indicated the opposite place with a tilt of her head. Jack sat down a little awkwardly, while Yu Wei took up station somewhere behind him, standing silently by the door. Illyth moved over to sit beside Jack.
'You are probably considering your escape already,' Jelan began without preamble. 'No matter. I only require your services for the next few hours, and if you do what I need you to do, I'll gladly let you go.'
'I fail to understand why I am so important to you, my lady.'
'For one thing, you agreed to hear her out, after you were warned that you should not do so unless you were prepared to accept what must follow,' Yu Wei said. 'We are not forgiving of broken promises.'
'You retrieved me from Ill-Water to make me abide by my word?' Jack asked in amazement. 'I didn't tell anyone that I had learned your identity. It was in my own best interests to keep your confidence.'
Jelan smiled in a predatory manner. 'I am not so forgetful of my obligations as you are, Jack.' She began to let down the braids in her hair, shaking the rain from her dark tresses. She kept her gaze on Jack's eyes, refusing to allow him to look away. 'Where I come from, that would be reason enough to justify the trouble I went to this evening, but, as it so happens, I do have a specific purpose in mind for you.'
'You desire something else stolen, my lady?' Jack asked.
'Jack, have you ever studied to be a wizard?'
Jack leaned back, his brow furrowed. Illyth shifted uncomfortably beside him, but held her tongue. He could not see where this was going.
'No, not really. Anyone can work magic, simply through an act of will and a little practice. All those who purport to study wizardry have been pulling the wool over everyone's eyes. None of that mummery is required!'
Jelan looked up past Jack to Yu Wei. Jack craned his head to glance at the Warlord's wizard; the mage simply stood impassive, but his eyes were deep and thoughtful. He tugged at his white wisp of a beard and spoke.
'Consider this possibility, Ravenwild: for the great majority of people who seek to use magic, all that 'mummery' as you call it is required. But for certain special individuals-you, for instance-magic is something else entirely. Is that not every bit as likely as your assumption that there is a universal conspiracy subscribed to by every wizard on the face of the world?'
'Perhaps,' Jack admitted, 'but that would imply that I am something special or unique, and any theory that begins with such an assumption is usually a poor one.'
'A wiser statement than I would have expected from you,' the Shou said. He smiled in satisfaction.
'Jack, have you ever heard any tales of wildfire?' Jelan asked.
'My lady, I confess that I am at a complete loss as to the goal of this interrogation,' Jack began. Jelan raised her hand, forestalling his argument, and simply waited for him to answer her question. He sighed and shrugged. 'Well, of course I have. Some people say that once in a while a Ravenaar born and bred may exhibit the unusual reaction of lashing out with magic when threatened. It's always a person who has never wielded magic in his life, and it's said that the wildfire-wielder cannot control or summon his powers at will. It is an involuntary reaction to danger, noted no more than once or twice a year in the entire city.'
Jack suddenly smiled and wagged his finger. 'Ah, now I understand! You and your wizard here believe that my powers constitute a manifestation of wildfire! Well, I am sorry to say that you must be mistaken. I have full and voluntary control over my magic.'
'Perhaps you are able to control your ability to an unprecedented degree,' Yu Wei said. 'Where do you think wildfire comes from, boy?'
Jack glared at him. 'Who knows? Maybe it is something that only one person in a thousand anywhere can do.'
'The phenomena has been observed only in Raven's Bluff, Jack,' said Jelan. 'Why here? Why is it that a small number of people living in this city are simply blessed with inexplicable magic? Something about Raven's Bluff instills magic in a small number of its citizens, apparently at random. And, in your case, the magic is quite versatile and strong.'
'What does it all signify?' Illyth interrupted. 'Where does this magic come from?'
'It comes from a device that I call the wild mythal,' said Jelan. 'Raven's Bluff is built on top of Sarbreen. Sarbreen was built on top of an older and deeper city, a drow stronghold thousands of years old. Here, in the deeps beneath us, the mightiest wizards of the drow once gathered to forge a mythal of their own, a font of power akin to those made by the most powerful elven wizards of centuries long past.'
