again.”
“I will die long before you do,” Linsha said. “And what about Sanction?”
“I could die tomorrow,” he said, curling his neck around her. “I would be dead, if it weren’t for you. I will not hide that I want to go back to Sanction. It is my city and I want it back. I don’t know what is waiting for me there, but I want you to come. You and the brasses.”
She threw up her hands, so tired she was close to tears. “I don’t know what I must do. I am still a Knight of Solamnia. I am bound to the Grand Master in Sancrist.”
“Is it what you want?” he asked. “Is it enough?”
“It was always what I wanted,” she replied. But she thought of Lord Bight/Crucible and the brasses who had bonded with her as surely as her own children, and her heart filled with doubt. “I don’t know,” she whispered.
She agonized over her decision through the night, and discovered the next morning that the weather had given her a reprieve of sorts. A snowstorm moved in during the night and prevented anyone from leaving the area. The snow lasted for several days, then in the vagaries of autumn weather, promptly melted in a brief warm snap. By then Wanderer and Falaius knew it was time to go before the cold and the snow settled in for months.
Linsha finally declined the offer to go to Duntollik, at least for now. She released Sir Hugh from any decision of hers and suggested he go. But Sir Hugh refused. He wanted to stay with his superior officer. As long as they were together, he argued, they were a circle, of sorts. His choice did not ease Linsha’s mind at all.
Callista, however, did decide to go to Duntollik. “There is nothing left for me in the Missing City,” she told Linsha. “I’ve never been to Duntollik. Perhaps there I will find another profession.” And she smiled at Tancred.
The next day, Linsha had to say good-bye to many friends. Some of the partings were pleasant; some were very difficult. Leonidas gave her a fierce hug and a dagger of centaur design he had carried from Duntollik. Callista wept and promised to come see her when she settled somewhere. Falaius made her an honorary Legionnaire and told her to join him any time. Tancred, his arm already healed, bowed low to her. She gave him her heartfelt gratitude for helping her heal Crucible.
“It was an honor, my lady,” the young healer said. “I think we will both find our way.”
Then the horns sounded, the horses stamped in anticipation, and the Duntollik army marched west for home.
Two days later the decision was taken out of Linsha’s hands. On a cold, cloudy morning a silver dragon appeared above Flashfire and bugled a greeting to Crucible. The two Solamnic Knights and the eight brasses watched in amazement as the silver dipped and soared over the volcano and winged in to land in the level ground in front of the cave. The small brasses crowded around him. Varia hooted a welcome.
“Chayne?” Linsha cried. “Is that you?”
The young silver male dipped his head in a bow. He had once been one of Iyesta’s close comrades and had flown with her on the journey to see Thunder in his lair. He had disappeared the night of the storm and no one on the Plains of Dust had seen him since.
“My apologies, Lady Linsha, for leaving at such a time. I was drawn away from Krynn with all the other silvers and golds and held prisoner until just recently. When we were released, we flew to Sanction and fought against the Dark Queen’s forces. I am only now returning to the Plains to learn what has happened. I also have a message for you.”
Linsha, Hugh, and Crucible glanced at one another. “Do you know what has happened here?” Linsha asked.
The silver ground his teeth. “I know some. I found Falaius and the Duntollik army just yesterday. They told me about Iyesta and the Brutes. They said you were here and could tell me much more. But first I want to tell you that when the Solamnic commanders heard I was going back to the Missing City, they asked me to tell Sir Morrec to return to Sancrist to report on events in the city. They are trying to contact all the Solamnic circles.”
“Sir Morrec is dead,” Sir Hugh said without emotion. “Sir Remmik is dead. The entire circle is dead. Except for Lady Linsha and me.”
Chayne nodded his shining head. “Yes, that is what Falaius said. So I guess I’d better take you both back.”
“I don’t think-” Linsha started to say.
The silver, eager to please, cut her off. “Oh, it is no problem. Someone should tell the Solamnics what is happening down here, and since I cannot return to the city right now, I will take you. We can fly there in a few days. Otherwise, it would take you months.”
Linsha swallowed hard against the lump that suddenly blocked her throat. “Of course,” she said.
“Perhaps we had better go now,” said the bronze dragon. “There is still plenty of daylight, and the dragonlets and I can get a good start.”
Linsha and Hugh gathered what food they had and wrapped themselves in all the warm clothes and blankets they had been able to collect. Hugh climbed onto Chayne’s broad back while Linsha rode on Crucible with the owl nestled comfortably in front of her. Bouncing with excitement, the dragonlets gathered between the two adult dragons and bugled their readiness to begin.
25
The High Justice, the head of the Order of the Rose, leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers. “I want to be sure about this point, Lady Knight. You said the Akkad-Dar was a Dark Knight accepted by the Tarmaks. Would you say he acted in accordance with the orders of Takhisis or his own ambitions?”
Linsha sighed and shared a glance with Varia, who sat silently on her shoulder. They had been over this before. Several times.
The High Council, after hearing of her arrival at the great Castle uth Wistan, had convened to hear her testimony on the destruction of the circle in the Missing City. They had only given her a day to rest and eat a hot meal before they summoned her to the presence of the Grand Master, Sir Liam Ehrling, the three High Knights of the Orders, and a small troop of scribes. The last time she had been summoned to a council at the castle, it taken weeks for anyone to get around to it.
For two hours she had talked, telling them the events of murder, trials, death, invasion, war, massacres, capture, battles, slavery, and escape. The only thing she left out was any mention of the text of the Amarrel and Afec’s prophecy. It was probably just the ravings of an old man, but he had given the book to her, and she wanted to translate it before she turned it over to anyone. She told the council about the ambush, her trial and sentencing, and Sir Remmik’s obsession with her guilt. She told them, too, about Crucible, Iyesta, and the brass dragon eggs. When she was finished and thought back over her choices and decisions, she decided there was little she would change.
Then the questions began.
“How was the ambush arranged?”
“Who sat on the council at your trial in the Citadel?”
“How was Lanther able to fool the Legion and the circle for so long?”
“Why did you chose to accept Iyesta’s request to guard the eggs?”
“Tell us about the leadership of the Plains tribes.”
“What is your assessment of the Tarmak ability to rebuild their fleet?”
And on and on for several more hours.
She responded to the best of her ability and answered each question without overt emotion, as befitted a Rose Knight. The council seemed to react well to her honesty and treated her with respect and only mild suspicion.
When at last they finished, the room fell quiet. The only sounds Linsha could hear were the crackle of the
