Amid the stunned silence of the crowd, !he black man reached out and lifted the weapon from the splintered remains of the rock. He held it high above his head, and the silver barbed point glittered brightly in the rays of the midday sun.

"I am Theros Ironfeld ," the man called out in a deep voice,

"and for the last month I have been forging these!" He shook the weapon in his hand. "I have taken molten silver from the well hidden deep within the heart of the Monument of the Silver Dragon. With the .silver arm given me by the gods,, I have

forged the weapon as legend foretold. And this I -bring to youto all the people of Krynn-that we may join together and defeat the great evil that threatens to engulf us in darkness forever.

"I bring you-the Dragonlance!"

With that, Theros thrust the weapon deep into the ground. It

stood, straight and shining, amid 6e broken pieces of the dragon orb.

An unexpected journey.

fished;' Laurana said. "I am free to leave" "Yes;" Elistan said slowly; "and

ll,tknd now my task is fig

I know why you leave"Laurana flushed and lowered her eyes-"but where will

9n?„ ,

"Silvanesti," she replied. "The last place I saw him..' "Only in a dream-" "No, that was more than a dream;' Laurana replied, shw dering. "It was real. He was there. He is alive and I must fin him:"

"Surely, my dear, you should stay here, then;" Elistan suggested. "You say that in the dream he had found a dragon orb. If he has it, he will come to Sancrist :"

Laurana did not answer. Unhappy and irresolute, she stared out the window of Lard Gunthar's castle where she, Elistan, Flint, and Tasslehoff were staying as his guests.

She should have been with the elves. Before they left TvNhitestone Glade, her father had asked her to come back with them to Southern Ergoth . But Laurana refused. Although she did not say it, she knew she would never live among her people again.

Her father had not pressed her, and-in his eyes-she saw that he heard her unspoken words. Elves aged by years, not by days, as did humans. For her father, it seemed as if tune had accelerated and he was changing even as she watched. She feet as though she were seeing him through Raistlin's hourglass eyes, and the thought was terrifying. Yet the news she brought him only increased his bitter unhappiness.

Gilthanas had not returned. Nor could Laurana tell her father where his beloved son had gone, for the journey he and Silvara made was dark and fraught with peril. Laurana bold her father only that Gilthanas was not dead.

"You know where he is?" the Speaker asked after a pause.

"I do," Laurana answered, "or rather-I know where he goes:'

"Acrd you cannot speak of this, even to me-his father?"

Laurana shook her head steadfastly. "No, Speaker, I cannot. Forgive me, but we agreed when the decision was made to undertake this desperate action that those of us who knew would tell no one. No one,." she repeated.

"So you do not trust me-"

Laurana sighed. Her eyes went to the shattered Whitestone. "Father,.' she said, "you nearly went to war . . . with the only People who pan help save us . . . .

Her father had not replied, but-in his cool farewell arid in the way he leaned upon the arm of his elder .child-he made it clear to Laurana that he now had cn7y one child.

Theras went with the elves. Following his dramatic presentation of the dragonlance, the Council of Whitestone had voted unanirai.ously to make more of these weapons. and unite all races in the fight against the dragonarmies.

3I7

DRAGONLANCE CHRONICLES

"At present;" Theros announced, "we have only those few lances I was able to forge by myself within a month's time, and I bring several ancient lances the Silver Dragons hid at the time the dragons were banished from the world. But we'll need more-many more. I need men to help me!"

The elves agreed to provide men to help make the dragonlances, but whether or not they would help fight-

"That remains a matter we must discuss;" the Speaker said.

"Don't discuss it too long," Flint Fireforge snapped, "or you might find yourself discussing it with a Dragon Highlord:'

"The elves keep their own counsel and ask far no advice from, dwarves;' the Speaker replied coldly. "Besides, we do not even, know if these lances work! The legend said they were to be forged by one of the Silver Arm, that is certain. But it also says that the Hammer of Kharas .vas needed in the forging. Where ' the Hammer now?" he asked Theros.

"The Hammer could not be brought here in time, even if ' could be kept from the dragonarmies. The Hammer of Khar

was required in days of old, because man's skill v.~as not,

'

cient by itself to produce the lances. Mine is;' he added proudl "You saw what the lance did to that rock:"

"We shall see what it does to dragons;" the Speaker said, the Second Council of Whitestone drew to a close. Gunth proposed at the last that the lances Theros had brought w' him be sent to the knights in Palanthas.

These thoughts passed through Laurana's mind as she st out across the bleak winter landscape. It would've snowing the valley soon, Lord Gunthar said.

I cannot stay here, Laurana thought, pressing her f against the chill glass. I shall go mad.

"I've studied Gunthar's maps;' she murmured, almost s ing to herself, "and I've seen the location of the dragona ' Tanis will never reach Sancrist, And if he does have the orb, may not know the danger' it Poses. I must warn him."

"My dear, you're not talking sensibly," Elistan said mildly. Tanis cannot reach Sancrist safely, how will you reach hl Think logically, Laurana-"

"I don't want to think logically!" Laurana cried, stoxrq her foot and glaring angrily at the cleric, "I'm sick of being sible! I'm tired of this whale war. I've done my part-°~

THE DRAGONS OF WINTER NIGHT

than my part. I just want to find Tanis!"

Seeing Elistan's sympathetic face, Laurana sighed. "I'm sorry, my dear friend. I know what you say is true;" she said, ashamed. "But I can't stay here and do nothing!"

Though Laurana didn't mention it, she had another concern. That human woman, that Kitiara. Where was she? Were they together as she had seen in the dream? Laurana realized now, suddenly, that the remembered image of Kitiara standing with Tanis's arm around her was more disturbing than the image she had see of her own death.

At that moment, Lord Gunthar suddenly entered the room.

"Ohl" he said, startled, seeing Elistan and Laurana. "I'm sorry, I hope I am not disturbing-"

"Please, no, come in;' Laurana said quickly.

"Thank you;" Gunthar said, stepping inside .and carefully shutting the door-first glancing down the hallway to make certain no one was near. He joined them at the window. "Actually I needed to talk to you both, anyway. I sent Wills looking far you. This is best, however. No one knows we're speaking."

More intrigue, Laurana thought wearily. Throughout their journey to Gunthar's castle, she had heard about nothing but the political infighting that was destroying the Knighthood.

Shocked and outraged at Gunthar's story of Sturm's trial, i.aurana had gone before a Council of Knights to speak in Sturm's defense. Although the appearance of a woman at a Caunci: was unheard of, the knights were impressed by this vibrant, beautiful young woman's eloquent speech on Sturm's behalf. The tact that Laurana was a member of the royal elven household, and that she had brought the dragonlances,, also spoke highly in her favor.

Even Derek's faction-those that remained-were hardpressed to fault her. But the knights had been unable to reach a decision. The man appointed to stand in Lord Alfred's place eras strongly in Derek's kept-as the phrase went-and Lard Michael hoc vacillated to such a degree that Gunthar had been forced to throw the matter to an open vote. The knights demanded a period of reflection and the meeting was adjourned. They had reconvened this afternoon. Apparently, Cunthar had just came from this meeting.