Cloakmaster before we begin …'
The leaders nodded and waited as CassaRoc pulled Teldin over to the bar. He kept his voice low. 'Chaladar the Holy is being righteous again.'
'Where is he?' Teldin asked.
CassaRoc scowled. 'He knew this meeting was important, but he refused to sit in the same room with the halfling Hancherback. He's a thief, just like half the other beings on board this ship, and His Holiness wouldn't be caught undead here with somebody like him.'
Teldin nodded. 'That's unfortunate. His backing here would have helped us a great deal. But the two of us will make do, I'm sure.'
CassaRoc nodded.
'Don't worry,' Teldin said, trying to import more assurance than he felt. 'We'll do fine.'
'One more thing,' CassaRoc said. 'The elves and the Shou have not responded. Probably to be expected, but I don't like the sound of it. We may have a problem with them. You can trust an elf only so far. '
Teldin shrugged. 'Yes, I know elves well. There is nothing we can do. We'll discuss this later.'
Teldin gestured for his guests to sit. The giff, Diamondtip, squatted upon a metal keg of CassaRoc's, the only seat in the meeting room sturdy enough to bear the beast's weight. The others pulled their chairs around the scarred wooden table.
'Sorry for the delay,' Teldin said, deliberately turning to each as he spoke and looking into each one's eyes. 'By now, I'm sure you've heard various versions of my arrival and the reasons for my coming. Let me tell you the honest truth and try to clear up any misconceptions you may have.
'They're calling me Teldin Cloakmaster. I've discovered that the cloak that I bear is an ultimate helm- perhaps, if I am correct, the ultimate helm,' he said without thinking, wondering where the words had come from. 'And with it I've been searching the universe for the answers to my questions.
'My answer is here, I know now. My answer is the Spelljammer itself, though I still don't know what it all means. I am not here to harm anyone, nor am I here to bring on the Dark Times, as you have probably heard. I don't even know what the Dark Times are.'
The huge giff nodded slowly and scratched under his bulbous chin. He scrutinized the Cloakmaster with his small, dark eyes. Kova, the dwarf, laughed. 'You're going to have a hard time getting along with all the others,' Kova said easily. 'We all know the beholder myth. If you truly are the Cloakmaster of legend, believe me, you are in for an uphill battle. You'll be lucky if you live the night. If the Dark Times do come, all the races will be at war with each other for power, and for the food in the stores.
'Besides, if you are the Cloakmaster that has been foretold, I believe you will not fare well in a battle with the elder dwarves.'
'The elder dwarves?'
'Aye,' the dwarf said. 'The true captains of the Spelljammer. I fear they will not look kindly upon your arrival and the threat of the Dark Times.'
Teldin said it quickly. It came unbidden, from his heart, and he knew the words were true. 'There is no captain of the Spelljammer. Not now.'
CassaRoc stared at him. 'Teldin, how do you know this?'
Kristobar said, 'The captains are secret, hidden. Everyone knows this.'
'We believe the ship is ruled by the dwarven gods,' said Firespitter.
Hancherback stifled a laugh. His eyes twinkled in merriment. He loved a good scuffle.
Teldin said, 'The Spelljammer has sailed for a long time, and many stories have arisen to explain its history and who captains it.' He absently ran a finger along the edge of the amulet. The metal was warm to the touch, welcoming, and when he spoke again, he knew the words were true. 'This I know: With our forces combined, we will defeat the evil armies on board the Spelljammer, and all of its enemies.
'I do not want war at all. I want nothing more than to end this quest and let everyone get on with their lives. But I will defend myself when attacked, for any reason. I have no desire to harm anyone or bring these Dark Times about. I just want to live.
'I need you to help me. I believe Lord Kova is absolutely correct: I present some danger to the populations here- at least, that is how they perceive it. My coming was foretold by your beholder nation, and I did not even know that I was coming here. Your legend may well be true. Perhaps, without my conscious will, my mere presence here will bring about the Dark Times. I hope not.
'But I need to resolve my quest. We need to protect our interests on the Spelljammer, with as little bloodshed or human lives lost as possible. Without each other, this ship will become a curse throughout the known spheres, piloted by our enemies.'
CassaRoc turned and waved for attention, and a steward came over with tall mugs of ale for everybody, and water for Teldin. Vagner Firespitter held the steward's arm and drained his tankard, then handed it back for another. 'Fine brew, CassaRoc,' he said.
'Perhaps we should start at the beginning,' CassaRoc said. That might make things a bit easier to understand. And I can get everyone another mug of ale.'
'I think that's a good idea,' Kova said. 'Both very good ideas,' said Firespitter. Teldin told the story of his quest once again, as he had earlier told CassaRoc's warriors, and he emphasized his friendship with Gomja, the giff, and his heroic acts on Teldin's behalf. He spoke of their powerful fellowship and the allies he had made on his journey to the Spelljammer. CassaRoc related how Teldin's nautiloid had crashed on the wing, and told of the vicious melee with the neogi that had greeted the Cloakmaster upon his arrival. He relished the story of how Teldin's cloak had rescued him with a dozen or more bolts of magical energy; then he finally brought them to the present, to focus on the purpose of the meeting.
'So we need allies,' CassaRoc said. 'Once word gets around that the Cloakmaster is here, every foe on the ship will be after him and his cloak. We need to combine our forces for good, to protect the Spelljammer- and our existence here.'
Teldin felt that his and CassaRoc's speeches had allayed some of their potential allies' fears, but he could feel that they still did not trust him entirely. Who could? Indeed, if anyone else held the power they believed he held, he too would be afraid.
He would almost be a god…
Hancherback Scuttlebay cleared his throat. 'All this is well and good, human, but I've seen nothing to prove that Teldin Moore is the Cloakmaster. If we're going to put the entire halfling population on the battle lines, we'll need- '
He stopped, for right before him Teldin's face was changing shape, metamorphosing into that of Hancherback's fellow halfling, Kristobar Brewdoc.
The halflings watched silently and reached for their ales at the same time. Diamondtip and the dwarves laughed.
'This is but one power of the cloak,' Teldin began to explain, 'to assume the shape- '
Kristobar interrupted sharply, sputtering, 'This could be but a simple spell, a spell for children. We need more proof, Teldin Moore. Much more than this simple parlor trick.'
Teldin quickly resumed his true features. His body felt warm, and he could feel the energies of the cloak building in a powerful surge. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end as the cloak's power tingled through him.
The cloak billowed around him. The halflings scattered backward from the table, and at once the cloak elongated, reaching out for Kristobar with its edge. The inner lining had turned a deep blue, like the sky at sunset, and suddenly the cloak enveloped the halfling in its folds.
Teldin's cloak unfurled, and the halfling was gone.
He floated among the stars of wildspace. Below him hung the sun of his home sphere, and he could feel the coldness of space on his bare arms, in the hollows of his bones, chilling him with the emptiness of death and eternity. The stars, cold and piercing, almost close enough to touch, blazed around him, and Kristobar felt that he would float here forever, forgotten, abandoned.
Loneliness washed over him, and he knew that he was lost.
He was cold and alone, isolated in his own empty universe. He felt a cold sharper than on the wastes of Artalla, a cold he could imagine was more severe than the embrace of the dark gods themselves.
