The Lost Library of Cormanthyr le-1

by Mel Odom

  "Maybe he left."

  "After killing two of my best sellswords?" Keraqt shook his head. "You are not fool enough to believe that even for the time it takes to say it."

  "No." Golsway stood and paced the balcony. He looked out over the city, out over Gulzindar Street where he lived in lower Sea Ward. His house was not so grand as it was carefully placed. To the north, the spire of the temple of Mystra burned like a star as moonlight caressed the beaten silver. He also spotted the lights from Piergeiron's Palace and the Field of Triumph.

  Suddenly, for the first time since he'd inherited the house almost forty years ago, Golsway felt vulnerable there. He wanted to laugh at his fears, but he knew they were legitimate.

  "Fannt?" Keraqt said. "Are you all right?"

  The mage steeled himself, making his face neutral. "I am fine. Perhaps we should take our pipes and the port inside. I find the night air a bit chill."

  Keraqt only hesitated a moment. "Of course." He gathered his glass and followed Golsway through the twin doors of the drawing room.

  Golsway closed the doors, taking a moment to secure the double locks. Well above me ground and warded defensively, the balcony generally presented no opportunity for thieves.

  The drawing room held several trophies the old mage had gathered during his adventures. Shelves filled the walls, and small tables set up miniature exhibitions of discoveries he'd made. The room wasn't for bragging purposes, for few had ever seen it. It held only touchstones of his life, memories that soothed him when he grew troubled with other problems or lacked a myth to track down.

  "What do you know of Glitterwing?" Golsway asked as he indicated Keraqt should sit in one of the two stuffed couches.

  "He was one of the best and brightest of the wood elves," the merchant said. "A warrior at heart, with an eye always toward the future."

  Despite the tension that had arisen in the last few minutes, Golsway smiled. "You've been talking to Vlumir."

  Keraqt nodded. "Easily the best historian that can be had for a gallon of cheap wine."

  "He has fallen off the wagon again?" Golsway felt bad about that. Vlumir at one time had been among the most learned men in the Heartlands, maybe in all of Toril. But he had lost the use of his legs on an expedition while still a young man. Over a handful of years he'd fallen into drinking heavily, telling stories culled from legends and literature for a few coppers to keep himself drunk.

  "Has Vlumir ever been on the wagon?" Keraqt shook his head. "Never in the time I have known him."

  "There were other times."

  "One supposes." The merchant didn't appear convinced.

  "The stories you got about Faimcir Glitterwing from Vlumir were all tainted. He weaves truth with legend, never bothering to separate the twain. All of his elven history bears checking."

  "He's a half-elf. I guess he's prideful about what he almost is and what he once almost was."

  "What did he tell you of Glitterwing?"

  "That the man amassed a fortune before Myth Drannor fell, and that it still lies hidden somewhere in the ruins of the city."

  Golsway shook his head. "Go into any tavern, into any inn, any gathering where there are three men who want more out of life than the jobs they're currently working at, and you'll find as many tales like that as you'd care to listen to. In fact, you'll hear more."

  "Then what is it that you have?"

  The question, so simply put, threw Golsway off for a moment. It was silent testimony to the fact of how much time he'd spent working on the current problem. His gift for magic had never been more taxed. His need for a diversion was part of why he'd let Ker-aqt force an invitation into his home. "A foothold," he answered at last. "A foothold on a path to what may prove to be the greatest find since the fall of the City of Songs."

  Keraqt leaned back on the couch, his eyes fixed on the old mage.

  Golsway knew the man was carefully considering how to frame his next question. When it came to bartering, none was more shrewd than Keraqt. The merchant would take into consideration that they had shared a large meal together, had a considerable amount of wine, and the fact that Golsway himself had evidently not talked to anyone about his find.

  And the fact that Baylee had not been around in months. If the ranger had visited of late, Keraqt would figure that Golsway had vented his excitement somewhere already, perhaps even sent Baylee out to look for another piece of the conundrum the old mage was working on.

