Realms of Valor

Once the creature had been a man, a diviner of such skill that he had told the fortunes of emperors and queens. But Kelshara had wanted him for her own. She had arranged his murder. Then, with her dark powers, she wrought his reincarnation into this new, loathsome form, bound by magic to do her every bidding.

Clumsily, the kobold opened a small ivory box, drew out a deck of ornate cards wrapped in black silk, and shuffled them. 'You must draw three,' it instructed the necromancer in its croaking voice, and Kelshara quickly did so.

With a misshapen hand Toz turned over the first card. The Three of Gems. 'This signifies the heart of your quest. It symbolizes great riches, but some of them are lost.'

'Of course,' Kelshara crooned, her violet, gold-flecked eyes glittering with understanding. 'I have been a fool, Toz. The image of the Tome is not within the two Tears I possess, and there can only be one answer. The Three of Gems. There must be a third Tear. Go on.'

The kobold turned the next card. The Priest, reversed. 'This signifies the forces of your allies.' Toz moved to the last card. 'And this signifies the forces that will oppose you on your quest.' He turned the card. The Warrior, also reversed.

'What do they mean?' Kelshara demanded.

Toz's pointed ears wriggled in confusion. 'I am not certain, master. Somehow, a priest who is not a priest will help you gain the jewel. But a warrior who is not a warrior will stand against you.'

''A warrior who is not a warrior?'' Kelshara said mockingly. 'That doesn't sound like one I need fear.'

'But, mistress,' the kobold protested, its snout wriggling in agitation, 'these cards speak of powerful forces at work. You must-'

'Quiet!' Kelshara snapped, striking the kobold and knocking it to the hard floor. It yelped shrilly, but she paid the creature no heed. 'All I have to do now is find where the third Tear is hidden,' the necromancer whispered exultantly. 'Then immortality will be mine.'

Things were in a bit of an uproar at Everard Abbey, and Tyveris knew he was the cause.

He dashed up the spiral staircase, his sandals slapping hollowly against the worn stone steps. The abbess had sent for him, and one did not keep Melisende waiting. He hesitated for a few heartbeats before the paneled mahogany door that lead into her chamber, then knocked as softly on the dark wood as he could with his massive hand. The sound boomed like thunder. Tyveris winced.

'Come in,' came the crisp reply from beyond.

With a deep breath Tyveris opened the door and stepped inside, though he was forced to turn sideways a bit to squeeze his broad shoulders through the portal. He was not a tall man, but his sheer size was astonishing. The thin brown homespun of his simple robe did little to conceal the thick, heavy muscles that were roped about his powerful frame, and his dusky brown skin marked him as a foreigner in these lands. Altogether, he was a rather remarkable individual for the backward Everard Abbey.

And that was a great part of the problem.

'Oh, do stop standing there filling up the doorway and come sit down,' Mother Melisende said in her typically brisk tone. The abbess was a tiny woman, with bright, dark eyes and wispy white hair. She sat before a fireplace, clad in a simple but elegant robe of soft dove gray. Despite her diminutive stature, a mantle of authority seemed to rest comfortably upon her small shoulders.

'Yes, Mother Melisende.' Though he made an effort to speak softly, Tyveris's deep voice rattled the glass in the windowpanes. He sat down. A cheery fire was blazing on the hearth to drive back the autumn chill. Melisende poured steaming tea into a pair of delicate porcelain cups and handed one to Tyveris. He stared at the fragile teacup worriedly, holding it with exaggerated care in his big hand. He swallowed hard.

Melisende sipped her tea, regarding Tyveris with a wise expression. 'I won't keep this from you,' she said after a moment's quiet. 'Several of the loremasters have come to speak to me this past tenday. They have asked that I dismiss you from the abbey.'

Tyveris's dark eyes widened behind his wire-rimmed spectacles. 'Have I done something wrong, Mother Melisende?'

