Dragonlance - The Raistlin Chronicles 01 - The SoulForge by Margaret Weis

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

Chapter 8

Summer days drifted by in a haze of smoke from cooking fires, dust kicked up by travelers along

the Solace road, and the morning mists that wound like wraiths among the boles of the vallenwood

trees.

Flint kept to his bed, a surprisingly docile patient, though he grumbled enough for thirty dwarves, as Tasslehoff said, and complained that he was missing out on all the fun. He had, in fact, a very easy

life of it. The kender waited on him hand and foot. Caramon and Sturm took turns visiting him

every afternoon after their sword practice to demonstrate their newfound skills. Raistlin came by

daily to rub oil of wintergreen into the dwarf's tight muscles, and even Kit dropped by occasionally

to entertain Flint with accounts of fighting goblins and ogres.

Flint was so comfortable that Tanis was beginning to worry that the dwarf was enjoying his leisure

too much. The pain in his back and leg had nearly subsided, but it was beginning to look as if Flint

might never walk again.

Tanis called his friends together, hatched a plot to cause the dwarf to leave his bed, "without the use of gnome powder," as the half-elf put it.

"I hear there's a new metalsmith moving to Solace," Tasslehoff Burrfoot announced one morning as he fluffed up the dwarf's pillows.

"What's that?" Flint looked startled.

"A new metalsmith," the kender repeated. "Well, it's only to be expected. Word has gone out that you've retired."

"I have not!" Flint said indignantly. "I'm only taking a bit of a rest. For my health."

"I hear it's a dwarf. From Thorbardin."

Leaving this poisoned shaft inside the wound, guaranteed to rankle, Tasslehoff left on his daily tour

of Solace to see who was new in town and, more important, what interesting objects might find

their way into his pouches.

Sturm was next to arrive, with a pot of hot soup sent by his mother. In regard to the dwarf's anxious

questions, Sturm replied that he had "heard something about a new metalsmith coming to town" but added that he rarely paid attention to gossip and couldn't provide any more details.

Raistlin was a good deal more forthcoming, providing a great many details about the Thorbardin

metalsmith, down to his clan and the length and color of his beard, also adding that the main reason

the Thorbardin dwarf had chosen Solace as a place to locate his business was that "he'd heard they'd had no good metalwork done here in a long, long while."

By the time Tanis arrived late that afternoon, he was pleased but not terribly surprised to find Flint in his workshop, firing up the forge that been cold all summer long. The dwarf still walked with a

limp (when he remembered) and still complained of pain in his back (particularly when he had to go

rescue Tasslehoff from any number of minor disasters). But he never took to his bed again.

As for the Thorbardin metalsmith, he found that the air of Solace didn't agree with him. At least

that's what Tanis said.

The summer had been a long one and a prosperous one for the people of Solace.

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.