eclipsed the light blazing from the fiery, otherworldly plane. One great, clawed hand reached out from somewhere unreal, somewhere unimagined on the plane of the groundlings, and into our universe from its own.
The Fool screamed, 'Nooooooo!'
The fiendish being was more than twice Teldin's size, and it stepped from its own funereal plane into the adytum, glowing, scarlet smoke trailing in its wake. It gestured with its four arms, two ending in powerfully clawed hands, the others with sharp pincers that could disembowel a man with one casual swipe. The fangs in its shaggy canine head were jagged and sharp, and it snarled ferally at the shielded warriors who backed away from it. Its blank eyes burned an angry red, and it moved to stare first at the Cloakmaster, then Cwelanas, then finally on the skeletal form of the Fool.
Its laughter echoed like thunder throughout the chamber, reverberating off the walls so loudly that the fighters could feel it in their feet. I KNOW WHY I HAVE BEEN SUMMONED! The words boomed through their heads as the thing spoke telepathically.
The thing roared ferociously, moving slowly toward the Fool. The lich lifted Cwelanas before him and used her as a shield, backing as far away as possible.
It was one of the tanar'ri, a dark god of the Abyss. The shaggy glabrezu stomped across the adytum and looked down at the quivering Fool.
ROMAR, THE FOOL! The tanar'ri lord roared its demonic laughter. Smoke curled from its lips and nostrils.
With the swipe of one impossibly large hand, the glabrezu knocked Cwelanas from the Fool's grasp and sent her hurtling against the kender's shield. Cwelanas had time to cry out once as her bones shattered against the impenetrable shield, then j she fell to the bubble's base, unconscious. '
Blood pooled around her head. Her face was scarred with gashes from the glabrezu's claws. Gaye instantly enlarged the bubble to take in Cwelanas, and CassaRoc bent to examine the elfs wounds.
All felt the glabrezu's voice pounding in their minds. ROMAR! YOUR TIME HAS COME! The Fool cowered behind the Cloakmaster's throne. His bony
hands were crossed protectively in front of him. OUR CONTRACT IS CONCLUDED! YOUR SOUL IS MINE!
The glabrezu reached out with one of its pincers. The Fool shrank down to his knees, and the long pincer raked across the Fool's cheek, drawing a line of thin black blood. The Fool raised his puny hands in supplication to the tanar'ri.
'Lord Mowg, no, I beseech you-the phylactery, that one broke it, there-' The Fool pointed at the unconscious Cwelanas. 'It was not meant-' The glabrezu's other pincer lashed out and grasped the Fool by the neck. Lord Mowg lifted the Fool to face him. The other pincer came up, and the glabrezu plunged the sharp points deep into the Fool's hollow eyes.
The Fool jerked electrically in the tanar'ri's grasp. Bolts of j blue energy-the Fool's ill-spent life force- shimmered through Mowg's pincers and into his monstrous body. The Fool's already shrunken body seemed to tighten in on itself. The j glabrezu smiled with contentment, lapping at the Fool's dark force, flicking its tongue at the lifeless husk that was the Fool.
With a final, convulsive shudder, the Fool found true death in Lord Mowg's blistering grip. The glabrezu's mouth gaped wide, and it stuffed the Fool's body between his jaws, impossibly accommodating the lich's girth as though it were but a morsel. It swallowed, growling, its evil power resonating off the walls like a low hum.
Then Mowg faced the humans.
It lashed out at the shield. Gaye's image grimaced as the glabrezu's blow hammered at the barrier, and she concentrated, letting the shield grow stronger in her mind.
Lord Mowg stepped back and swiped a claw through the air. The fiend roared with amusement, filling the adytum with its raucous, barking laughter.
The tanar'ri placed one clawed foot into the ring of power and climbed inside. The glabrezu sank through the doorway of fire, laughing. The gate closed with a final explosion of fire, and Mowg, a lord of the tanar'ri, was gone from the Prime Material plane.
The Cloakmaster stepped off the dais. Gaye dropped her psionic shield, and the Cloakmaster stepped over to Cwelanas and placed his hands upon her head.
She glowed from within, infused with the combined energies of the Cloakmaster and the Spelljammer. He felt her wounds, the flow of her blood, and, with a thought, his energies healed the glabrezu's damage and pulled her up from the bliss of unconsciousness.
Djan woke with but a single, healing touch. The Cloakmaster kept his hand on the half-elfs head. He jerked once as a spark of power opened his mind.
'What was that?' Djan asked.
The Cloakmaster went to each of the warriors in turn, finishing with Estriss, then he helped Cwelanas to her feet and touched her head as well. Her forehead glowed at the touch of his fingertips.
' The Spelljammer has magic of its own,' the Cloakmaster said. 'I have released you from its spell, a spell of protection that all aboard have fallen under. Now you may leave!'
'Leave?' Chaladar said. 'We cannot. The Spelljammer needs our protection.'
The Cloakmaster held up a hand. 'I do not have much time like this,' he said. 'Much must he done, and there is much to explain.'
'Teldin,' Cwelanas said, looking at the wound in his chest, 'are you…?'
He nodded. 'I am one with the Spelljammer now. I am not as I was before. I know what has to be done. I know how our destinies have been intertwined. I know what our purpose is.'
'Your quest, then?' CassaRoc inquired. 'You have found your answers?'
Teldin nodded. ' To questions 1 never knew existed.'
Cwelanas went to him and stared into his glowing eyes. 'Is it you? Is it really you, Teldin? Or is it the Spelljammer?'
As she watched, the glow in his eyes faded, and his eyes returned to normal. He smiled down at her. 'It is I, Cwelanas. It's still me.'
Djan said, 'Now what? What happens next?'
'The Spelljammer is being surrounded by the fleets of our enemies. Even though they are also fighting among themselves, their forces are great and we may not survive their attack.' The Cloakmaster paused. 'In fact, I'm sure of it.'
'You couldn't have become captain of the ship just to see it destroyed,' CassaRoc said. 'There must be a reason.'
'Oh, there is,' The Cloakmaster said, 'but it's far more complicated than that. Soon the Spelljammer will be no longer-at least, not as we know it. We are giving you a chance to live.'
'Oh, no,' CassaRoc said loudly. 'We didn't come all this way to see you sacrifice yourself to save us. No, we're staying with you.'
'You have it wrong,' the Cloakmaster said. 'There will be no sacrifice, CassaRoc, not really. Things simply will be… very different. You have to trust me.'
'What's going to happen?' Na'Shee asked.
Teldin placed his hands on Cwelanas's arms. 'I have bonded with the ship. We are one. The Spelljammer's life cycle is beginning anew, and in the gardens you will find the only means to your survival. By the time you get there, a smalljammer will have been created.
'There is time enough to create only a single ship. It is essential that you escape on board the smalljammer. You must protect it at all costs. It may be this universe's only chance to create life
… if this Unhuman War is lost.'
'Create life?' Cwelanas said. 'Teldin, I don't want to leave you. I can't just-'
'Cwelanas,' Teldin said softly, 'in time, you will understand. You and the smalljammer have a purpose, a common destiny. I give the ship to you. You must sail to freedom, to life.'
The Cloakmaster reached into his belt and held out the shirt of chain mail that he had found in the neogi tower. 'Your mail,' he said. 'With the Spelljammer's help, I have granted your mail the power of an ultimate helm and more. Wear this. Take the smalljammer and sail to safety. It is your only hope.'
Cwelanas took the mail from the Cloakmaster's hands. Instantly, she felt the amulet's power surge through her, through the mail.
