Free Dragonlance 04 - Time of the Twins by Margaret Weis Page A

dear." Otik's face grew solemn. Absently, he began to eat the food from the plate. "Then I guess the stableboy was right. She's gone. And after I fixed this nice breakfast."

    "Who's gone?" Tika demanded in exasperation, wondering if he meant Dezra.

    "Lady Crysania. She's not in her room. Her things aren't there, either. And the stableboy said she came this morning, told him to saddle her horse, and left. I thought—”

    "Lady Crysania!" Tika gasped. "She's gone off, by herself. Of course, she would . . .."

    "What?" asked Otik, still munching.

    "Nothing," Tika said, her face pale. "Nothing, Otik. Uh, you better get back to the Inn. I'll—I may be a little late today."

    "Sure, Tika," Otik said kindly, having seen Caramon hunched over the table. "Get there when you can." Then he left, eating as he walked. Tika shut the door behind him.

    Seeing Tika return, and knowing he was in for a lecture, Caramon rose clumsily to his feet. "I'm not feeling too good," he said. Lurching across the floor, he staggered into the bedroom, slamming the door shut behind him. Tika could hear the sound of wracking sobs from inside.

    She sat down at the table, thinking. Lady Crysania had gone, she was going to find Wayreth Forest by herself. Or rather, she had gone in search of it. No one ever found it, according to legend. It found you! Tika shivered, remembering Caramon's stories. The dread Forest was on maps, but— comparing them—no two maps ever agreed on its location. And there was always a symbol of warning beside it. At its center stood the Tower of High Sorcery of Wayreth, where all the power of the mages of Ansalon was now concentrated. Well, almost all -

    In sudden resolution, Tika got up and thrust open the bedroom door. Going inside, she found Caramon flat upon the bed, sobbing and blubbering like a child. Hardening her heart against this pitiful sight, Tika walked with firm steps over to the large chest of clothes. As she threw open the lid and began sorting through the clothes, she found the flask, but simply tossed it into a corner of the room. Then—at the very bottom—she came upon what she had been searching for.

    Caramon's armor.

    Lifting out a cuisse by its leather strap, Tika stood up and, turning around, hurled the polished metal straight at Caramon.

    It struck him in the shoulder, bouncing off to fall to the floor with a clatter.

    "Ouch!" the big man cried, sitting up. "Name of the Abyss, Tika! Leave me alone for—”

    "You're going after her," Tika said firmly, lifting out another piece of armor. "You're going after her, if I have to haul you out of here in a wheelbarrow!"

    "Uh, pardon me," said a kender to a man loitering near the edge of the road on the outskirts of Solace. The man instantly clapped his hand over his purse. "I'm looking for the home of a friend of mine. Well, actually two friends of mine. One's a woman, pretty, with red curls. Her name is Tika Waylan—”

    Glaring at the kender, the man jerked a thumb. "Over there yonder."

    Tas looked. "There?" he said pointing, impressed. "That truly magnificent house in the new vallenwood"?"

    "What?" The man gave a brief, sharp laugh. "What'd you call it? Truly magnificent? That's a good one." Still chuckling, he walked off, laughing and hastily counting the coins in his purse at the same time.

    How rude! Tas thought, absently slipping the man's pocket knife into one of his pouches. Then, promptly forgetting the incident, the kender headed for Tika's home. His gaze lingered fondly on each detail of the fine house nestled securely in the limbs of the still-growing vallenwood tree.

    "I'm so glad for Tika," Tas remarked to what appeared to be a mound of clothes with feet walking beside him. "And for Caramon, too," he added. "But Tika's never really had a true home of her own. How proud she must be!"

    As he approached the house, Tas saw it was one of the better homes in the township. It was built in the ages-old tradition of Solace. The delicate