Disclaimer:  Same as in previous chapters.

Hearty thanks to Margit and her beta, comments…etc, etc (snip many lines of things I should be –and I AM-   grateful about)

Chapter Five: The Fated Lady.

She had always looked at him with some strange kind of emotion, whether it was lust or any other kind of interest he could not tell right now. Right then he had never thought about the latter, for, after all, had he ever had the chance of distinguishing between the two? He was enthralled by her in some way or other, and that was what had mattered to him; deeply fascinated by her ambiguous smile, her dark locks, her hard body and those sparkling eyes that always defeated all glances, always having their will in spite of the whole world. Whenever they talked, he felt the unexplainable urge of proving he was no child anymore, and most of the times he had the uneasy feeling that he was making a fool of himself, but she never told him so. If all, she seemed amused, or maybe even pleased at his exertions.

How many warriors had been inside her bed before she came, nobody could tell. It wasn't even possible to know how many had been there after she had appeared in Sanction for the first time and asked for a place in the armies of Takhisis, though she was widely known as the lover of Ariakas. She did not accept to gain status by bedding people, yet, once she had gained it by her own skills as a brave and remorseless fighter, she did not blush at her own taking advantage of the situation. As everybody said, she was insatiable.

"I will never allow a man to control my pleasure, or to constrain my urges", she used to say, crossing her arms upon her blue armour and rocking herself contentedly in a chair. "If anyone, no matter who he is, tries to demand from me more than what is my own will to give, I will never look upon him again."

Ariakan nodded when she said that, and always threw a sideways glance at his father, who was also in the room, signing papers or doing anything else. But Ariakas never seemed to pay attention, and never answered to her words. He used to invite her to dinner and sleep with her one night, and perhaps some more, but they would end up quarrelling, and then she would go to find an officer and he a slave woman until they missed each other and started the process over again. No woman was as daring as Kitiara, no man as strong as Ariakas. Ariakan knew that, and he was aware of the turns and jumps of the relationship, though some things remained a mystery to him, making him feel at certain moments, effectively, as if he was a child.

In fact, to be honest, he did not have much clue as to how it worked. Winks, half-hidden smiles, touches were lost upon him, except perhaps for a certain burning ache that suddenly overtook him whenever she got intentionally closer to him and remained there long after she was gone. He had bedded a woman once, but his father had given her to him and she had had no say in the matter. Besides, she had remembered him so much of Roselind that he hadn't enjoyed it much more than her, and later dropped the pastime completely.

That was why he had needed her to make the first move that time.

"You are a great rider, Ariakan!"she breathed out that day shortly before the war started, cleaning the pearls of sweat on her forehead as she went down her dragon. "Your father will be proud of you."

"I'm proud of myself, milady." he said. She laughed at those words.

"This is a good answer indeed."

As she spoke, she began to walk towards him, and put a hand on his shoulder. Her caress had the effect of a magical current, and Ariakan had to inhale deeply. She was so...charming when she praised him, when she looked at him as if she wanted to...

"A good answer and a good race. "she continued, making a display of her diabolically seductive smile. "Would I dare to ask you to continue your good day in bed?"

Not more than half-conscious about his own acts, and scarcely ashamed of it, Ariakan nodded.

* * * *

"Where are you going?"

Sitting on a sofa in the temple of Luerkhisis, where he was resting after that excruciatingly tiring spring day of the second year of the campaign, Ariakan watched with deep curiosity how his father pulled a dark cloak over his armour, and how he paced to and fro searching for random things as his sword or his gauntlets while he kept grumbling things.

"Find Tombfrye at once!" the Highlord shouted to his lieutenant, ignoring Ariakan. As soon as the man nodded and turned away in the corridor, he spun round and continued his nervous walk.

"My sword! If I find the damned idiot who has changed it of place...."

His son sighed then, and got up to fetch it. Nobody had changed it of place but Ariakas himself an hour before, when he had thrown it to the ground in a fit of temper after learning about the major defeats in the Solamnic front, but he supposed that he had been too angry to remember.  Not that he blamed him.

"Here you are, Father ,"he said as he gave it to him, and then repeated his question. "Where are you going?"

Ariakas whirled) the weapon away from him abruptly, and sheathed it.

"To kill her."

After that rather curt answer, he turned away towards the door, his cloak flying as a black shadow at his heels. However, as he was about to slam the iron door behind him, his expression changed, and he turned back.

"Did I hear you say something?" he asked in a dangerous tone.

Ariakan sustained his glance for a long time.

"She won't allow you to kill her" he said, slowly. "Even degraded through her blind lust for power, she will be a dangerous and ruthless enemy for you."

