Legacy of Steel

23

"Do you think she enjoys sleeping on snow-covered stone?" the first voice murmured.

"Sure. Why else would she do it?" answered a second.

"It is rather cold tonight. We might find her frozen stiff in the morning."

The second voice sounded pleased by that prospect. "Do you think so? They'd have to pry the body off the step. That might be interesting to watch."

Sara listened to this conversation in an offhand sort of way. It meant nothing to her.

"Do you think she's dead already?" the second voice added hopefully.

A finger poked Sara's shoulder. "No. Look, she's warm and still breathing, too."

Small hands patted her belt and her clothes. "See This?" said the first excitedly. "She's a dragon rider."

"Ooooh, I wonder where her dragon is. I'd love to see a dragon. I haven't seen any dragons since the summer it got so hot.

"That's probably a good thing. There are some dragons I never want to see."

Something about the talk of dragons set off a nagging spark in Sara's exhausted mind. Dragons? No, just one dragon. A special one of deep blue. Flare? No, her memory told her, Flare was dead. Cobalt, then. He was alone, looking for someone.

"He will be back," she whispered to the two voices.

"She said something!" the first voice cried in excitement. "Maybe she'll wake up now and talk to us."

A finger poked her shoulder harder. "Hey, dragon rider, are you asleep?"

The voices, Sara noted, were childlike and pleasant, too high-pitched to be human. She groaned, then hauled her eyes open and found herself literally nose to nose with two kender bent over her face.

"She's awake," yelped the first voice. This voice belonged to a slender female with a round apple face and a bountiful topknot of nut-brown hair. She grinned at Sara.

Her companion, a young male kender, asked without preamble, "Why are you sleeping on the stone steps? Is it an adventure, a penance, a bet? Is it fun? Could we try it with you?"

Sara gazed at them, unblinking, for several long minutes. Bits of memory, odd visions, and the feeling of something urgent floated around in her mind. "I don't know…" she replied, her thoughts fuzzy. "I didn't mean to."

"Ahh! Of course," the female kender snapped her fingers. "She's sick."

Sara noticed she was lying across the stone steps of some building at such an angle that the steps were digging into her back and shoulders. It was dark and a light snow fell around her. What an odd place to be, she mused. So thick and unwieldy were her thoughts, she gave up trying to make sense of anything and turned her attention toward making her body move.

The male kender patted Sara's shoulder and proffered a small hand to help her up. He was about the same height as his companion. He had the same apple-round face, bright brown eyes, and an abundant head of redbrown hair tied in a topknot with a strip of yellow leather.

"My name is Badger Coltsfoot, and this is my sister, Lemmi. Who are you? You don't look sick, but you look awfully tired. Do you know someone in the tomb? Is that why you're here? We don't get many dragon riders around here."

Sara shook her head to stem the flow of questions. "Is Badger your name or what you do?" she asked with a small chuckle. She took his hand and let him slowly pull her up to a sitting position.

Her head suddenly reeled, and for a moment she thought she would faint. She leaned her head between her knees and took several deep breaths.

"Oh, what do you have in your hand?" Lemmi asked curiously. "It's beautiful."

Sara didn't know she had anything in her hand. Curishe looked down at her right hand resting on her lap and saw that her fingers were tightly clenched over something small that glowed with its own soft white light. The light leaked between her fingers and made her skin glow red from the blood within.

Sara choked on a cry. Her fingers opened, and there on her palm lay an elven jewel, carved in the shape of a star and hung on a slender steel chain. The only time she had seen that jewel before was the day Steel received it from his father, Sturm Brightblade, in a vision at the tombs in the High Clerist's Tower. As far as she knew, he had carried it ever since.

Like the flare of a lamp in a darkened room that lights everything around it, the star jewel pulsed through the dark confusion of her brain and illuminated her thoughts and memories with pure clarity. Everything fell into place.

Yet it all seemed so unreal. She twisted around and saw that the silver door to the tomb was closed tightly and the lamp was back on the wall. If it were not for the star jewel in her hand, she would have thought she had dreamed the whole thing.