  Truth to tell, Golsway did feel himself weakening. There was only so much excitement that he could contain, even after a lifetime spent being close-mouthed about everything he saw fit to involve himself in. Even he could not have answered how the evening would have gone.

  "Fannt Golsway."

  The old mage turned at the sound of his name, as cold and piercing as a winter wind sweeping through the Storm Horns.

  A man stood on the balcony. He was tall and broad, and bore the scarlet scar Keraqt had spoken of. His dress was rough but the leather armor was serviceable. Cold gray eyes blazed under square-cut bangs.

  Golsway turned to face the man, readying the spells he had at his command. "Who are you who dares invade my home?"

  "My name doesn't matter," the man said in his cold voice. "I only bring a message." He kicked open the balcony doors, then raised an arm. Ruby pinpoints of light in his fist refracted from the candle sconces behind him.

  Golsway unleashed a magic missile at the man and watched as he staggered back, obviously in pain.

  Still, the man managed to bring his hand down. The old mage had only a brief glimpse of the ruby helix that tumbled from the invader's hand before it shattered against the stone floor. "Vil-layetaix!"

  Golsway's senses detected the presence of powerful magic even before the secondary explosion filled the room with curling red fog. The scent of crushed violet fungus filled the air. A figure formed in the fog, brought into sharper relief as the open balcony blew away the obscuring mist.

  The old mage knew the ruby helix had been part of a succor spell even as he faced the new arrival. His eyes widened in surprise as he recognized the lissome form of a drow elf walking toward him.

  6

  The drow walked toward Golsway, a spiked morning star naked in her fist. A mocking smile played on her lips. She wore a piwafwi, a magical shielding cloak, and wore a white sheer silk half-shirt and matching girdle that stood out sharply against her ebony skin. A bolstered hand crossbow hung at her left hip in a cross draw, leaving her right side free for the morning star. Her white hair was cropped close enough to leave no curl at all. The iris of her eyes were so pale as to possess no color at all.

  "Fannt?" Keraqt called from the couch. The merchant shoved himself back, trying to get clear of the confrontation without drawing attention to himself.

  "Silence!" Golsway ordered. None of the business he currently dealt in had anything to do with the drow. He had stayed clear of the Underdark for most of his career. The dark elves had more lies than truth, and absolutely no honor. To enter the Underdark was to walk with death itself.

  The drow elf kept advancing. "You have something that does not belong to you, old man." Her voice was rough, as though it wasn't used often.

  Knowing the drow communicated by silent hand code when in bureaucratic environs, Golsway guessed that this was no ordinary drow. If there was such a thing. He'd rarely heard stories of any of the creatures being encountered above the surface. "I don't know what you're referring to," the old mage said, buying time to organize the spells he carried in his head.

  The drow elf gestured with her free hand.

  Hastily, Golsway erected a shield in front of himself, expecting her attack to come directly at him. He felt the crackle of magic in the air and knew he faced someone of considerable talent and power.

  A flaming sphere a yard across formed on the stone floor in front of the female drow. Her thin lips pulled back in a smile as she directed the fiery ball's progress. The sphere smashed into Golsway's shield, wrappin
g spongily around it for a moment, then ricocheting off with amazing speed.

  Keraqt never had a prayer. The flaming sphere rolled over him and engulfed him. He screamed in agony, his voice ripping through what had been the quiet halls of Golsway's home. The fat merchant struggled across the couch as the flames sizzled the meat from his bones. Every place his hands or face touched started new fires.

  Even hardened as he was by everything he'd seen in his adventures, Golsway could not stand to see a man die in such pain. He chanted quickly, sending energy to dispel the flaming sphere.

  The fiery ball cooled somewhat, turning blood red just as Keraqt's struggles ceased. The merchant's burned and blackened body spilled to the floor, knocking aside a low table containing memorabilia from a dig site in Shadowdale. Tiny ceramic statutes shattered against the flagstones.

  "Mercy," the female drow said in her rusty voice, "is something shared only by the weak to end their miseries." She renewed her attack, abandoning the flaming sphere as it collapsed in on itself. Her hands moved again.

