'My apologies.'
They rode out of Solace, north by east. The new sun pierced the hills around Solace and warmed the air. Sturm and Kitiara breakfasted simply, on jerky and water. The fine dawn became an even finer morning, and Kitiara's spirits rose.
'I can't be unhappy on the road,' she said. 'There's too much to see and do.'
'We should be on guard as well,' Sturm said. 'I heard travelers in the inn say there were brigands about.'
'Tshaw. Peasants on foot may have reason to fear brigands, but two warriors, armed and mounted — it's the robbers who'd best be afraid!'
Sturm made polite assent, but still kept his eyes on the horizon and his sword hilt handy.
Their route was simple enough. Once clear of Solace's hills, the two would turn northwest and make for the coast. On the shore of the Straits of Schallsea was a small fishing port called Zaradene. From there Kitiara and Sturm could easily take passage to Caergoth in southern Thelgaard. North of Caergoth lay Solamnia proper, their ultimate destination. Such was their plan. But plans, as said the sage wizard Arcanist, are like figures drawn in sand: easily made and just as easily disturbed. The forests and hills of Abanasinia thinned with the miles. Kitiara filled the hours with tales of her past adventures.
'My first hire was with Mikkian's Marauders. They were a bad lot. Mikkian was a low-born lout from Lemish. He had the bad fortune of always losing parts of himself in battle — an eye, an arm, half an ear. Pretty ugly he was, and mean! I walked into his camp, sure of my skill with a blade. In those days, I had to pretend to be a boy, else the churls would have ganged up on me,' she said.
'How does one go about getting hired as a mercenary?'
'In Mikkian's band, there was only one way: kill one of his men. Mikkian had only so many openings on his payroll, and he wouldn't expand it for anybody.' Kitiara wrinkled her nose at the memories conjured up by Mikkian. 'Worthless rogue! The foot soldiers made a big ring and put me in it with a snaggletoothed axeman called — now what was his name? First man I ever killed. Trigneth? Drigneth? Some name like that. So we went at it, axe against sword. It was not a pretty fight, I tell you. We had to stay in the dead center of the ring, or Mikkian's boys would poke us with daggers and spear points. Trigneth — Drigneth? — fought like a woodcutter, chop, chop, chop. He never laid an edge on me. I got him with a straight thrust, right through the neck.' She regarded Sturm. He looked shocked.
'How long were you with Mikkian's company?' he asked, finally.
'Twelve weeks. We sacked a walled town near Takar, and Mikkian finally lost a part he couldn't do without.'
Sturm raised an eyebrow.
'His head,' said Kitiara. 'That was the end of the Marauders. It was every man for himself, and the whole company broke up, looting and killing. The townsfolk rose up and fought back, wiping out the whole damn gang. Save for yours truly.' She smiled crookedly. Kitiara had a deep fund of such stories, all exciting and nearly all bloody. Sturm found himself confused. He'd known her for about two years now and was no closer to understanding her. This handsome, bright woman possessed no small measure of wit and charm, and yet was enamored with war on its basest level. He had to admit he marveled at her strength and cunning — but he feared Kitiara a little, too. The road petered into a path, and after a score of miles it merged into a stretch of sandy pine barrens. The air grew still and heavy with moisture.
They camped in the barrens that night, and the wind gave them their first smell of the sea. Pine knots made an acrid, smoky campfire. As Kitiara fed the flames, Sturm watered the horses. He returned to the dim circle of firelight and squatted on the sand. Kitiara handed him a cold mutton joint. Sturm gnawed the peppered meat, and Kitiara leaned back, her feet to the fire and her head pillowed by her bedroll.
'There's Paladine,' she said. 'See?'
She pointed to the heavens. 'Paladine, Mishakal, Branchala,' she said, naming each constellation in turn. 'Do you know the sky?'
'My boyhood tutor, Vedro, was an astrologer,' Sturm said, not really answering. He lifted his eyes. 'It is said that the will of the gods can be divined by the movement of the stars and planets.'
