"He wants us to come to him." Mirabeth voiced the obvious conclusion. "Up in the tower."
"But-" Danyal could think of a thousand reasons to object, though none of them quelled the joy of discovering that his friend was alive. "I suppose he thinks he's found something we just have to see," he concluded.
"Well, let's have a look, then." Emilo was already sauntering back over the bridge. Dan and Mirabeth came behind, though the two young humans slowed appreciably as they neared the mass of charred bodies on the far end of the span.
"I wonder which one is-or was, I should say-Kelyrn Darewind?" The kender spoke breezily as he stepped among the blackened bodies.
Danyal took Mirabeth's hand and squeezed, grateful for the returning pressure of her fingers. They avoided looking at the corpses as they walked along the fringe of the bridge to avoid the killing ground. Even so, the scent of burned flesh, singed hair, and death was like a physical barrier across the roadway. Finally, holding their breath against the stink, the two stumbled onto the broken, shattered ground of Loreloch.
Allowing Emilo to pick a path through the wreckage, they reached the base of the tower. Danyal helped the kender pull rocks away from the doorway, where they found that the sturdy portal had been smashed in by the destructive force of the dragon's attack.
Quickly they scrambled up the stairs that spiraled around the interior of the tower. "Foryth!" Danyal cried as they pounded toward the top.
When they reached the landing and burst through the open door, they found themselves in a small library. The historian was seated at a large table. A huge book lay open before him. Nearby were stacked numerous other tomes, and several scrolls had been tossed casually on the other end of the table. One of these had been unrolled and was being held open by a pair of heavy stone paperweights.
"Ah, there you are," Foryth said cheerfully. "I heard a bit of excitement out there. Glad to see that the three of you were able to get away."
"Why did you take off like that?" demanded Danyal, suddenly furious at the historian's nonchalance. "You could have been killed! We were supposed to stay together! Weren't you paying attention?"
"What? Er, yes… I suppose not. That is-tsk! Look here, my boy. I've found something absolutely fascinat-ing."
In spite of his agitation, Danyal leaned over the page that Foryth indicated. He wasn't surprised that he couldn't recognize the symbols written there. "What's that supposed to mean?" the lad demanded.
"Why, right here!" The historian could barely contain his excitement. "It says that there is a skull! The skull of Fistandantilus exists!"
"And why is that important?" Mirabeth asked.
"Because if Kelryn Darewind was to get both of those talismans, the results would be… well, they would be too horrible to talk about, that's what."
"Why? Kelryn is dead!" Dan objected. "The dragon surely killed him!"
"Perhaps. But the threat remains. If anyone of evil ambition should gain possession of the skull and the bloodstone, he would gain an unthinkable power."
"What power?"
"He could travel through time-become the Master of Past and Present, as Fistandantilus was in another era. That is, I believe that the combination of the skull and bloodstone would allow the holder to travel through time, much as Fistandantilus himself did."
"And that would be bad for Krynn?" Mirabeth wondered out loud.
"If the time traveler is wicked and ambitious enough, there are no limits to the damage he could do. Kelryn Darewind could easily become a virtually immortal dictator, a master of a realm greater than Solamnia. And he would be utterly, absolutely invulnerable, for he could use the same power to foresee any attempt against him before it was enacted!"
"Where is the skull?" Dan asked.
"That's the mystery that stopped Kelryn Darewind, that prevented him from going after the skull. And a good thing for the world, I might add."
"You told us. But does that mean you don't know where it is, either?" The lad was becoming exasperated with the historian's indirect responses. "Then why don't we get out of here?"
"Tsk. I said that Kelryn Darewind didn't know, but he lacks the keen eye of the researcher, the ability to perceive obscure clues. I myself have made a deduction."
"I think I understand…" Emilo Haversack chewed on the end of his topknot. "The skull-"
"Precisely!" The historian could hardly contain himself. "It has to be in the lair of the dragon!"