  Golsway prepared spells of his own, choosing them in order. The female drow was a strong opponent, one he'd not want to do combat with at anything less than his best. His staff was in his study on the third floor. Had he been outside, he would not have been without it.

  Bilious yellow-green vapors formed in front of the drow and began filling the room. The gentle breeze blowing in from the broken balcony doors pushed the vapors toward Golsway.

  The old mage backed away, recognizing the cloudkill spell. One whiff of the toxic vapor and he would be dead or defenseless. The spell let him know the woman didn't intend to let him live.

  Staying behind his shield, he summoned his magic, focused, said the words, and drew the tiny feathered fan from his sleeves.

  He waved the fan in the direction of the coiling vapors. Immediately, a huge updraft of wind surged from the floor to the ceiling high overhead. The vapor rushed up with it.

  The drow took a step back as her own spell threatened to backfire on her.

  While she was off-balance, Golsway reached into a hidden pocket for the vial containing a piece of squid tentacle. He dispelled the wind wall and smashed the vial against the floor, mouthing the words of the new spell. He felt the drain of energy from his body as the spell formed long black tentacles that writhed up from the floor.

  The spell for Evard's Black Tentacles was a potent one against most foes. Golsway hated using it because getting rid of the tentacles was dangerous and time consuming, and there was no real control over them. They were just as dangerous to him as they were to the drow.

  She gave ground before the tentacles. Setting herself, she lashed out expertly with the morning star, slashing hunks of the blubbery black flesh from one of the ten-foot long tentacles. It coiled away from her.

  Golsway had to duck himself as he pulled a piece of gauze from his pocket and seized a fistful of smoke from Keraqt's smoldering corpse. The sickly sweet smell of the dead man filled his nostrils as he said the words that activated the spell.

  Instantly, his corporeal body became insubstantial and the weight of his flesh dropped away. He activated the ring on his right hand and rose into the air, flying quickly. He didn't try for the door. Even though the tentacles could no longer touch him, such a move would expose him longer than necessary to the female drow's magic.

  He rose to the ceiling and focused on one of the holes he'd deliberately had installed in the house. It only took a moment for his wraith form to pass through the hole. He continued rising through the next floor, passing through one of the spare bedrooms.

  In a moment, he was in his study, surrounded by his things. The staff was in its case against the wall. He returned to solid form and dropped to the floor. Crossing the room quickly, grateful that he'd arranged all the tables against the walls and left none of them in the center of the room, he spoke the word of release. The case opened, revealing his collection of higher magic; some he understood and some whose natures he had yet to divine.

  The staff was seven feet long, of thick gnarled pecan that held a dark luster. Iron caps covered either end of it. He turned, feeling more confident. The staff was one of thunder and lightning and surely held enough power to handle the drow.

  "You run well, old man," the drow said as she floated up through the floor in wraithform herself. She carried a large hunk of tentacle that she was pulling from around her midsection. She threw the tentacle to one side and resumed physical form. The tentacle smacked against the floor wetly when it landed. "But I grow tired of the chase."

  "Who sent you?" Golsway demanded. He held the staff before him. Power radiated in the wood. The woman had to be able to see it if she was the kind of mage he thought she was. Still, she gave no pause to the threat that he offered.

  "One whom you would steal from." The drow glanced around the room, spotting the table where Golsway's latest interest lay. "You've been prying into affairs that are none of your concern."

  "You've not told me who-"

  "Nor will I." Ignoring the staff pointed in her direction, the drow crossed to the table.

  "Stay away from that."

  "You've no right to this." The drow lifted the box the artifact was packed in. She lifted it from its case, turning it in the light.

  For the woman to know so precisely what it was that he had, Golsway knew that a scrying spell had been used on the object. But the caster must have been very good, otherwise the wards the old mage had up would have notified him of the scryer.

  She turned back to him, locking her colorless gaze with his. "Now, old man, the chase is over, the prize won, and it is time for you to die for daring trespass." She lifted a hand clad in a snake-skin glove.

