Realms of infamy

hovered in the middle of the shaft without any apparent means of support, spiraling up into the shadows above. The intruders paused, sitting for a moment to gather their strength before the final ascent.

'So, mage, why the Zhentarim?' Ravendas asked then.

He looked at her in surprise. 'What do you mean?'

'Isn't it obvious? We're both going to a great deal of trouble to join the Zhentarim. You know my reasons. But it occurred to me that I don't know yours. And I think you owe me that by now.'

He licked his lips slowly. 'Power,' he said quickly. Almost too quickly. 'What other reason is there?'

Ravendas frowned. 'Somehow that isn't the answer I would have expected from you, mage. I would have thought that you-' Abruptly she halted. She could see it clearly in his green eyes. He was lying. 'Bloody abyss,' she swore softly. 'You don't want to join the Zhentarim. That's not it. That's not it at all!'

He hung his head, his shoulders slumping.

'Tell me!' she whispered harshly.

Slowly, he drew something from one of his pouches. The deck of cards. 'Yours isn't the first destiny I've read,' he said quietly. 'You see, for the last year, I've been following the cards, frying to find my own destiny. First the cards led me to the ruins of a wizard's tower, where I discovered the jar of salve, and then to the library where I found the history of these mountains. After that, the cards led me to Dark-hold. Always they led me on, as if I were caught in some great spiral myself. And now…' He pulled a single card from the deck.

'What is it?' Ravendas asked intently.

'You didn't want to see your fate.' He handed her the card. 'Well, this is mine.'

She turned it over. Blue magic sparked along the outlines of a dark, knife-edged spire. The Tower.

'I came here hoping to find my fate, Ravendas.' He reached out and gently touched her hand. 'And perhaps I have.'

Before she could say anything, he stood and moved toward the spiral staircase. Shivering, she followed. For a heartbeat, the card glimmered on the floor where she had left it. Then it lay dark.

'Let's finish this,' Marnok said. He leapt off the edge of the shaft, his cloak billowing behind him, and landed on the staircase. Lithely, Ravendas did the same. She drew her sword as they ascended, but nothing assailed them from the surrounding darkness. The stairway ended, and the two stepped into a circular chamber. Silver moonlight spilled from crystalline windows high in the domed ceiling above. A basalt pedestal stood in the center of the chamber. On it lay a small, pale object. Eagerly, Ravendas moved forward, but the mage grabbed her arm.

'Careful,' he hissed. 'There is magic here.'

She nodded, halting a half-dozen paces from the pedestal. Leaning forward, she peered more closely at the object that rested upon it.

'That's it?' she said in disgust, her voice reverberating off cold stone. 'That's the wondrous Finger of Ckai- el-Ckaan?'

'It can't be!' Marnok shook his head in disbelief.

Rage blossomed hotly in Ravendas's chest. Was this to be the final joke, then? 'By all the blackest gods,' she spat furiously, 'it's nothing but an old knuckle bone!'

No, it is much more than that, a voice spoke in their minds.

Ravendas and Marnok looked up in shock. A man stood- no, he hovered-behind the pedestal. His long crimson robes drifted slowly on the air, as if feeling the touch of a distant wind. A gold skull-cap covered his head, and his yellow eyes glowed eerily in the angular landscape of his face.

'Ckai-el-Ckaan!' Ravendas whispered in dread.

No, I am but an image he conjured in his likeness long ago, when he raised this fortress to protect his most precious relic.

'Precious?' Ravendas snarled, braver now that she knew she was not facing the ancient sorcerer himself. 'What's so precious about an old bone?'

Ah, but it is not any bone, the image said. You see, as great as Ckai- el-Ckaan's magic was, all his sorcery could not reveal to him the time or place he would meet his demise. So he forged this tower, and here within he cut off his littlest finger, and laid it on the pedestal.

'But why?' Ravendas demanded in confusion.

'I think I understand,' Marnok whispered. He was trembling. 'The book told how Ckai-el-Ckaan was obsessed with living forever. So he must have left a finger here, knowing that, one day, the bone could be used in a spell that would forge a new body for him, and bring his spirit back from the Realm of the Dead.'

Ravendas stared at Marnok in amazement.

The image of the sorcerer nodded serenely. That is so. He created this fortress so that only one who was strong, and powerful, and clever enough to see him returned from the dead could gain the relic. Climbing the walls was the first test, the test of strength. Now begins the second. The ghostly wizard gestured toward the relic. Take it. But know that only one who has magic to match that of Ckai-el-Ckaan's may attempt to leave once he has done so.

'What… what If he does not?' Marnok asked tentatively.

Then he will be imprisoned forever. The image of the ancient sorcerer bowed. Fate be with you. Like mist before a wind, the image was gone.

Marnok drew a handful of glistening powder from a pouch and threw it toward the relic. A crimson sphere appeared, surrounding the pedestal. His magic had revealed the ancient trap. They could go no farther.

'So close.' Ravendas clenched her hands into fists. 'We can almost reach it. Almost.' She knew now that the relic was indeed priceless. Certainly the Zhentarim would have the power to resurrect Ckai-el-Ckaan-and to bind the legendary sorcerer as their slave in the process. For that opportunity, the Zhentarim would pay dearly. If only…

'Let's go, Ravendas,' Marnok said gently, reaching for her hand. 'It's no use.'

But that wasn't true. Suddenly she knew it. There was a way, after all.

Time turned to ice. For a crystalline moment, Ravendas could see a future. Not the future, but one future, one of many. She and Marnok stood in the doorway of a country house, his arms encircling her. Golden sunlight spilled through the windows, and small children laughed as they ran on the green grass outside. Marnok whispered something gently in her ear-she could almost hear his words. But then the thread of that future unraveled, and another, darker tapestry was woven to take its place. She had made her choice. Time melted to flow once more.

She drew Marnok close to her. He did not resist. She brushed her lips softly against his.

'I… I'm sorry,' she whispered.

His clear green eyes widened in surprise, but before he could react, she shoved him with all her strength. He carened backward, falling hard against the pedestal. Ruby magic flared brilliantly as the basalt cylinder crashed to the floor Asmall white object rolled away. Quickly Ravendas moved to snatch it up. The Finger of Ckai-el- Ckaan.

She stood in victory, but when she turned around, her heart caught in her throat. Marnok floated above the fallen pedestal imprisoned in a sphere of crimson fire. His limbs were contorted in frozen agony, as if he were dead. But his eyes were alive. They watched her with a strange look that was part anguish, part understanding. She could not look away. Without warning the floor lurched violently beneath her feet and thunder cleaved the air. The crystal windows high above shattered, shards falling like glittering rain. The floor shook again, sending her to her knees. Just as the mage's book had foretold, the tower was collapsing.

«You must… go,' a voice croaked. It was Marnok. His facewas twisted with the terrible effort of speaking. 'Remember the book…' Blood flecked the corners of his lips. 'The third… test. Face the sunset… give yourself to… darkness'' The tower shook again in its death throes, but Ravendas could not seem to move.

'Go…' Marnok gasped in agony. 'Go… Kela.' It was like being freed from a spell. Ravendas turned awayy and dashed toward the stairway. She did not look back. Chunks of stone streaked wildly past her as she leapt off the stairway and sprinted down the spiral corridor. She bounded across the bridge to the top of the wall. A heartbeat later the fortress shook again, and the bridge collapsed into the abyss.

Ravendas did not stop to watch. Marnok's words echoed in her mind. Face the sunset. She picked her way precariously along the jagged top of the wall, clutching the stone each time Gurthang convulsed, until she reached the western edge. She peered down but could see nothing in the gloom. The