'What does it mean? What will happen?' Danyal asked.
'I don't know, but see: Neither archmage can break away from his counterpart. I think that whichever one prevails will either be very powerful, so much so that he becomes in fact invulnerable, or he will be doomed.'
The mountain itself trembled under the onslaught of barely contained power. Pieces of rock broke from the ceiling, tumbling down to shatter on the floor. Sharp-edged shards of stone flew here and there, several whizzing past dangerously close, but Danyal's attention was rapt, still focused on the two wizards. They strained visibly to tear themselves apart, but with the violence of the collapsing mountain forming a convulsive backdrop, the two black-robed forms were pulled inexorably closer together.
At the same time, vibrations of power continued to seethe and to rumble in the ground itself. Spatters of gravel tumbled from the ceiling, and tongues of flame flared upward, breaking through the crust of the floor. The cavern rocked back and forth, filling with smoke and dust, thundering with the violent noise of collapse and destruction.
And Danyal knew that Flayze's mountain was dying.
CHAPTER 46
Third Bakukal, Reapember
374 AC
The green vortex of magic still hung over the hourglass, swirling like a liquid mirror. Now, instead of a pure reflection, the companions caught glimpses of actual places. Dan saw a forest, and then a swath of smooth, wave- swept beach. The two wizards grappled magically, taut within the web of green magic.
Another convulsion shook the lair of Flayzeranyx, and Danyal nearly lost his balance as a piece of the ceiling smashed to the floor nearby. Already the corridor by which the companions had entered was gone, vanished beneath a crushing barrier of rubble.
'Go!' Foryth Teel cried amid the chaos, pointing toward the glowing aperture. 'This place is doomed! It's your only chance!'
Dan saw the diamondlike sand still sparkling magically as it tumbled through the narrow neck of the hourglass. The gray-robed man had lowered his pen, and his eyes were fixed upon the companions. He would write, Danyal sensed, when they acted.
But what should they do?
A hiss of energy crackled loudly as the Fistandantilus-lich tried to pull his counterpart to the side. The human version of the archmage set his feet and spread his fingers, summoning a roaring spiral of greenish fire that flared high and momentarily blocked the two figures from view. The screams that emerged from within the cocoon of magic were chilling and unnatural, each sound intense with unchained fury and violence.
The vortex to the worlds wheeled like a kaleidoscopic image, and the kender stared into the space, obviously fascinated. 'What a place to wander-so many places,' he declared in amazement. 'There's a range of blue mountains-and look! A city, the whole thing crammed into one big tower!'
'Go, then. See all those places!' urged the historian. 'Escape while you can, to survive and wander!'
'My friends, I shall do just that!' declared Emilo, suddenly decisive.
Mirabeth clasped her arms around him in a crushing hug. 'Go now!' she demanded through her tears.
'Farewell, then, all of you-and thank you!' cried Emilo Haversack, turning to wave a jaunty farewell to the three humans. The two mages, still enshrouded by magic, took no note of the companions.
Before Dan could shout any kind of reply, the kender dived into-and through-the mirror. The lad caught a glimpse of a crowded street, a city with strange, lofty walls, and then the image had moved on to display a vault of cold, starry sky.
The visions in the arcane window continued to change. The next place was familiar-a mountain valley, scored by a small, babbling stream. Dan recognized the road they had followed near Loreloch, and then he saw the blackened ruin itself. In another moment he saw something moving, a familiar equine shape.
'There's the horse!' he cried as the image of the black mare, cantering gracefully along the road, came into view.
'Nightmare!' Mirabeth shouted. 'Can you hear us? Come here!'
Suddenly the scene shifted, whirling closer in a dizzying rush, and then the horse was right before them. With a kicking, plunging jump, the animal leaped, and abruptly Nightmare passed through the shimmering window and was in the cave alongside them, rearing amidst the crumbling stone.
'She will carry the two of you to safety. You must go after the kender!' Foryth declared sternly, taking Mirabeth and Danyal firmly by their arms. 'Leave Fistandan-tilus to me!'
'No!' Dan shouted. 'I'm not leaving you!' Though he sensed it was foolish to remain in the collapsing mountain, he felt a fierce loyalty to the historian, who had so clearly proved himself a friend.
'I'm staying, too!' declared Mirabeth, taking the lad's arm, watching in awe.
The mountain rocked with growing violence. A shard of stone scored a deep gash in Foryth Teel's head, drawing an immediate shower of blood and sending the man staggering backward.
Abruptly the green shroud fell from the two images of Fistandantilus, and the archmages staggered apart. The human gasped for breath, while the lich slowly drew itself into a tall, utterly rigid posture.
'Go-before it's too late!' the historian insisted, angrily gesturing to Danyal and Mirabeth.
But the two young humans merely shook their heads, locking their arms around each other as they shared their intention to stay behind with the historian and see the matter to its conclusion. With one hand, Mirabeth reached out to grab onto Nightmare's halter, and under her soothing touch, the horse grow strangely calm amid the chaos and destruction.
Ignoring his stubborn companions, Foryth turned back to the two archmages. Inflamed by their consumption of Kelryn Darewind's essence, they stared at him with the light of hunger banked only slightly in their eyes. The web of green light still glowed between them, and Dan could plainly see the tension, the strain that the connection placed on the two figures. The balance of power between them was tenuous, and the lad sensed that neither could relax, or the other's victory would be absolute.
'You can become what you want, you know,' Foryth ventured. 'A true fusion of your selves, through the bloodstone, will result in a being of truly godlike power.'
'I will not yield to a corpse!' sneered the fleshly version of the archmage.
'Nor I surrender to mortality!' cried the other.
'But you already have-both of you,' Foryth Teel replied, his scholarly tone utterly reasonable. 'In truth, you are the same being, but you have been brought here from different segments of the River of Time. If you think about it, the chance to merge with yourself is a unique opportunity, a combination that has never been attempted in all the history of Krynn.'
As the wizards glared at each other, Danyal noticed that Foryth Teel had picked up the golden chain and its green stone pendant.
'The key, of course, is that only one of you can wield the bloodstone. Here!'
Foryth suddenly flipped the gem into the air, tossing it between the two mages, and for an instant it seemed to Danyal that time stood still. The artifact tumbled and careened in space, the gold chain flashing through a dizzying whirl, and then the two images of the wizard reached forward. Each of them seized a portion of the chain, pulling on the treasured artifact.
The links pulled taut as the power of twin sorcerers raged through the ancient metal. The sound of a thunderstorm rocked through the chamber. Bright flashes of light, like green spears of lightning, crackled outward from the two figures and sent the watching humans staggering backward. The air in the cavern was instantly fouled, thick with the stench of death.
The whirling storm exploded around them, louder than anything Dan had ever heard. He pulled Mirabeth close, and the two of them hunched down, wincing against the unnatural gale, grimacing as the wind lashed like a
