Darkness and Light

Chapter 27

Gloom settled in with the night. Birdcall was sound ly berated for his sloppy work, but once the reproaches were finished, the gnomes went right back to their usual good-natured camaraderie. Kitiara was furious, Sturm resigned. The dragon tried to lighten their spirits.

"Be of stout heart!" he admonished. "If worse comes to worst, I shall fly to Mt. Nevermind and notify the gnomish authorities of your plight. They will, of course, mount a res cue expedition. Assuming I get clear of this tower, that is."

"Yes, assuming that," Sturm said. He went away to com miserate with the gnomes.

Kitiara sidled over to where Cupelix was perched. "Can you hear me?" she said in the lowest of whispers.

Certainly. The dragon's telepathic voice caressed her mind.

"When we get you out, I want you to take me with you," she muttered.

And leave your friends behind?

"You said yourself the gnomes on Sancrist can be notified.

It may take some months, but they'll try to reach their col leagues marooned on Lunitari." Since the ruin of the Cloud master's engine, Kitiara had begun to understand how the dragon felt, trapped on this moon. Also, once Cupelix was free, she feared he would not linger on Lunitari while the gnomes struggled to repair the flying ship. Her dreams of partnership would be over.

And what of Sturm?

"Someone has to look after the little fellows," she said.

"Don't think me uncaring; I'm just eager to be gone from here."

Fortunes to find, wars to win.

"Not to forget showing you around, too."

Yes, of course. Still, I wonder, dear Kit. If you could fly and I could not, would you leave me here also?

She grinned up at the huge creature. "You're far too big for me to carry," she said.

Supper was a subdued affair, and they all turned in soon after eating. Cupelix withdrew to his tower top, and the humans and gnomes slept scattered about the obelisk's now spacious floor.

Sturm was awake. He lay on his back, staring up into the tower's black recesses. It well matched his mood. Was this his ultimate fate, to be marooned on the red moon forever?

The dragon had said something about things never dying here. Would he live on and on, bitter, lonely, forever denied his heritage as a knight?

The dark space above him closed in. The odd, displaced sensation flooded over him yet again -

— He sat up and heard crickets chirruping in the bushes. A canopy of trees almost closed out the sky of Krynn. Sturm could see the sculpted outline of a high wall in the distance, and knew that it was Castle Brightblade.

He drifted across the night-cloaked land to the castle's main gate. To his surprise, torches flamed in the side brack ets, and two imposing figures in armor flanked the entrance.

He moved in closer.

"Uh! What goes?" said the guard on Sturm's right. He lev eled his poleaxe directly at Sturm.

He can see me! Sturm held up his hand and said, "I am

Sturm Brightblade. This castle belongs to my father."

"Fool, nothing goes," said the other guard. "Put axe away."

"I say is." The right-hand guard took a torch down from its holder and stomped toward — and through — Sturm. By the blazing pine knot, Sturm saw the guard's face. It was not human, nor dwarven, elven, kender, or gnome. The pro truding snout was green and scaly, and toothy horns sprout ed from a wide mouth. His eyes were vertical slits, like

Cupelix's.

Draconians! He was furious that these ugly brutes were in his ancestral home. Sturm pushed through the gate into the bailey. There were wagons and carts parked there, groaning with swords, spears, battle-axes, and sheafs of arrows. The draconians were turning Castle Brightblade into an arsenal, but for whom'

In the great hall he found a crackling fire built. Camp stools were set up before the hearth, and a trestle table was covered with scrolls. Sturm hovered by the table. The scrolls were maps, primarily of Solamnia and Abanasinia.

Steel rang on stone, and Sturm started, forgetting that he could not be seen. A tall, powerful figure strode out of the dark hall. He was helmetless, his face hard and expression less. Long, smooth locks of white hair fell over his shoul ders. The man crossed between the fire and the table and sat on one of the stools. He set his helmet down beside him.

Sturm had never seen such a helmet before. Tusks protruded from the visor, and the whole form was shaped like the head of a predatory insect.

— "Come and sit down," said the man, whom Sturm thought of as the general. A second figure stirred in the shadows.

