The Magic of Krynn by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman

Author:Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman [Weis, Margaret & Hickman, Tracy]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: Fantasy, General, Fiction, Science Fiction, Anthologies
ISBN: 9780786935932
Google: B29VHAAACAAJ
Amazon: 0786935936
Goodreads: 92879
Publisher: Wizards of the Coast
Published: 1987-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

KNOW WHO SENDS YOU:

HE WHO OWNS WHAT YOU HAVE SOLD.

Black as night, insubstantial as the smoke of a funeral pyre, the

four phantoms formed before the mage. Their bodies were only

shades of what they had once been, living men. Their eyes were

red as the flame in the hearth, their hearts as empty as

winter's wind.

"Where?" the darkest one, the longest dead, asked.

"A day's journey from here. You should be able to reach

them before dawn. A girl, a dwarf, and a half-elf."

"Bring them?"

Gadar hesitated.

The phantom laughed, and the hair shivered along the

mage's arms. The spirits were his to control, but he feared

them nonetheless. Still, he feared more any interference in

his plans. He could not allow himself to be stopped now.

Tomorrow was the night when the spell must be cast;

tonight the night when one must be chosen from the two

young men who waited in his dungeons. He must set these

four phantoms prowling again. It must be certain that

nothing could occur to thwart the spell.

"Stop them."

"It is done," the leader whispered.

And it was, Gadar thought as he watched the incorporeal

bodies of the spirits thin and fade. It was done. These

creatures had never failed to serve him before. They would

not fail now.

Regret stirred in the old mage's heart. But it never rose

strong enough to call him back from the shadowed path he

walked. His remorse was bound by chains, made up of links

forged by the deaths that he had caused. And those chains

were heavy ones, colored red by the fire of his need.

Riana's sleep had been brief. Having wakened just when

Flint roused Tanis to take the second of the night watches,

she had drawn close to a fire that she kept blazing high with

whatever fuel came to hand. She had not been a talkative

companion, Tanis thought now as he watched her stirring the

fire to greater brightness, but had spent most of the last watch star-

ing into the dancing flames.

Now he stood and gently took the long, smoke-blackened stick

from her hands.

"Enough," he said, tossing the stick aside. "You put us in

danger of roasting to death." He was sorry to see her flinch. He'd

meant his words lightly, for the mist that had made black ghosts of

the trees earlier in the night had deepened. And though dawn was

only an hour away, warmth and light were welcome.

"Pardon," she murmured. She drew her cloak closer around her

shoulders, holding it closed with a hand that trembled. Still she did

not take her eyes from the fire.

Tanis could taste the bitterness of her fear. "You do well to be

afraid, Riana. If you are considering abandoning your search, you

have nothing to be ashamed of."

"No!"

Flint stirred where he lay wrapped in his blankets against the

cold, damp ground.

"Hush," Tanis whispered. "He's done his watch. Let him sleep."

When she spoke again Riana's voice was low and trembling. "I

will not abandon Karel or Daryn." She bit her lower lip, worrying

it until Tanis thought it must bleed. "I hate this forest. I am not the

fool your friend thinks I am. I-I would like nothing better than to

go with you to Solace. But-I cannot.

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