  Even as Golsway activated the thunder and lightning spell from his staff, a giant disembodied hand formed in the air. Each of the fingers was as thick around as his waist. The palm spanned the distance of two axe handles laid end to end.

  The hand struck as quickly as a spark snake. The long fingers wrapped around Golsway with crashing strength, covering the staff as well. The thunder and lightning charge erupted against the giant palm. By some miracle, the hand absorbed most of the damage, but too much reflected back into the old mage.

  Blackened and maimed, the sorcerous hand fell away in a lifeless heap. It disappeared before it hit the ground.

  Golsway dropped, unable to make his limbs find the strength to hold him. Death hovered around him and he knew it. His vision narrowed. Gasping for breath to feed lungs too seared to use it, he tried to cast one last enchantment. But there was nothing left in him to give.

  His last sight was of the drow as a golden aperture opened behind her. Smiling, she stepped through. The aperture closed to a tiny yellow dot that fragmented and vanished.

  Golsway closed his eyes, surrounded by mysteries he'd yet to solve, truths he'd yet to find. He'd always known there would never be a proper time for leaving. Then he died.

  It's all right, Baylee.

  The ranger came awake in the night, gasping for air and shuddering with the force of the nightmare. For a moment, he couldn't remember where he was. His chest heaved and perspiration filmed his skin.

  It was only a bad dream, Xuxa soothed. You are safe here with me.

  Baylee ran a hand through his wet hair. Only then did he realize he was alone in the hammock stretched between two limbs thirty feet above the ground. Jaeleen?

  Gone.

  The loss hit Baylee harder than he'd have thought even though he'd been expecting it. His body groaned with the aches and bruises he'd gotten from the fight with the ghoul. She didn't wake me.

  No.

  Baylee made himself relax back into the hammock. He stared up at the dying moon and the handful of stars dusting the remains of the night. He wondered if anyone could feel more alone than he did at that moment. Did she try to wake me?

  Xuxa hesitated.

  No lies, Xuxa. We could never have lies between us.

  She didn't, Baylee.<
br />
  The ranger glanced further up into the tree, folding his arms behind his head, and tried to pretend the leaden lump in his breast wasn't his heart. He forced a smile. Xuxa hung upside down, barely a yard above him, her leather wings folded tightly around herself. Did she talk to you? he asked.

  No.

  Did you talk to her?

  I saw no point. We have nothing to discuss.

  Did she take much this time?

  The azmyth bat stretched her wings. Her small mouth opened in an almost human yawn. She took some of what you found in the chamber last evening. I do believe that you haven't got a single silver piece left to your name.

  It's a good thing you and I don't take much to get by in this life.

  Yes, but then what better life can there be than living out in the open as we do. Neither of us were born for the cities of Man.

  No, Baylee agreed. I love the openness of this world. A room at an inn is a nice thing to experience once in a while, but I'd get bored looking at the same land all the time.

  Then why get so attached to Jaeleen?

  Baylee looked the azmyth bat in the eyes. / can't explain it even to myself.

  Let me help. Have you ever heard of the word aberration?

  Baylee ignored the comment. He knew it wasn't the bat's word, but he also knew her telepathic link always hit closely to what she was thinking. But he wanted to talk, not argue. There is so much she is good at.

  I could tell you thought so from the way that hammock was jerking around earlier. I was actually fearful the two of you were going to break your necks before you exhausted yourselves.

  Baylee smiled at the memory in spite of the pain that went with it. There was something missing. Wine. Some wine and some cheese, maybe some chilled fruit. That would have been nice.

  That reminds me, Xuxa said. Jaelееn also stole the last of our journeycake.

  'Stole' is too harsh a word. 'Borrowed' is better.

  The azmyth bat sniffed in disdain, choosing deliberately to throw the artifice response at him. She'd learned the habit from a previous human she'd traveled with. Azmyth bats lived to be well in excess of one hundred years. Baylee had never gotten Xuxa to admit how old she really was.