Sara realized this was too important to deal with alone, and besides, she could barely sit, not to mention stand or walk or summon Cobalt for a ride. Her legs were numb, and her hands were patched white with frostbite. She was trembling so badly, she could barely hold the jewel. She needed help.

The young kender watched her expectantly.

Remembering who she was dealing with, Sara slipped the steel chain over her head and tucked the jewel into her tunic. Badger looked slightly disappointed.

"Do you know the Inn of the Last Home?" she asked both kender.

Their faces lit up and Lemmi giggled. "I should say we do. The innkeeper just threw us out a little while ago."

Sara frowned. That did not bode well for a message she wanted to send. Nevertheless, she didn't have anyone else. "Could you please go to Caramon Majere and tell him I'm here? Tell him my name is Sara Dunstan and I need his help. Again."

Badger shrugged lightly. "Sure. Need anything else? Our tents are right over there. We're camping here for a few days while we visit the tomb and pay our respects to our Uncle Tas. We've met some fun people here. There was-"

Lemmi tugged his arm, cutting off his enthusiastic explanations. "I think we'd better go see Innkeeper Majere, Badger, before it gets too late. We can tell Sara about our new friends later."

Sara silently blessed the more practical Lemmi. She watched the two kender trot off into the darkness toward the distant lights of Solace. Now she could only sit and hope that Caramon or Tika would listen to the kender and come find her.

Time lost all meaning for Sara, sitting by the tomb in the snowy night. She paid no heed to the cold or the darkness or the fact that her feet had no feeling. All she could think about was Derrick, Steel, and the jewel that hung about her neck. She did not even see Caramon and Tika come huffing out of the darkness.

"Look!" she heard Tika Majere call. "It is Sara! Blessed Paladine, what are you doing out here?"

Sara looked up at the faces of her rescuers and burst into tears.

An hour later she was comfortably ensconced in a large chair in front of a roaring fire in the main room of the Majeres' inn. Tika had replaced Sara's damp, frosted clothes with dry ones and wrapped her in blankets while Caramon carefully removed her boots and set about treating her frostbitten hands and feet with warm water and gentle massage. She sat back in her chair and grinned stupidly while the two bustled around her and exclaimed over her condition. A mug of hot mulled wine was pressed into her hand, and Tika brought her a plate heaped with Otik's famous spiced potatoes, heaps of roasted meat, a wedge of golden cheese made only in Solace, and enough spice cakes to feed an army.

The two kender who brought the Majeres naturally had to see what was happening, so they had followed Caramon, with Sara in his arms, back to the inn and made themselves at home near Sara. She was too grateful to to them to ask them to leave, so she pushed several spice cakes in their direction and fell on her own meal like a ravenous wolf. It was the best food she'd had since leaving Connersby.

Once Sara's immediate needs were seen to, Tika and Caramon pulled chairs to her table to join her. She grinned her appreciation at them between bites and took the opportunity to study her friends.

She had met both Majeres that night nine years ago when she came begging Caramon for his help. Despite her ties to the Knights of Takhisis and her wild tale of Steel's parentage, he had believed her, and with his friend, Tanis Half-Elven, had taken Steel to the High Clerist's Tower to see the body of their friend, Sturm. It was during that visit that Steel was met by the spirit of| his father and given the elven star jewel.

Although the visit had not persuaded Steel as Sara hoped it would, she had been indebted to the Majeres their trust and help. She stayed with them for several months after Steel returned to Storm's Keep and left only because she did not want to endanger them with her presence. She decided a small, isolated village far from Solace would be safer for them all, so she had wandered to Solamnia and eventually found Connersby. She had not seen the Majeres again until this night.

She was pleased to see they had not changed very much in the past nine years. Tika's bright red hair had mellowed to a rich roan of gray and red, and her face had more wrinkles than Sara remembered, but her figure was still youthful, and her beauty had ripened to a full blush.

Caramon was much the same as ever-bluff, hearty, and softhearted. If the big man was a little rounder in his barrel chest and a little more worn around the face, Sara put it down to the years and to the grief of losing his two oldest sons during the Summer of Chaos.

When Sara finished her plate at last and pushed it away with a sigh of contentment, Tika whisked it away and came right back to the table. The Majeres exchanged a glance between them to see which one would speak first.

