by Marc Anthony
Despite her years of training, Mari could not conceal the anguish on her face. She had not thought the Harpers would come to this realization themselves. Yet why shouldn't they? There was little that surpassed the reach or understanding of the Harpers.
"I see you have reached the same conclusion," Thantarth said grimly.
"Just last night," Mari answered hoarsely.
"After Caledan's disappearance and the happenings in Corm Orp, there can be no other explanation," the Master
Harper said.
Mari gathered her will. "What is to be my mission, Master Thantarth?"
It took him a long moment to speak. When he did, there was no longer a hint of sorrow in his voice. Cold authority spoke. "You know Caledan better than any in the Harpers, Al'maren. That is why I am giving this task to you. Your mission is to track Caledan Caldorien. And when you find him, your orders are"-Thantarth hesitated only a fraction of a heartbeat-"to destroy him."
It was as if someone had yanked the ground out from beneath Mari's feet. She managed to grab the edge of a table and hold on. and only by this means did she manage to keep her footing. Finally she gasped a single word.
"What?"
"You heard my orders, Al'maren." Thantarth's voice was cold, hard stone.
She shook her head dully. Gradually, anger flared to life inside her. She welcomed it, letting the fire burn away the vast sickness in her gut. Slowly she straightened, locking gazes with the image of Thantarth in the shining sphere. "With all due respect, Master Thantarth,
I cannot believe what I have just heard," she said incredulously. "Caledan is one of the greatest Harpers alive. Perhaps the greatest. And you would simply have him disposed of like some broken tool that is no longer needed?"
"I am well aware of Caldorien's accomplishments as a Harper, Al'maren," Thantarth thundered angrily. "I hardly need a mere journeyman to instruct me. It is tragic that a hero of Caldorien's caliber must be destroyed. But the Harpers cannot allow the evil of a shadowking to be loosed upon the world once more. We have no choice. Caledan Caldorien must die. And you have been chosen to perform the deed."
Thantarth would not be swayed. Mari's rage melted into numbness. "I… can't do it."
"I know of your feelings for Caldorien. Al'maren. I do not envy your position. However, you must put your feelings aside in favor of the oath you swore to the Harpers."
She shook her head in disbelief. "You don't know what you're asking of me. I can't… I can't destroy the man I… I…"
Thantarth's booming voice shook the timbers of the inn. "You are wrong, Al'maren. You will do it, because I command you to do so. Your vow to the Harpers stands above all. You have no choice!"
That was his mistake. Mari realized she did have a choice. A thrill of fear coursed through her as she thought about what she must do, but it was quickly replaced by cool calm. She raised a hand to the silver moon-and-harp pin on her green jacket-the badge of the Harpers. When she spoke, her voice was steady.
"If as a Harper I must obey you, Thantarth, then this day I am a Harper no longer."
She tore the silver badge from her jacket.
Thantarth's expression was livid. "You cannot do this, Mari Al'maren!"
"It's too late. I already have."
His voice became a growl. "Do you understand what this means, Al'maren? You will be branded a renegade. Every Harper will have the right to hunt you down and slay you. And by all the gods, they will be obliged to do it!"
"I know," she said sadly. "I know."
Within the glowing sphere. Thantarth shook a fist at her, his face crimson. "Stop this foolishness now, Al'maren. Stop it, or I swear you will-"
Mari did not wait to hear what awful fate he intended for her. In one swift motion, she picked up the chair and hurled it at the shimmering sphere. There was a brilliant flash and a sound like shattering glass as the orb burst into a thousand azure shards. Mari shut her eyes against the blinding glare. When she dared open them again, the magical sphere was gone. All that was left of the chair were a few charred sticks of wood scattered on the floor. They looked like nothing so much as burnt bones.
I never believed it would come to this, Mari thought with a mixture of apprehension and peculiar exultation. I never believed that I, Mari Al'maren, would become a renegade Harper.
