imbued not just with the form, but the magical abilities of the being it emulated. The shivak strode toward him as his mind rang with the force of an illithid mind blast, capable of crippling, even killing, normal human victims.
Through clouded vision, he saw his friends at the entrance, watching the battle with fear in their eyes. He knew that the important things-friendship, love, and life-stood before him. He forced himself to his feet and balled his fists. His pain was unimportant. It was their pain, and their possible deaths, that he had to worry about, and he stared at the monstrous shivak as it came for him, ready to depose the would-be captain.
He felt himself grow calm, felt his skin tingle with a hidden reserve of serenity, of inner strength. It was the cloak, he knew; still, it was himself also. The powers they now shared depended on determination, on a zeal for life and preservation over the forces of evil, and the cloak had become merely an amplifier of his own abilities, his own inner fires. Perhaps that was all it had ever been. The shivak swung a mighty fist, and Teldin ducked under the swing to deliver a rapid series of solid punches to the shivak's torso. It brought its balled fists down on Teldin's shoulders, and he dropped to his knees, throbbing. Impulsively, he reached out for the thing's ankle and lifted it off the floor, then stood quickly and shoved the shivak away.
It rolled and hopped up, its speed disguised by its great bulk, and lunged for him. Teldin ran for it and jumped into the air, lashing out with all the power his legs could muster. His feet slammed into the shivak's chest, and the monster went sprawling back into the wall.
Teldin landed on his feet. The shivak stood unsteadily, and Teldin dove in with a left-right-left series of punches to the shivak's ugly face. He pounded his fists into the thing's stomach repeatedly until the shivak doubled over. Then he felt his anger burning within him, his strength cording like steel, and he brought his right hand up in a dizzying blur that slammed into the shivak's weakened jaw and knocked the thing's feet inches off the floor.
The shivak collapsed. It struggled to its knees, lowering its head for a final, spiteful mind blast toward its antagonist.
The Cloakmaster felt it between them then: their energies, flickering like heat waves in the air between them, around them. The power of the cloak was his, and he raised his hands, feeling his skin shimmer with invisible energies, with powers unimaginable.
The shivak tensed, ready to destroy the interloper with the force of its mind; but the Cloakmaster felt the power building, in the air between them, and he channeled his own energies through the cloak and cast out with his mind.
The cloak billowed out, filled with a cold breeze from arcane planes unexplored by human travelers. The lining shimmered, became a deep blue, and was filled with specks of light whirling like galaxies deep within.
The shivak stumbled as the coldness of the ethereal planes j tore from the cloak in winds and gusts that would have felled] trees and toppled houses. It struggled forward, taking one uncertain step toward the Cloakmaster, then darkness flooded ^v from the cloak, enveloping the shivak in a cyclone of night.
The shivak howled in fear as the winds of darkness raged around it. It sank to its knees and faced the Cloakmaster, holding out its hands in subservience.
Teldin felt the power building in him, through him. He screamed, feeling his need for the Spelljammer, the end of his quest, become real in his heart. He could not hear his cry over the wail of the cold, empty winds. At once, the stony shivak, frozen by the coldness, the soullessness of the extraplanar winds, exploded with the force of Teldin's being. The shivak shattered into pieces, and jagged chunks of its thick hide hurtled across the adytum, embedding into the floor and walls.
Teldin sank to his knees, the strength flooding out of him in a wave. The shivak's remains collapsed in upon themselves, as though being sucked away from the inside. The stony frag- | ments of its flesh were absorbed into the floor and walls.
On the dais, two round pedestals grew out of the floor at the arms of the throne.
Silence fell within the adytum. CassaRoc and the others were inside, congratulating the Cloakmaster. He stood, and the cloak shrank to its normal size, draping his shoulder as though it had always belonged there.
CassaRoc indicated the throne. 'I think that's for you,' he said, smiling.
They stepped aside to let Teldin step upon the dais. He stood before the throne and stared down at it. 'You better get away,' Teldin said. 'I don't know what will happen.'
They all stepped a few feet away. Stardawn, hesitating, stood directly in front of Teldin, a step ahead of the others. His hand was on the hilt of his sword.
Teldin sat in the throne. Unsure, he placed one hand on the top of one pedestal, then the other.
Instantly, he felt warm. A golden glow appeared at his hands that quickly spread throughout his body. His cloak shivered, flapped in an invisible breeze. He felt it wriggle around him, then lose its feel, its texture. It fell apart around him into thin shreds, then it disintegrated into the material of the throne. The amulet seared into Teldin's flesh, glowing below his neck, and he felt only the peaceful glow of the bonding, the warmth of his own life force.
' Yes,' Teldin said, and his eyes focused far away on some dreamlike vista only he could see. The bonding had begun, and he was filled with the life, the history, the song, and being of the Spelljammer, the herald of his destiny. ' Yes,' he said.' This is what it was all about.'
His eyes were filled with visions, and his mouth hung slack as his mind struggled to absorb it all. Then he suddenly focused his gaze at his friends. '/ know. Now I know. Estriss, Djan, CassaRoc… Now I know it all. Now f-'
Stardawn screamed a foul curse in Elvish and leaped upon the dais. His sword flashed wickedly in the light of Teldin's golden aura.
The others shouted and moved to intercept him, but the elf was too fast, and with a mighty lunge, he thrust his elven sword deep into Teldin's chest.
Blood pooled around the point of the sword, embedded deep into Teldin's heart. The Cloakmaster stood slowly and stared down at the sword in his chest. He looked then into Stardawn's eyes and smiled.
' You have done nothing,' Teldin announced, his eyes misty — ^; with the Spelljammer's fires. 'lam still the captain.'
And Teldin fell back onto the throne.
He sagged against the chair, his still hands upon the pedestals. His eyes flickered shut, and his head hung lifeless on his chest.
Na'Shee cried, 'Nooooo!' but Teldin, the Cloakmaster, the new captain of the Spelljammer, was no more.
The air shimmered in a corner of the adytum. The light seemed to dim, as though it were being muted, absorbed, and the adytum sparkled as the energies of a spell were dispersed. Then the Fool was revealed, standing where his powerful spells of invisibility and concealment had protected him from all notice, even from the guardian shivak and the Spelljammer itself. At his feet, shackled at the neck, huddled Cwelanas.
The Fool lifted a skeletal hand and pointed a bony finger at Stardawn. He took a step. Stardawn gurgled, feeling the power behind the Fool's glaring eyes close around his neck like a vise.
'The Cloakmaster was mine, insect!' the Fool shouted. 'The Spelljammer was to be mine! Mine alone!'
The Fool released Cwelanas's chains and stepped toward Stardawn. 'Now, elf lord,' he said, 'you shall pay.'
Chapter Thirty
'… Death is but a gateway. We all hold the key. 'Shall I open the door for you?…'
Teldin floated. The universe was a sea of twilight, ofgray-ness broken only by lightning veins of white and yellow that crackled in the distance.
His body was gone, invisible, yet he felt. He was cool and warm, hot and cold, real and unreal at the same
