'Aal and Amera, I hope not!'
'Is there some hidden instruction in the pentacle, perhaps?' Thetheru asked.
Karag was climbing to his feet once again. He said nothing, but stood unsteadily, staring at the door.
'Did you bring any magic besides the yellow glass?' Deriam asked Shandiph.
Before the Chairman could answer, Karag said, 'I can see the pentagram now.'
'What?' The others turned toward him in surprise.
'I can see the pentagram. But you said there was another pentagram within it, Shandiph, and it's not a pentagram, it's the Council seal.'
'It is?' Shandiph also stared at the door; to him it still appeared to be a pentacle inside a pentacle. A possibility occurred to him, and he reached inside the neck of his tunic to pull forth the golden medallion that he as Chairman of the Council of the Most High, wore at all times. He placed it against the center of the pentagram and announced, 'I am Shandiph, heir to Hemmaron, Chairman of the Council of the Most High, chief among the wise and first among equals!'
Nothing happened.
In desperation, Shandiph reached out and pushed once more at the iron handle. The door swung open.
The chamber beyond was utterly black, and the light of the torches did not penetrate. The four wizards stared into it for a long moment, none daring to step into the unnatural darkness.
'I think that magic is called for,' Deriam said at last.
Shandiph nodded. 'Hoi, khiri! I'a angarosye t'aryo ansuyen, o mi alekye i zhure Leuk!' he called. 'Hear me, spirits! I am an agent of the lords of demons, and with this talisman I invoke Leuk!'
The room was suddenly flooded with golden light, and the four stared in astonishment.
The chamber was perhaps thirty feet wide, but so long that its far end could not be seen in the conjured light. The walls were lined with shelves of books, row after row of chests, hundreds of pegs from which hung amulets and talismans of every sort, and racks which held scepters, staves, orbs, jewels, swords, daggers, cups, plates, goblets, spears, stones, carvings, statues, sacks, pouches, jars, phials, and a hundred other implements and objects. More chests were lined up down the center of the room. Many objects glowed or glittered, and soft rustlings could be heard.
Directly before them stood an immense reading stand carved of some dark, rich wood, which held a great black-bound book.
Everything was brightly and clearly lighted for fifty yards of the room's length, but without shadows and with no apparent source of light.
'How did you do that?' Thetheru asked Shandiph.
'You mean the light? I learned a little theurgy years ago; it's a simple invocation. If you mean the door, I didn't do anything except what you saw. It must have been ensorcelled to recognize the seal of office.'
'What is all this stuff?' Karag demanded, astonished.
Shandiph shrugged. 'How should I know?' He stepped forward and looked at the lone book on the stand. 'I think that this must be here where we see it for a reason.' He opened the book at random and let the front cover fall back against the stand.
Pages flipped over without his touch; when they stopped, he read aloud, 'This book is the true compendium of all arcane knowledge gathered in this room, compiled to guide those who come after us in the use of our arts.'
'Useful,' Deriam remarked.
'How can one volume explain all this?' Thetheru asked, gesturing at the thousands of books and tens of thousands of other objects.
Pages turned, and Shandiph read, 'This book has been enchanted and will answer your every question. Speak, and you shall be answered; ask, and you shall know, that the glory of the Council of the Most High may be reborn upon the earth.' He smiled. 'So much for secrecy,' he said. 'It appears that our predecessors didn't expect it to last forever.'
'Shandiph,' Deriam said, 'this is all too much for me. What are all these things? This is far more than I had imagined we would find.'
A single page turned, and Shandiph read, 'Gathered before you is every magical spell and power known to our members at the end of this Twelfth Age, save those thought too minor to waste space upon, and those that have been withheld by the power of the gods or reserved for the continued use of the Council's master.'
'I think this is more than we can handle,' Thetheru said. 'I think we should contact the rest of the Council before we go any further.'
A thick sheaf of pages flung itself over with an audible thump, and Thetheru looked at it in surprise. 'I didn't ask a question,' he said.
'The Greater Spell of Summoning has been embodied for your use in spheres of red crystal, stored in the first chest on your left,' Shandiph read. 'The shattering of one of these crystals in the heart of a well-drawn pentagram will bring you instantly whomsoever you shall name aloud while the smoke is thick.'
'The thing dares to advise us!' Karag exclaimed.
'We should use it, though,' Thetheru said. 'Where is chalk for a pentagram?'
A page riffled over, but Shandiph did not bother to read what it said, as Deriam announced, 'There is already a pentagram here, on the floor, inlaid in gold.'
The other three looked, and Deriam was correct; a thin layer of dust had hidden the golden star.
Shandiph was already on the way to the chest indicated by the book by the time Karag and Thetheru had convinced themselves of the pentagram's reality. He opened it and found that a dozen identical spheres of red crystal, each the size of a clenched fist, were arrayed in a tray at one end. The rest of the chest held an assortment of other fascinating devices, but he resolved to leave those for later. He picked out a single red globe and, with a careful toss, flung it into the center of the pentagram. It shattered spectacularly when it hit the floor, and an impossibly thick cloud of red smoke billowed forth.
'Chalkara of Kholis, Derelind the Hermit, Miloshir the Theurgist, Herina the Stargazer, Veyel of Nekutta, the sorceress Zhinza, the mage Ranendin, the Baron Dor of Therin, Kala of Mara, Sharatha of Ilnan,' he recited quickly.
The smoke continued to roll outward in a solid, spreading mass, with no sign of thinning; Shandiph continued his listing. 'Kubal of Tadumuri, Haladar of Mara, Sherek the Thaumaturge!' He was beginning to have trouble remembering which other councilors had been at Kholis. 'Amarda the Blood Drinker! Linder the Nightwalker!'
Vague shapes were becoming visible in the seething red cloud, which had reached out far enough to surround the original party of four. 'The Seer of Weideth!' Shandiph added. There were still one or two others, he knew. 'The wizard Alagar...' Were there still more?
The smoke showed the first signs of dispersing, and it occurred to him that he need not restrict himself to those who had attended the meetings. He remembered one more who had been at Kholis, though, and named him first, saying, 'Phamakh the Wise!'
Abruptly the red fog thinned and vanished, and the room was suddenly crowded. Every person he had named was present, jammed together in the area around the golden pentagram; all were looking about themselves with varying mixtures of surprise and fear.
Shandiph realized that he had missed an opportunity to settle Shang's fate definitely once and for all by summoning him as well; or he might have called for someone who could provide a firsthand account of recent events in Dыsarra. He considered using another of the crystal spheres, but decided against it.
There was a sudden babble of voices as the new arrivals all began to talk at once; the only question that was decipherable in the confusion of noise was one that was repeated by several speakers, though the pages of the guidebook riffled wildly in trying to answer every startled query.
'Where are we?' was the one question that could be understood.
'Fellow councilors!' Shandiph called. 'Your attention, please!'
The questions ceased, the book's pages lay still, and the entire group turned to face him.
'You are in the vault where our ancestors placed much of their magic for safekeeping; you were brought