It was Tika who refilled Sara's mug and said bluntly. "Sara, we are so glad to see you. But what are you doing here dressed in the clothes of a dragon rider?"

With that simple question, Tika opened a floodgate in Sara's reserve. She had been so careful, so contained while in Neraka, she hadn't realized how much she missed having someone safe to talk to. She wrapped her hands around her mug and said to warn them, "It's a long tale."

"We've the time," Caramon told her.

So Sara told the Majeres everything, from the first night she dreamed of Cobalt to her departure from Neraka. She explained her motives for going, described the squires and Governor-General Abrena, and detailed the garrison at the city.

They listened, fascinated and stunned in turns. Caramon paid careful attention to her information about the dark knighthood and its new leader; Tika listened to the deeper emotions Sara revealed when she talked about Derrick and the squires, and she nodded in understanding.

Sitting by the fire, the two kender sat wide-eyed in delight. This was the best tale they had heard in years.

At last Sara came to the part of her story that happened in the tomb. Her words slowed to a trickle, and her gaze lengthened into the distance beyond the walls of the inn. She told what occurred succinctly and without expressing the changing emotions that ebbed and flowed through her.

"He stood by his own bier," she said softly. "He said nothing more than, 'All we have is each other.' Then he handed me something and was gone. The next thing I remember is waking up outside the tomb."

Tika, practical and pragmatic, eyed their guest dubiously. She knew Sara to be honest, courageous, thoughtful and determined, and she accepted that Sara believed she had been in the tomb and seen Steel. But the mind can be deceiving. Dreams and visions can seem quite real to someone who is exhausted and numb with cold.

Tika glanced at Caramon and recognized the vague look he often got when deep in thought. Caramon was often slow to react, not because he was dull-witted, but because he always looked carefully at things from every angle before making a decision or reaching a conclusion. The slowness of his ponderings often drove some people to make the wrong judgment about his abilities, but once he made up his mind, he often found insights or details other people missed.

To give him time to think, Tika fetched two small glasses and poured hot cider for the kender. She ran a swift eye over the silverware and nearby knickknacks and was relieved to see everything was still in place.

Badger and Lemmi had been so enthralled by Sara's story, their instinctive tendencies to "acquire" things had been stifled. Nothing extra had found its way into the collection of pouches at their belts. Brother and sister sat still in their chairs by the fire pit, their short legs dangling down, their faces bright with curiosity.

Tika smiled at her guests and asked, "When you found Sara, did you see anything different about the tomb?"

Delighted to be involved in such a mystery, Badger nearly fell out of his chair in his haste to answer. "you mean was the door open or any ghosts hanging about? No. The lamp was on the hook, too."

Tika pursed her lips and posed another question. "Did you see any footprints in the snow by the door?"

Lemmi thought for a minute and shook her head. "No. There wasn't any snow by the door. I guess the wind blew it away. Sara was just lying there on the stone."

Sara nodded. "I don't even know how I got out of the tomb, but somehow I must have," she said, with a defiant glance at her hosts. She knew what they were thinking. "I thought at first I dreamed it all. But there is more to it than that. Steel wanted to tell me something, to give me hope for the future. This is what he gave me." She took hold of the steel chain and gently tugged the elven star jewel off her neck. Laying it on the table, she sat back to watch the Majeres' reactions.

Tika clasped her hands together, her eyes huge.

Caramon leaned forward, his face alight with fascination. "That is Sturm's jewel," he observed. "The one Alhana Starbreeze gave him as a gift of her love. I remember that. Sturm gave it to Steel in the tower… much like your vision." He touched the jewel gently with his fore-finger, marveling at its beauty. This was no dream. It felt hard and warm beneath his finger. "When the remnants of the Solamnic Knights returned to the ruins of the tower after the Battle of the Rift, they found the jewel on Strum's bier where Steel had left it. They returned it and put it around Steel's neck before the tomb was sealed."

A thoughtful quiet settled over the small group while everyone stared at the white jewel glittering in the firelight.

"What do you think Steel wanted to tell you?" Tika asked softly.

