The War Of The Lance (31 page)

mercilessly smashed to ground and destroyed. Gilthanas commanded his flyers to be utterly
ruthless in this

deadly strike against the enemy dragons - and it seems his orders were carefully followed.
The dragonlances again proved their worth, although the numerical advantage of the good
dragons made the outcome all but inevitable. In moments, the evil serpents had been slain;
with tooth

and claw and lance.

Just before the bloody end, however, Kadagh saw one stooped figure scramble into the
saddle of a green dragon and urge the beast into the air. Flying low, ducking and weaving
between trees and hillocks, the lone dragon and its rider vanished into the heights of the
Dargaard Range, leaving the battle far behind. It was Lord Toede, providing an example of
courage for his doomed army.

Laurana's dragons conserved their killing breath weapons for the attack against the
draconians, ogres, and hobgoblins of Throtl's legion. Swiftly Kadagh assembled his company
- brutish ogres, armored in plate

mail and bearing great swords. They were the most formidable footsoldiers of the Green
Wing, and records of both sides indicated they fought accordingly.

The ogres scattered into the ravines and thickets around the camp, fighting in small
groups and rushing at any dragons careless enough to get caught on the ground. The gold
dragons belched fire into the underbrush, and smoke and flame drifted across the
battlefield. Kadagh himself led the charge against a brass dragon that

had landed, exhausted, near a clump of brush. He leaped onto the creature's wing and
felled the rider, a knight, with one blow of his great sword. Others of his company rushed
at the dragon, and when the wyrm reared back, Kadagh plunged his blade into the base of
its skull.

(This tale is more than mere ogre boasting, Your Grace. Gilthanas witnessed the entire
incident. Silvara immediately pounced on the ogre, crushing him to earth and felling the
rest of his company with a blast of her icy breath. So impressed were the elves with the
ogre's valor, however, that they later returned him as a prisoner to Laurana's camp.)

The knights sought and slaughtered the monsters of the Green Wing for the rest of that
grim and bloody day until the tattered remnants of the force finally slipped into the
wilderness of the Dargaard Mountains.

It is interesting to note, Your Grace, that by dint of this

tactic, Laurana left her own ground forces open to the same kind of attack by the blue
dragons in Dargaard. She was bold enough to gamble (correctly, it turned out) that Kitiara
was still too chastened by her defeat at the High Clerist's Tower to risk sending her most
powerful forces into a possible trap.

After the Battle of Throtl, Laurana once again divided her army. She sent many of the
dragons - all of the brass and bronze, with some of the copper - to guard the portion of
her army that marched on the ground. The other dragons scattered across the plain, to all
points of the compass, seeking the dragonarmies. Laurana knew that elements of the White
Wing lay somewhere to the south, but she had no clue as to the location of the mighty Red
Wing.

And still there was the presence of Ariakus's huge reserve wing, vanished since it had
departed Sanction. Laurana dispatched a pair of the precious silver dragons toward that
glowering seaport, determined to learn what she would about the reserve army's location.

When the scouting dragons discovered forces of the Dark Queen, they were to report the
location of those troops to the Golden General. Under no circumstances were they to
precipitate an attack. I surmise, Excellency, that these dragons performed the
reconnaissances in the guise of soaring birds of prey. At least, the records of the
dragonarmies show no sign that they knew they were under observation - and Laurana's
assignment of the scouting to the golds, silvers, and coppers indicates a preference for
those dragons who could polymorph themselves into the bodies of different creatures. And
what better than a hawk or eagle, symbolically patrolling over the plains?

The soaring spies first spotted the strong contingent of the White Wing, larger than the
Throtl Legion and including many sivak draconians (the only draconian, as Your Grace well
knows, capable of true flight). Dragonarmy records show that this force had been ordered
northward by Ariakus himself more than a week earlier. (After the battle at the Clerist's
tower, the emperor had anticipated the need for additional forces in the plains, and
issued the necessary orders.)

