'Good luck with the portal! One never knows about portals. And if you happen to run across that old grump Morath, tell him not to send me any more visitors for at least a decade! I'm all done in!'
Tired and ill-tempered, the three companions made camp only a few short miles from the Oracle's cave. The strange, smelly ogress hadn't put any of them in a better mood for the adventure ahead. Tanis collected sticks and fallen branches for a fire, while Flint made a flaxweed broth for supper. Raistlin stayed apart from the half-elf and dwarf, eating placidly, his face drained, his eyes preoccupied as they stared into the dancing tongues of flame.
Finally Flint's cranky muttering got to the mage. 'If you want to turn back, then turn back!' snapped Raistlin. 'Both of you! If necessary, I'll find the portal and go to Ogrebond myself!'
'I didn't say anything about turning back,' retorted Flint. 'I was talking about where we're heading tomorrow!'
'Flint says it's a remote ledge at the top of a sheer cliff,' explained Tanis diplomatically. 'Very difficult to climb.'
'How far away?' asked Raistlin, having regained his customary composure.
'Not far,' huffed Flint, sipping his brown broth. 'That's not the problem. I can climb it, and probably Tanis. But,' he added, eyeing the young mage's less than impressive physique, 'it may not be, uh, practicable for a fellow in your, uh, condition.'
'How far away?' insisted Raistlin.
'One, maybe two hours only,' said Tanis.
'Good,' said Raistlin.
'How do we know the Oracle told the truth? How do we know there's a portal up there? How do we know it's not a waste of our blasted time?' Flint's voice rose vehemently.
'She told the truth,' muttered Raistlin. 'Morath said if Chen'tal Pyrnee chose to bargain, she would bargain fairly.'
'But how do you expect to climb a precarious rock face?'
'Stop worrying about me,' ordered Raistlin, 'and get some sleep!'
Snorting angrily, Flint said nothing further. He hauled out his bedroll, lay down on it with his back to the others, and within minutes was snoring loudly. No words were exchanged between Tanis and the young mage during this awkward interlude.
Lunitari and Solinari shone at opposite ends of the sky, rising slowly toward each other, twin paths that at this time of year, late summer, would not intersect. The night was bright with stars at this elevation. The foliage had thinned considerably. The slope was strewn with sculpted rock. The light of the stars and moons revealed sparse, stunted trees rimmed by nearby peaks frosted with shining snow.
The serenity of the night echoed with the furtive sounds of nocturnal creatures. A gentle wind rustled the treetops. Tanis breathed deeply of the pine and earth and crisp mountain air.
He ventured to glance at Raistlin who sat, hands cupped together, still lost in thought, looking so worried and worn that a sharp breeze could knock him over. As Tanis watched, the young mage sighed, stood, and began pacing around the campfire. The half-elf was well aware of Raistlin's physical limitations, especially compared to his more robust twin. But he also knew that the young mage regularly adventured side by side with Caramon. And on more than one occasion, Tanis had seen a flash of the same fire that animated Raistlin's half-sister, Kitiara. No, Flint was wrong to underestimate the young mage, Tanis decided, physically or otherwise.
At that moment, Raistlin looked up and met Tanis's gaze, returning it defiantly.
'What's really bothering Flint,' offered Tanis gently, 'is the idea of the Blood Sea. He knows you'll make the journey all right. But he himself has a deadly terror of crossing any body of water, dating back to that unfortunate camping trip on the shores of Crystalmir Lake.'
Raistlin gave a low chuckle and sat back down. The weariness of the day's effort settled on him like a great weight. 'Perhaps,' the young mage said softly.
Some months back, Flint and Tasslehoff had arranged an overnight expedition on the far shores of Crystalmir Lake.
Caramon and Sturm had come along and spent the day learning hunting and tracking skills from the grizzled dwarf. Tasslehoff tagged along with Raistlin, who busied himself searching for herbs and flowers for his spell components. It was on that day, ironically, that Tasslehoff had told Raistlin about his good friend Asa and the unusual minotaur herbalist from Southern Ergoth Asa had spoken of.
It had been a glorious day, one of their first extended experiences as companions, marred only by an incident on the following morning. Tas had 'found' a boat, then persuaded the rest of them to launch it on peaceful Crystalmir Lake. Some distance from shore, Caramon had spotted a large green dart-eel lazing about, and with typical ebullience, he had boasted he could catch it by hand. However, Raistlin's twin had leaned over too far, and the boat capsized.
Quick thinking by Raistlin led him to bob up underneath the boat in the air pocket entrapped there. Tas and Sturm were good swimmers and succeeded in righting the boat. Flint dove to rescue the burly Caramon, who couldn't swim and had sunk to the bottom. The long seconds stretched into minutes as the trio waited anxiously. Finally Sturm and Tas jumped in again. Sturm hauled a sputtering Caramon to the surface, and shortly thereafter, Tas came up holding on to Flint's collar. The half-drowned dwarf, choking and chilled to the bone, vowed that nobody would ever coax him into another boat for the rest of his life.
'Considering what a weak swimmer Flint is,' said Tanis, 'it was rather heroic of him to try to save your brother.'
'Heroic and foolish,' grunted Raistlin. But his tone had grown milder. Tanis, his gaze diverted by the rhythmic swaying of the treetops, didn't notice the young mage as he slumped down on his blanket and wrapped his cloak around himself.
'Yes,' chuckled Tanis. 'Heroic and foolish. Two words that go well together.' He gazed up at the beauty of the moons and stars, drinking in the peacefulness of the place.
'Flint has mentioned that incident several times,' he mused softly. 'It's engraved on his consciousness. Worst of all, for him, may be the fact that he was rescued by Tasslehoff. Any way you look at it, he owes his life to the kender-at least that time. Repaying that debt might be the only thing that gets him back onto a body of water- even one as accursed as the Blood Sea.'
Tanis paused, his thoughts returning for a moment to Kitiara. A rush of confused emotions swept over him. The half^elf had never been able to bring himself to speak to Raistlin about her. This might be a good time.
'Tell me, Raist,' Tanis began. Then he heard soft breathing, turned, and saw that the young mage was deep in slumber.
He crossed over to Raistlin and dropped an extra blanket on him. The air was turning cold. Tanis sat back down, pulled his own cloak over his shoulders, and sighed. Although they should be in safe territory, he decided that he'd better keep watch for a few hours before catching some sleep himself.
By late morning of the next day, after following a rugged, steep path up the mountain flanks, the companions came to the place that the ogress had described and that Flint knew from his previous journeys. Standing in a narrow ravine, he pointed upward to a cluster of eroded sandstone crags that rose like a fortress high in the sky. At the top of one of them, they could see a shelf of stone that jutted toward the east, where the spectacular configuration was dwarfed by even more imposing mountain ranges.
Flint took the lead, climbing up the sheer rock face, following the line of crooked trees that clung stubbornly to cracks and crevices. Tanis came next, trailed by Raistlin. Each was roped to the other around the waist.
The crag they were scaling must have been four hundred feet high. It was slow going, made slower by the fact that Flint insisted on leading and doing things his own way. Meticulously he inched upward, pounding short iron stakes about an arm's length above his head and tying himself firmly before finding a new foothold. Raistlin had been prescient with his suggestion that the dwarf bring along everything necessary to survive a mountain expedition.
Tanis and Raistlin had an easier time of it, thanks to Flint's trailblazing. Still, even for an experienced climber, it was arduous work. The footholds that provided a secure respite were few. Tanis and Raistlin had to claw and cling to pitted rock while hoisting themselves ever upward. Toward the top, the temperature cooled noticeably, and unexpected gusts of wind buffeted their backs.