The abbess sighed. 'No, Tyveris, it is nothing you have done.' She smiled fleetingly. 'In fact, I daresay we've never had a handyman about the abbey who was as useful as you. The chapel ceiling no longer leaks onto the pulpit, the new hinges on the gate open without a creak, and the drains in the kitchen are working properly for the first time in a century.' Her smile faded, replaced by a scowl. 'No, it's not what you've done that some of the loremasters don't care for. You wear a monk's robe now, but I'm afraid that doesn't change what you are in their eyes-a sell-sword, a man dedicated to violence, not knowledge.'

'But they have nothing to fear from me, Mother Melisende,' he boomed earnestly. 'I can control myself. I swear it!'

There was a clear, delicate snap as the teacup shattered in Tyveris's hand. He stared down at the broken shards in horror. 'I've ruined your cup,' he said despairingly.

'Forget the teacup, Tyveris,' Melisende said, taking the broken pieces from his hand and setting them aside. 'It is simply a thing. Completely replaceable.' She took his big hands into her tiny ones. He almost pulled away in surprise, but she gripped him tightly. 'Look at these, Tyveris. What do you see?'

Unsure what she meant he looked down at his hands. They were huge, big-knuckled, the dark skin crisscrossed with even darker scars and welts. They were a fighter's hands. Hands that had taken more lives than he could count. He told her so.

'Really?' the abbess answered. 'That's peculiar. For I see a pair of hands that are gentle even in their strength. I see hands that have embraced children, hands that have freely given alms to those in need, hands that have held a book for the first time as their owner learned to read in this very room. No, Tyveris, I don't believe these are a warrior's hands at all.'

He pulled away from her. 'But the other loremasters don't believe that, do they?'

'Some don't,' Melisende answered solemnly. 'A few. Loremaster Orven speaks loudest among them. I'm afraid they fear that one day you won't be able to control your temper, and that violence will result.'

'Maybe they're right,' Tyveris replied, his voice just slightly bitter. Why not? he thought. It had happened often enough in the past, when he had been both slave and soldier and the only thing that had mattered was to kill his foe, so that he wouldn't be killed himself.

Melisende's eyes flashed brightly with anger. 'I don't expect to hear any more such nonsense from you. I don't let just anybody into my abbey, you know. You're here because I believed you belong here. That hasn't changed.' She picked up her teacup again. 'I'll speak with those who have been troubled by your presence. Perhaps I can allay their fears.'

Tyveris's heart leapt in his chest. 'You will?' he rumbled gratefully.

'Did I not say so?' Melisende snapped. The abbess didn't like having to repeat herself.

'But what about Loremaster Orven?' he asked tentatively.

'I will concern myself with him. You may go now. Attend to your work.' Tyveris knew that one didn't hesitate when dismissed by the abbess. He hastily stood and bowed before hurrying from the chamber.

'And, Tyveris,' Melisende called after him. 'Do try to stay out of trouble.'

Tyveris spent the rest of the day repairing cracks in the abbey's outer stone wall. After he had finished the day's work he made his way to the dim, dusty library to read for a time in the quiet chamber. Outside the window the day was fading to twilight as the deep tones of a bronze bell sounded Vespers. The shadowed plains rolled southward into the far purple distance, toward a single twinkling gem on the horizon-the Caravan City of Iriaebor.

Had Tyveris been looking, the city's lights might have been a reminder of his past, of the days when Iriaebor had been his home and the sword had been his way of life. But he was focused on something else, another, more comforting past. Tyveris flipped idly through the colorfully illuminated manuscript resting on the table before him, a historical treatise concerning the founding of the Church of Oghma. He could hardly imagine a time when he couldn't read, but in truth he had only learned a few short months before.

The library was not a terribly large room, but it was filled from floor to ceiling with books, so many that Tyveris suspected it would take a pair of lifetimes just to read them all. The abbey was devoted to the god Oghma, the Binder, who was the warden of all knowledge, and its library was its greatest pride. In fact, the abbey even took its name from Everard Farseer, a king of an ancient, forgotten land whom legend told gave his life to protect a library from marauders who sought to burn the books within.