Darkness and Light p-1

by Paul B. Thompson

  Cupelix spread his wings and launched straight into the air.

  The obelisk walls were square on its lowest third. Where one particularly heavy platform ringed the walls, they slanted inward, constricting the dragon's movement. Cupe lix flared his wings and grabbed hold of the ledge with his powerful hind legs. He hopped sideways, sliding his four toed feet along the sill, which was deeply worn by centuries of such movement. Kitiara looked over the dragon's shoul der and down. The Cloudmaster looked like a toy, and the holes that had so recently swallowed Sturm and the gnomes were mere ink blots on a crimson page.

  Cupelix reached a horizontal pillar that crossed from the north ledge to the east side. He sidled on out onto this until he was almost centered in the shaft again. "Hold on!" he said, and leaped.

  There was not enough room that high to allow him to fly, so he kept his wings furled. Cupelix leaped thirty yards up, to where the obelisk was very cramped indeed.

  Kitiara opened her eyes. The floor, four hundred feet below, was a vague pink square. Above, the obelisk came to an abrupt end at a flat stone ceiling. She tightened her hold on the dragon's neck. A shiver ran through the great elephantine body.

  "You're tickling me," he said, in a very undragonlike man ner. A wickedly hooked claw set on the leading edge of

  Cupelix's right wing nudged against her. It scraped along the spot where Kitiara had held on, scratching the ticklish spot.

  "Are you going to do any more jumping?" she asked, try ing not to let her anxiety show in her voice.

  "Oh, no, from here on it's all climbing."

  By claw and muscular leg, the dragon climbed the remaining few yards with deft deliberation. He stopped when his horned head bumped the flat ceiling separating them from the obelisk's uppermost section. Kitiara expected him to utter some magic word that would open the way, but instead Cupelix planted his angular head against a stone slab and pushed. His neck bowed under the pressure, and

  Kitiara was pinned between the massive wing muscles. She was about to protest when a large section of the slab gave way grudgingly. Cupelix shoved it upward until it stood on edge. He lowered his neck, and Kitiara dismounted inside the dragon's inner sanctum. Her feet slipped on the marble, and for a second the distant floor below seemed ready to rush to her. Kitiara stepped farther away from the opening and breathed a silent sigh of relief.

  "Arryas shirak!" said the dragon. A globe fully eight feet across, set in the very apex of the obelisk roof, blazed with light. The details of Cupelix's lair leaped out at her: heaps of old books and scrolls, candle stands, censers, braziers, and other magical apparatus all wrought in heavy gold; four tapestries covered the walls, tapestries so old that the lowest edges were crumbling to dust. One hanging, fifteen feet wide by fifteen feet high, showed Huma the Lancer astride a fire-breathing dragon, impaling a denizen of the Dark

  Queen's domain. The hero's armor was worked in gold and silver thread.

  The second great tapestry was a map of Krynn. It showed not only the continent of Ansalon as Kitiara knew it, but other land masses to the north and west.

  The third hanging showed a conclave of the gods. They were all there, the good, the neutral, and the evil, but the image that truly arrested her was that of the Dark Queen. Takhisis stood apart from the assembled gods of good and neutrality, regal and scornful. The weaver had made her not only beauti ful, but also terrible, with scaly legs and a barbed tail. As Kiti ara moved past the great figure, the expression on the Dark

  Queen's face was by turns cruel, contemptuous, bitter, and bewitching. Kitiara might have stood there forever staring at her, had not Cupelix levered the stone slab back into place, restoring it for a floor. The several tons of marble thunked down, and broke Kitiara's trance.

  The last tapestry was the most enigmatic. It was a depic tion of a balance, like the constellation Hiddukel, except that this scale was unbroken. In the right pan of the scales was an egg. On the left was the silhouette of a man. Cupelix clomped across the slab, his nails clicking on the stone.

  "Do you understand the picture?" he asked.

  "I'm not sure," Kitiara replied. "What sort of egg is that supposed to be?"

  "What kind do you think it is?"

