Richard Knaak - The Legend of Huma

Sh—sh—the pain! She is not beyond me yet! Release me fro—from this agony and I will gladly restore you both! I swear it by—by the beyond! I swear it, highgod!

Huma looked down to see Gwyneth looking up at him intently. Her breathing was faint.

“What is it?”

“She offers us—you—life.”

“In return for what?”

He hesitated. “Her release.”

“Hu—” Gwyneth coughed uncontrollably. She closed her eyes. For a moment, the knight was afraid she was gone. She opened her eyes again, though, and fixed her gaze on him. “You cannot kill her—that is not possible. But you cannot release her, either. All Krynn will suffer for her torment. My life is not—not worth that.” She paused. The strain of speaking was using up what little strength she had left.

Huma draped her with his body so that the harsh wind did not strike her full force. “I won’t let you die.”

“You don’t have any choice.” She smiled faintly.

“You can’t,” Huma stammered, then finally spoke the words he had long ago admitted to himself. “I love you. I am ashamed I could not say it before. I will not lose you.”

Her face became radiant despite the fearsome wounds.

“I want—want—you to remember me as I am now—now, for this is truly me. I first truly lived as a human.” She took a deep breath. “I loved as a human.”

Her hand slipped from him. “I will die as a human—knowing at last that you—” Gwyneth closed her eyes as pain wracked her. Huma held her as she quivered. “—you—”

The shaking subsided. The knight loosened his hold. Gwyneth’s eyes were closed and in her deathly visage there was now an odd serenity.

“Gwyneth?”

Moortaal! It isss not too late!

Huma lowered her head.

A tail flickered briefly in sight and then vanished again behind the rise. The sky was dark once more. The portal, Takhisis’s gateway to and from the Abyss, had dwindled to a mere shadow of its former sinister majesty—yet it was still there.

Seizing hold of the Dragonlance, Huma began to drag himself toward the rise. His actions were involuntary; his mind contained only vague thoughts about what might have been. He no longer existed in the present. He was not even aware that he had reached the rise until he found himself looking at the Dragonqueen.

She lay some distance below in a crater shaped by her fall.

Huma lay there for a long time. Breath came hard to him now, and he realized that his ribs must be broken. The scene faded in and out, again and again.

Somehow, he managed to pull the Dragonlance up to the top of the ridge and force it over, point first. The chill wind no longer bothered him. It only served to clear his mind for the purpose at hand.

What—are you doing?

The Dragonqueen’s thoughts suddenly flickered into his head. He was so startled, he nearly dropped the lance over the side. Pulling it back, he used it to bring himself to a wobbly standing position.

The Dragonlance readied like a spear, Huma stared down at the thrashing goddess.

She lay on her back, her wings folded awkwardly behind her. The four remaining heads snapped wildly at the severed Dragonlance still embedded in her form. The weapon sparked each time the heads came near, and again and again they pulled away in pain.

“Hear me,” said Huma.

... At first, there was only the thrashing and the horrible cries of pain and fury. “Hear me,” he repeated.

Mortal. . . what is it you want?

The huge dragon attempted to rise. And failed.

“You are beaten, Takhisis, Dragonqueen.”

I am not! I cannot be!

“Your armies are being routed. Your renegades are dead or scattered. The Conclave will hunt them down. Such will be watched more closely in the future. There will never again be another Galan Dracos.”

More time passed. The Dragonqueen was visibly struggling for control.

What do you want, mortal?

“The balance must be maintained. Without good, evil cannot grow. Without evil, good stagnates. I know I cannot kill you.”

Release me, then!

Huma stumbled back at the intensity of the moment. The Dragonlance almost slipped from his grasp. “First, you must surrender.”

The wind had ceased. The sky was strangely clear, bun-light warmed Huma’s body. The portal was nearly nonexistent. The form of the Dragonqueen had become very still. She almost seemed-dead. Huma pulled the lance away from the edge and leaned over.

A dragon’s head, emerald green, shot up. Huma pulled back too late.

A thick, hissing stream of noxious, green gas shot forth enveloping him before he could even think. He fell forward and this time his grip on the lance loosened completely. It clattered down the ridge. The hapless knight also fell, toward the Dragonqueen.

He screamed with each bounce against the rock-strewn side of the crater.

If he had been in pain before, now he learned the meaning of agony. He screamed and screamed, but he did not die.

You still live! What does it take to kill you? You are only mortal!

Despite the pain, then, he laughed.

“I belong to Paladine. I belong to Gwyneth. Neither will ever let you have me.”

Huma pulled himself upward. He coughed and his hands shook. He had inhaled too much of the gas. The fall had wracked his body and it was all Huma could do to keep himself sitting up, so violently did his head swim. He knew that despite his words, he did not have much time left.

“They are coming, Takhisis.”

Who?

“The other Dragonlances. More than a hundred. A hundred times the pain and agony. I offered you a chance. They will not be so willing. You know that.”

They cannot kill me!

“They can give you eternal suffering.”

They cannot! The balance! You spoke of it!

“What do they care about the balance? So much better to have peace; that is what they will say.”

A long pause. Huma started to close his eyes, then fought to open them yet one more time.

“You will never free yourself before they arrive. Even if I die, they will still have you. A goddess at the mercy of mortals.”

What do you want?

It was evidently a strain for her to continue. Only one head still stared in Huma’s direction. The other three wavered uncontrollably.

“Withdraw from Krynn.”

I -

“Withdraw now!”

Very well.

“Withdraw your dragons as well. Never again must they come to Krynn. Take them with you.”

A long pause.

“Swear to it,” he added.

She hesitated.

I do.

“I want to hear you swear by that you hold most holy.”

Both witnessed the single dragon flying overhead and heard the call of its rider, a voice familiar to Huma.

Kaz. His voice was shaky and the dragon was visibly weary, but they circled above, ready to close.

“Your time is short, Queen.”

I swear that I shall withdr—withdraw —she writhed in pain and for one moment Huma thought he might be crushed beneath her form— withdraw from Krynn along with my children for so long as the world is whole. So do I swear by—

She said it. By the beyond. By the highgod .

Bolt had landed nearby, vigilant. Kaz, disregarding the looming presence of the foul Dragonqueen, raced to Huma’s side.

“You’ve won! You’ve defeated her!” Kaz stopped abruptly, and his expression became serious. “As I am your witness, Huma. I—I will remember as I remember my ancestors.”

Huma silenced him with a look. “Kaz, you must pull the Dragonlance from her body.”

“What?” Kaz rose and stared at Huma as if the knight was bereft of his senses. “Release her? She will wreak havoc all over! We will die—if we are lucky!”