With him walked his faithful 'assistant,' Laurana. The young elfmaid had run away from her home in Qualinesti to follow Tanis in childish infatuation. She had been forced to grow up rapidly; her eyes -opened to the pain and suffering in the world.Knowing that many of the party-Tanis, among them – considered her a nuisance, Laurana struggled to prove her worth. With Elistan. she found her chance. Daughter to the Speaker of the Suns of the Qualinesti. she had been born .and bred to politics.. When Ellistan-was foundering among the rocks trying to feed and. clothe and control eight hundred men, women, and children,. it was Laurana who stepped in and eased his burden. She had become Indispensable to him, a fact Tanis found difficult to deal with. The half-eaf gritted his teeth let

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"Something's wrong. Do you want me to go with you?"

Tanis, seeing the weariness in the knight's face, shook his head, "You get the others organized:" Dressed in a winter traveling cloak of white, he prepared to climb the snow-covered, rock-strewn hills, Ready to start, he felt a cold hand on his arm. He turned and looked into the eyes of the mage.

"I will come with you;' Raistlin whispered.

Tanis stared at him in astonishment, then glanced up at the hills. The climb would not be an easy one, and he knew the mage's dislike of extreme physical exertion. Raistlin saw his glance and understood.

"My brother will help me;' he said, beckoning to Caramon, who appeared startled but stood up immediately and came over to stand beside his brother. "I would look upon the city of Tarsis the Beautiful:"

Tanis regarded him uneasily, but Raistlin's face was as impassive and cold as the metal it resembled.

"Very well," the hall-elf said, studying Raistlin. "But you'll show up an the face of that mountain like a blood stain. Cover yourself with a white robe:" The half-elf's sardonic smile was an almost perfect imitation of Raistlin's own. "Borrow one from Elistan."

Tanis, standing on the top of the hill overlooking the legendary seaport city of Tarsis the Beautiful, began to swear softly. Wispy clouds of steam floated from his lips with the hot wards. Drawing the hood of his heavy cloak over his head, he stared down into tire city in bitter disappointment.

Caramon nudged hits twin. "Raist," he said. "What"s the matter? I don't understand:"

Raistlin coughed. "'Your brains are in your swordarm, mg brother;" the mage whispered caustically. "Look upon Tarsis, legendary seaport city. What do you see?"

"Well . . . " Caramon squinted. "It's one of the biggest cities I've seen. And there acre ships-just like we heard-'

""The white-winged ships of Tarsis the Beautiful;" Raistlin quoted bitterly. "You look upon the ships, my brother. Do you notice anything peculiar about them?"

"They're not in very good shape. The sails are ragged and=" Caramon blinked. Thin he gasped. "There's no water!"

"Most observant:'

"But the kender's map-'

"Dated before the Cataclysm;" Tanis interrupted. "Damn it, I should have known! I should have considered this possibility" Tarsis the Beautiful-legendary seaport-now landlocked!"

"And has been for three hundred years, undoubtedly;" Rais^ tlin whispered. "When the fiery mountain fell from the sky^, it created seas-as we saw in Xak Tsaroth-but it also destroyed them. What do we do with the refugees now, Half-elf"

"I don't know," Tanis snapped irritably. He stared down at the city, then turned away. "It's no good standing around here. The sea isn't going to comeback just for our benefit. " He turned away and walked slowly down the cliff.

"What will we do?" Caramon asked his brother. "We can't go back to Southgate. I know something or someone was dogging our footsteps:' He glanced around worriedly. "I feel eyes watching-even now."

Raistlin put his hand through his brothels arm. For a rare instant, the two looked remarkably alike. Light and darkness were not more different than the twins.

"You are wise to trust your feelings, my brother," Raistlin said softly "Great danger and great evil surround us, l have felt it growing an me since the people arrived in Southgate, I tried to warn them-" He broke off in a fit of coughing.

`How do you know'" Caramon asked.

Raistlin shook his head, unable to answer for long moments Then, when the spasm had passed, he drew a shuddering, breath and glanced at his brother irritably. "HareT.'t you learned yet'"" he said bitterly. "I know! Put it at that. I paid for my knowledge in the Towers of High Sorcery. I paid for it with my body and very nearly my reason. I paid for it with:-` Raistlin stopped, looking at his twin.

Caramon was pale and silent as always whenever the Testing was mentioned. He started to say something, chokes;, then cleared his throat. "It's just that I don't understand-'"

Raistlin sighed and shook his head, withdrawing his arm from his brother"s. Then, leaning on his staff, he began to walk down the hill : "Nor will you;' he murmured. "Ever.'

Three hundred years ago, Tarsis the Beautiful was Lordcity of the lands of Abanasinia. From here set sail the white-winged ships for all the known lands of Krynn. Here they returned, bearing all manner of objects, precious and curious, hideous and delicate. The Tarsian marketplace was a thing of wonder. Sailors swaggered the streets, their golden earrings flashing as brightly as their knives. The ships brought exotic peoples from distant lands to sell their wares. Some dressed in gaily colored, flowing silks, bedizened with jewels. They sold spices and teas, oranges and pearls, and bright-colored birds in cages. Others, dressed in crude skins, sold luxuriant furs from strange animals as grotesque as those who hunted them.

Of course, there were buyers at the Tarsian market as well; almost as strange and exotic and dangerous as the sellers. Wizards dressed in robes of white, red, or black strode the bazaars, searching for rare spell components to make their magic. Distrusted even then, they walked through the crowds, isolated and alone. Few spoke even to those wearing the white robes, and no one ever cheated them.

Clerics, too, sought ingredients for their healing potions. For there were clerics in Krynn before the Cataclysm. Some worshiped the gads of good, some the gods of neutrality, some the gods o? evil. All had great power. Their prayers, for goad or far evil, were answered.

And always, walking among all the strange and exotic peoples gathered in the bazaar of Tarsis the Beautiful, were the Knights of Solamnia: keeping order, guarding the land, living their disciplined lives in strict observance of the Code and the Measure. The Knights were followers of Paladine, and were noted for their pious obedience to the gads.