Dragons of Deceit (Dragonlance Destinies) by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman

Author:Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman [Weis, Margaret]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Publisher: Random House Worlds
Published: 2022-08-02T00:00:00+00:00

Destina had spent the day exploring the Life Tree with Jajandar, and she was weary, but also awed and humbled. She had seen wonders in the dwarven nation she would never forget.

She had watched giant rock-tunneling worms chew through solid stone. She had marveled at the beauty of the grand suntunnels of clear quartz that brought sunlight into the great sea cavern. She had ridden with Jajandar in the swaying lift cages that had filled her with terror.

The lift cages were suspended on enormous chains, operated by pulley systems that ran up and down inside a shaft bored into the stone. The pulley was operated by steam power. The chain clanked ponderously up and down the shaft, carrying cages filled with either dwarves or goods that required transporting between levels. The cages were made of cast iron and just large enough that she could stand upright. Enclosed with iron grilles, the cages did not stop at each level, but moved slowly, giving Jajandar time to jump inside and drag Destina in after her.

They shook and rattled alarmingly. Destina feared the cage would break loose and she would plummet to her death—a vertical drop of three thousand feet to the sea below.

After their morning’s wanderings, Jajandar took her to her dwelling, which was a guesthouse located in an area called the Garden. The stone house had no windows and only one room furnished with a bed, table, and chair. Destina had been worried that she would have to crawl into it, but Jajandar told her that it was meant to accommodate talls, who occasionally visited the city.

Hornfel had given her a maidservant to clean and cook her meals. The servant grilled sliced mushrooms for lunch. Destina spoke to her, trying to engage her in conversation, but she shook her head and went on with her work.

That afternoon, Destina enjoyed walking the winding paths through the gardens. Lit by suntunnels and warmed by temperate breezes rising up through the ventilation shafts, the gardens were lovely—home to many plants that were strange to her: small trees with braided trunks, bushes with dark green leaves and fragrant night-blooming flowers, mushrooms with spots and stripes in bright colors.

She had expected Thorbardin to be a cavernous world of smoke and darkness lit only by the red glare of forge fires. She had not imagined it was possible to find light and beauty and marvels of technology such as the lifts, or the rolling carts that ran on metal rails along the roads, or the ferries that plied the Urkhan Sea.

She found she really liked the dwarven people. She admired and respected Hornfel and knew him to be a good ruler, concerned for the welfare of his people, and she was ashamed to remember how she had lied to him. She especially liked Jajandar, finding her open and honest and friendly.

“Will you be with me when I meet with Wolfstone?” Destina had asked.

“I must attend to my duties in the Temple of Reorx, Lady Destina,” Jajandar had told her.

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