'The same. At last he has brought me to you, where my destiny and his shall come together!'
'What do you want?' demanded Danyal. 'Power? Knowledge?'
Kelryn laughed. 'I knew the historian had discovered my notes, and I suspected he would have solved the puzzle, learned where the dragon's lair is.'
'And the skull.' It was Foryth Teel who answered. Kelryn nodded, encouraging the historian to continue. 'From the notes I saw in the library, you believe that the combination of the skull and the bloodstone will give you one of the great powers of Fistandantilus.'
'The power to travel through time!' Kelryn Darewind could no longer contain his exultation. 'The skull to show the way, and the bloodstone to give catalyst to my flight!'
'But why?' Danyal was mystified. He could understand a lust for riches or lands, could even see a vague purpose behind a man's desire to master other people, to make himself a lord or a king. But this was a craving that made no sense to him.
'There is no greater tool for one who would seek to further his own ends,' Foryth Teel intoned. 'A man who knows what will happen on the morrow can position himself to take full advantage of his enemies' misfortunes. I'm afraid what I told you before is true: He could become unstoppable.'
'And so he will!' gloated Kelryn. 'My power in Haven, before the coming of the dragons, was a small and pathetic thing in comparison to the might I will wield when I am Master of Past and Present!
'Now lead us through the mountains, historian. We go to claim the skull!'
CHAPTER 39
Reapember,
374 AC
It was so close now-the bloodstone was right here. He could almost feel it, could almost touch and taste the powerful talisman that was at the very heart of his immortal existence.
But there was still interference, a fog of mysterious power that masked itself even as it competed for the artifact. It was a shield that refused to let him pass, denied him his ultimate triumph.
It wasn't the boy who was the cause of his frustration; he knew that with certainty now. Instead, it was an arcane force, a mysterious and extremely powerful essence that was for some reason centered around, but not within, the human lad.
He possessed a talisman of arcane might that acted to thwart the will and intentions of the archmage. Even worse, there was something strangely familiar about that competing power, and it was every bit the equal of the archmage's own might.
And that meant that it was most assuredly something to be feared.
CHAPTER 40
Third Misham, Reapember
374 AC
'There-the twin peaks, with the smoking crater between them. That has to be the place,' declared Foryth Teel. His excitement over the discovery apparently overcame the fatigue, fear, and anger that had been with the companions constantly on their long, difficult trek through the High Kharolis.
For a moment Dan felt his frustration and anger expanding to encompass the historian, who could be so detached about their own circumstances, but the lad quickly quelled the emotion, saving his antipathy for their real enemy.
'The lake is steaming,' Kelryn Darewind added.
'That's got to be the boiling lake that shows on your map.'
The bandit's knife remained pressed against Mira-beth's throat, though the man conversed about the view as if she weren't even there. 'The lair-and the skull of Fistandantilus-has got to be somewhere up that mountainside.'
'Let's see ' Foryth Teel was not entirely convinced.
He flipped open his book, tracing his fingers across the symbols on the page. 'I see the boiling lake, and there we have the twin conical summits. But the glacier- there's supposed to be a glacier.'
For the thousandth time, Danyal's hand closed around the hilt of his knife, and he cast a sidelong glance toward Kelryn Dare wind. As always, it seemed the man had anticipated his interest. He winked, flashing the lad a smile as cold as the stare of a dead fish.
'I have to admit this looks like the place,' declared Emilo Haversack.
'Sure,' Kelryn chatted easily about the connection. 'The two mountains are both pointed. And that one has a glacier on the south face, just like the map shows. Now, let's move.'
'Then that means the lair should be a cave mouth about halfway up the right-hand peak,' Foryth concluded triumphantly and with as much confidence, Danyal thought sourly, as if he were describing where in the marketplace one might find a vendor of melons. Still, the historian refused to be hastened as he scrutinized the view.
Dan fought valiantly against the misery and hopelessness that threatened once again to drop him in his tracks. His only desire was to rescue Mirabeth, to get her away from Kelryn's hands long enough to exact revenge upon the bandit lord.
And then… and then what?
He didn't know. Of course, in the eight days since they had departed ruined Loreloch, Danyal had come to share some of the historian's sense of their task's importance. He recalled grimly the warning Foryth Teel had issued about the menace presented by the prospect of Kelryn Darewind's success.
Indeed, Dan had spent some of the last long nights thinking about those prospects. If the cruel bandit gained the power to travel through time, he could use that might to create an awful regime, a place devoted to violence and the worship of the vile, corrupt sorcerer.
The journey had been difficult as the five of them had made their way through rugged mountainous country. Yet the days outdoors had hardened them all, and they had learned to take advantage of what shelter they could find. Usually they had camped without a fire, unwilling to draw attention to themselves, for they all feared the great serpent whose lair was the object of their quest.
Huddling together under their two blankets, they had weathered the first blustery chill of autumn, determined to bring their quest to a successful conclusion.
Three times they had been brought to a halt as the kender was violently afflicted by one of his spells. Each had seemed, at least to Danyal, a little more severe than those that had come before. The first time Kelryn Dare- wind had been ready to kill the unfortunate kender. It had been Mirabeth who had quashed that idea, making it clear that she would sacrifice herself before she would allow it. Kelryn had been unwilling to relinquish his hostage, and for the first time, Dan had seen that the bandit lord was, in fact, as frightened as the rest of them of being left alone.
For hours following that attack, Emilo had been unfocused, his eyes haunted by memories that he could not- or would not-recall. On the next occasions, Kelryn had reluctantly, and impatiently, waited for the kender to regain his senses and mobility.
Fortunately they had seen no sign of the dragon. If Flayze had returned to his lair after destroying Loreloch,
