Wizards Conclave

was unable to suppress a cry of delight as the ground dropped away below her feet. Looking down at the mules, at Jenna, she kicked her feet and whooped, utterly unafraid. She was flying!

Well, floating, if she wanted to be strictly accurate. After casting her spell of levitation on the girl, Jenna cast her spell of flying upon Dalamar. Coryn paid careful attention to the words and gestures used by the older woman, committing them to memory so she could repeat them, if necessary.

Coryn had the end of their long coil of rope securely wrapped around her right wrist and hand, with the left clenched in Dalamar's strong grip. Willing herself upward, Coryn drifted farther above the ground, pulling the elf along as she rose as high as the treetops. Dora, Dolly, and Diva stared at the strange sight with ears raised in alarm. Simply by thinking about it, Coryn floated back down to hover just a few feet above the goggle-eyed mules.

But when she tried to move to the side, or float backward, she learned that the magic gave her no such flexibility. The levitate spell was limited, as its name suggested, to transporting her up and down.

Dalamar, with his greater experience in magical matters, would propel them across the canyon. With a slight shift of posture he now angled away from Jenna, and Coryn felt herself pulled behind-even a little dizzy as they whisked away from the canyon rim, hovering over a sheer drop of two hundred feet. But she was not afraid-she knew she wasn't going to fall. She felt an exhilarating sense of freedom, and at the same time perfectly secure. The beauty of the view took her breath away, and she wanted to soar up and up!

'Can't we go higher?' she asked.

Dalamar smiled, squeezing her hand reassuringly. 'Sometime we will-but for now'-he glanced over at Jenna, who was watching them intently-'I think we'd better stick to business.'

All too soon they neared the far rim of the canyon. Dalamar finally released her hand, and she settled gently to the ground, still holding the length of rope that Jenna had been gradually paying out.

'I like that!' she declared, grinning.

'And you were paying close attention, weren't you?' Dalamar asked breezily, 'when Jenna spoke the spells.'

Coryn flushed. 'Well, yes. Of course. Why shouldn't I?'

'Oh,' the elf said with an easy smile. 'I think you should. Now, let's see about pulling those mules over here.'

Already the three beasts of burden were braying and kicking as Jenna's spell lifted them gently off the ground. Tugging hard on the rope, Coryn and Dalamar started to pull them across while Jenna took a drink from a small bottle and, moments later, took to the air with her own spell of flight.

The white moon rose, clear as a beacon through the intertwined branches of the trees. The moon was only half full, but it was as bright and beautiful as any that Coryn had ever seen. She had been sleeping, but when she opened her eyes and saw that gleaming semicircle, she sat up, her tiredness forgotten. Memories of her brief flight earlier today still thrilled her. And Jenna had actually been pleasant to her at dinner, engaging her in conversation instead of simply reading or talking quietly with Dalamar.

The fire had faded, though orange embers still gleamed here and there in a mountain of ash. The spring night was unseasonably warm, and she had no qualms about climbing out of her bedroll and walking away from the fire, the mules, and her two sleeping companions. The woods were quiet and peaceful, smelling of sweet pine, the stillness broken only by the rustle of an occasional small creature moving across the dry needles on the ground.

She made her way back to the rim of the canyon, through a fringe of pine forest. As she walked out onto the precipice- a smooth slab of stone extending beyond the shadows of the trees-she experienced the full glory of the moon. It was big, nearly as large as the moon of her childhood, and though less than three quarters full, it still cast Cory's surroundings in stark relief. She gazed at the beautiful moon and the starry sky in awe, thinking of Jenna's levitate spell, and momentarily tempted to try it on herself.

'Beautiful, isn't it?'

She gasped and spun around, relieved-pleased-to see Dalamar emerge from the trees. His hood was pulled back, and in the moonlight his face looked pure, almost godlike. 'Y-yes. Yes, it is,' she agreed.

He was standing very close to her, and she liked that. A little giddy, she turned her back to him and looked back out over the view, dry and still, with bright highlights broken by very murky shadows in the ravines and gullies, all the lower places where the moonlight could not penetrate.

'Nuitari is full tonight,' said the elf. 'Can you feel him?'

Coryn thought a moment, looking at the vault of the sky. There was a void there, well past its zenith now, and she did sense the invisible presence of the black moon.

'Yes-there, in the west, setting now.' She looked to the east, saw the glow of red light beyond the horizon. 'And here comes Lunitari, just rising.' Earlier in their trek she had learned the names of the moons from Dalamar, and they sounded meaningful and powerful, rolling off her tongue.

'Do you sense the cycles, yet?' he asked.

She thought for a moment. 'Nuitari has the shortest, that much I can tell. It seems that Lunitari takes longer, nearly a full month, and Solinari cycles once per month, like the false moon of my childhood.'

'Very perceptive. Yes, Nuitari cycles in about eight days. And what does that tell you about the next full moon?'

Coryn did some quick calculations. 'Why, Solinari and Nuitari will be full at almost the same time. And Lunitari-I can't tell for sure-will be close.'

'Actually, the red moon will be full, too. Eight nights from now, all Krynn will behold the Night of the Eye. It is a fabled time of high magic-of profound power for the wizards of the three moons.'

'I can imagine!' Cory declared, almost breathless at the thought. Three full moons on one night! She sighed, taking in the splendor of the scene, marveling at the things she had yet to learn.

Dalamar placed a hand on her shoulder, a hand that felt very warm, understanding… simply wonderful. She welcomed his presence as he took a step forward, welcomed the warmth, the soothing smell, of his soft black robe, and she allowed herself to lean back against him. She felt very grown-up tonight.

They stood in silence for several minutes, watching the moon and the rugged landscape. Dalamar finally spoke.

'There are not many people who can do what you do, you know.'

Coryn was startled, simultaneously pleased and puzzled. It sounded like a compliment, but she wasn't entirely sure of his meaning. 'What is it that I can do?'

'It seems to me as though you listen very carefully when you hear a magic spell cast. And then you are able to repeat the words yourself. Not just say the words, but cast the spell! I have seen you do that with the magic missile, and I suspect you were doing that with the light spell, also. Without study, reading, training. I don't know anyone who has ever done that.'

'Oh, really? Huh! I guess I've always known I was a little different. As a child I could work magic with water, with wood-'

'That was not true magic!' Dalamar interjected, with startling intensity. He turned her around so that he could look at her, his hands on both of her shoulders. Her own palms were against his chest, but she wasn't pushing him away. His eyes burned with something that she didn't understand, and she wanted desperately to understand. But her attention was already drifting. He was so close… so warm. His robe surrounded her with comfortable smells, like spices and a pleasant kind of sweat.

'That was sorcery, wild magic,' he explained. 'A feeble balm, perhaps, while the moon-gods were gone from the world. I even dabbled in it a bit myself, to fill the time. But you should know that it is a poor relation, weak and corrupt by comparison to the immortal gifts bestowed by Nuitari and his cousins! I have cast it aside, forever, and you should do so, too.'

'You're right-I'm sure you're right. I know I should. I guess I've been fortunate. My grandmother had a small spellbook, and I read it after the Night of Two Moons. I found I could understand the words!'

'Remarkable. And still… Jenna doesn't know?' Dalamar asked, shrugging as if the answer meant little to him.

'I… I'm not sure.' Coryn knew that she had been furtive where the Red Robe was concerned. 'I guess she didn't see the pebble. And I didn't tell her about the magic missile in the bandit camp because, well, maybe because I didn't want to worry her. Didn't you give me that advice?'