The Rose and the Skull Read online

  Liam sympathized, though it was not in his nature to show sympathy. All the old ways and old places were passing away, without anything to take their place: the gods, the Knighthood, even magic. As much as he distrusted magic, Liam was forced to admit the world was a better place with it than without. There were no true heroes in the new age, and those left over from the last age were proving to be straw, powerless scarecrows of their former selves, gully dwarves living off the leavings of a glorious world destined never to return.

  Liam took a deep breath and steeled himself. He lit a new candle from the old one and set it on the desk, then reached for the top sheet of the stack of manuscripts closest to him.

  He went page by page, marking out with his pen the passages irrelevant to the whole of the work. Outside his room, darkwatch came and went, and his pen continued to scratch. Sometimes he laughed at what he read, sometimes he shook his head with sorrow, but on into the night he worked, forgetting his supper, forgetting sleep, forgetting everything but the work before him. Rising late, the new white moon shone through his window. He stopped briefly to open a new bottle of ink.

  Liam reached for the next page and spread it on the desk, his pen poised above it, when a scrap of paper fluttered from the top of the stack and landed upside down before him. He flipped it over and read,

  Abandon this foolish notion and leave this land, or you and all your Knights will suffer the consequences.

  Liam sat back in his chair and read it again. He held the paper up to the candlelight and saw that it appeared torn from a book. The watermark was of Betterman's, a bindery in Kalaman.

  Before he had a chance to ponder the note, there came a reluctant knock at his door. Still holding the note, he cautiously approached the door, listening for sounds. When he heard none, he asked through the door "What do you want?"

  "Milord, forgive me, but there is a man here who demands to see you," answered the captain of the guard from the hall outside.

  "At this hour?" Liam asked. His instincts were aroused since hearing the priest's tale of dopplegangers or sivak draconians murdering people and taking their shape. "Who is he?"

  "He is the priest who arrived with Lady Jessica this afternoon," the captain said. "I told him you were very busy, but he insisted."

  "Tell him I'll see him in the morning," Liam said.

  Another voice answered, shouting, "I must see Sir Liam!"

  "Sir Liam will see you in the morning. Now you must go!" the captain warned.

  "I have news of Gunthar's death. I have been to the crypt!" the man said. Sounds of a struggle began.

  Liam gasped and jumped to the door, angrily snatching it open. "Bring him here," he hissed. "And be quiet about it. You'll wake the entire castle."

  The captain, a tall powerfully built Ergothian, dragged Nalvarre Ringbow into the room and unceremoniously dumped him on the floor. "You can go," Liam said, waving the warrior to the door. "Tell no one," he added.

  With a baffled expression, the captain of the guard closed the door behind him. Nalvarre rose to his feet, brushed back his hair and turned to face Sir Liam.

  "What is this about visiting the crypt?" Liam asked as he moved behind the heavy oaken desk, placing it between the wild man and himself. At the same time, he used the desk to conceal the dagger in his hand. "That is a holy place forbidden to all but the initiated."

  Nalvarre cleared his throat. "You have been told that I spent some time with a gully dwarf named Uhoh Ragnap, and that he claimed to be present at the time of Gunthar's death," Nalvarre said.

  Liam nodded impatiently.

  Nalvarre continued, "Uhoh did a remarkable job of imitating the manner in which Lord Gunthar died. And he mentioned several other things, about the dog Garr for instance, that made me suspicious as to the cause of Lord Gunthar's death."

  "The cause of Lord Gunthar's has already been determined by Trevalyn Kesper. He said that…" Liam's voice trailed off as he raised an eyebrow.

  "Ah, now you begin to see why I was in the crypt," Nalvarre said. He stepped forward and reached into his pocket.

  Reacting swiftly, Liam stepped back, his dagger poised to strike. Nalvarre halted, his hand half out of his pocket.

  "I have no weapon," he said. "Look." He inched the scrap of paper between his fingers out enough for Liam to see. "It's only a bit of paper."

  Liam lowered his weapon.

  Nalvarre breathed a sigh of relief and carefully unfolded the paper. "I took these from the wound on Gunthar's thigh," he explained as he laid the paper on the desk.

