'Take my cape,' Riverwind said in their language, starting to remove his bearskin cloak.
'No.' She shook her head. 'You have been suffering from the fever. I never get sick, you know that. But'- she looked up at him and smiled-'you may put your arm around me, warrior. The heat from our bodies will warm us both.'
'Is that a royal command. Chieftain's Daughter?' Riverwind whispered teasingly, drawing her close to him.
'It is,' she said, leaning against his strong body with a sigh of contentment. She looked up into the starry heavens, then stiffened and caught her breath in alarm.
'What is it?' Riverwind asked, staring up.
The others in the boat, although they had not understood the exchange, heard Goldmoon's gasp and saw her eyes transfixed by something in the night sky.
Caramon poked his brother and said, 'Raist, what is it? I don't see anything.'
Raistlin sat up, cast back his hood, then coughed. When the spasm passed, he searched the night sky. Then he stiffened, and his eyes widened. Reaching out with his thin, bony hand, Raistlin clutched Tanis's arm, holding onto it tightly as the half-elf involuntarily tried to pull away from the mage's skeletal grip. 'Tanis…' Raistlin wheezed, his breath nearly gone. 'The constellations…'
'What?' Tanis was truly startled by the pallor of the mage's metallic gold skin and the feverish luster of his strange eyes. 'What about the constellations?'
'Gone!' rasped Raistlin and lapsed into a fit of coughing. Caramon put his arm around him, holding him close, almost as if the big man were trying to hold his brother's frail body together. Raistlin recovered, wiped his mouth with his hand. Tanis saw that his, fingers were dark with blood. Raistlin took a deep breath, then spoke.
'The constellation known as the Queen of Darkness and the one called Valiant Warrior. Both gone. She has come to Krynn, Tanis, and he has come to fight her. All the evil rumors we have heard are true. War, death, destruction…' His voice died in another fit of coughing.
Caramon held him. 'C'mon, Raist,' he said soothingly.
'Don't get so worked up. It's only a bunch of stars.'
'Only a bunch of stars,' Tanis repeated flatly. Sturm began to row again, pulling swiftly for the opposite bank.
6
Night in a cave. Dissension. Tanis decides
A chill wind began to blow across the lake. Storm clouds rolled across the sky from the north, obliterating the gaping black holes left by the fallen stars. The companions hunched down in the boat, pulling their cloaks tighter around them as the rain spattered down. Caramon joined Sturm at the oars. The big warrior tried to talk to the knight, but Sturm ignored him. He rowed in grim silence, occasionally muttering to himself in Solamnic.
'Sturm! There-between the great rocks to the left!' Tanis called out, pointing.
Sturm and Caramon pulled hard. The rain made sighting the landmark rocks difficult and, for a moment, it seemed that they had lost their way in the darkness. Then the rocks suddenly loomed ahead. Sturm and Caramon brought the boat around. Tanis sprang out over the side and pulled it to shore. Torrents of rain lashed down. The companions climbed from the boat, wet and chilled. They had to lift the dwarf out-Flint was stiff as a dead goblin from fear. Riverwind and Caramon hid the boat in the thick underbrush. Tanis led the rest up a rocky trail to a small opening in the cliff face.
Goldmoon looked at the opening dubiously. It seemed to be no more than a large crack in the surface of the cliff. Inside, however, the cave was large enough for all of them to stretch out comfortably.
'Nice home.' Tasslehoff glanced around. 'Not much in the way of furniture.'
Tanis grinned at the kender. 'It will do for the night. I don't think even the dwarf will complain about this. If he does, we'll send him back to sleep in the boat!'
Tas flashed his own smile back at the half-elf. It was good to see the old Tanis back. He had thought his friend unusually moody and indecisive, not the strong leader he had remembered from earlier days. Yet, now that they were on the road, the glint was back in the half-elf's eyes. He had come out of his brooding shell and was taking charge, slipping back into his accustomed role. He needed this adventure to get his mind off his problems — whatever those might be. The kender, who had never been able to understand Tanis's inner turmoil, was glad this adventure had come along.
Caramon carried his brother from the boat and laid him down as gently as he could on the soft warm sand that covered the floor of the cave while Riverwind started a fire. The wet wood crackled and spit, but soon caught fire. The smoke curled up toward the ceiling and drifted out through a crack. The Plainsman covered the cave's entrance with brush and fallen tree branches, hiding the light of the fire and effectively keeping out the rain.
He fits in well, Tanis thought as he watched the barbarian work. He could almost be one of us. Sighing, the half-elf turned his attention to Raistlin. Kneeling down beside him, he looked at the young mage with concern. Raistlin's pale face reflected in the flickering firelight reminded the half-elf of the time he and Flint and Caramon had barely rescued Raistlin from a vicious mob, intent on burning the mage at the stake. Raistlin had attempted to expose a charlatan cleric who was bilking the villagers out of their money. Instead of turning on the cleric, the villagers had turned on Raistlin. As Tanis had told Flint-people wanted to believe in something.
Caramon busied himself around his brother, placing his own heavy cloak over his shoulders. Raistlin's body was wracked by coughing spasms and blood trickled from his mouth. His eyes gleamed feverishly. Goldmoon knelt beside him, a cup of wine in her hand.
'Can you drink this?' she asked him gently.
Raistlin shook his head, tried to speak, coughed and pushed her hand away. Goldmoon looked up at Tanis. 'Perhaps-my staff?' she asked.
'No.' Raistlin choked. He motioned for Tanis to come near him. Even sitting next to him, Tanis could barely hear the mage's words, his broken sentences were interrupted by great gasps for air and fits of coughing. 'The staff will not heal me, Tanis,' he whispered. 'Do not waste it on me. If it is a blessed artifact… its sacred power is limited. My body was my sacrifice… for my magic. This damage is permanent. Nothing can help…' His voice died, his eyes closed.
The fire suddenly flared as wind whirled around the cavern. Tanis looked up to see Sturm pulling the brush aside and entering the cave, half-carrying Flint, who stumbled along on unsteady feet. Sturm dumped him down beside the fire. Both were soaking wet. Sturm was clearly out of patience with the dwarf and, as Tanis noted, with the entire group. Tanis watched him with concern, recognizing the signs of a dark depression that sometimes overwhelmed the knight. Sturm liked the orderly, the well-disciplined. The disappearance of the stars-the disturbance of the natural order of things-had shaken him badly.
Tasslehoff wrapped a blanket around the dwarf who sat huddled on the cave floor, his teeth chattering in his head so that his helm rattled. 'B-b-b-boat…' was all he could say. Tas poured him a cup of wine which the dwarf drank greedily.
Sturm looked at Flint in disgust. 'I'll take the first watch,' he said and moved toward the mouth of the cave.
Riverwind rose to his feet. 'I will watch with you,' he said harshly.
Sturm froze, then turned slowly to face the tall Plainsman. Tanis could see the knight's face, etched in sharp relief by the firelight, dark lines carved around the stern mouth. Although shorter in stature than Riverwind, the knight's air of nobility and the rigidity of his stance made the two appear almost equal.
'I am a Knight of Solamnia,' Sturm said. 'My word is my honor and my honor is my life. I gave my word, back in the Inn, that I would protect you and your lady. If you choose to dispute my word, you dispute my honor and therefore you insult me. I cannot allow that insult to remain between us.'
'Sturm!' Tanis was on his feet.
Never taking his eyes from the Plainsman, the knight raised his hand. 'Don't interfere, Tanis,' Sturm said. 'Well, what will it be-swords, knives? How do you barbarians fight?'
