Dragonlance's Newest Sequel Storms Bookshelves in August
Dragonlance’s epic fantasy returns, now with even more Time devices to deal with. In Dragons of Fate, Destina Rosethorn journeys into the past but finds herself stranded, removed from her own time and without the means to return. This epic sequel to Dragons of Deceit drives readers further into the Dungeons & Dragons mythos, from the writers that started it all.
Take a look at the cover for Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman’s newest Classic Dragonlance novel: Dragons of Fate. An exclusive chapter excerpt is below.
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Dalamar and Justarius walked toward the sound of hammering, which was emanating from a large building made of stone. Aware that they would never be heard if they announced their arrival, they walked inside.
A short and stocky young woman with her hair wrapped in a scarf and some sort of helm over her head glanced at them through a glass panel in the helm and continued with her work. Dalamar presumed she was Alice Ranniker.
She was dressed in a rough calico shirt, leather breeches, leather apron, heavy leather gloves, and thick boots. She stood over an anvil, using a large hammer to beat a piece of red-hot metal into submission. The helm apparently protected her face from the heat and the sparks flying from the hammer.
Alice plunged the metal into a tub of water connected to a barrel that was in turn connected to the sluice that brought the water in from the well. The water hissed, sending up clouds of steam. She took the cooled metal out of the water, laid it aside, and removed her helm to regard her two visitors with frank curiosity.
“Hullo,” she said, smiling, completely unconscious of the soot and grime on her face. “I’m Alice Ranniker. Who are you?”
“I am Justarius, master of the tower of Wayreth,” said Justarius with dignity. “This is my colleague, Dalamar, master of the tower of Palanthas.”
“Bless my gears and garters!” Alice gasped. Pulling off the gloves, she hurried forward to greet them. “Merciful moons of magic, this is such an honor! No, no. Don’t come into the forge,” she warned hastily. “You’ll get your fine robes dirty. We’ll talk in the house. Such an honor!”
She took off the leather apron and, with flustered courtesy, herded them into the small cottage and deposited them in a minuscule parlor. Every piece of furniture was covered with soot. Justarius and Dalamar eyed the chairs askance and chose to stand.
Alice excused herself, saying she needed to go wash up and change clothes. She returned a short time later minus the scarf, looking clean and neat in a sprigged dress, with her brown hair bound in a single braid wrapped around her head.
She was built like a blacksmith, with large shoulders and well-muscled arms. Dalamar judged she could have probably picked him up, heaved him over her shoulder, and walked off with him. She had bright eyes and an infectious smile.
“Have you come to invite me to take the Test?” she asked excitedly.
“I am afraid not, Mistress Ranniker,” said Justarius. “We are here on a far more important mission.”
Alice looked crushed at first, but her disappointment faded when Dalamar brought forth the black velvet bag and asked if there was somewhere he could display the contents.
“My laboratory,” said Alice proudly.
She hustled them out of the parlor and into the laboratory, which apparently doubled as the kitchen, for it contained a large marble table covered with magical runes and soup stains. Dirty plates and cutlery jostled with bottles, test tubes, and sheaves of paper with diagrams of various outlandish-looking and fantastical machines. A fire burned in the fireplace, where a mechanical hand was slowly turning a chicken roasting on a mechanical spit.
“Would you like to stay for dinner?” Alice asked.
Justarius glanced at the test tubes and the dirty plates. “Thank you, Mistress Alice, but I am on a restricted diet.”
“Suit yourself,” said Alice. “Make yourself comfortable. Sit on that stool. You can prop your crutch against the fireplace.”
She cleared a space on the table with a sweep of her arm, sending plates and tubes crashing to the floor. Dalamar emptied the contents of the bag onto the table. He did not tell her what it was, for he wanted to see her reaction.
Alice bent to study the debris. “I can see it’s magical, or at least it was at one time. Are the pieces trapped or may I safely touch them?”
“You may touch them,” said Dalamar, giving her credit for having the sense to ask.
Alice picked up the rod and studied it from both ends. She held the orbs in her palms and seemed to weigh them. Rummaging about the remaining contents on the table, she located a jeweler’s glass and put it on her eye to examine the jewels. She picked up one of the faceplates that formed the pendant and peered at it in the sunlight, then took the chain and swung it back and forth. Removing the jeweler’s glass from her eye, she said, “Excuse me,” and disappeared into another room. She returned carrying a large leather-bound book and thumped it down on the table.
“My great-great-great-grandfather Ranniker’s Book of Artifacts,” she said proudly.
Opening the book, she carefully turned the pages until she found what she sought, then shifted the book so they could see and pointed to an entry: Device of Time Journeying.
“This is or was the famous Device,” she stated. “Forged on the Anvil of Time during the Age of Dreams by person or persons unknown, it is one of a kind. There will never be another.”
She shook her head sadly. “What did you gents do to it? Run it through a meat grinder?”
Justarius glowered in anger and Dalamar hastily intervened.
“What happened to it is not relevant, Mistress. As you can see, it no longer works. We know you cannot build another one, but we were hoping you could repair this one so that it would once more be functional.”
Alice looked at the diagram in the book, then back at the pieces on the table. She picked up the rod and screwed one of the orbs onto the end, then lifted the chain and attached it. She placed the faceplate on the table and began fitting some of the smaller jewels into the settings. Dalamar noted her touch was surprisingly delicate as she handled the tiny objects.
“It’s been broken before now, hasn’t it?” she said abruptly.
Justarius acknowledged that it had.
“Did a gnome repair it?” she asked.
“So I was told,” said Justarius.
“Thought so. Some of the repairs are gnomish work. You can always tell.”
“Can you fix it, Mistress Ranniker?” Dalamar asked.
“No,” said Alice, straightening. “Sorry.”
“Are you certain?” Justarius asked, dismayed.
“Too many bits and pieces are missing. For example, you need four small screws to hold the rod in place and there’s only one screw here. These four sapphires go here, here, here, and here, but, as you see, that leaves two empty slots. I could make replacement parts, including the jewels, but your biggest problem is that the magic’s drained clean out of it.”
Justarius sank down in a chair with a bleak sigh. Dalamar began to gather up the pieces to place them back in the bag.
“Now, gentlemen, don’t look so glum,” said Alice cheerfully. “I can’t fix this Device of Time Journeying, but I might be able to make a new one using the old parts, and I can refill the tank, so to speak.”
“What does that mean?” Dalamar asked.
“Add the magic,” said Alice.
“You can make a new device that will transport people through time?” Justarius asked, clarifying.
“It wouldn’t be much of a Device of Time Journeying if it didn’t transport people through time, now would it?” Alice asked with a snort. “I can build a newer one and, not only that, I can make it better.”
Dragons of Fate will be published on August 1. It is available for preorder now on the Penguin Random House site or from Amazon.
Reprinted from Dragons of Fate: Dragonlance Destinies: Volume 2 by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. With permission from Wizards of the Coast LLC. Published by Random House Worlds, an imprint of Random House, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.
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