Part 4 (1/2)

”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 pa.s.sed, 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 s.h.i.+ps 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 flas.h.i.+ng as brightly as their knives. The s.h.i.+ps 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 wors.h.i.+ped the gads of good, some the G.o.ds of neutrality, some the G.o.ds 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.

The walled city of Tarsis had its own army and-so it was said-had never fallen to an invading force. The city was ruled-under the watchful eyes of the Knights- -by a Lordfamily and had the good fortune to fall to the care of a family possessing sense, sensitivity, and justice. Tarsis became a center of learning; sages from lands all around came here to share their wisdom. Schools and a great library were established, temples were built to the gads. Young men and women eager Ear Knowledge came to Tarsis to study.

The early dragonwars had not affected Tarsis. The huge walled city; its formidable army 'its fleets of white-winged s.h.i.+ps, arid its vigilant Knights of Solamnia daunted even the Queen of Darkness.

Before she could consolidate her power and strike the Lordcity, Huma drove her dragons from the skies. Thus Tarsis prospered and became, during the Age of Might, one of the wealthiest and proudest cities of Krynn.

And, as with so many other cities in Krynn, with its pride grew its conceit.

Tarsis began seeking more and more from the G.o.ds: wealth, power, glory. The people wors.h.i.+ped the Kingpriest of ]star who, seeing suffering in the land, demanded of the G.o.ds in his arrogance whale they had granted Huma in humility.

Even the Knights of Solamnia-bound by the strict laws of the Measure, encased in a religion that had become all ritual with little depth-fell under the swap of the mighty Kingpriest.

Then came the Cataclysm-a night of terror, when it rained fire. The ground heaved and cracked as the G.o.ds in their righteous anger hurled a mountain of rock down upon Krynn, punis.h.i.+ng the Kingpriest of Istar and the people for their pride.

The people turned to the Knights of Solamnia. ”You who are righteous, help usl”

they cried. ”Placate the G.o.ds!”

But the Knights could do nothing. The fire fell from the heavens, the land split asunder. The sea waters fled, the s.h.i.+ps foundered and toppled, the wall of the city crumbled.

When the night of horror ended, Tarsis was landlocked. The white-winged s.h.i.+ps lay upon the sand like wounded birds. Dazed and bleeding, the survivors tried to rebuild their city, expecting any moment to see the Knights of Solamnia come marching from their great fortresses in the north, marching from Palanthas, Salanthus, Vingaard Keep, Thelgaard, marching south to Tarsis to help them and protect them once more.

But the Knights did not come. They had their own troubles and could not leave Solamnia. Even if they had been able to march, a new sea split the lands of Abanasinai. The dwarves in their mountain kingdom of Thorbardin shut their gates, refusing admittance lea anyone, and so the mountain pa.s.ses were f}locked.

The elves withdrew into Qualinesti, nursing their wounds, blaming humans for the catastrophe. Soon, Tarsis lost all contact with the world to the north.

And so, following the Cataclysm, when it became apparent that the city had best abandoned by the Knights, came the Day of Banishment. The lord of the city was placed in an awkward position. He did not truly believe in the corruption of .the Knights, but he knew the people needed something or someone to blame. If he sided with the Knights, he would lose control of the city, and so he was forced to close his eyes to angry mobs that attacked the few Knights remaining in Tarsis. They were driven from the city-or murdered.

After a time, order was restored in Tarsis. The lord and his family established a new army. But much was changed. The people believed the ancient G.o.ds they had wors.h.i.+ped for so long had turned away from them. They found new G.o.ds to wors.h.i.+p, even though these new G.o.ds rarely answered prayers. All clerical powers that had been present in the land before the Cataclysm were lost. Clerics with false promises and false hopes proliferated. Charlatan healers walked the land, selling their phony cure-ails.