'What gods?' Kitiara replied lazily. 'You don't believe in the gods7'
'Why should I? What have they done for the world lately? Or for me ever?' Sturm could tell she was baiting him, so he decided to drop the subject. 'What is that group there?' he asked.
'Opposite Paladine?' 'Takhisis. The Queen of Darkness.'
'Oh, yes. The Dragonqueen.' He tried to see the authoress of evil, but to him it was only a spatter of stars. The white orb of Solinari climbed above the horizon. In its glow, the sandy hillocks and solitary pines were pale ghosts of their daytime selves. Not long after, in the middle quadrant of the sky, a red glow of equal size appeared.
'Now that I know,' said Sturm. 'Lunitari, the red moon.'
'Luin to the Ergothites, Red-Eye in Goodlund. A strange color for a moon, don't you think?' said Kitiara. He tossed the naked mutton bone aside. 'I didn't know there were proper colors for moons.'
'White or black are proper. Red means nothing.' She propped her head up so that Lunitari was directly in her line of sight.
'I wonder why it's red?' Sturm reclined on his bedroll'.
'The gods ordained it so. Lunitari is the abode of neutrality, of neutral magic and illusion. Vedro theorized that the color came from the blood sacrificed to the gods.'
He offered this cautiously.
'Other philosophers claim the red color represents the heart of Huma, the first knight of the Dragonlance.' There was only silence from his companion. 'Kit?' he said quietly. A rasp from the shadows revealed the result of his lecture. Kitiara was asleep.
The village of Zaradene was a low, brown smudge on the gray-white shore. There were perhaps fifty weatherworn houses of varying size, none with more than two stories. Sturm and Kitiara rode down the face of a steeply sloping dune toward the village. On the way, they had to thread through lines of sharpened stakes, buried in the sand with the points slanting out. Here and there the stakes were scorched by fire.
'A hedgehog,' Kitiara remarked. 'A defense against cavalry. The villagers must have been raided not long ago.'
Behind the stakes was a shallow trench, which was spotted with black clots of blood, soaked into the sand. The faces of the people of Zaradene were not friendly as Sturm and Kitiara rode up the single sandy track that was the main street. Sullen eyes and work-gnarled hands clenched into fists seemed to be everywhere. Kitiara reined up and dismounted in front of a sagging gray tavern that bore the name Three Fishes. Odd white posts and rafter ends showed between the weatherworn clapboards. Sturm tied Tallfox to one of the posts. It was bone, from some enormous, long-dead sea creature.
'What do you suppose it was?' he asked Kit curiously.
Kitiara glanced at the bone and said, 'Sea serpent, maybe. Come. There'll be shipmasters in here.'
The Three Fishes tavern was well filled with patrons for so early an hour. The first master that Kitiara approached growled 'Mercenaries!' and spat at her feet. She almost drew her blade on him, but Sturm caught her wrist.
'Cut one, and we'll have to fight them all,' he muttered. 'Be patient. We must have a boat to cross the straits.'
They tried half a dozen sea captains and were rebuffed each time. Kitiara was fuming. Sturm was puzzled. He'd voyaged before, and knew that mariners usually liked to take on a few passengers. They paid better than fishing or cargo did, took care of themselves, and didn't take up much deck space. So why are the masters of Zaradene so hostile? he wondered. They drifted to the bar. Kitiara called for ale, but all the barkeep had was black wine of Nostar. After a sip of the bitter vintage, Sturm shoved his cup aside. Better to be thirsty, he thought. Kitiara plunked one of her Silvanesti coins on the dirty bar. Even in the dim tavern, the glow of gold caught the barkeep's eye. He came to the end of the bar, where Sturm and Kitiara leaned.
'You want something?' said the man. A sheen of sweat coated his shaved head.
'Words,' said Kitiara. 'Merely a few words.'