  "You did not desecrate the body!" Liam said in alarm.

  "No, of course not,'" Nalvarre laughed nervously. "I found them right on the surface of the wound."

  Cautiously, Liam leaned forward to look. Several tiny amber beads lay in a crease of the otherwise blank scrap of paper.

  "Before I came to Sancrist, I learned from the elves of Qualinesti of a poison sometimes used by draconians to envenom their arrows," Nalvarre said.

  "Poison?" Liam exclaimed.

  "When dried, if hardens into amber-like nodules. It only dissolves in one substance—blood. No other liquids have an effect upon it," Nalvarre said.

  "How can you prove what you are saying?" Liam asked.

  "I have come here to test the poison," Nalvarre said, "so that you may see with your own eyes. If you will pass me that bottle of brandy, we can begin."

  Warily Liam took a bottle from the table behind him and handed it to the priest. Nalvarre removed the cork and tipped the bottle until a little brandy spilled out into his cupped palm. Then, dipping his finger into the liquid, he shook a drop onto one of the amber beads. The drop splattered on the paper, staining it, but the bead remained unchanged.

  "Now, if you would be so kind," Nalvarre said, holding out his hand.

  Liam looked at it without understanding.

  "With your dagger," the priest said as he wiggled his fingers.

  Liam took Nalvarre's hand and held it firmly in his own. Reversing the dagger, he pricked the priest's thumb. Nalvarre jerked, and a drop of blood welled from the tiny wound.

  Careful not to let the wound touch the bead, Nalvarre squeezed his thumb above the paper. A drop of blood swelled, dangling for what seemed an eternity, before finally falling. It splattered on the paper next to the brandy stain.

  As the blood soaked into the paper, the amber beads began to shrink, then disappeared as they dissolved in the blood.

  Liam's fist slammed on the desk, sending stacks of papers sliding to the floor. "They did poison him!" he snarled.

  "That's why the draconians hunted the gully dwarf so relentlessly, because he knew Gunthar's secret," Nalvarre said.

  "What secret?" Liam asked, the blood rising in his face.

  "Something Gunthar whispered to the gully dwarf just before he died. As it was told me, 'the book… Kalaman… Liam… in bell room… tell him… tell no one else.' I think it might have something to do with the Revised Measure."

  "Perhaps," Liam pondered this surprising information hopefully. If Gunthar had finished the Measure and hidden it somewhere, it would certainly be welcome news. But where? In the bell room? There wasn't a bell room in Castle uth Wistan.

  Perhaps in Kalaman? Kalaman!

  His eyes shot to the note in his hand, to the watermark on it, from Kalaman. The book he'd given Gunthar several years ago, a book which was kept not in the bell room, but in Belle's room, the former bedchamber of Gunthar's ladywife. The room now occupied by…

  "I want Lord Tohr brought to me this instant!" Liam shouted as he stalked to the door. He jerked it open.

  Liam stepped back from the open door, finding Lady Jessica already there, her arm raised as though about to knock. Her mouth gaped open.

  "Lady Jessica!" Liam shouted. "What are you doing here?

  Excuse me please. Guards!" he shouted, then stepped back again in surprise. "You!"

  Valian, held firmly by two Knights of the Sword, struggled as though to escape.
r />   "Sir Valian came to my room and asked me to be brought to you," Jessica tried to explain. "He said it was important."

  "I'll say it is," Liam said as the captain of the guard appeared at the door. "Captain, hold this elf. Don't try to escape, Valian."

  "I came here to warn you," Valian shouted as the captain entered the room with drawn sword, "not to… escape."

  "Warn us of what?" Liam asked.

  "That all along Lord Tohr has schemed to take control of the Knights of Sancrist Isle," Valian said, "and that he had Gunthar killed. I don't know how."

  "It was poison," Nalvarre said.

  "I suspected as much," Valian said.

  The captain of the guard stood in the center of the room, looking in confusion from one person to the next.

  "Lord Gunthar was poisoned?" the captain of the guard asked.

  At that moment, a guard appeared at the open door. He glanced around the room for a moment, as though looking for someone in particular. His eyes lighted on the captain.