The White Wing was discovered by none other than

Silvara, herself, as the great silver dragon flew a southwestward arc in her search. The
force had just crossed the Dargaard River, and marched northward along the east bank of
the Vingaard, placing it squarely across Laurana's line of retreat. The river here flows
through the rock-carved channel noted by Markham - a gorge that is some twenty miles long.

(Silvara flew alone on this scouting mission. I submit, Your Grace, that the absence of
Gilthanas from her back supports the idea that she flew in the body of a bird, rather than
as a dragon.)

Laurana's response to the information was immediate and bold: she reversed her army's line
of advance and urged the troops into a forced march straight into the advancing White
Wing. Each scouting dragon, as it returned from its patrol, rejoined the army, until the
Golden General again held all her dragons close to the body of the force. Within
twenty-four hours, the Army of Solamnia was massed and focused on a single line of march,
screened by a picket line of flying, griffon- mounted elves.

The White Wing, in contrast, had not yet located its foe, though it marched along
Laurana's trail, and must have known that the Army of Solamnia had preceded it only by a
matter of days. A wide screen of sivak draconians flew ahead of the wing, while the white
dragons remained behind with the main body.

The following day near noon, the sivaks and elves came into sight of each other nearly a
thousand feet above the ground. The armies advanced to meet on the bank of the Vingaard
River, near the rapid channel called, simply, the Narrows. (That channel would give its
name to the battle that occurred here.) The airborne skirmish was quickly reinforced by
dragons on both sides, and by midafternoon the forces on the ground had formed parallel
lines of battle.

Finally Laurana found the chance to unleash her horse- mounted knights, and the lancers of
Solamnia added much glory to their names on this bloody afternoon. The Knights of the Rose
led the charge, supported quickly by those of the Sword - and here, Excellency, we learn
the name of the captain called so quaintly by Mellison “Sir Rose.” He is Bendford
Caerscion, and he led this thunderous advance

from the saddle of his night-black charger. His report to Gunthar gives us a first-hand
and thorough account of this pivotal melee.

"Eagerly the knights answered the call to attack - trumpets brayed and our restless steeds
exploded into a gallop. Pounding hooves reverberated through the ground as the line of
armored knights and horses gained unstoppable momentum. My heart swelled with pride - the
moment culminated a lifetime of training and devotion. A heavy lance, well-couched at my
right side, extended far past my war-horse's snorting head.

"The plain before me seethed with draconians. I saw their snapping jaws, heard them
hissing in hatred and fear, as we knights stampeded closer. The reptilian horrors bore
swords and shields. The few with spears lacked the wits to brace them to meet the charge.
As our thunderous formation neared the draconians, several companies of baaz turned and
fled - crashing into a rank of brutal sivaks who tried to whip them back to the fight.

"But it was too late. My knights ripped into the ragged line of draconians with scarcely a
falter in their momentum. My lance pierced the body of a huge sivak, pinning the creature
to the ground. I released my lance and drew my sword. The monster remained stuck on the
lance, its wings flapping, feet kicking, like some monstrous insect pinned to a display
board.

"The knights' charge smashed draconian after draconian to the ground, crushing their limbs
with pounding hooves, for we were rumbling forward at a fast canter. I slashed this way
and that with my blade, aiming for the heads of the monsters and leaving a dozen badly
injured in my wake.

"Then we broke through, leaving the shattered remnants of the draconian force to scatter
in panicked flight. I hauled back on my reins as soon as the enemy broke from the fight,
but my horse - and most of the others - were so excited that they continued the frenzied
race for nearly a mile.

"Our two companies of knights numbered less than three hundred in total, but the
stampeding momentum of our charge split the draconian line in two. We whirled back and
rode against a small contingent of hobgoblins mounted on great wolves. This rabble, too,
was quickly

scattered or destroyed. "A shadow flashed over me as this melee ended in the

enemy's rout. I felt a chill wind strike me and then, to my horror, I saw a trio of brave
knights - riding in close formation - buried beneath the full weight of a diving white
dragon. The monster bore men and horses to earth, and dispatched the riders with crushing
blows of its great claws and rending teeth.

