caustically. "Perhaps, when this is over, you should write a book."

Chapter 16.

"Tika's warning. Riverwind's Dilemma. The Refugees decide.

Laurana was in the cavern she shared with Tika, lying on the bed. She had been up a day and a night, out searching for her missing friend and the kender, and she was exhausted.

Still, she couldn't sleep. She kept thinking back over everything Tika had said, everything she'd done the last time they'd been together. The clues were there, right in front of her. Laurana should have known immediately that Tika meant to go off after Caramon and that Tas would go with her. She should have done something to stop them.

"If I hadn't been so preoccupied, thinking about... other things..."

Other things such as Tanis. Laurana had just shut her eyes and was starting to drift off, when Goldmoon's voice brought her wide awake. "Laurana! They've found her!"

Two Plainsmen carried Tika on a make-s.h.i.+ft litter into the cave where the sick and injured were tended. People gathered to see, and murmurs of pity and concern rose from the women, while the men shook their heads. They rested the litter gently on the floor.

Riverwind built up the fire, as his wife brought cool water. Laurana hovered over Tika.

"Where did they find her?"

"Lying on the bank of the stream," said Goldmoon.

"Was Tas with her?"

"She was alone. No sign of the kender."

Tika moaned in pain and stirred restlessly. Her eyes were wide open and hectically brilliant, but she saw only her feverish world. When Goldmoon bent over her, Tika screamed and began to strike her savagely with her fists. It took Riverwind and the two Plainsmen to hold her down, and even then she tried to struggle to free herself.

"What's the matter with her?" Laurana asked, alarmed.

"Look at those scratches. She's been attacked by some sort of wild animal," Goldmoon answered, bathing Tika's forehead in cool water. "A bear or a mountain lion, maybe."

"No," said Riverwind. "Draconian."

His wife raised her head, looking at him in consternation. "How can you tell?"

Riverwind pointed to several smears of gray ash on Tika's leather armor. "The claw marks are only on her arms and legs, whereas a wild beast would have left its marks all over her body. The draconian was trying to subdue her, to rape her..."

Laurana shuddered. Riverwind looked very grim and his wife deeply troubled.

"What's the matter?" Laurana asked. "She'll be all right, won't she? You can heal her..."

"Yes, Laurana, yes," said Goldmoon, rea.s.suringly. "Leave her with me, all of you." She smoothed Tika's red curls, damp with sweat, and placed her hand on the medallion of Mishakal she wore around her neck. "You should call a meeting of the Council, husband."

"I need to talk to Tika first."

Goldmoon hesitated, then said, "Very well. I will summon you when she is awake, but only talk to her for a little while. She is in need of food and rest."

"Let me stay," Laurana pleaded. "This is my fault."

Goldmoon shook her head. "You need to go find Elistan."

Laurana didn't understand, but she could see that both were worried over something. Laurana accompanied the chieftain out of the shelter.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"Tika was attacked by a draconian," Riverwind said. "The attack must have occurred here. Or near here."

Laurana suddenly understood the terrible implications. "The G.o.ds have mercy on us! That means our enemies have found a way into the valley! Goldmoon was right-I must tell Elistan-"

"Do so quietly," Riverwind cautioned "Bring him back with you. Say nothing to anyone else, not yet. We don't want to start a panic."

"No, of course not," Laurana said, and hastened off.

People were gathered at a respectful distance outside the cave, waiting for news. Tika, with her ready laughter and her cheerful disposition, was a favorite of nearly everyone in the camp, not counting the High Theocrat.

Maritta stopped Laurana as she left the cave, asking in concern how Tika was doing. Laurana saw that it would be easier to make a general announcement.

"She is very sick right now, but Goldmoon is with her and she will recover," Laurana told the crowd. "She needs rest and quiet."

"What happened to her?" asked Maritta.

"We won't know until she wakes up," Laurana hedged, and, managing to extricate herself, she went off in search of Elistan.

She met him on his way to Goldmoon.

"I heard about Tika," he said. "How is she?"

"She will be well, thank the G.o.ds," said Laurana. "Riverwind asks to speak to you."

Elistan looked at her searchingly. He saw the worry and fear in her face, and he was about to ask her what was wrong, then thought better of it. "I will come at once."

They returned to find a few people still lingering outside the cave. Laurana a.s.sured them once more that Tika was going to be fine and added that the best thing they could do to help her was to include her in their prayers.

Riverwind stood at the cave entrance. As Laurana and Elistan came up to speak to him, Goldmoon drew aside the blanket and bade them come in.

"Her fever has broken and her wounds are healing, but she is still shaken from her ordeal. She wants to speak to you, though. She insists on it."

Tika lay wrapped in blankets near the fire. She was still so pale that her freckles, which were the bane of her existence, stood out in stark contrast to her white skin. Yet she tried to sit up when the others entered.

"Riverwind! I have to talk to you!" she said urgently, reaching out a trembling hand. "Please, listen to me-"

"So I shall," said Riverwind, kneeling beside her, "but you must drink some of this broth first and then lie down, or my wife will throw us both out into the cold."

Tika drank the broth, and some color came back to her face. Laurana knelt down beside her.

"I was so worried about you."