"If she chooses to rebel against Takhisis's will and mine, we will fight."

Yes, but when had the will of Ariakas or of Takhisis ruled her life for a single moment? When had she wanted anything else than to fulfil her own ambition? Would she not fight to be the one to survive and, if she could, have the place she had always wanted in the forces of Darkness?

Would she...?

Suddenly, Ariakan saw in his mind an ambiguous smile, and felt two hardened but skilled hands crawling over his back as the heavy scent of sweat invaded his nostrils. He wavered.

Ariakas would not kill her. He knew.

* * * * *

You were brave, intelligent, magnificent; maybe invincible. You were the greatest woman I ever knew, and you would have been able to conquer the world for Takhisis if you had wanted. But you did not want it. Instead you got carried away by your selfish ambition, and did harm to our cause, like the Highlords…like my father, like all did.And now, your ashes begin to burn again in the ruins of Sanction with a great fire, or so they say. Do you really think it's more than an illusion?

Are you really a worthy flame, Kitiara Uth Matar?

"Ariakan! You're talking to yourself!"

Slightly shaken by his companion's words, the prisoner returned to his present state once more. Lord Gunthar was there on the Nest, repeating once more that all the measures that were going to be taken were just preventive, and that there was no real certainty concerning that supposedly planned rash attack of the forces of Darkness. Next to him, Lord Michael and Lord Millar were escorting a man with a red beard and slightly pointed ears who had a sombre look upon his face, and that Ariakan did not suppose to be any other than the famous Tanis Half-Elven, the man who had killed his father.

"You were right, Ariakan", Thomas whispered then in his right ear. "It was about Kitiara. But I cannot believe it. I expected her to attack, but, so soon?"

Lord Gunthar began then to give practical instructions to end his speech, concerning how the Knights should be armed and where they should go. Everybody who had left for his lands should return to protect the Tower and Palanthas, and those who were going to leave soon should forget the very idea. This meant that Thomas would not be able to journey when he had intended, to stay for half of the year in his lands as he normally used to, and he sighed when he heard it.

"Unlucky news!" he muttered as the Knights began to disperse to return to their duties, old and new. "If that Tanis has been able to convince Lord Gunthar that it can be serious, he deserves my obedience, yet, is she really so imprudent? As far as I know, the Dark Lady is a brilliant strategist, and she must have seen that she's cornered in Sanction, so much as her army is said to have grown. To attack Palanthas she has to take the Tower first, and to take the Tower she has, first, to cross all the land between her and us, with her men and her supplies, and then to undertake a long siege. You who know her, can you believe her capable of that?"

Ariakan thought for a while while they went downstairs to reach the armoury, and shrugged his shoulders.

"Kitiara was a brilliant commander, and there was nothing she would not do in order to have power. Yes" he continued, seeing the wrinkles in Thomas's forehead "it can be said that she tripped once, but she's not dead yet. I'm with Lord Gunthar here: it's better to take care."

"Even if the strategy seems impossible?" Thomas insisted, with a scrutinising look that Ariakan found suddenly annoying.

"It's always safer to think that there might be something one does not know instead of attributing rashness to an intelligent enemy. Who taught me about not underestimating them?"

"I do not underestimate her" the Knight shrugged the accusation off with a matter-of-fact tone. "That's why I want to know everything I can. But this is idle talk: Lord Gunthar believes there might be danger, and he is not a man of light judgement."

"Of course not", Ariakan nodded.

He did not know the nature of her plans any better than the rest of the Knights did, yet he was sure of one thing: to be careful about Kitiara could never be a light decision. Even though he doubted profoundly that she would win after deliberately scorning Takhisis and betraying those that had fought at her side, he had spent much time with her, and it was enough to know that she would never risk her life unless there was a possibility of victory at the crossing of the current. Probably she had a hidden card somewhere…

.

Or was she simply mad with desperation?

"Anyway, if we wait we will get the answers to those questions", he pointed out. "Come, I'll help you fetch your things. "

"And you?" Stopping in order to take another way that avoided the crowd of Knights of the Crown taking spears, Thomas shot another marked look at the prisoner. "What do you think about all this?"

"Me?" Ariakan shrugged his shoulders. "I told you already, I think that you should be careful, and…"

"I do not mean that!" Thomas interrupted. "They are your people."

The young man turned pale. Suddenly angry, he turned his face to Thomas and confronted him, vehemence written over his features.

"They are not my people. "he hissed. "I served a goddess, they don't. They are her enemies, and so…"

Just about to say "they are mine", Ariakan realised the upcoming mistake and shut up in time. Confused, he turned away, and he could hear the footsteps of the Knight following him in amazed silence, probably trying to digest what he had just said.