  "Well, if it's a dragon egg, then I guess the picture repre sents the world in balance between humans and dragons — as long as the dragons are just eggs."

  Cupelix said, "That's very good. It's also the most obvi ous interpretation. There are many others."

  "Who made the hangings?"

  "I don't know. The gods, perhaps. They were here before

  I was." The dragon went to the largest pile of books and lay back against them, drawing his tail around in front. Kitiara cast about for a convenient place to sit. She upended a black iron cauldron inlaid with silver runes and sat on that.

  "So here I am," she said. "Why did you want to talk with me especially?"

  "Because you are different from the others. The man

  Sturm, I enjoy debating, but one can talk to him for five minutes and know his entire mind. He is very plain-spoken and single-minded, isn't he?"

  She shrugged. "He's a good fellow when he doesn't inflict his narrow values on others. It's hard to like him sometimes."

  "And love?" asked the dragon slyly.

  "Hardly! Oh, he's not bad looking, well made and all, but it'll take a different sort of woman from me to capture

  Sturm Brightblade's heart."

  Cupelix cocked his head to one side. "In what way?"

  "Innocent. Unworldly. Someone who fits his knightly version of purity."

  "Ah," said the dragon. "A female untainted by lust"

  Kitiara smiled crookedly. "Well, not completely."

  "Ha!" Cupelix gave a hoot of laughter, thumping a six foot stack of tomes. Dust puffed from between the yellowed vellum pages. "That's what I like about you, my dear; you're so frank, yet unpredictable. I've not yet been able to read your mind."

  "But you've tried?"

  "Oh, yes. It's important to know what dangerous mortals are thinking."

  Kitiara laughed. "Am I dangerous?"

  "Very. As I explained, Master Brightblade is an open book to me, and the gnomes' thoughts fly about like mad butter flies, but you — you, my dear Kitiara, bear much watching."

  "The time has come for you to answer some questions frankly, dragon," she said, planting her hands on her knees.

  "What is it you want from us? From me?"

  "I told you," said Cupelix, twisting his neck from side to side. "I want to leave this tower and go to Krynn. I'm sick of being cooped up in here, with no one to talk to and nothing to eat but the leavings the Micones can scrounge for me."

  'You feed us quite well," Kitiara objected.

  "You do not understand the essential formula of magic. A' small amount of matter can be changed by a large amount of energy — that is how it is done. What you consider a large meal would not be a snack for me."

  'You're big and strong," she said. "Why don't you claw your way out?"

  "And bring the stones down upon my head?" Cupelix preened his purplish cheeks. "That would hardly accom plish my purpose. Besides," his eyes narrowed vertically,

  "there is geas, a magical prohibition against my damaging the structure. I have tried many times, using many formu lae, to convince the Micones to demolish the tower, but they would not. There is a higher power at work here, which requires the attention of a third force to overcome. Your ingenious little friends are that third force, my dear. Their fertile little brains can conceive a hundred schemes for every one you or I may devise."

  "And none of them practical."

  "Really? You surprise me again, dear mortal girl. Did these same gnomes not get you to Lunitari in the first place?"

  She objected that that had been an accident.

  "Accidents are only unexpected probabilities," said the dragon. "They can be encouraged."

  When Cupelix said that, Kitiara looked over her left shoulder and saw the Dark Queen g
laring down haughtily from her tapestry. "What," she began before taking her eyes off the mesmerizing visage, "will you do if we can get you out of here?"

  "Fly to Krynn and take up residence there, of course. I am very keen to sample the mortal world with all its gaudy and vigorous life." She gave a derisive snort. "Why do you do that?" asked Cupelix.

  "You think life on Krynn is strange! What do you call the creatures who dwell around you?" she said.

  "To me, they are normal. They are all I have known, you see, and they bore me. Have you ever tried to talk philoso phy with a tree-man? One might as well talk to a stone. Did you know that the vegetable life that grows on Lunitari is so feeble and transient it has no magical aura of its own? It is only because of the pervasive force of my egg-bound com patriots that there is life here at all." Cupelix mustered a massive sigh. "I want to see oceans and forests and moun tains. I want to converse with wise mortals of every race, and so increase my knowledge beyond the boundaries set by these ancient books."