"Then the serpent's jaws gaped and it belched forth a swirling cloud of numbingly cold
frost, slaying several more horses and riders in an instant. I urged my charger toward the
monster, but the steady horse refused to go near - and then the dragon turned its
attention to me. I prepared myself to die in that moment - but a new shadow flicked past,
and in the next instant a huge silver dragon flashed overhead. Its rider - a golden-haired
elf - thrust a heavy dragonlance through the white's wing, and then the great silver broke
the wyrm's neck with a single bite.

“With a salute of thanks, I recognized Gilthanas - and then we two parted and rode on,
seeking the scattered troops of the beleaguered enemy.”

All this time the Golden General kept the Knights of the Crown - most numerous of the
knightly orders - in reserve. Sir Patrick and Sir Markham no doubt chafed at this delay.
It is perhaps well for the sensitivities of this historian that I find no exact record of
their remarks, as they were forced to sit idle and watch the orders of the Sword and Rose
acquit themselves with glory.

Meanwhile, the men of Palanthas met the charge of baaz draconians with pike and shield,
while companies of irregular sword-and-buckler men harassed the flanks of the White Wing.
In the sky, the battle raged fierce and costly for both sides. The powerful good dragons
eventually slew the last of the whites and their riders, but not before nearly two dozen
of them perished - including two silvers and a gold.

Then, as sunset began to cast its shadows across the field, Laurana sent in the Knights of
the Crown - five hundred armored riders on eager steeds, charging with their lances, in a
thunderous rush that swept the battered remnants of the White Wing from the field. By
nightfall, the evil forces were in full retreat, though Laurana ordered a pursuit that
continued into the following day. Only when

she was convinced that the enemy troops were beyond reassembling did she order her army
again to concentrate, turning about to resume the advance toward Dargaard and Kalaman.

From here, Excellency, I depart to follow in the path of that great march. My eventual
destination is that great seaport - though on the way, I shall, of course, stop to examine
the scene of Laurana's greatest triumph.

It is for this purpose, therefore, that tomorrow I embark for Margaard Ford.

Until that time I endeavor in the service of history, Foryth Teel

*****

To the Great Astinus, Lorekeeper of Krynn,

I return to the Vingaard River again, Excellency, as did Laurana's army. It becomes
increasingly clear to me how the Golden General employed this great flow of water as the
keystone of her campaign - using it to screen her movements, defend her force, and - by
crossing unexpectedly - surprise her enemy.

After the Battle of the Narrows, Laurana resumed her northeastward push, but misgivings
clearly began to grow among the knights. Palanthas and the High Clerist's tower lay too
far behind them, now, and the forces of the Dark Lady were known to be mustering at
Dargaard.

The losses from this battle - the first pitched fight since the High Clerist's Tower - had
been high. We can only guess at the heartache the Golden General must have felt. Did each
fallen knight remind her of her dear friend - the stalwart Brightblade? Elves had fallen,
and Laurana well knew that each of those deaths had cut short many centuries of life. And
the human foot soldiers who had rallied to her cause - surely their loss, too, was as
bitter a waste to the elf woman.

Mellison's diary tells us that Laurana retired early to her tent for the nights following
that battle, foregoing the camaraderie that had begun to grow between the captains and
their general. For three days the army marched steadily, but not frantically. Laurana made
certain that the troops and dragons had opportunities to rest, that the horses could graze
on the newly sprouted grass beginning

to carpet the plain. Spring storms to the east shrouded the Dargaard Mountains, but the
skies over the army remained clear.

Finally, on the fourth day after the Battle of the Narrows, the scouting dragons reported
back. The Red Wing was on the march, and had been discovered to the southeast, advancing
steadily toward Dargaard. Heavy rains accompanied by thick clouds and fog continued to
mask the mountains for much of this time, and shortly after the marching column was
sighted, it disappeared into the foothills. The Red Wing might as well have vanished,
screened as it was by the weather against further observation.