The blue dragons had heard about the possibility of an attack on the city and were eager to get in on the fighting. Skie was the only dragon who was not pleased at the prospect, and this was because he knew the truth. Kitiara wasn’t going to Tarsis to fight or to evaluate the hobgoblin. She was going for her own personal reasons. She’d told him as much.
Skie revered Kitiara as few dragons in the history of Krynn had revered a human. He honored Kitiara’s courage. He could personally attest to her skill and her intelligence when it came to warfare. He credited her tactics and strategy with having conquered much of Solamnia, and he was convinced that if Kitiara had been in charge of the war instead of Ariakas they would have now been taking their ease in the conquered city of Palanthas. Kitiara was calm and cold-blooded, masterful and courageous in battle. But when it came to her personal life, she gave in to her wayward passions and let desire master her.
She went from lover to lover, using them, then discarding them. She thought she was in control of these affairs, but Skie knew better. Kitiara thirsted for love as some thirst for dwarf spirits. She hungered for it as a glutton does his dinner. She needed men to adore her and even when she no longer loved them they were supposed to continue to love her. Ariakas was perhaps the sole exception, and that was because Kitiara had let him love her simply to achieve advancement. They understood each other, probably because they were alike. He required of women what Kit required of men. He was the only man Kitiara feared, and she was the only woman to daunt Ariakas.
Take this Bakaris, Skie thought. Kitiara’s sub-commander and her current lover. Charming, handsome, he was an adequate soldier, but certainly not her equal. Left to his own devices in Solamnia, which is where he was now, he’d make a pig’s breakfast of the battle should they be called upon to fight. Skie only hoped that this foray into the south didn’t keep her away from the war too long.
Skie didn’t know the identity of the man she was chasing after in Tarsis. She hadn’t told him that. All he knew was that it was someone she had known in her youth. Skie was confident it would be only a matter of time before Kit told him everything. He was the one being she trusted implicitly. Let her find this long-lost lover, whoever he was, Skie thought, and get him out of her system. Then she could get back to business.
They established their headquarters outside the city, near a hot springs Skie had discovered. Kitiara sent spies armed with Toede’s bounty list to Tarsis and other cities in the region and also sent search parties with orders to keep an eye on the major trade routes.
Although the snow hampered their efforts considerably, one of the search parties did come across something, though not what Kit had expected.
“Why haven’t Rag and his baaz reported in?” Kitiara asked the sivak commander of her squad of draconians.
The sivak had no idea, and he sent a patrol on dragonback to find out. They returned with unfortunate news.
“Rag and his men are dead, my lord,” the sivak reported. “We found what was left of them near a bridge south of Tarsis. The tracks in the snow indicated three men riding horses. They were on the road leading from Rigitt. One of the horses apparently bolted, for its tracks ran off back to the south. Two horses left the bridge together, traveling west, leaving the road and cutting across country.
“We found the runaway horse wandering about the plains,” the sivak added, “and on it was this.”
He held up a bracer decorated with the kingfisher and the rose.
“Solamnic Knights,” Kitiara muttered irritably. She shuffled through reports from her other spies, searching for one of them in particular.
The knight, Derek Crownguard, traveling with two fellow knights, arrived in Rigitt. The three men hired horses, stating they were planning to ride to Tarsis…
“Son of a bitch,” swore Kitiara.
Of course it had to have been them. Who else but Solamnic knights would have dispatched draconian warriors so handily? She couldn’t believe it.
“How long have they been dead?” she asked.
“A couple of days, maybe,” the sivak replied.
“Son of a bitch!” Kit swore again, this time with more vehemence. “So the bridge was left unwatched for days. The felons we are after could have crossed unnoticed, entering Tarsis without our knowledge.”
“We didn’t see any other footprints, but we will find them if they did, my lord,” the sivak promised, and that proved to be the case.
“Those you seek are in Tarsis, my lord,” the sivak reported a day later. “They entered the gates this morning. All of them.” He pointed to the bounty list. “Matches the descriptions perfectly. They are staying in the Red Dragon Inn.”
“Excellent,” said Kitiara, rising. Her face was flushed, her eyes glinting with excitement. “Summon Skie. I will fly there immediately—”
“There is, um, a slight problem.” The sivak gave a deferential cough. “Some of them have been arrested.”
“What?” Kitiara glared at him, hands on her hips. “Arrested? Who was the fool who ordered that?”
The moment she mentioned the word “fool” the answer came to her.
“Toede!”
“Not Highlord Toede in person,” the sivak said. “He sent a draconian emissary who is conducting the ‘negotiations’ with the Lord of Tarsis in Toede’s name. It seems that one of the gate guards recognized the Solamnic knight—this Sturm Brightblade,” added the sivak, consulting the list. “The gate guard told the Lord of Tarsis, who seemed inclined to make nothing of it. The draconian emissary insisted that the guards be sent to bring in the knight and his companions for ‘questioning’.”
“I’ll wring that hob’s neck!” Kit said through her teeth. “Does this emissary know these people are on this bounty list?”
“I don’t think he made the connection, my lord. All he knew was that a Solamnic knight had arrived in the city. The reason I say that is because some of the group were allowed to remain in the inn. The half-elf, the knight, the elf, the dwarf and the kender were the only ones taken into custody.”
Kitiara relaxed. “So the half-elf and the others are in prison.”
The sivak coughed again. “No, my lord.”
“By our Queen, what else went wrong?” Kit demanded.
“It seems there was a riot, and in the confusion the kender disappeared. The others appeared in court along with another elf, who turned out to be daughter of King Lorac. They were all being taken off to prison when the guards were attacked by three cloaked men who rescued the prisoners.”
“Don’t tell me,” said Kit in a dangerously calm voice. “The three men who rescued them were Solamnic knights.”
“It appears so, my lord,” said the sivak after a slight hesitation. “My informant overheard them speaking the Solamnic tongue, and the knight, Brightblade, recognized the others.”
Kitiara slumped back down in her chair. “Where are they now?”
“I regret to say the knight and his companions escaped. My men are searching for them. However, the women on the list and the other men, including the wizard and the cleric of Paladine, are still in the inn.”
“At least something has gone right,” said Kit, good spirits returning. “The half-elf will not abandon these people. They’re his friends. He’ll be back for them. Keep your spies at the Red Dragon Inn. No, wait. I will go there myself—”
“There’s, uh, one more problem, my lord,” the sivak said, sidling back a few steps to be out of sword range in case her wrath got the better of her. “Highlord Toede has ordered the attack. As we speak, dragons are flying on Tarsis.”
“I told that fool to wait for my signal!” Kitiara fumed to Skie as the dragon climbed toward the clouds.
She pressed herself close to Skie’s body, hunching down low over the dragon’s neck so as to add as little possible wind resistance. Taking off was always the most difficult part for the dragons. Even without riders, lifting their ponderous bodies into the air required great strength. Some riders were inconsiderate of their mounts, doing little to aid them and sometimes actually impeding them.