* * * * * * * * * *

Many busy days followed that one. The Knights had all returned now, their guests had been politely invited to leave for the security of the city, and preparations for a possible attack were made without delay, in spite of the persistent ugly weather. Ariakan had been allowed to help, and that decision did not surprise anybody who had been in the Tower during his captivity. As far as he could have, he had gained their trust, not to mention the usefulness of his experience in the Dragonarmies, and his eagerness was nothing but another point to his favour. Many whispered that it was evident that he had fully realised his past mistakes, and was trying now in earnest to stop those who had fought at his side in the War of the Lance.

One day, just as he was getting to bed after doing a watch, he heard a noise, like many people talking in horrified whispers. Overtaken by his curiosity, he peered down at the courtyard, and he could see a group of Knights surrounding something at the gate, the sickly light of torches wringing soft sparks from their armours. Some words reached his ears in spite of the distance, "murdered", "she's in her way", "the truce is broken", and, waiting no more, he began to descend the stairs quickly.

"What is the matter?" he asked when he arrived. Some of the Solamnics gasped in surprise at the unexpected voice.

"Oh, it's you, Ariakan." The light from a torch blinded the young man for a moment, but slowly he was able to open his eyes again and look upon them. Sir Gared was there among them, as well as Lord Michael and Lord Gunthar, but not Thomas. "Have you left your post?"

"I was released, my lord" he justified himself. "I was going inside when I heard your voices. What happened?"

"Look!" Gunthar had dark circles upon his eyes, and a deathly pale face. With a grave movement of his hand, he pointed at the stone floor behind the feet of the group, and then motioned him to get nearer. Ariakan obeyed, and he could see three unlucky Knights, with the emblem of the Sword still on their armours, beheaded and smeared in dry blood.

"The spies in Sanction. A dragon brought them here about half an hour ago."

 "So they're coming", the prisoner nodded, staring fixedly at the bloody butchery. No emotion, no repugnance, no consternation showed through his eyes and countenance, used as he was to play with Tombfrye's "heads" since he was a child, but his gravity matched Lord Gunthar's and even Lord Michael's as he turned towards them.

"Yes, and she wants us to know." Lord Gunthar grumbled. "It's already too late to stop her, since we were unable to see her strategy. Tanis was right. Dolan!!

"Yes, my lord?" One of the youngest of the group, perhaps around Ariakan's age, bowed before the Grand Master.

"Send an urgent message to Tanis Half-Elven, who is right now in Palanthas. Tell him that his presence is urgently requested here, in the Tower of the High Clerist, and sign for me. Quick!"

Bowing once more, the young Solamnic went away, and Ariakan watched his disappearing silhouette as if in a trance until he was gone. Then, his gaze went again to the grotesque corpses.

"These men will be buried these morning, though the ceremony will have to be postponed for a while. " he heard Lord Gunthar's voice say. "The emissaries from Vingaard and Solanthus are bound to arrive this night, and from what we hear from them we'll determine the gravity of our situation and how much time is left for us."

"I do not believe it will be much." Lord Michael chimed in in his usual sombre tone.

"We'll pray to Paladine, who returned to help us in the last war and will do so again."

"Even if the patriarch of his Church is agonising." Sir Gared's voice sounded hollow. "Have you had any news from Elistan?"

"No, but he will not survive much longer." Lord Gunthar said. Shaking his head, he sighed.

"Well, but now it will be much better if you all go to bed, except those who are on duty and you, Lord Michael, and Lord Millar. You will need to rest for tomorrow."

Half wrapped in a group of worried Solamnics who promptly obeyed the command, Ariakan soon found himself heading for his chamber. He was no less worried than they were, though his reasons were slightly different, and now he, too, was waiting eagerly for the break of dawn.

They're coming.

But, he wondered once more, as every day in the turmoil of his thoughts, who were they?

* * * * * * * * * *

The sky was dark and ominous, of the colour of the storm, when, at dawn, every single Knight of the Tower was ordered to get out of bed and go to the courtyard. There was no sun, no light on the horizon, but there was no rain either, and the atmosphere was so oppressive that some even began to remember stories of the world just before the Cataclysm. It felt just as if a major catastrophe was going to happen.

Lord Gunthar's news were not any better. The Solamnic emissaries that had returned from Vingaard and Solanthus did not have any official communication except that everything was following its course, but, as they had been riding through the lands of Solamnia, they had begun to hear strange rumours of noises in the sky such as voices, slamming doors and weird chants that terrified the people. This did not leave any doubt as to the strategy that Kitiara Uth Matar had followed to bring her troops to the Tower quickly and without opposition, for, unfortunately for them, there wasn´t a single among the older Knights who didn´t remember those very noises from past battles.

