Dragonlance - War of Souls Vol 1 - Dragons of a Fallen Sun by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman

Author:Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

TASSLEHOFF'S TALE

The Queen Mother's house was built on the side'of a cliff

overlooking Qualinesti. Like all elven structures, the

house blended with nature, seemed a part of the land-

scape, as, indeed, much of it was. The elven builders had con-

structed the house so as to utilize the cliff-face in the design. Seen

from a distance, the house appeared to be a grove of trees grow-

ing on a broad ledge that jutted out from the cliff. Only when one

drew closer, did one see the path leading up to the house and

then one could tell that the trees were in reality walls, their

branches the roof and that cliff was also used for many of the

walls of the house.

The north wall of the atrium was made of the rocky slope of

the cliff face. Flowers and small trees blossomed, birds sang in the

trees. A stream of water ran down the cliff, splashing into many

small pools along the way. As each pool varied in depth, the

sound of the falling water differed from pool to pool, producing

a wondrous harmony of musical sound.

Tasslehoff was quite enchanted with the fact that there was a

real waterfall inside the house and he climbed upon the rocks,

slipping perilously on the slippery surface. He loudly exclaimed

over the wonder of every bird's nest, uprooted a rare plant

while trying to pick its flower and was forcibly removed by

Kalindas when the kender insisted on trying to climb clear up to

the ceiling.

This was Tasslehoff. The more Palin watched, the more he re-

membered and the more he became convinced that this kender

was the kender he had known well over thirty years ago. He

noted that Laurana watched Tas, as well. She watched him with a

bewilderment tinged with wonder. Palin supposed it was per-

fectly plausible that Tasslefhoff could have been wandering the

world for thirty-eight years and had finally taken it into his head

to drop by for a chat with Caramon.

Palin discarded the notion. Another kender might have done

so, but not Tasslehoff. He was a unique kender, as Caramon liked

to say. Or perhaps, not so unique as all that. Perhaps if they had

taken time to come to know another kender, they might have dis-

covered that they were all loyal and compassionate friends. But if

Tas had not been roaming the world for.~lmost forty years, than

where had he been?

Palin listened attentively to the Knight's story of Tas's ap-

pearance in the tomb the night of the., storm (most remarkable,

Palin made a mental note of this occurrence), Caramon's recogni-

tion, his subsequent death and his last words to Sir Gerard.

"Your father was upset that he could not find his brother

Raistlin. He said that Raistlin had promised to wait for him. And

then came your father's dying request, sir," said Gerard in con-

clusion. "He asked me to take Tasslehoff to Dalamar. I would

have to assume that to be the wizard, Dalamar, of infamous

repute?"

"I suppose so," said Palin evasively, determined to betray

nothing of his thoughts.

"According to the Measure, sir, I am honor bound to fulfill a

request made by the dying. But since the wizard Dalamar has dis-

appeared and no one has heard from him in many years, I'm not

Iquite certain what to do.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.