A feeling of tension came into the room, as if the air pressure had suddenly been raised. It built for several seconds and then subsided.
“What was that?” Mouseglove asked.
The Keys attempted to shatter their confines, Belphanior announced. But they failed. Your spells proved more than adequate.
“Very promising.” Larick said. “Keep reading, brother. And mark that passage.”
Later, invisible and drifting, I was the only audience save for a drowsing dragon, when Pol sat upon the ramparts of Avinconet and played his guitar, slowly, with bandaged hands. I counted myself fortunate to have gained my name and found my calling in life that day. As I listened to his song, I decided that he must not be too bad, as accurséd masters go. I rather liked his music.
Then a strange thing happened, for my perceptions are not as their perceptions and I like to feel that they are far less readily tricked. The moon broke forth from behind a cloud, infusing the land with its pale light; and falling upon him there, it made it seem for a moment that Pol’s hair was white with a dark streak down the middle, rather than the other way around. In that moment, I recalled an infant perception of my creator, and it seemed that I looked again upon the face of Det overlaying Pol’s own, masklike. The image had a more than natural strength in the impression it made upon me, and the memory it created was somehow an uncomfortable thing.
But it was gone in an instant, and the music continued. Is life a quick illusion or a long song? I asked myself, as I was in need of new philosophical pursuits.
About the Author
ROGER ZELAZNY is a Hugo and Nebula Award winning writer. His science fiction career began in 1962 with his first short story sale, and by 1965 it became clear that his was a talent to be reckoned with. He won two Nebulas that year, for "He Who Shapes" (which was expanded into the novel The Dream Master) and for "The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth." Zelazny's novels include Lord of Light, Creatures of Light and Darkness, Isle of the Dead, and the very popular Amber Series.
Mr. Zelazny lives in New Mexico.
About the Artist
JUDY KING RIENIETS, originally from Iowa, studied art at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. She says that she became a fantasy illustrator "by accident" — while selling her fine art prints at a Renaissance Fair, her work was spotted by members of the Society for Creative Anachronism, who then and there talked her into showing at the next Science Fiction WorldCon. That year in Florida she was awarded two honorable mentions in the professional division. This auspicious debut brought her a commission to illustrate one of the stories in Ace's Dragons of Light anthology, and one of her paintings appeared in a Tolkien Calender. When the time came to choose an illustrator for Madwand, there was really only one choice.
Ms. Rieniets lives in Maryland, and is associated with the Pendragon Gallery.
Table of Contents
From the back cover
Other fantasy titles available from Ace Science Fiction and Fantasy:
Title page
Copyright page
Dedication
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.
VI.
VII.
VIII.
IX.
X.
XI.
XII.
XIII.
XIV.
XV.
XVI.
XVII.
XVIII.
XIX.
XX.
XXI.
XXII.
XXIII.
About the Author
About the Artist
Madwand (Illustrated) Page 22