  Now she understood. "You want power," said Kitiara.

  Cupelix clenched his foreclaw into a fist. "If knowledge is power, then the answer is yes. I ache to be free of this perfect prison. When my Micone scouts discovered the gnomes' fly ing ship, for the first time I hoped that I might escape."

  Kitiara was silent for a moment. Choosing her words care fully, she said, "Do you fear retribution, should you escape?"

  The dragon's head pulled back in surprise, "Retribution from whom?"

  "Those who made the obelisk. If a prison stands, then there likely is a warden somewhere."

  "The gods sleep. Gilean the Gray Voyager, Sirrion, and

  Reorx have laid down the reins of destiny. The way is clear for action. The very fact of your voyage to Lunitari bears this out. In the days of Huma, such a thing would not have been tolerated," Cupelix said.

  The gods sleep, Kitiara mused. The way is clear for action! These thoughts stirred deep within her. It must be true; a dragon would know.

  "Tell me your thoughts," Cupelix said. "I grow uneasy when you are so quiet."

  A daring notion began to form in her head. "Have you considered what you will do once you reach Krynn?" she asked. "Your books are old. You could use a guide."

  "Do you have anyone in mind, my dear?"

  "Few know Ansalon as I do," Kitiara replied."My travels have taken me far. Together we could tour the world and reap what benefits would come to us." She looked the dragon in the eye. "As partners."

  Cupelix wheezed and whistled like a boiling teapot. He clapped his forearms against his sides. He really was quite good at parodying human gestures.

  "Oh, my dear woman! You wound me with mirth! I am killed!" he exclaimed.

  Kitiara frowned. "Why do you laugh?"

  "You speak of partnership with a dragon as casually as I speak of my servants, the Micones. Do you imagine that you and I are equals? That is a rich jest indeed!" Cupelix rocked so hard with merriment that he banged his head sharply on the wall behind him. That calmed him, but Kiti ara was already offended. She sprang to her feet.

  "I wish to leave!" she exclaimed. "I see no reason to sit here and be laughed at!"

  "Sit down," Cupelix said genially. When she struck a defi ant pose, the dragon swept his tail in behind her, and down she went to the marble floor.

  "Let us be clear about one thing, my dear girl: On the scale of life, I sit far higher than you. And I will have good manners from my guests, yes?" Kitiara rubbed her bruised posterior and said nothing. "Face-to-face with one of the greatest creatures that ever existed, you are insolent. What makes you so proud?

  "I am what I have made myself," Kitiara said tersely. "In a world where most are ignorant peasants, I made myself a warrior. I take what I can and give when I like. I don't need you, dragon. I don't need anyone!"

  "Not even Tanis?" Kitiara's face darkened dramatically.

  "Be at ease. Even your mortal friend Sturm could have heard your heart cry out his name just then. Who is this man, and why do you love him?"

  "He's half-elf, not human, if you must know." Kitiara took a deep breath. "And I don't love him!"

  "Indeed? Can my sense for such things be so wrong? I would hear the tale of Tanis," Cupelix said. He curled back his lips in a waggish imitation of a human smile. "Please?"

  "You only want to hear so you can mock me."

  "No, no! Human relationships fascinate me. I need to understand."

  Kitiara slipped back onto the overturned cauldron. She gazed into space, marshaling images of her past. "I'd like to understand Tanis myself," she said. "Being a woman in a man's game — war — throws you in with all sorts of men.

  Most of them are a scurvy lot of bullies and cutthroats. In my younger days, I must have fought a hundred duels with men who tried to push me around, take advantage of me, until I became as hard and cold as the blade I carried." Kiti ara fingered the hilt of her sword. "Then came Tanis.