CHAPTER 38
A Captive Once More
Second Kirinor, Reapember
374 AC
"I'll be going to the lair of the dragon immediately," Foryth Teel said. "I have already looked in my book. There's a fair approximation of a map on page twelve thousand, six hundred and forty-seven."
"You're crazy!" challenged Dan. "You saw what that monster did to Loreloch! You'd never even get close to the skull, much less have a chance to do your stupid research!"
"My sense of duty compels me to try," the historian retorted stiffly.
"Why? So you can learn that spell to become a priest? What good will that do if you're dead?"
Foryth Teel sighed. "No. That isn't the reason. I have realized that I've been fooling myself. I have no future as a priest. In fact, all of you have helped me to reach that decision. That is, you've come to mean very much to me. So much so that I'm no longer the impartial chronicler- and perhaps I never was."
He paused, clearing his throat awkwardly. He had accompanied the other companions down from the lofty tower, and they had crossed the bridge to stand at the end of the span across the chasm from ruined Loreloch. Finally the historian continued.
"I, tsk, that is, I think it would be best if the rest of you retired to a place of somewhat greater safety."
"You should come with us!" Danyal insisted.
"You're a brave lad and a good friend. But I have my job, and you have yours. You have to see to Mirabeth and Emilo, you understand?"
"I–I'm going with you," Emilo declared abruptly.
"But the danger-" Foryth started to object, but the kender shook his head firmly.
"I don't know why, but I have a feeling that I can learn something important from that skull… like I've seen it before, and it was significant."
"Then I'm coming, too!" Mirabeth interjected. "You won't know what to do if Emilo-that is, if-" She broke off and covered her face as she sobbed.
"I'll be all right," the kender said. "You should get away from here!"
"Indeed, you and the lad, at least. Go to Haven, or even Palanthas. But get out of these mountains to somewhere safe," Foryth Teel said gently. "You both have many years before you, and who knows? It might be useful to future historians to have you bear witness to these events. You can carry the word of Kelryn Darewind's death and the end of Loreloch."
"Do you think the bloodstone was destroyed?" Danyal asked, shivering as he looked toward the ruined stronghold.
The next sound came from behind them, however, and the four companions whirled in unison as the rasping, dry laughter sounded from the darkness.
"The bloodstone was not destroyed. I still have it, safe and sound!"
The voice of Kelryn Darewind drew a gasp from Danyal and a low scream from Mirabeth. With one arm, the bandit lord held the lass in a grip of crushing force. His other hand held a knife, and its keen tip was already pressing into the young woman's throat.
Kelryn moved forward, lifting Mirabeth so that her toes barely touched the ground. Dan, Emilo, and Foryth could see that the once dapper bandit lord looked terrible. Much of his hair had been burned away, and a scar of red tissue covered his forehead and one cheek. His clothes were grimy and smelled of char.
Seeing their looks of incredulity, Kelryn chuckled bitterly. "I knew the dragon was coming, so I had a few seconds of warning. While my men were charging onto the bridge, I jumped into a ditch. I was half buried in mud when the fire came!
"And you are right, historian. The skull has to be in the lair of the dragon!" g
loated Kelryn. "Apparently you are not the fool I took you for. Now you will take me there!"
Danyal's hand was already clenched around the hilt of his long knife and his knees were bent, ready to lunge toward the hated bandit who had somehow survived to follow them here. Before he could attack, however, he saw one more fact in the eerie red light.
A tiny trickle of blood dribbled from the wound on the young woman's neck, the place where the sharp knife point was pressed. Mirabeth held utterly still. Dan knew the cut must have hurt, but she revealed no trace of discomfort or fear. Instead, she looked at him with an expression that pleaded for him to stay calm, to listen, to think.
Overcoming his fury and terror, the lad tried to do just that. Still, he growled a warning. "If you hurt her, I'll kill you. I swear by all the gods, I don't care if it costs my own life. You will die!"