"I'm sorry," Tika said remorsefully. "Goldmoon tells me that everyone was out looking for Tas and me. I never meant... I didn't think..." She gave a deep sigh and set the bowl down. Her face took on a look of resolve. "As it turned out, it was a good thing that we went."

"Wait a moment," said Riverwind. "Before you tell your tale, where is the kender? Is Ta.s.slehoff safe?"

"As safe as can be, I suppose," said Tika bleakly. "He's with Raistlin, Caramon, and Sturm. If you can call him Sturm anymore..."

Seeing their look of concern, Tika sighed. "I'll start from the beginning."

She told her story, how she'd decided to go after Caramon to try to talk some sense into him.

"It was stupid; I know that now," she added ruefully.

How she and Tas entered the tunnel that went underneath the mountain, how they came out at the other end of the tunnel to find themselves in Skullcap with a dead dragon, hordes of draconians, and Grallen, prince of Thorbardin, formerly Sturm Brightblade.

"The helm he put on was cursed, or enchanted, or something. I didn't understand, and Raistlin wouldn't talk about it," Tika said.

Elistan looked grave, Riverwind doubtful, and Goldmoon anxious. She placed a cool cloth on Tika's forehead and said she should rest.

Tika took away the cloth. "I know you don't believe me. I wouldn't believe me either except I saw it for myself. I even talked to this... this Prince Grallen. Caramon said the helm was waiting for someone to come along and put it on so that it could force the person go to Thorbardin, to tell the king that the battle was lost."

"Three hundred years too late," said Laurana softly.

"But now, you see, they've found the way to get inside Thorbardin," said Tika. "This Prince Grallen is going to lead them there."

All of them exchanged glances. Riverwind shook his head. The Plainsman had an inherent distrust of magic, and this sounded too bizarre to be believed. He fixed on the more immediate threat.

"You heard the draconians say that an army was coming. Coming here. To the valley."

"Yes. That's why I came back. To warn you."

"Why didn't Caramon come with you?" Riverwind asked in stern disapproval. "Why did he send you back alone?"

"Caramon wanted to come," Tika said, stoutly defending him. "I told him not to. I told him he should stay with Sturm, his brother and Tas, what with Sturm thinking he's a dwarf and all. I told him I could manage fine on my own, and I did."

Her eyes hardened. Her fists clenched. "I killed that monster when it attacked me. I killed it dead!"

She saw their troubled expressions, and she burst into tears. "Caramon didn't know there was a draconian hiding in that pa.s.sage! No one knew!" She collapsed back onto her pallet, sobbing.

"She must rest now," said Goldmoon firmly. "I think you know all you need to know, husband."

She ushered them outside and returned to hold Tika in her arms, letting her have her cry out.

"What do we do, Revered Son?" Riverwind asked.

"The decision is yours," Elistan replied. "Tanis placed you in charge."

Riverwind sighed deeply and gazed moodily to the south. "If you believe Tika's story-"

"Of course, we believe her!" Laurana interjected angrily. "She risked her life to carry us this warning."

"Hederick and the others won't," Riverwind observed.

Laurana fell silent. He was right, of course. The High Theocrat and his cronies didn't want to leave, and they would find any excuse to remain. She could almost hear Hederick telling the people how Tika was not to be trusted. A former thief, now a barmaid (and the G.o.ds knew what else), she had run off to be with her lover and made up this tale to cover her sins.

"Few people like Hederick," Laurana pointed out, "and they do do like Tika." like Tika."

"What is more important," added Elistan, "is that they like and admire you, Riverwind. If you tell the people danger is coming and they must leave, they will listen."

"Do you think we should leave?" Laurana asked.

"Yes," Riverwind said readily. "I have thought that since the day the dragon flew over us. We should travel south before the heavy snows block the mountain pa.s.ses. This valley is no longer a safe haven. Tika's story simply confirms what I have long feared."

He paused then said quietly, "But what if I am wrong? Such a journey is fraught with uncertainty and danger. What if we reach Thorbardin and find the gates closed? Worse still, what if we never find Thorbardin at all? We could wander about the mountains until we drop from hunger and perish from the cold. I'm asking the people to leave a place of safety and walk headlong into danger. That makes no sense."

"You just said that this wasn't a place of safety," Elistan observed. "Ever since the dragon came, the people have been uneasy, afraid. They know that dragons keep watch on us, though we can't see them."

"The burden is a heavy one," Riverwind said. "The lives of hundreds are in my care."

"Not in your care alone, my friend," Elistan told him gently. "Paladine is with you. Take your fears and worries to the G.o.d."

"Will he give me a sign, Revered Son? Will the G.o.d tell me what to do?"

"The G.o.d will never tell you what to do," Elistan said. "The G.o.d will grant you the wisdom to make the right decision and the strength to carry it through."

"Wisdom." Riverwind smiled and shook his head. "I am not one of the wise. I was a shepherd..."

"As a shepherd, you used your skills and instincts to keep your flock safe from the wolf. That is the wisdom Paladine has given you, the wisdom on which you must rely."

Riverwind thought this over.

"Summon the people for a meeting at noontime," he said at last. "I will announce my decision then."

As they were leaving, Laurana glanced back at Riverwind over her shoulder. He was walking toward the grotto where they had built a small altar to honor the G.o.ds.

"He is a good man. His faith is strong and steadfast," she said. "Tanis chose wisely. I wish he..."