Yet that was exactly what she was now. A renegade, a fugitive, and an outlaw. The full realization of what she had done crashed down upon her, and she slumped down into a chair. She had just given up everything she had ever fought for, everything she had ever believed in. But she could not destroy Caledan, and she would not let anyone else destroy him. There had to be a way to stop Caledan's dark metamorphosis. I promised you, Kera. I told him good-bye, but I will be damned to the Abyss if I'll turn my back on him.
"Are they going to kill my father. Mari?"
She had forgotten Kellen. He stood beside her chair, his green eyes overly large in his pale face. He had overheard everything.
"No, Kellen," she said quietly. "No one will hurt your father. We won't let that happen."
He nodded gravely, then threw his arms around her neck. She returned his hug fiercely. At last she pushed him gently away and stood up. There was no time to waste.
When Morhion arrived at the Dreaming Dragon an hour later, he found her packing her saddlebags. He raised a single golden eyebrow. "Going somewhere, Mari?"
She firmly buckled the last leather strap and dusted off her hands. "You might say that."
"Haven't you forgotten something?" He eyed the small rip on the collar of her green jacket meaningfully.
"No," she replied crisply. "I haven't."
Interest flickered in Morhion's icy eyes. "I see."
They sat at one of the common room's long trestle tables. Estah brought hot tea, brown bread, and honey for their breakfast. The halfling innkeeper eyed Mari curiously. She had heard the commotion in the common room this morning, but Mari had not yet had the courage to tell Estah about her disturbing conversation with Belhuar Thantarth. There was no more putting it off. By the time she finished, Estah's usually gentle expression had been replaced by one of flinty outrage.
"They have no right," the halfling said harshly. "Caledan has devoted the best part of his life to serving the Harpers, and in his darkest hour of need they turn against him. How dare they!"
Mari sighed. "The Harpers always work for the greater good, Estah. If sacrificing one man can save a hundred, then in their minds it's a fair bargain."
"Yet sometimes," Morhion countered, "when one stone is taken out, an entire wall can come tumbling down. That is something the Harpers have never understood- if you'll forgive me, Mari."
She shot him an ironic look. "Believe me, Morhion, no apology is necessary."
"What do you intend to do?" he asked.
"Follow him," she said fiercely. "And find him."
"And then?"
"I don't know," she said impatiently. "I'll think of something."
"I can see you've really thought this out," he noted dryly.
"Well, do you have any better ideas?"
"As a matter of fact, I do."
Mari groaned. Why would mages never come out and say what they were thinking? "All right, Morhion. What's on your mind?"
A faintly smug smile touched his lips. "I thought you'd never ask."
As a brilliant square of morning sunlight crept across the wooden floor, Mari and Estah listened with growing fascination-and growing dread-to the knowledge Morhion had gleaned from the ancient copy of The Book of the Shadows. First he told them about the Shadowking. Mari knew the myth-how the ancient sorcerer Verraketh was transformed by his own dark magic into a bestial creature of evil, and how he was defeated by the legendary bard Talek Talembar. Yet, as Morhion now explained, all that was only the first part of the tale. The prelude, as it were.
"In ancient days," the mage began, "a blazing star fell to Toril. The only one to see it fall was a wandering minstrel. Curious, he journeyed in the
direction of the falling star and came upon a smoking crater. In the center of the steaming pit, the minstrel found a hot piece of metal shaped like a star. Thinking it beautiful, the minstrel quenched the piece of metal in a pool of water and fastened it to a silver chain, making it into a medallion. The minstrel donned the medallion, and from that day on his fortune changed. First he became a renowned musician, then a noble lord, and finally the ruler of his own land. The medallion was called the Shadowstar. The minstrel's name was Verraketh-Verraketh Talembar."
Mari and Estah exchanged startled looks, but they said nothing, not wishing to interrupt the mage's narrative.
"In time," Morhion went on, "the medallion granted Verraketh not only great fortune, but great magic as well. It infused him with awesome power-power over the substance of shadows. It was a magic that was passed on to his only son, Talek Talembar, who became a bard and a sorcerer in his own right. As the years went by and Verraketh aged not, he became known as the Shadowmage; his kingdom was called Ebenfar.
