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Ice and Steel	By : Skullbearer Category: A through F > Dragonlance Views: 3083 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own the book(s) that this fanfiction is written for, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 5
- 6
- 7
Ice and Steel chapter 5

Haven and Plotters
We are trembling in our crutches
High and dead our skin is glass
I’m so empty here without
I crack and split my xerox hands
-Marilyn Manson, Last Day on Earth.
The next day was quiet; the priests were nowhere in sight so traffic had resumed as normal.
They passed noble families, merchants and more. They temporarily lost Tasslehoff when the wagon passed a gaggle of kender. He'd leaped off the cart and they'd left him behind as the kender tried to work out if Tas was any relation of theirs. He wasn't back until nightfall.
At midday the next day the party arrived at Haven.
Despite the grand title of lordcity, Haven was little more that a large town surrounded by a farming community. It's defences consisted of a few guards (one of which came to tell Tasslehoff to save them trouble and lock himself in their cells at once, a request which was politely refused) and a thick wooden palisade rather than the stone wall and guardtowers of true lordcities.
Dalamar had left off his robes and was dressed in Raistlin's clothes. They were slightly small for him and he looked rather odd in breeches and a shirt. He'd kept his battered old cloak though, and wore the hood pulled up over his head, casting his face in shadow.
He'd tried to convince Raistlin to do the same, but the younger mage had refused, reasoning that while Dalamar would not be welcomed, the Belzorites would need a very good excuse to attack a human white robe.
The Dark elf had shrugged, Raistlin was right in this case.
When Raistlin had asked why Dalamar was so adament about hiding his face, the responce had been curt, "Because more that a few of those selling here are from Tarsis."
Raistlin couldn't argue with that reasoning, and completely missed Tanis's pointed look at Caramon.
Dalamar's decision to remove his robe was proven all too correct when, barely into Haven, the group was approached by a Belzorite priest, who wanted to speak with Raistlin.
"Are you a wielder of magic, brother?" The man asked.
"A novice mage, sir, I have yet to take the test."
"You are very young, brother." The man said earnestly, "Are you aware of the evil in which you dabble- probably all unknowingly, I am sure?"
Raistlin had a sudden image of himself and Dalamar in a...compromising situation and had to fight to hide his smile. "Evil? No, sir. I have no intention of doing evil. What do you mean?"
The man then spouted out a rush of rhetoric cursing magic as the root of evil and calling Raistlin to come and hear them outside the temple of Belzor, for, the man suddenly looked downcast here, Raistlin would not be allowed in until he renounced his 'foul ways'.
Raislin pretended to be interested in the man's speech and willing to give up the magic if it was as foul as he said it was.
Dalamar turned his head at this point, smile hidden from the priest by the cowl of his cloak. "I am no white robed mage, priest, may I enter?"
"But of course brother." The priest beamed, "the rest of you welcome to witness the miracles preformed there. Priestess Judith will be summoning Belzor to appear among us this very night. And she will be speakin to the spirits of those who have passed over."
When he was gone, Raistlin leaned over to Dalamar and spoke softly; "You've sworn yourself to Nuitari, although you haven't renounced him directly, nice bit of manovering by the way, but by now not wearing his robes, don't you think it's going against your vows?"
Dalamar sighed, "Probably, but I think Nuitari would rather have a worshipper in disguise than a dead worshipper."
"Could it come to that?" A bolt of ice shot up his spine.
"Look how they treated you, you! A white robe protected by the law and still they denounce you in public. Politely yes, but they still did it. Should I wear my robes, then you may as well try to ask them to call up my spirit in their ceremony!"
In the end, Raistlin decided to follow Dalamar's example and disguise himself for the ceremony.
Caramon immediatly said he would come, of course.
Kitiara and Tanis also agreed to attend.
Tasslehoff, to nobody's surprise jumped at the idea, Raistlin imagined the kender running around the temple, 'borrowing' all the relics he could find and knocking over priests.
Flint refused, partly because he said the whole idea was daft, partly because Tas was going and partly because he needed- with a hard look at Tanis and Caramon- to take care of something he promised some friends.
Dalamar decided against the idea in the end, much to Raistlin's disappointment. He really didn't want to push his luck.
Still there was still a good few hours until the ceremony, so Dalamar and Raistlin took the opportunity to find the mageware shop they'd heard about. They left the group on Herbalist Street with money and instructions on how to find Flint's stall at the fairground, before strolling together, hand in hand, down the street.
After a quick stop at one of the herbalist shops for plants Raistlin couldn't grow at home, the two wandered down the road towards the end of the street where the mageware stop was located.
Once they'd arrived, however, Raistlin wondered if he'd misunderstood the instructions, because the house in front of them looked nothing like the shops they'd passed.
The windows and doors were shut and barred. No sign swung outside.
The two mages glanced at each other, then shrugged. Raistlin knocked.