  "Captain, Sir Liam, Trevalyn Kesper has been found dead in the chambers of Lord Tohr Malen," he said.

  "That was my doing," Valian said.

  "And what of Lord Tohr?" Liam asked.

  "He is not in his room. All the other Knights of Takhisis are missing as well. The watch is having trouble finding many of our own Knights as well. Perhaps the others… "

  They turned at the sound of horns from the courtyard. Footsteps pounded in the hall. Liam raced across the room and threw open the window. An arrow thudded into the heavy curtain beside his head.

  Outside, men shouted Solamnic challenges, and metal clashed against metal. Axes rang like hammers on shields, and men cried out in pain. Fires flared up, lighting all the sky.

  Liam turned, a tear in his eye. "Brother against brother," he groaned. "What have we come to?"

  27

  Despite the Cataclysm, which shook the land to its foundations, and the Chaos War, which shook the world to its core, robbing it of both its gods and its magic, the Whitestone Glade had endured virtually unchanged, a strange and magical place. The monolithic pale white stone and the meadow surrounding it had been held a blessed sanctuary by the people of this land. No matter the weather, in winter as well as in summer, the weary found rest there, the tormented peace.

  For the Knights of Solamnia, the Whitestone Glade was their most sacred place. Legend stated that Vinus Solamnus had received his celestial vision of an order of honorable Knights at Whitestone Glade and that the gods themselves had sanctified it. Certainly some of the most important decisions concerning the fate of Krynn had been made here. It was here during the War of the Lance that a dragon orb was destroyed and the dragonlance was revealed, thus directing the course of the war from certain disaster to eventual victory. When the power of the dragonlance was demonstrated, the stone itself was split to its core. There were some who mourned its defacement in such a vulgar and melodramatic display, but the magic of the Whitestone had not been harmed. It bore its wound like a proud old soldier, with dignity. A few even claimed it was more beautiful than before.

  It was natural that the survivors gathered there, as the moon shone down, filling up the glade as though with silver water. In the distance through the trees, numerous fires burned a deep golden red. It would have been a magical sight, with a sylvan loveliness, were it not for the knowledge that each pillar of smoke and each merry flame was a house, or a barn full of the summer's harvest. Slowly, singly or in weary pairs, Knights straggled into the glade and collapsed near the Whitestone, where a group of Knights had gathered around a bonfire. One or two stood guard, but there seemed little need for a watch any longer.

  "They are gone," Valian commented as he bandaged his wounded arm. Blood ran from a cut on his brow, and his armor was rent in a half-dozen places. "I imagine they're half way to Xenos by now."

  Liam rose and stood quietly for a moment near the Whitestone, weighing his thoughts. Everyone looked at him expectantly, even the dark elf. Lady Meredith sat in the grass with most of her battered armor strewn about her, a bloody sword lay across her knees. Ellinghad Beauseant stood at the edge of the firelight, warily keeping watch in the night. With a towel and a bowl of watered wine, Lady Jessica cleaned a ghastly slash to the ear of the Lord High Warrior, Sir Quintayne. Nalvarre assisted her, directing her efforts with his bandaged hands. He'd fought at the stables, protecting the horses, wielding a quarterstaff with deadly purpose, but staves against swords is rarely a fair contest, and the wounds he sported on hands, head, and chest bore this out.

  Compared to the skirmish in the stables, the fighting in the courtyard had been horrendous, bloody, a tragedy in the annals of the Knighthood. No clear lines were drawn. Knights of Takhisis had fought alongside Knights of Solamnia, but against other Knights of Takhisis and Solamnia. Lord Tohr, wielding the terrible magic of Nightbringer, the black mace once owned by Dragonhighlord Verminaard, wreaked havoc among those opposing him. The heaviest fighting had taken place at the postern gate, as the forces under Liam tried to prevent the forces of Tohr from escaping. There Valian had proved himself, winning Liam's ultimate trust by capturing Nightbringer and bringing the trophy from the battle. Nightbringer, and its owner's right hand, now lay in the grass near the fire. Thus wounded, Lord Tohr had fled into the night.