He — it? — did not come into the circle of firelight. A thin hand, sleeved in dark gray, reached out and dragged a camp chair into a dimmer corner of the hall.

"I forget you do not care for fire," said the general. "Pity.

Fire is such a useful force."

"Fire and light shall be my undoing some day," rasped the robed figure. "I have seen my demise in flames. I am not eager to meet my end just yet."

"Not with so much to do," replied the general. He perused the map of Solamnia. "When do you hear from your Mis tress that Red Wing will be here? The arms grow rusty in this damp old castle."

"Patience, Merinsaard. The Dark Queen has well gauged the temper of the land, and she will set the armies in motion when the auspices are most favorable."

The general snorted. "You speak of signs and portents as if they determined everything. It's the charge of the lance, the shock of cavalry, that decides the fate of battles and empires, Sorotin."

The hidden sorcerer chuckled, a moldering, decayed sound that chilled Sturm. "Men of action always like to think that their fate is in their hands. It comforts them and makes them feel important."

Merinsaard said nothing. He leaned to the hearth, plucked out a burning brand, and thrust it toward his shad owed compatriot. Sturm got a glimpse of a face that sur prised him. It might've been handsome but for its deathly paleness and the evil that emanated from burning eyes set in it. The magic-user, Sorotin, groaned and shrank away from the flame. Merinsaard tossed the burning twig after him.

"Mind your tongue," Merinsaard said. "And remember, I command here. If you displease me, or fail in your necro mancy, I'll feed you to the fire myself."

The sorcerer panted raggedly with fear. "Be not too bold, my lord. For one is here now who watches and is no friend to our cause." Sturm's heart skipped a beat.

"What?" said the general. He reached under the pile of maps and pulled out a viciously curved dagger. A sticky coating of greenish poison showed on the cutting edge.

"Where is this intruder? Where?"

"Standing between us, great general." He did mean

Sturm!

Merinsaard slashed through the empty air. "You fool!

There's no one there!"

"Not in the fleshly sense, my lord. He is a spirit from far away — very far, by the aura he emits. Perhaps as far as -

Lunitari? That is far indeed."

"Get rid of it, whatever it is," said Merinsaard. "Kill the spy! No one must know of our plans!"

"Calm yourself, my lord. Our visitor is not here to spy. I sense that this was once his home."

"Dotard! No one has lived here for twenty years. The last lord of the castle was hounded out of the country."

"True enough, mighty Merinsaard," said Sorotin. "Shall I bring this spirit here in body, or bid him go back where he came?"

Sturm struggled with his feelings for a moment. He tried to will himself to solidity so that he might challenge these evil men. But he could sense no change in his state.

"Can he speak to the living of this world'?" asked Merin saard.

"I think not. He is too attenuated by the vast distance he has traveled. I sense no knowledge of magic in him."

"Then hurl him back to his wretched body and keep him there! I have no time for ghostly ambassadors."

Sturm saw a glint in the darkness. He heard a sweet chime. The sorcerer had struck the silver bell he carried.

"Hear me, 0 Spirit: As I ring this magic bell thrice, you will depart from this castle, this land, this world, never to return." The bell chimed once. "Argon!" Twice. "H'rar!"

Three times. "In the name of the Dragonqueen!"

Every muscle in Sturm's body jolted at once. He literally felt as though he'd fallen from a height, but he was awake and in his body, in the obelisk on Lunitari. He sat up, breathing hard and shaking. The entire vision had passed without any new clue to his father's whereabouts. That was distressing enough, but the machinations of this Merinsaard and Sorotin — in Castle Brightblade — filled him with out rage. Someone must be told! The alarm must be given!

He roused Sighter from his blanket. "Wake up!" he said.

"Let's have a look at that lens of yours."

"Now?" said the gnome through a jaw-cracking yawn.

"Yes, why not? It's been hours."

A Micone was standing by, as per orders, and it allowed

Sturm and Sighter to mount for a ride down to the casting chamber. The whole cavern was filled with dripping patches of mist. The giant ant didn't like the dampness at all. Once or twice, its barbed feet slipped on the vitreous wall, making

Sturm cling tightly to the rope harness and causing Sighter to cling even more tightly to Sturm.