"A flying citadel!" Thomas exclaimed with a groan. "Of course! Why didn't we think about it before?"

"Most people believed that they had disappeared for ever, or had been lost or destroyed in the past conflagration", Ariakan answered in a whisper. "Not even I knew that at least one had remained in Sanction in Kitiara's power."

"I heard that they were created by Highlord Duulket Ariakas." Thomas added thoughtfully. "That he used evil magic to elevate those strongholds over the ground where they were built."

A sigh stealthily escaped the lips of the prisoner as he nodded his head.

"Those rumours were true", he said. "It was he who planned and did it, and he who elevated them over the ground, with the help of a group of Black Robes loyal to Takhisis. I was there, you know."

No shocked look came to Thomas's eyes at the reminder, though Ariakan knew very well that any other knight would have jumped in disgust. He simply eyed him with curiosity, and a gleam of a sudden appreciation came to his face.

"Am I wrong if I assume you would be useful?" he asked.

"Maybe." The younger man waited some time before adding. "But only if you get to take it, and, sincerely speaking, I doubt it."

"So do I. Anyway, come with me."

Ariakan did not attempt any other commentary, but followed Thomas in silence.

* * * * * * * * * *

"Here they come!"

The tension was unbearable for the Knights of the Tower. Proudly they had stood all morning with their Dragonlances and swords, listening to rumours over the thick mantle of grey clouds that covered the sky, and yet no dragon, no wall or no draconian had come into their view in all the time. When, at last, the fearful head of a Blue emerged from the threatening grey mass and the first shout resounded in the heavy air of the morning, everybody felt the air return to their lungs again, but it was only for a brief moment, for another dragon immediately followed the first, and then another, and another, until a whole squadron of reptiles came into view, flying towards them with their mouths wide open.

"Get ready, by Kiri-Jolith! Don't mind them!"

Ariakan could hear the shouts of the commanders, and guessed that the greatest part of the Knights were being swayed by the terrific power of dragon fear that was one of the main weapons of the reptiles of Takhisis. He hadn't been allowed to fight, but as Lord Gunthar had determined that he could be useful for his knowledge of the inner government of flying citadels he had been nonetheless permitted to stay, and, of course, this meant having a weapon, in this case a non-consecrated sword. To take precautions, Thomas had been ordered to keep an eye on him to watch his movements, something both knew to be wholly unnecessary.

"A really impressing spectacle" the prisoner breathed, unable to prevent his eyes from falling wide open. As he turned his head towards his companion, however, he saw his face was ashen grey, and that he didn't seem to have even heard what he had said.

"Dragon fear?" he asked, arching his eyebrows. Thomas nodded, his knuckles white on the magic silver of the Dragonlance.

"No way denying it, no way avoiding it", his trembling lips whispered, though Ariakan noted that he did not turn his eyes away or cower, like many others were doing.

"And there is the flying citadel. By Sargonnas! I didn't believe it was that one!"

"What?" Thomas nearly shrieked.

"This one was the first my father did. With a Solamnic castle, by the way."

Both were forced to stare motionless, one with horror and the other with fascination, at that impressing phenomenon that was a great stone citadel flying over a mountain of clouds. The walls of the old building were somewhat broken at the sides, and rocks fell sometimes into the air, showing that it had been wrung from the very ground with a great strength that surpassed the human possibilities. This strength, created by magical means, was the same that pushed it now to give it that deadly speed at which it was approaching them, surrounded by squadrons of dragons that breathed fire and lightning.

"Dragons, get ready! But do no attack until you are attacked!" a voice rung in the air above their heads. It was the chief of the squadron of Bronze dragons that had been able to come in time to their aid, though the very truce that the voice was remembering didn't allow them to fight unless provoked. In any case, Ariakan supposed that this truce would be history soon enough.

"Take impulse! Stand still! Prepare your…!"

"But, what…?"

All of a sudden, the young man began to feel a strange sensation, as if something was not going well. He looked up, and saw Tanis Half-Elven shouting something in the ear of Lord Gunthar, and then he met Thomas's suspicious eyes for a brief moment. The other Knights had somewhat uneasy expressions as well as they started to look up and point to the sky, to the squadrons of dragons and to the flying citadel that was flying above them.

Without stopping.

"What are they doing?" Thomas cried, throwing the lance aside with a clank.

"Palanthas." Ariakan voiced the evidence with a tone that wasn't more than a whisper. "What do you bet?"

(to be continued)

General Note: This has been written following closely the third volume of the Dragonlance Legends, "Test of the Twins".