  Unfortunately, most of the Knights loyal to Tohr escaped with him. Liam's forces pursued them into the forest, where the Dark Knights and their allies set torch to barn, cottage, and crib. Over half the castle's garrison had been lost this night and for nothing. Nothing was resolved. Many had died fighting, but many, many more fled, joining Lord Tohr and his promises of glory. Quite a number of these were blooded Knights — a terrible blow to the Solamnic ranks — while those few who'd come over from the Knights of Takhisis didn't even begin to replace the Solamnics lost in the battle, much less those who'd gone over to Lord Tohr.

  To say that the battle resolved nothing was perhaps not entirely true. It had concluded the question of who would lead the Knights of Sancrist Isle—no one. Gunthar's dream of a single united order had died, and the Knights of Solamnia were reborn from the ashes (a little worse for wear, it was true).

  Quintayne impatiently brushed aside Lady Jessica's hesitant ministrations and pointed at Tohr's hand, lying on the grass. "There's your coat of arms," he said, laughing, to Valian. "Severed hand and mace on a field of red."

  Valian stared back at him with his cold, blue eyes until Quintayne's laughter nervously subsided. "I hardly think this is the time for morbid jokes," he whispered.

  "Quite true, Valian. Now is the time for hard decisions," Liam said, staring up at the waning moon. "What shall be our next move? As Valian said, Tohr and his allies will be fortified within Xenos before the next night falls. They are probably dispatching wyvern couriers for reinforcements this very moment. They'll want to strengthen their position and hold it, and with Pyrothraxus guarding their rear, they could very well succeed. Should we pursue and try to catch them?"

  "We'd never find them. They are scattered throughout the forest, I'd imagine, following a hundred different trails to Xenos," Valian said. "Such a hunt would be fruitless and only serve their needs by causing us to waste valuable time."

  "Let's not forget that we ourselves gave the Knights of Takhisis the citadel at Xenos, and now the people there will suffer for it," Ellinghad said from the edge of the shadows.

  "And what do you suggest we do?" Quintayne asked.

  "It's obvious what we need to do," Ellinghad said. "Raise the alarm, muster our forces from all over the island. Lay siege to Xenos as soon as possible and drive out the Knights of Takhisis before they have time to prepare."

  "Xenos was our gathering point should anything go wrong," Valian said. "Lord Tohr had it provisioned to withstand a siege of many weeks, long enough for reinforcements to arrive from Ansalon. There are secreted several wyverns in the cellar; they are ready to carry messages at a moment's notice. As you can see, they are already prep
ared."

  "Then we have no time to lose!" Ellinghad urged.

  "Have you forgotten about poor Uhoh?" Jessica cried. Quintayne snorted derisively.

  "I believe Jessica has a point, " Lady Meredith said. "We cannot leave the draconian stronghold in a position to molest our lines of supply. They are sure to send agents to wreak havoc among the civilian population. The draconians might even attempt to strike here, at the heart of the Knighthood."

  "That's not my point at all," Jessica argued. "My point is that Uhoh is trapped in that awful place because of what he knew about Lord Gunthar's death. As soon as the draconians learn what has happened here, they'll kill him for sure."

  "What's the point of rescuing him?" demanded Quintayne.

  Nalvarre leaped to his feet, his face a scarlet color beneath his beard. "The point is, if not for that gully dwarf, you'd be handing over control of this Knighthood to the Knights of Takhisis tomorrow morning, right here in this very place, and willingly!" A cool white hand reached up and touched his arm. He seemed to start, then glanced down at Lady Jessica. The color slowly drained from his face. "I'm sorry," he said to the Knights, "but I do not think you should forget the noble service Uhoh Ragnap has performed for you."

  "Yet Lady Meredith is correct. The draconian stronghold is a threat to us," Liam said.

  "Not so grave a threat as the Knights at Xenos," Ellinghad said.

  "That is what we have to decide," Liam said. "Do we lay siege to Xenos before the Knights of Takhisis can bring in reinforcements, or do we first go after Uhoh and attack the draconians?"

  "Let's not forget about Pyrothraxus," Valian said. "There is some arrangement between the draconians and the dragon. After all, he did attack Isherwood in an attempt stop us from bringing the gully dwarf's tale to light."