Sara sagged back in her blankets. The warmth, the food, the feeling of being safe-it had all caught up with her and pulled her down into a deep, soft well of exhaustion. "I don't know yet. I have to put it all together. There is something here I feel is vitally important, but I can't see it yet." Her eyelids drooped and she yawned. "Forgive me," she murmured. "I am so tired."

The next thing she knew, Caramon's strong arms lifted her out of the chair, took her to one of the small rooms reserved for guests, and set her carefully on the bed. She smiled at her friends and fell asleep before Tika covered her with the blankets.

Sometime late in the night, when the inn was dark and silent, Sara sat bolt upright in bed. Her eyes flew open wide in wakefulness and stared, unseeing, into the night. Of course! That's it! she told herself over and over. Her body tingled with the energy of inspiration; her mind raced ahead to the future and to plans for immediate action.

Steel had fought good and evil within himself his entire life until at last he set them both aside and did what he believed was right. Only then did he achieve success, glory, and the peace he so desperately sought for.

She understood that, but she had not made the right conclusion until she looked at the vision of Derrick and the Solamnic Knight from a less personal angle and made the connection.

Each knight represented his order, the good and the evil, the light and the darkness. Their battle in the clearing, as well as her own knowledge of General Abrena's plans, pointed to more conflict in the future. Sara was terribly certain that whatever good the Solamnics might do, the Knights of Takhisis would undo.

There had to be a middle ground. A third party that would not worry about absent goddesses, or strict codes and measures, or ambition and power, or self-interest. A group that would serve the people. Steel's statement echoed her own deep-rooted belief that the destiny of Krynn lay in the hands of its people, working together.

"All we have is each other."

Sara never did return to sleep that night. At dawn, she bounced out of bed, threw on her dried clothes, and hurried into the inn's kitchen.

Tika was already there, cooking eggs and sausages and baking bread for the day's customers. She wiped floury hands on her apron and poured a cup of tarbean tea for Sara. Her expression brightened at the look of energy and determination on Sara's face.

"I have to make a short trip," Sara announced. "I hope I won't be long. When I come back, may I leave a friend with you?"

"Of course," Tika replied, puzzled by Sara's request. "Where do you have to go in such a hurry?"

"The knight I saw in my vision is close by. If I can reach him before he fights, or… before he dies, I want to bring him back here."

Tika paused, her hands poised over the frying pan. "The Dark Knight?"

"His name is Derrick," Sara said firmly. "He looks like Steel and has his sense of honor. I don't believe he will make a good knight of evil."

Tika eyed Sara shrewdly. "All right. If you say he needs to come here, I will take him. And you, too. You cannot return to Neraka."

Sara's reply was ambiguous. "We'll see what happens. I want to find Derrick first."

The doors of the kitchen slammed open and Caramon came in, stamping snow from his boots. The big man grinned as he hung his cloak on a peg and came over to join Sara. His wife handed him a mug of steaming tea and his breakfast.

"You look better this morning," he observed after eyeing Sara from head to foot.

She agreed. She felt better, too, better than she had in a long while, filled with energy, enthusiasm, and an inner joy that simmered in her gray eyes. Something had happened to her during the night that she could not entirely explain-yet. She needed some time to think it all through.

"I walked around the tomb this morning at first light," Caramon said. "The tomb is sealed, as always. If there were any footprints by the door, those kender of yours trampled all over them."

Sara laughed, and Tika, watching her, thought twenty years fell away from her face.

"It doesn't matter if I was in the tomb or not, Caramon," said Sara. "What matters is that Steel gave me his message and his star jewel for a purpose. That jewel has always symbolized one's love for another, an unspoken pledge of mutual protection, and it is now up to me to put it to use."

Caramon looked puzzled. He glanced at Tika, who merely shrugged her shoulders. "What are you going to do?" he asked.

"First I am going to summon my dragon and go find my companion before he does something stupid. When I think through the rest of it, I'll let you know." Impulsively she leaned over, gave Caramon a kiss on the cheek, hugged Tika, and flew out the swinging doors before they knew what blew by them.

"Was that the same woman we brought in last night?" Caramon asked in wonder.