Kelryn nodded in acceptance, as if the lad's passion was the most natural thing in the world. "Just don't you do anything that gets her killed," he declared in an easy, conversational tone.
"And now," he added to Foryth, "I heard you say something about a map. Well, get it out, historian. You're going to lead us all to the skull of Fistandantilus!"
Danyal stared in disbelief, but it was Foryth who asked the question. "How could you have known about the dragon?"
"What do you mean?" The menacing swordsman was nonplussed by the question. Then Kelryn pulled the bloodstone, still attached to its golden chain, from beneath his tunic. "He told me-the soul of the bloodstone, who waits for my coming, my prayers!"
"Fistandantilus?" Foryth said with detached, scholarly interest.
"The same. At last he has brought me to you, where my destiny and his shall come together!"
"What do you want?" demanded Danyal. "Power? Knowledge?"
Kelryn laughed. "I knew the historian had discovered my notes, and I suspected he would have solved the puzzle, learned where the dragon's lair is."
"And the skull." It was Foryth Teel who answered. Kelryn nodded, encouraging the historian to continue. "From the notes I saw in the library, you believe that the combination of the skull and the bloodstone will give you one of the great powers of Fistandantilus."
"The power to travel through time!" Kelryn Darewind could no longer contain his exultation. "The skull to show the way, and the bloodstone to give catalyst to my flight!"
"But why?" Danyal was mystified. He could understand a lust for riches or lands, could even see a vague purpose behind a man's desire to master other people, to make himself a lord or a king. But this was a craving that made no sense to him.
"There is no greater tool for one who would seek to further his own ends," Foryth Teel intoned. "A man who knows what will happen on the morrow can position himself to take full advantage of his enemies' misfortunes. I'm afraid what I told you before is true: He could become unstoppable."
"And so he will!" gloated Kelryn. "My power in Haven, before the coming of the dragons, was a small and pathetic thing in comparison to the might I will wield when I am Master of Past and Present!
"Now lead us through the mountains, historian. We go to claim the skull!"
CHAPTER 39
Threads
Reapember,
374 AC
It was so close now-the bloodstone was right here. He could almost feel it, could almost touch and taste the powerful talisman that was at the very heart of his immortal existence.
But there was still interference, a fog of mysterious power that masked itself even as it competed for the artifact. It was a shield that refused to let him pass, denied him his ultimate triumph.
It wasn't the boy who was the cause of his frustration; he knew that with certainty now. Instead, it was an arcane force, a mysterious and extremely powerful essence that was for some reason centered around, but not within, the human lad.
He possessed a talisman of arcane might that acted to thwart the will and intentions of the archmage. Even worse, there was something strangely familiar about that competing power, and it was every bit the equal of the archmage's own might.
And that meant that it was most assuredly something to be feared.
CHAPTER 40
Firemont
Third Misham, Reapember
374 AC
"There-the twin peaks, with the smoking crater between them. That has to be the place," declared Foryth Teel. His excitement over the discovery apparently overcame the fatigue, fear, and anger that had been with the companions constantly on their long, difficult trek through the High Kharolis.
For a moment Dan felt his frustration and anger expanding to encompass the historian, who could be so detached about their own circumstances, but the lad quickly quelled the emotion, saving his antipathy for their real enemy.
"The lake is steaming," Kelryn Darewind added.
"That's got to be the boiling lake that shows on your map."
The bandit's knife remained pressed against Mira-beth's throat, though the man conversed about the view as if she weren't even there. "The lair-and the skull of Fistandantilus-has got to be somewhere up that mountainside."
"Let's see " Foryth Teel was not entirely convinced.
He flipped open his book, tracing his fingers across the symbols on the page. "I see the boiling lake, and there we have the twin conical summits. But the glacier- there's supposed to be a glacier."
For the thousandth time, Danyal's hand closed around the hilt of his knife, and he cast a sidelong glance toward Kelryn Dare wind. As always, it seemed the man had anticipated his interest. He winked, flashing the lad a smile as cold as the stare of a dead fish.
