Trail of the Black Wyrm - Chris Pierson by Dragonlance

Author:Dragonlance [Dragonlance]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780786965007
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast Publishing
Published: 2013-06-18T04:00:00+00:00

The days passed in a white haze. The sled swept on. The snow kept falling, day and night. Somehow, the nasif found their way through the white nothing.

Finally, Angusuk called out. “We are close now!” he said. “Kitaglu lies beyond the ridge.”

Hult, who had been dozing at the sled’s rear, roused and got to his feet. He nudged awake Forlo, and they went to join Eldako and Shedara, who were watching ahead. Beyond the nasif’s bobbing antlers, the ground rose to a crest. Hult wouldn’t have recognized the area for the world, but then, none of the others would have known the hillocks that dotted the Tamire as well as he did. Angusuk, on the other hand, was leaning forward, his face lit by eagerness. It made Hult ache a little—he would never again know this feeling, of coming home.

“Something’s wrong,” Eldako said suddenly. “Where are the Patient Folk?”

Hult blinked, then stared, looking up and down the length of the ridge. There was no sign of the piled-stone statues that protected the Ice People’s lands. Now he remembered—five of them had stood atop this ridge, starkly positioned against the gray sky. He shuddered at the memory. Part of him was glad the Ningasuk were gone—but deep down he knew it was an ill omen, even before Angusuk cried out and started shouting at the nasif, lashing the reins to drive them faster.

Upward the sled climbed, the great deer straining and snorting to get to the top. As they got closer, Hult saw that the Patient Folk weren’t actually gone; they had been toppled, reduced to heaps of jumbled rock, scattered down the slope. The sled ran over a couple of these, bucking wildly as it did. It was a miracle the nasif didn’t stumble over them and break their legs. Had he been rational, Angusuk would have slowed their pace, but the man was panicking, his eyes wild with fear.

At last, they came to the crest. Angusuk seemed ready to drive the sled right over and down the other side, but before he could lash the nasif again, Shedara reached over and laid a hand on his arm. He looked at her, his eyes wide and white, and for a moment he didn’t seem to recognize her. She gazed back, her green eyes shining. It was subtle, but Hult felt the magic around her, a spell being worked.

“Be easy,” she told him. “What’s happened is done. You won’t achieve anything by this.”

Angusuk blinked. Then, with an inarticulate sound, he stumbled back. Forlo grabbed the reins and brought the nasif to a halt. The beasts snorted and frothed, pawing at the snow, eager to run again.

Then the wind shifted, and the animals bellowed in fright, their eyes rolling. One reared, and the sled slewed sideways, one of its runners lifting off the ground and nearly pitching them all overboard. Hult staggered, grabbing the vehicle’s side to keep from falling over, then recovered himself and jumped out, landing in knee-deep snow. He

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