Things were worse in Haven than Raistlin had first thought. Lemuel, the keeper of the mageware shop, had been repeatedly threatened and was preparing to leave Haven for another town, preferable not one where people wanted him dead.
As Lemuel was a harmless herblist who hadn't even taken the Test, this seemed incredible to Raistlin. Incredible, and worrying. He wondered if he should take Dalamar's advice and disguise himself for the rest of his visit.
At any rate, their travels had not been in vain. Lemuel's father had been an archmage of considerable power, a talent not shared by his son, and the attic was cluttered with spellbooks and books on tactics. Better still, Lemuel, who had no use for the books, was all too happy to sell them to the two mages, much to their delight.

************************Tanis's POV************************
The fairground was a scene of utter chaos as dozens of merchants, peddlers and travelling shopkeepers hurried to set their stalls and wares up in time for the offical opening of the market tomorrow.
Tanis and Caramon had left Flint and Kitiara to get the stall ready, he'd tried to leave Tas, but the kender had come anyway.
Tanis sighed, he hated everything to do with this little plot, but he had given his word to Caramon.
Dalamar clearly had hidden past in Tarsis, and Tanis had no doubt that if the Dark elf was afraid he'd be recognised by simple merchants, then there was a good chance the three of them could find it out by asking them.
Having Tasslehoff along actually proved to be a good thing, while it would have taken a long time to pick through the mess of tents, half erected stall and crates of merchandise, the presence of a kender meant that people were all too willing to move out of their way in case Tas started 'borrowing' again.
Finding a storekeep from Tarsis was harder, but after a few queries to other merchants they were directed to a plump, balding man in brightly coloured clothing with a stall of the far side of the square.
The man was in the middle of unloading bales of cloth. When they arrived he wheezed, mopped his bald patch with a hankerchief and straightened.
"If you're from the temple I'm not interested. I don't hold with Gods and that's final!" He snapped.
"We're not from the temple." Tanis said, "We're selling like you are."
This was a good gambit, the solidarity between the sellers in Haven was strong.
It worked, the man smiled.
"What can I help you with?" He asked, holding out a sweaty hand. "My name's Hadley."
"Are you from Tarsis?"
"Yes, what-" The man began but was inturrupted.
"Oh wow!" Tasslehoff grinned, "I'd love to go to Tarsis, I've seen on the maps I've got, but that's not the same as actually being there, is it?"
"Shut up Tasslehoff." Tanis sighed wearily. "We need to ask you about someone who was in Tarsis until a few months ago."
"I'll tell you if I know him, but you"-this addressed to Tasslehoff-" keep away from my stock, d'you hear?"
"A Dark elf." Caramon supplied, "Called Dalamar."
Hadley's attention, which had up until this point been fixed on the kender, focused fully on Caramon. "Dalamar? Dark elf? Black robes, quite tall?"
"That's him, do you know him?"
Hadley gave a slight leer, "Oh, I know of him..."

This is so getting nasty...
Next- Troubles in Haven come to a head.
- 5
- 6
- 7
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Ice and Steel