The Radiant Dragon by Elaine Cunningham

Author:Elaine Cunningham
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781560763468
Publisher: TSR
Published: 1992-11-15T06:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

At first the pounding seemed to be part of the dream. Teldin was back on Krynn, a mule skinner in the War of the Lance, trudging toward yet another battle and choking on the dust kicked up by the league of soldiers in front of him. He awoke slowly, painfully, and his first waking observation was that his mouth felt as dry as that Krynnish road. Dimly he recalled a possible explanation for his condition. He groped for the bottle of sagecoarse – which had been full the night before – and upended it. A single, smoky drop fell to the floor. Strange. He didn’t remember drinking that much. Raven had matched his every drink with at least two.

The pounding continued, more insistent. Before Teldin could respond, the door of his cabin flew open so hard it slammed against the cabin wall. Teldin winced and clutched at his temples, glaring weakly at Vallus Leafbower.

“Raven Stormwalker must leave the swan ship immediately,” Vallus said without preamble.

Teldin blinked stupidly, trying to make some sense out of the elf’s pronouncement. As he did, he hefted the bottle in his hand, giving brief but serious consideration to flinging it at the invader. “All right, I’ll play,” he said wearily. “Why does she have to leave the ship?”

Clearly agitated, Vallus raked both hands through his silvery hair. “This is not a matter for jests. You have no idea what she is. She’s dangerous, and if she remains on board, she could destroy us all.”

A memory flickered through Teldin’s numbed brain, an image of the scaly, night-black head he had seen reflected in the elven woman’s face. “What is she?” he asked cautiously.

Being an elf, Vallus did not answer the question directly. He began to pace distractedly, and the expression on his face made it clear that he was weighing his next words carefully. Watching the wizard made Teldin dizzy, so he closed his eyes and sank back on his cot. With a sigh of resignation he waited for the latest elven saga to unfold.

“There is a legend from Toril, from a time when humankind was still young, its cities and civilizations still centuries in the future. A certain magical land, a group of living islands, was besieged by an alliance of evil dragons. These creatures attacked not only the elven, fairy, and animal populations, but the good dragons as well. Soon only a handful of the magical fairy dragons still drew breath, and even the powerful silver dragons seemed destined to follow them into extinction.

“Then an elven warrior, an adventurer named Raven Stormwalker, gathered an army from the far-flung elven kingdoms. She was a fierce fighter, a master of the bow and broadsword, and she had an uncanny ability to rally her troops. Under her banner came a score of races, including good and even neutral dragons. The evil dragons were driven from the island, but Raven Stormwalker was grievously wounded in the final battle. She was carried away by a gold dragon whom she had befriended, and from thence she passed into folklore.

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