  "I was on my way back to Solace one autumn a few years back. The summer campaigning season was done, and I'd been paid off by my most recent commander. With a pocket full of silver, I rode south. In the forest, I was ambushed by a pack of goblins. An arrow took out my horse, and I was thrown down. The goblins came out of the brush with axes and clubs to finish me off, but I lay in wait for them. When they got close, I was on them before they could blink. I killed two right away and settled down to toy with the last pair. Goblins are startlingly bad thieves and even worse in stand-up combat. One of them tripped and managed to impale itself on its own weapon. I carved my mark on the last one, and it screamed its bloody head off. I was ready to finish the pest, when out of the bushes bounded this beauti ful fellow with a bow. He scared me for a second. I thought he was with the goblins. Before I could move, he'd put a gray-goose shaft into the last goblin. It was then I realized he thought he was rescuing me."

  She paused, and the ghost of a smile played about her lips. "It's funny, but at the time I was mad. That goblin was mine to kill, you see, and Tanis had taken that away from me. I went after him, but he stood me off long enough for the blood-anger to leave me. How we laughed after that! He made me feel good, Tanis did. No one had done that for a long, long time. Sure, we were lovers soon enough, but we were more than that. We rode and hunted and played pranks together. We lived, you understand? We lived."

  "Why did this love not continue?" asked Cupelix quietly.

  "He wanted me to stay in Solace. I couldn't do that. I tried to get him to go on the road with me, but he wouldn't fight for pay. He's half-elf, as I said; some rogue mercenary molested his elf mother to conceive him, and he's ever had a cold place in his heart for soldiers." Kitiara made a fist. "If

  Tanis had fought by my side, I would never have left him till the last drop of blood spilled from my body."

  She slapped her knee. "Tanis was great fun, and in that he was far better as a companion than Sturm, who's always serious, but the time came when I had to choose between his way of living and mine. I chose, and here I am."

  "I'm glad," said Cupelix. "Will you help liberate me?"

  "Back to that, are we? What is it worth to you?"

  Cupelix raised his ears, making the veined webbing behind them stand up. "Don't you worry about your own safety?" he asked in a rumbling voice.

  "Don't bluff me, dragon. If you were going to use threats, you'd have threatened Stutts, Birdcall, and Flash before we got here. You can't force us to help. You're not the sort of dragon to do it."

  The dragon's threatening posture collapsed, and the the atrical menace left his voice. "True, true," Cupelix said. "You are a razor, Kit. You cut deep with little effort."

  Kitiara flipped a hand in salute, mockingly. "I'm not new to the game of threat and bluff," she said, standing. A slim band of new light fell across her shoulder from a slit window in the obelisk wall. "Consider what I said about partnership, dragon. It needn't be for life, just a year or two. Do that for me, and I'll speak for you."

  Sunlight brightened
the room. The magic globe at the ceiling's apex dimmed and went out. By the natural light,

  Kitiara could see that the dragon's books and scrolls were more decayed than she thought. The tapestries were rotten, too. In the midst of this decay, the dragon's predicament was more obvious. Someday, Cupelix would have nothing to read or study but a heap of mildewed pulp.

  "How many more centuries will you live?" Kitiara asked.

  The dragon's eyes narrowed. "A great many."

  "Well, maybe someone else will show up and help you escape. But think how lonely it will be. Soon no more books, no tapestries, no company."

  "Partnership… one year?" said Cupelix.

  "Two years," Kitiara said firmly. "A very short span in the life of a dragon."

  "True, true." Cupelix gave his word that he would travel with Kitiara for two years upon their return to Krynn.

  She stretched, smiling expansively. Kitiara felt good. She would come out of this crazy voyage to the red moon with more than increased muscle power. A dragon, a living dragon, as her companion for two whole years!

  "It'll be a great adventure," she said to him.

  Cupelix snapped his jaws. "Indubitably."

  Kitiara went to the window to take in the fresh air. Light ning crackled from the obelisk peak as the magic essence dis charged into the red moon's sky. When the flashes ended,

  Kitiara looked down at the valley below.

  "The Lunitarians are moving!" she exclaimed.

  "Of course; it's day, their time to move," said Cupelix.

  "But they're forming ranks! I think they're going to attack!"