The lens was still ruby red, but very little heat radiated from it.

Sturm tapped his fingers lightly on the edge of the mold.

The fourth tap broke loose a chunk of mud, now dry and brittle. The inward sloping side of the lens was exposed.

Sighter stood on his toes to examine the glass.

"No," he muttered. Out came the magnifying glass. He peered into the scarlet casting. "Broken gears and slipped pulleys!" he exclaimed. "The lens is worthless!"

"What?"

"The glass, the glass! It's nearly opaque!"

"It can't be," Sturm said. Sighter handed him his magnify ing glass. Sturm peered into the lens. All he could see were millions of tiny white bubbles trapped in the solidified glass.

That, and the dark red color, made it obvious that the lens would be useless for focusing the sun's rays into a burning beam.

"Perhaps when it's polished," Sturm said hopefully.

"Never!" Sighter sputtered. "You'd have more chance try ing to focus sunbeams through a cedar tree!" He threw his pocket glass on the rocks and stamped it until it shattered.

"What's the matter?" asked a voice. Stutts and the others had also come to inspect the giant lens. Sighter bitterly explained that their work had been for nothing. The crest fallen gnomes ringed the mold and stared down at the lens in disbelief.

"Worthless," said Fitter.

"Useless," said Roperig.

"A waste of time and effort," Cutwood added.

"Now what do we do?" asked Rainspot.

"Try to explain it to the dragon," said the crushed Sighter.

No one said much about the lens failure except Cupelix.

The otherwise genial, well-mannered dragon had a dragon sized tantrum.

"Thundering incompetents! Witless — inept!" A tremen dous telepathic FOOLS! made them all flinch.

"Do be still," Kitiara said severely. "A dragon your age, carrying on like a spoiled child! Do you think the little fel lows guarantee success?"

Sturm watched the effect of Kitiara's chiding on the beast.

Cupelix's ears, which had been flattened on his head, slowly lifted, and the jets of acrid vapor stopped puffing from his nostrils.

"I had such hopes!" Cupelix allowed.

"Well, it looks like we're going to be here a long while,"

Kitiara said. "So we shall have plenty of time to think up new ways to get you out of this marble cell."

Mollified, the dragon prepared them a cold repast and retired to his high sanctum to meditate on his problems.

Sturm, Kitiara, and the gnomes went outside and stared at the Cloudmaster. Poor, lifeless hulk, an immobile derelict gracing the red turf of Lunitari.

Sturm put a hand to his chin and pondered what he understood from Wingover's explanation of how the Cloud master flew.i The wings were useless without lightning to turn the engine. All that remained was the half-empty bag of ethereal air. He said, "What about the ethereal air?"

"What about it?" asked Wingover.

Sturm, rather abashed to be making technical arguments to the gnomes, said, "Bellcrank used to say that when full, the ethereal air bag was sufficient to lift the ship."

"With all due respect to our late colleague, the lifting power of the bag is much less than the total weight of the hull of the ship," Stutts said. They lapsed into silence once again. Sturm thought some more. Kitiara's eyes narrowed as she, too, concentrated.

"What if we lightened the ship?" said Fitter.

"What?" said Sturm.

"What?" said Stutts, Wingover, Sighter, Rainspot, and

Flash.

"What!" said Cutwood, Roperig, and (translated) Bird call.

Kitiara grinned her Off-center grin, something she did all too rarely these days. "Lighten the ship!" she declared.

"Now that's Something I can understand!" She picked little

Fitter up and Shook him So hard that his teeth rattled. Then

She boosted him up to the rail. The gnome Went below deck and Opened the side boarding ramp. The Other gnomes swarmed aboard, fired with the Zeal Of desperation. Before sturm and Kitiara had even mounted the ramp, loud crash es and Splintering creaks sounded within the Ship.