'A mythal?' Jack asked. He shook his head. 'I don't understand.'
'The mythals were the most powerful magics ever devised by the elven courts of old,' Myth said, nodding. 'At Myth Drannor, Evermeet, Calmaercor, and other places too, mythals were forged of elven high magic to serve the elven race. They guarded the elven realms against all harm and made possible works of wonder now forgotten.'
'The dark elves did not overlook the potential of the mythal magic,' Jelan added. 'In their long war against the surface elves, the drow came to desire a similar device of their own, one with the power to bend or break the surface mythals. And so they toiled for many long years, forging their own mythal stone somewhere in the ancient city under Sarbreen, but their mythal failed. It gathered an enormous amount of magic, but it could not be tamed to their will. They abandoned the whole city, and the warped magic of their failed device has slowly seeped into the very earth and air and water of this place for centuries now. Raven's Bluff, by pure chance, was built upon a fountainhead of magic that is probably unique in all the world.'
Jack looked at her with understanding. 'That is why you raised your horde, my lady? To control the fountain- head of wildfire?'
Jelan nodded. 'I had other reasons, too, but yes, that is the primary one. I intend for the wild mythal to be the keystone of my kingdom, a source of power that would make my conquest unassailable. There are dozens of cities in the Vast that might be easier to take or more easily pacified. Raven's Bluff, however, is unique in this regard, and the fools don't even know what they have.'
'What of the Sarkonagael? Why did I steal it for you, if the wild mythal is your real target?'
'It contains spells that I needed Yu Wei to possess-'
'The shadow simulacra!' Jack interrupted. 'You are the source of the shadow copies! Do you have any idea of the kind of trouble those constructs are causing in the city?'
The Warlord nodded. 'A good idea, yes. You see, Jack, Raven's Bluff is also unusual in that it is home to a disproportionate number of powerful individuals: swordsmen of epic stature, knights of unsurpassed faithfulness and strength, mages and priests and other magic wielders of dire power. The city is a city of heroes, and while Hawk Knights and Wizard's Guilds and dozens of interfering bands of adventurers stand about keeping an eye open for trouble, I find it difficult to achieve my goals. Two years ago, my armies would have overrun the Ravenaar defenses with no trouble if it had not been for the heroes who flocked to the city's defense. This time, I have decided to strike at the heroes first. When the city's most powerful defenders are dead or discredited due to the actions of their simulacra, Raven's Bluff will fall with hardly a blow.'
'I am perhaps more sentimental than I thought I was,' Jack admitted, 'since I find that I do not care for the idea of laying waste the city I grew up in.'
'I do not intend to lay waste to the city, Jack. My quarrel lies against only a small fraction of the city's inhabitants, the handful of powerful nobles, guilders and so-called heroes who rule this place. When they are gone, I shall stay my hand. I have no interest in devastating the people I intend to rule wisely and well.'
'Your horde of two years past indicates otherwise,' Illyth remarked boldly. 'Orcs, goblins, giants, and ogres, all eager to sack the city and carry off its population in their entirety. Your quarrel at that point would seem to include all within the city's walls.'
The Warlord lost her composure for a moment. Her face, until this moment set in a faintly amused and indulgent smile, hardened into something sharper than a blade.
'Did you ever wonder,' she said with acid, 'why, two years past, the battle for Raven's Bluff turned when it did? I achieved my purpose without razing the city. When it suited me to do so, I allowed my army to be defeated. In fact, I contributed significantly to the security of my future conquest by bringing before its walls a generation of orc and ogre warriors, only to have them cut down in sight of their goal. It will be ten years at least before the tribes can muster another army like that one, and by then I intend to have made Raven's Bluff completely unassailable.
'Clearly, I succeeded in some goals and failed in others when I brought the horde against Raven's Bluff. That
