'I'm not sure,' Teldin finally said. 'I did know the rat was here, but I'm not sure how.' He thought for a moment. 'I think it's a combination of things. The amulet and the cloak, working together, perhaps. The fact that I'm here on the Spelljammer, where its magic is more powerful, may help. Perhaps the powers of the cloak are getting stronger as well.' 'Or perhaps you are,' CassaRoc said. Teldin nodded. 'Yes, you may be right. It may be me, but I don't know everything about this ship. Actually, I know very little. I don't think I'll know everything until I become- '
He stopped himself. Until I become… what? He did not know, but it was there, flickering like energy through the cloak, through his being. Somewhere inside him, his reason for being here was locked away like an ancient treasure. And the key was somewhere upon the Spelljammer.
Someone knocked loudly on the door to the meeting hall, then opened it. One of CassaRoc's warriors, a tall, gangly fighter named Hath, stuck his head in. 'CassaRoc, a word with you.'
CassaRoc grunted and stepped into the hall. Hath closed the door. Teldin heard voices behind the thick wood, but could not make out any words, then CassaRoc came back in.
'Teldin, I'm sorry. My man just gave me word that your helmsman-' Teldin stood. 'Corontea?'
CassaRoc frowned. He seemed to sag slightly, and he took a deep breath. 'Teldin-' 'Don't,' Teldin said. 'Corontea didn't make it.' The survivors from the crash of the Julia had been sneaked over soon after Teldin and CassaRoc had made their way to the Tower of Thought. At that time, Djan had been administered medicines and healing spells for superficial cuts and burns. The healer had placed a sleep spell on him, to give his injuries time to heal.
Corontea, however, had been a different matter. The Julia's female helmsman had far too many internal injuries, and the healers knew that there was nothing they could do for her except relieve her pain.
CassaRoc sighed. 'I'm sorry, son. My healers tried everything, but they claim she was hurt too badly. One healer would cast a spell and heal one wound, and it seems like another injury would pop up. There was nothing they could do except ease the pain. They cast a spell of numbness over her. She died in peace, at least.'
'At peace,' Teldin said. He scowled. 'She died because of me.' Teldin shook his head at the irony. 'Sixteen other people on board the Julia, and only two survive, all because of me.' He looked up. 'What about Djan?'
CassaRoc shrugged. 'Same as before. He'll be fine tomorrow, they say. My healer does wonders with burn salves and poultices.'
'Good.' Teldin pulled his cloak around him. 'I think I'll head to my quarters soon. I'm going to stop in on Djan first, and see how he's feeling.'
CassaRoc smiled. 'Good man. Sleep well, Teldin. You need a good night's sleep after all you've been through.'
Teldin left the meeting room as CassaRoc joined his band of warriors in drinks. He climbed the tower stairs to Djan's tiny room, which seemed only slightly larger than a storage closet and held only a narrow bunk and a small table, where half-empty vials of potions and creams had been left by CassaRoc's healers. Dim light from the phlogiston was the room's only illumination, glowing through a small window in one wall.
Teldin could see that his half-elf friend was in pain. Sweat beaded across Djan's pale brow, and his sheets, tangled uncomfortably around his body, were stained with sweat.
Teldin drew the sheets free and pulled them carefully up to Djan's neck. His friend's eyes flickered as Teldin bent over him, then slowly opened. 'Teldin…' he whispered. 'I'm here.'
'How… the crash…'
'Don't talk now,' Teldin said. 'We survived, and the healers say you're going to be fine by tomorrow. You'll be a little stiff, but you'll be up and fighting.' He smiled, hoping that his friend would not see through his bravado.
Djan's eyes closed. Teldin thought he had gone to sleep again, but suddenly Djan's eyes snapped open again. He whispered, 'Corontea…?'
Teldin turned away. Djan and Corontea had become close friends on the journey to the Broken Sphere, and he did not want to hurt Djan again with news of Corontea's death. 'The healers say you have to sleep. That's the only way these potions will work. That's an order, first mate. Now, you have to rest.'
Djan grabbed Teldin's arm. The grip was weak, and his normally pale flesh seemed white, almost translucent. Teldin looked down. Their eyes met for a moment, then Djan's face seemed to sag, as though in defeat, and the half-elf turned away.
Teldin felt he could say nothing. They sat in silence until Djan said softly, 'I heard the guards as I was brought here.'
Teldin watched him.
'Our coming was foretold. The Cloakmaster.'
'I've heard it,' Teldin said. 'Now, get to- '
'They said, 'The Cloakmaster brings death. The legends of the beholders are true.' '
The Cloakmaster placed his hand on his friend's. 'Never place much faith in legends. People have a tendency of making their own fears come true.'
Djan faced him with teary eyes. 'I don't listen to legends such as that. It is the fact they knew you were coming. The Cloakmaster. And coming for a reason.'
'And?'
'Teldin. Can't you feel it? This is your destiny. This is your purpose. We are supposed to be here. Verenthestae.''
Djan's eyes flickered shut, and Teldin sat on the edge of the bed as Djan fell asleep. He then rose and opened the door. In the light angling from the corridor, he saw Djan's chest rising evenly in peaceful sleep.
Teldin closed the door. 'Damn,' he said. 'Damn.'
He climbed the tower steps to his meager quarters, where he commanded his cloak to shrink to a thin necklace, and he removed his clothes and prepared for bed. CassaRoc was right. The day had been damned hard and exceedingly strange. His quest had taken him farther than he had ever expected, and it had forced him to grow in directions that had before seemed inconceivable.
He lay across his bunk and pulled a light blanket over him. The glimmer from the phlogiston flickered through his single small porthole, across the opposite wall. It was just dim enough to let him fall asleep quickly and easily.
He was standing, naked, looking down at the bunk, where his body lay sleeping. He saw the line of the cloak wrapped at the base of his neck, the amulet a dark talisman below that.
The amulet.
He realized that his chest was glowing, and he looked down at his astral body. The outline of the amulet, pulsating with golden light, was imprinted on his chest. The three-pointed symbol burned coldly and flickered against the darker image of the amulet's mysterious pattern, woven like veins across Teldin's ethereal flesh.
His dream self traced one of the lines of the amulet, and he heard the Spelljammer's voice in his head, a high, keening song that echoed with immense age, immense sorrow.
His quarters disappeared from around him. He was floating in the cold blackness of wildspace, in a sphere he had never before seen. Here the stars burned with their own inner fires around the circumference of the sphere, and he could feel the eighteen planets lazily circling the huge yellow star at the center.
— Aeyenna.
He knew the star's name as though he had been born there, and he knew that he was looking untold millennia into the past, at the One Egg, the Cosmic Egg, the Broken Sphere.
— Ouiyan.
He laughed out loud; he could feel the echoes of his own voice, laughing in his sleep, somewhere in a bunk yet to be dreamed of. He laughed, for the wildspace of the sphere known long ago as Ouiyan was filled with a million swimmers, singing high, sweet songs of peace and freedom. Teldin swam among them, pushing himself through space with his small wings, and he knew he was one with them, seeing through their eyes.
Tfrespaakiil migrated from planet to planet, star to star, living in harmony with the humans and other creatures inhabiting the planets below. The manta race was looked upon as something holy, and their sentience was revered among the people of Ouiyan, who respected the swimmers' intelligence and their simple philosophy of benevolence and love.
Then a great shadow fell across the worlds and rfeespaakiil scattered across the sphere in horror. He felt