"The years turned into centuries, and the magic of the Shadowstar began to transform Verraketh until he was a man and a mage no longer, but a thing of pure and evil magic, which folk in fear named the Shadowking." Morhion regarded his two listeners solemnly. "I think you both know the rest of the tale. Seeking dominion over all men, the Shadowking forged the Nightstone. But Talek Talembar defeated his father and sealed both Shadowking and Nightstone inside the crag upon which, an eon later, Iriaebor was raised."
"So it was from his father that Talek Talembar inherited his shadow magic?" Mari asked.
"That is so," Morhion replied. "There is something else I learned, though not directly from the Mal'eb'dala." He turned to the halfling innkeeper. "Estah, what was the name of Caledan's father?"
She scowled, obviously wondering at the purpose of this question. "It was Caledan Caldorien."
"And the name of his father."
"Why, Caledan Caldorien, of course," Estah replied in consternation. "Morhion, you know as well as I that it's a family name. It's been passed down from father to son for centuries."
"Yes," the mage replied gravely. "Just like the shadow magic."
Chill fingers danced up Mari's spine. "Get to the point, Morhion."
The mage pulled a sheaf of parchment from his belt and unrolled it on the table. He pointed to a series of runes. "This is the name Talek Talembar. It is written in Talfir, the language spoken in these lands a thousand years ago. Later, when folk came from the east, crossing the Sunset Mountains to settle the Western Heartlands, they brought their own language with them. Many of the old names, of both people and places, were still used, but the tongue of the easterners contained different sounds than the speech of the Talfirc. As a result, the old names were bastardized-their pronunciations changed-so they could be written in the new language."
Morhion pointed to another line of writing on the parchment. The letters looked vaguely familiar, but Mari couldn't quite read them.
"This is Talek Talembar' as it was written in the language of the easterners," Morhion explained. "Only it wouldn't have been pronounced the same as in Talfir. It would have sounded something more like 'Calen Cal-endir.' A few centuries ago, a new wave of immigrants came over the Sunset Mountains from the kingdoms of Cormyr and Sembia. These were our direct ancestors, Mari. They brought yet another language-the one we now speak-and the names of people and places in the
Western Heartlands were changed once again, this time to conform to Cormyrean writing and pronunciation." The mage pointed to the final line of writing on the parchment. "This is the Cormyrean version of the name 'Calen Calendir.'"
Mari read the words, then looked at the mage. "Caledan Caldorien?" she whispered.
Morhion's chill blue gaze locked on her own. "The very same."
"But that means that Caledan is a direct descendant of Talek Talembar!" Estah exclaimed.
Mari spoke, half in a daze. "And a descendant of the Shadowking as well. Of course! It all makes sense now. That's why Caledan's shadow magic had the power to defeat the Shadowking. It came from the Shadowking himself!"
"It must be so," Morhion replied grimly. "The same magic that flowed in the veins of Verraketh flows in Caledan's."
Mari grappled for understanding. "But if that's true, why didn't any of Caledan's other ancestors become shadowkings?"
"I believe I know the answer to that," Morhion explained. "Talek Talembar had many descendants, and all possessed the shadow magic, though many to only a slight degree. In them, the power of the shadow magic was diffused. None inherited enough of the magic to undergo the dark metamorphosis. Then Ravendas's Lord Steward, Snake-who in truth served the Shadowking- summoned a shadevar, one of thirteen ancient beings of mayhem banished from the world by Azuth the High One. The shadevar's orders were to hunt down and slay all in the Realms who possessed the shadow magic. This it did before we destroyed it."
"Save for Caledan and Kellen," Mari said in amazement.
"Yes. And in them, the shadow magic is concentrated as never before. I think that is why Caledan's transformation seems to be progressing so quickly, while Verraketh's took centuries."
A terrible thought occurred to her. "Then will… will Kellen become a shadowking, too?"
Morhion shook his head. "I do not know. However, I suspect there can be but one Shadowking at a time. For now, let us concern ourselves with Caledan." He rolled up the parchment and replaced it in his belt. "Oh, there is one more thing that I learned. The Shadowstar has the power to halt Caledan's metamorphosis… or complete it."