"They may rip everything Out," Stuim Said wryly. "Deck, celing, planks, and posts.") The gnomes formed a chain from the lowest deck to the top rail and began flinging everything they could lay their hands On Over the Side. They ransacked their cabins and brought forth all their personal belongings. Sturm Was astounded by the mass and variety Of it: blankets, books, tools, clothing, barrels, pots, plates, rope, cord, twine, Sail cloth, a crate Of ink, pens, bars Of Soap, two harmonicas, a fiddle, a flute, Sixteen pairs Of boots (all sized too big for

Sturm, much less any gnome that ever lived), gloves, belts, and a Stuffed billy goat that cutwood kept in his cabin.

Some items couldn't be manhandled to the upper deck.

Kitiara found Roperig and Fitter lying prostrate beside a large keg. "We can't budge it," Roperig panted.

"I'll do it." She turned the keg around to See if there was a bung attached. Liquid sloshed inside, and a single Word in gnomish block letters was stenciled On the Staves. Kitiara said, "What's in this, anyway?"

Fitter Squinted at the label. "Oil Of Vitriol. Must have been Bellcrank's," he Said. A Slight quiver invaded his chin.

"Vitriol, eh?" She recalled the mess that the acid had made

Of Bellcrank's Excellent Mouthless Siphon back On Krynn.

"Why hasn't it eaten through the keg?"

"Oh, it's probably lined with some resistant coating," Said

Roperig. He Wiped the back Of his neck with his hand, and it promptly Stuck there. "Oh, dry roti"

Kitiara drummed her fingers On the barrel head. "Hmm, that's worth knowing. So this stuff dissolves some things but not Others?"

"Yes." Roperig tried to free his hand and succeeded in sticking his Other hand to his Own arm. "Double dry rot I"

"Will Oil Of vitriol dissolve marble?" She asked.

"Maybe. It doesn't affect many glassy substances."

"What about lead?"

"Yes, definitely. Fitter, stop fidgeting and help met"

She left the two gnomes locked in a Stmlle against

Roperig'S adhesive palms. The gnome she sought, Stutts, was Outside the ship, Sorting through the heap Of goods that the gnomes had discarded. Kitiara pulled Stutts free Of a pile

Of clothing and Said, "I know how to get the dragon Out!"

"What?" said the gnome. "How?"

"Bellcrank'S vitriol." She gestured vaguely back toward the ship. "There's a whole barrelful Of it On board. If we let it eat up the mortar in the lowest course Of the Obelisk, the

Walls are bound to collapse, aren't they'd"

Understanding gradually lightened Stutts's face. Then it hit him full force. "Hydrodynamicst It will work!"

The gnomes heard Stutts'S cry and rallied around. With extravagant hand motions and frequent compliments to

Kitiara, Stutts explained her idea. The gnomes positively exploded with excitement. It was So Simple! So elegant!

They'd been fixated On a mechanical Solution, and here the human Woman had come up With a chemical answer!

Sturm heard the commotion and hustled down the ramp.

He agreed that the plan was a good One, but Saw One impor tant consideration. "What happens to Cupelix when the tower falls?" he asked. "Not even a brass dragon can with stand tons Of marble masonry falling On him."

"There has to be a way around that," Said Kitiara.

"Why don't we ask the dragon?" Said Sturm.

That's what they did. At first, the dragon was Sulky and refused to come down from his aerie. Kitiara Scolaed him for his petulance, and still there was no response. Then she alone heard: I don't wish to be disappointed again.

"We're not making any promises," she proclaimed loudly.

"We have a new scheme that We're pretty sure will Work, but it has an awkward problem. Freeing you may kill you."

A unique solution. I would not be a prisoner any longer.

"Oh, shut upi If you can't come down and talk to us like a reasonable dragon, We'll just bring the Obelisk down around you." Kitiara jerked her head to the others. "Let's go."

"We're not really going to use the vitriol With him still up there, are we, ma'am?" said Fitter.

"Why not? You want to see if it'll work, don't you?" She replied.

"But the dragon will get hurt." cutwood chewed thoughtfully On the tip Of his pencil. "I

Wonder," he mused, "What the tensile strength Of dragon hide and flesh is?" Sighter produced some vellum.

"We can do a calculation!"