Dragonlance 10 - The Second Generation Read Online Free PDF

she began to tempt him.
    "The poor young knight must have struggled long with his passions. He had taken vows of chastity until marriage, but he was human, with a young man's hot blood. At that age, the body sometimes seems to act with a will of its own, drags the reluctant spirit along with it. Kitiara was experienced in such matters. The unworldly young knight was not. I doubt if he knew what was happening to him until it was too late, his desire more than he could bear." Sara lowered her voice. "One evening, he was chanting his prayers. This was the moment Kitiara had chosen. Her vengeance would be complete, if she could seduce him from his god.
    "She did so."
    Sara fell silent. All three were silent. Caramon stared bleakly into the dying fire. Tika twisted her apron in her hands.
    "The next morning," Sara continued, "realization came to the young knight. To him, what they'd done had been sinful. He intended to do what he could to make reparation. He asked her to marry him. Kitiara laughed. She ridiculed him, his vows, his faith. She told him it had all been a game. She didn't love him. In fact, she despised him.
    "She achieved her goal. She saw him crushed, shamed, as she had hoped. She taunted him, tormented him. And then she left him.
    "She told me how he looked," Sara said. "'Like I'd driven a spear through his heart. The next time he's as white as that, they'll bury him!'"
    "Damn Kit," Caramon swore softly. He beat his fist into the brick fireplace wall. "Damn her."
    "Hush, Caramon!" Tika said swiftly. "She is dead. Who knows what dread retribution she now faces?"
    "I wonder if her suffering is enough," Sara said quietly. "I was young and idealistic myself. I could only imagine how the poor man must have felt. I tried to say as much to Kitiara, but she grew angry. 'He deserved it,' she claimed. And, after all, he'd had his revenge on her. That was how she viewed her pregnancy—his revenge. And that was why she made me promise not to tell anyone that he was the father."
    Caramon stirred. "Then why are you telling me? What does it matter now? If it's true, it's best forgotten. Sturm Brightblade was a good man. He lived and died for his ideals and those of the knighthood. My own son's named after him. I won't have that name dishonored." His face darkened.
    "What is it you're after? Money? We don't have much, but—"
    Sara rose to her feet. Her face was livid; she looked as if he'd struck her. "I don't want your money! If that was what I was after, I could have come to you years ago! I came to seek your help, because I heard you were a good man. I obviously heard wrong."
    She started toward the door.
    "Caramon, you lummox!" Tika ran after Sara and caught hold of her, just as she was putting on her cloak. "Please, forgive him, my lady. He didn't mean it. He's hurt and upset, that's all. This is a shock to both of us. You… you've lived with this knowledge for years, but this has hit us right between the eyes. Come back, sit down."
    Tika drew Sara back to the bench.
    Caramon's face was red and hot as the embers. "I'm sorry, Sara Dunstan. Tika's right. I feel like an ox that's been felled by an axe. I don't know what I'm saying. How can we help you?"
    "You must hear the rest of my story," said Sara. But she staggered as she tried to sit down and would have fallen but for Tika's hold on her. "Forgive me. I'm so tired."
    "Shouldn't you rest first?" Tika suggested. "Surely there would be time in the morning…"
    "No!" Sara sat up straight. "Time is what we lack. And this weariness is not of the body, but of the spirit.
    "Kitiara's son was six weeks old when she left him. Neither he nor I ever saw her again. I can't say I was sorry. I loved the baby as much as if he were my own. Maybe more, for, as I said, he seemed to have been given to me as a gift from the gods to heal my loneliness. Kitiara kept her promise. She sent money to me and gifts to Steel. I could keep track of Kitiara's rise in fortune over the years, because the