Mari pondered the implications. "You think Caledan is searching for the Shadowstar, don't you?"
He nodded in affirmation. "Long ago, the Shadowstar was buried in the crypt of the Shadowking beneath Iriaebor, but at some point it was stolen by a tomb robber. I have discovered that it is presently in the possession of a mysterious personage known only as Stiletto."
A thought struck Mari. "You couldn't possibly have read that in the Mal'eb'dala, Morhion. Where did you learn about this Stiletto?"
For the first time in this grim conversation, Mari saw a troubled look cross Morhion's impassive visage. "I dare not reveal my source," the mage said coolly. "Suffice it to say that I know, and leave it at that."
Mari did not press the point. Regardless of how Morhion had come by the knowledge, the important thing was that the Shadowstar had the power to save Caledan. The three agreed that they had to find the medallion before Caledan did.
"Do you have any idea who this Stiletto person is, Morhion?" Estah asked. "Or where we could find him?"
Morhion regained his composure. "I am afraid that knowledge has eluded even me."
Mari tapped a cheek thoughtfully. "Stiletto… Too bad Ferret isn't around to lend a hand."
Ferret had once been a member of the Fellowship of the Dreaming Dragon. The weasely thief had helped the others escape the crypt of the Shadowking as it crumbled, while he himself was lost in the destruction. Despite his wily and greedy exterior, Mari had met few in her life as truly selfless as the thief Ferret. She wished he were here now, but it was a vain thought.
Morhion offered a suggestion. "We do need to find someone like Ferret, someone who deals in information and who casts a wide enough net that he may have heard of this Stiletto."
A crooked smile curled about Mari's lips. "On second thought, I think I know just the person. And he adores me."
Seven
Mari groaned. Why did these things always seem to happen to her?
"I thought Cormik adored you," Morhion said coldly.
"I thought he did, too," she said through clenched teeth.
"Well, if you don't mind my saying, he has a rather peculiar manner of expressing his affection."
For emphasis, Morhion rattled the heavy iron shackles that bound his wrists. He and Mari were chained to a rough stone wall in a dank underground chamber. The muffled sounds of raucous laughter and clinking coins drifted down from above. They were somewhere i
n the basement of the Prince and Pauper, the seamiest gambling house in Iriaebor.
"In case you're wondering, you really aren't being helpful, Morhion," Mari replied in a surly tone. "Can't you get us out of here with a spell?"
"No, I can't. Casting a spell requires ritual gestures as well as magical words"-he cast a rueful look at the thick bands of iron that held his hands immobile-"a fact of which your dear friend Cormik seems well aware."
"Everyone's entitled to a few mistakes," Mari grumbled. She seemed to remember Caledan saying that exact phrase once when the two of them were caught in a similar predicament. Things were worse than she thought if she was starting to sound like Caldorien.
Mari racked her brain, trying to think of what she might have done to get on Cormik's bad side. Cormik was the proprietor of the Prince and Pauper, but he was also one of the most powerful underworld lords in Iriaebor. Officially, Mari could not condone Cormik's illicit practices, but he had helped the Fellowship to defeat Ravendas. Besides, she had always liked his daggerlike wit and impeccable sense of taste.
It must have been that incident a year ago, she decided. Cormik had wanted her help in prying some compromising secrets out of a particularly wealthy nobleman. Mari had haughtily told Cormik to go ask one of the painted ladies on the Street of Lanterns instead, and had run him out of the Dreaming Dragon. She had not spoken to him since that day. Well, if he was still holding a grudge, she was going to have to find a way to-
The chamber's ironbound door flew open. Mari blinked against the glare of crimson torchlight that gushed through the opening. When her vision cleared, a figure stood before her. Cormik. He was a corpulent man with a florid, pockmarked complexion and a jewel-encrusted patch over one eye. As ever, he was clad in gaudy finery that involved voluminous quantities of blue silk, wine-colored velvet, and gold brocade. Flanking him were two hulking bodyguards, each bearing a jeweled sword.