roof were destroyed as well, I fear, when he tossed all the gear to the earth in his rage to find the ointment.'
Saxton resumed his coughing. As Alodar offered him another sip of water, he waved it aside. He hacked on for several moments more and then, in one giant convulsion, arched his back with a final gasp. He fell limp into Alodar's arms, staring at the ceiling with unblinking eyes and saying no more.
For a moment Alodar held him in silence and then lowered him gently to the door. He stood up and ran his eyes aimlessly around the clutter. He remembered Saxton as he had first seen him preparing the nerve elixir, struggling with his craft but free of the doom which finally claimed him.
It was the formula, the quest that had turned him from what he had done so well. Had Alodar not come to his door, he would be tinkering here still, not breathing his last trying to defend a treasure he probably did not know how to spend.
Alodar slowly let out his breath and looked out the window into the night. 'But by the laws, it is done,' he said. 'There is nothing in my knowledge of the crafts to bring him back.'
He pulled the small packet of salamander skin out of a pocket and tossed it into the clutter. And now that the alchemist has finished, what of the novice? What Saxton had said was true enough. If Alodar disappeared now, Basil would see little profit in tracking him down. And so little time remained before dawn that the chance of finding gemstones to redeem his future was impossibly small.
Alodar wiggled his head and tried to shake out the fatigue. But if he were honor bound to aid Saxton in life, then the vengeance was his as well, he thought. No matter that safety lay in the opposite direction from the mountains. He must track Rendrac there, regardless of the consequences. And the fair lady-a treasure for her he must have as well.
He gave Saxton one final pat and rose with his jaw set in a determined line. 'Rest easy, alchemist,' he said. 'Rest easy for I will continue on.' He paused and then pulled his face into a bittersweet smile. 'We quest, do we not?'
He shook his head to clear the feelings and, for the third tune, surveyed the wreckage scattered about. As he scanned from wall to wall, the torchlight reflected into his eyes from the shards of glass and plates of metal on the floor. Then he caught a glimmer subtly different from the rest, silvery and opalescent, from a small bead in the midst of the litter.
'The ointment, surely,' Alodar said half aloud. 'Perhaps Saxton's second flask will serve its purpose as well as the first.' He stooped and extended his gloved index finger into the small drop. It parted sluggishly and formed a pool around his fingertip, dense like mercury but affinitive like water.
Alodar put forward his other hand and gently stroked the drop up the side of his finger. The ointment followed, leaving a thin layer of shimmering silver. Heartened, he quickly worked the rest of the salve onto his hand, kneading it around to fill all the cracks and crevices of the glove. When he was done, his entire hand was covered; when rotated in the torchlight, it gave off a soft silvery glow.
Alodar looked around the floor, carefully righting equipment and pushing aside the rubble as he went. He found a second small bead and then another; with each he repeated the same slow process of transferring it to his body. In an hour, both his arms were covered; in another two, his legs and the front of his torso. He rummaged through the wreckage, found a sliver of a mirror, and then carefully covered his back with a small stick and the droplets he found nearby. As he discovered more and more of the ointment, the search for the rest took longer. The moon touched the horizon as he finished his face and eyes. One part of his mind cried for haste, to strike out after Rendrac before his headstart became too great, before all the time was wasted in preparation. But the balance argued caution, and he continued his methodical search and application. He had begun to despair of finding yet more salve when he discovered a bead in the corner, evidently arched high over the intervening floor by Rendrac's shattering stomp.
He deftly scooped up the globule and rolled it around his palm, hesitating as he watched it skitter about. Saxton had said nothing about the internal effects, but what he must do was a logical necessity. Shrugging his shoulders, he popped the droplet into his mouth and began to swish it around. His tongue glazed and his lungs acquired that tickly feeling he had bad as a sick child. He exhaled forcefully and felt his nasal passages coat up as well.
He held his hands before his eyes, turning them from side to side, watching for telltale signs of spots with no protection. The stuff was spread too thin, he suspected. How could such a meager layer protect him from the heat of the mountain?
He stepped into the rubble and flipped open a small strongbox. Reaching inside, he scooped up the handful of coins that remained. Four coppers?all that was left of Saxton's wealth. Barely enough for the rental of a horse to take him to the Fumus Mountains.
Alodar raced his mount into the midst of the torchlights and jumped from the saddle. The horse stomped forward into the circle of miners taking their morning meal. On his left, Alodar recognized the circular hole where the gas bubble had burst through the mountainside. At his feet were picks, torches, iron strapped chests, and piles of small leather pouches, mixed with the pockmarked rock littering the gently sloping hillside. Straight ahead, rising from a silken mattress spread over the rough ground, was Basil the apothecary. Alodar glanced at the pale glow forming in the east and quickly drew his sword.
'You come a trifle early to pay your debt, novice,' Basil said as he recognized the intruder. 'And in so theatrical a manner. I am a reasonable man and would have allowed you the hour remaining.'
'Rendrac?where is he?' Alodar snapped. 'He has an obligation to pay to Saxton as well.'
'The alchemist is no longer bound,' Basil said. 'I do not fault a man if he changes his mind, so long as his last decision is the correct one. And having Rendrac coated in the caloric shield is payment enough for what Saxton owed. I do not mind assuming whatever risk resides in the depths of the mountain. Full share is far better than a part.'
He stopped and shredded a piece of parchment into the air. 'See, the contract is concluded,' he said.
'If the ointment was satisfaction enough,' Alodar spat, 'then why did you direct Rendrac to take his life as well?'
Basil knitted his brow. 'Saxton's life,' he said, puzzled. 'I know not of what you speak. I would not order Rendrac to such an extreme measure, for what could it profit me to do so? Saxton dead is of no value whatsoever. Alive he either repays in goods or with labor. No, I may covet the products of his craft but I have no use for his life.''
Alodar stared into Basil's eyes and hesitated. It might be true, he thought. Basil's control over Rendrac did not seem absolute. He tightened the grip on his sword and looked quickly around the group of miners slowly creeping back to form a circle around the two. He glanced into the opening into the mountainside and made up his mind.
'Then where is Rendrac?' he asked. 'It is he that I will deal with first.'
Basil looked to either side and signaled for his men to converge even closer. 'He is already into the mountain,' he said, 'but that should be no concern of yours. Saxton was freed of his contract, but unless you have the brandels then you are still bound to my will. Put down your sword and submit. I will even let you stay and see with us what Rendrac brings from the depths below.'
Alodar cast quick glances to either side and took one step backward. 'It is not quite dawn. Until then I am still a free man.'
'An exercise in futility,' Basil said as he motioned his men forward. 'If you do not have payment now, how can you hope to within the hour?'
'I will discuss it with Rendrac.' Alodar suddenly turned and scrambled up the lip of the opening. He tumbled over into the passageway and spun around with his sword still pointing forward. Two miners appeared over the edge and then hesitated as Alodar flicked his blade back and forth in challenge.
'Oh, let him go.' Basil laughed. 'He will return soon enough, begging for water. Or if not, Rendrac will spot the body on his way out and we will dispose of it later.'
Alodar did not bother to reply, but turned and headed into the bowels of the mountain. He followed what seemed to be the same tunnel he had traversed before, torchlit and sharply sloping downwards. He raced past the side passage in which he had bartered with Basil, and the line of torches led him onward for three hundred paces more. He ripped the last source of light from the wall and dipped through a small opening into the blackness that extended beyond.
The path tumbled and pitched as he slowly progressed, occasionally opening up to impressive heights and