"I have to admit this looks like the place," declared Emilo Haversack.
"Sure," Kelryn chatted easily about the connection. "The two mountains are both pointed. And that one has a glacier on the south face, just like the map shows. Now, let's move."
"Then that means the lair should be a cave mouth about halfway up the right-hand peak," Foryth concluded triumphantly and with as much confidence, Danyal thought sourly, as if he were describing where in the marketplace one might find a vendor of melons. Still, the historian refused to be hastened as he scrutinized the view.
Dan fought valiantly against the misery and hopelessness that threatened once again to drop him in his tracks. His only desire was to rescue Mirabeth, to get her away from Kelryn's hands long enough to exact revenge upon the bandit lord.
And then… and then what?
He didn't know. Of course, in the eight days since they had departed ruined Loreloch, Danyal had come to share some of the historian's sense of their task's importance. He recalled grimly the warning Foryth Teel had issued about the menace presented by the prospect of Kelryn Darewind's success.
Indeed, Dan had spent some of the last long nights thinking about those prospects. If the cruel bandit gained the power to travel through time, he could use that might to create an awful regime, a place devoted to violence and the worship of the vile, corrupt sorcerer.
The journey had been difficult as the five of them had made their way through rugged mountainous country. Yet the days outdoors had hardened them all, and they had learned to take advantage of what shelter they could find. Usually they had camped without a fire, unwilling to draw attention to themselves, for they all feared the great serpent whose lair was the object of their quest.
Huddling together under their two blankets, they had weathered the first blustery chill of autumn, determined to bring their quest to a successful conclusion.
Three times they had been brought to a halt as the kender was violently afflicted by one of his spells. Each had seemed, at least to Danyal, a little more severe than those that had come before. The first time Kelryn Dare-wind had been ready to kill the unfortunate kender. It had been Mirabeth who had quashed that idea, making it clear that she would sacrifice herself before she would allow it. Kelryn had been unwilling to relinquish his hostage, and for the first time, Dan had seen that the bandit lord was, in fact, as frightened as the rest of
them of being left alone.
For hours following that attack, Emilo had been unfocused, his eyes haunted by memories that he could not- or would not-recall. On the next occasions, Kelryn had reluctantly, and impatiently, waited for the kender to regain his senses and mobility.
Fortunately they had seen no sign of the dragon. If Flayze had returned to his lair after destroying Loreloch, then he had either remained there or flown into a different portion of his territory. Now they regarded the mountain, sure that the monster lived here and anxious to find the safest route of ascent.
Danyal wondered for a moment if, now that they had discovered the location, Kelryn might try to kill them. The lad resolved that wouldn't happen without a fight. But apparently the bandit lord was still frightened of the prospects of going on alone.
"You will go first, along with the kender and the historian," Kelryn informed Dan. "The lass and I will follow along behind, just to make perfectly sure the rest of you stay honest."
"If you harm her…" Danyal didn't complete the threat, but the fury burned hot in his eyes. Kelryn Dare-wind merely shrugged.
"Let's see… we can ascend the peak just about anywhere," Foryth Teel suggested, anxiously changing the subject. "It doesn't look like a real tricky mountain to climb."
"I think we should follow that gully," Dan suggested, pointing to a ravine that scored deep through the rough ground on the mountain's lower slope. "At least we'll stay out of sight from the lair."
The others agreed, and they used the waning hours of daylight to reach the foot of the conical summit. The lake of steaming water was nearby, off to their left, and even from a quarter mile away they could see that the surface of the water actually boiled in places, bubbles gurgling explosively upward, a roiled swath of waves churning into steam. A thick plume of water vapor rose from the lake, shrouding the valley in a nearly eternal fog, and they were grateful for the added concealment, even as the clammy air kept the perspiration on their skin from dissipating and matted their hair and clothing into a perpetually damp mess.
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