Into the Void

scavver rushing toward him. He was grateful for the distraction when he felt the cool mental touch of the illithid's 'voice.'

Teldin Moore, the words formed in his head. Are you feeling strong enough for conversation?

He opened his eyes again. Estriss stood in the doorway, his facial tentacles writhing in a way that made Teldin think the creature looked tense or worried. 'I think so,' he replied. 'Come in.' He looked around the cabin, but there was nothing he could offer the mind flayer as a seat.

Estriss didn't seem to notice. He walked over to Teldin's hammock and looked intently into his face. Teldin was uncomfortable under the scrutiny of the blank white eyes, but struggled to hide his reaction.

Something important happened earlier, Estriss said without preamble. I wish to talk about it with you, if you will. Teldin simply nodded. Your reaction to the scavver, the illithid went on, there was more to it than the bravery that so impressed Aelfred Silverhorn. Is that not so? Will you tell me what you felt? What you thought?

Teldin hesitated. 'I don't think I know what you mean.' The motion of the mind flayer's tentacles intensified, reminding Teldin more and more of a human wringing his hands with anxiety or anticipation. Magic! The word rang in Teldin's mind as though the creature had shouted it. I sensed magic. The illithid clutched his amethyst pendant in a three-fingered hand. Or, rather, this did. You are not a spellcaster. I know this as a fact. The magic I sensed was not the directed, bidden magic of a normal enchanted item. It was… Estriss hesitated, seemingly groping for the right words. It was… almost autonomous, independent of your will, but not quite. Not the magic woven by sentience, and not the blind magic of a wizard's ring or wand… but something of both of them. The creature leaned forward, intent, and a tenor almost of pleading entered his mental voice. Tell me what you felt.

'Well…' Teldin paused. There was something about the illithid's intensity that he found compelling. He needed to analyze for himself the strange sensations of those few moments, and maybe this was the best way to do it. 'Well,' he started again, 'what I felt was clarity. Everything seemed to slow down around me, or maybe… maybe it was my thoughts that sped up. I… I…' It was his turn to struggle for words. He tried to force his mind back, to feel again what he'd experienced. 'I felt like I'd, well, stepped outside myself, that everything was clear. I could think, I could concentrate, and I could act… and there was nothing that could interfere with what I wanted to do. It was… Well, it was like I was looking through a glass window, and the window had suddenly been wiped clean.' He frowned, disturbed with his inability to communicate what he'd felt so absolutely. 'That's not really it, but I don't think I have the words.'

Was this the first time? Estriss asked. Have you felt this before?

'Yes,' Teldin answered slowly. 'Twice before.'

Were the circumstances similar?

'Yes.'

Tension? Danger? On both occasions?

'Yes,' Teldin said positively. 'When the wasp ship attacked the longboat. I had a crossbow. The gnomes told me I had to shoot the ballista gunner, then the pirate captain.'

And you did?

Teldin nodded. 'I'd never shot a crossbow before, but it didn't seem to matter. I could concentrate. There were no distractions. I could… I could focus all my thoughts on what I had to do.'

This focus-did it come from within you? There was a different tone to the illithid's words, a profound intensity, and Teldin knew they both realized this was the key question.

'No,' he responded softly. 'It felt… It came from outside.'

The mind flayer's tentacles ceased their writhing but now quivered with tension. The creature's mental voice was silent for two score heartbeats, then it continued, gentler but still insistent. Teldin, Estriss asked, do you possess any items of magic? Anything possessed of enchantment?

Now it was Teldin who was silent. He knew with perfect clarity what the illithid was driving at, what it wanted to know. He knew he had the answer Estriss wanted… but was he willing to give it? Over the past weeks he'd thought more and more about his 'gift' from the mortally wounded spelljammer, about the strange occurrences that happened around it. He knew that he needed to learn the cloak's significance.

But should he discuss it with Estriss? Could he trust the mind flayer with his secret? At home he'd never been one for secrets (except when it came to his father, of course, but that was different). He'd always found it much easier to be totally open with everyone. Sometimes people tried to take advantage of what they saw as his naivete, but much more frequently his honesty and forthrightness brought him the support he needed to follow the path he thought was right.

Of course, what importance could there be to the secrets of a farmer? Now he was playing a much deeper game, and the stakes were much higher-the neogi had taught him that. People had died because of the cloak. Would more die if he kept it a secret, or if he discussed it openly?

The illithid knows, though, he told himself, at least the general form of what I'm hiding. His questions showed that beyond any doubt. What sense did it make to continue to hide it? Maybe Estriss is the help I need to learn the answers I've got to have. He made his decision.

'I suspect,' he answered at last, 'it's the cloak.'

Ahh. The word was a mental sigh. I thought as much. The mind flayer shook his head in puzzlement-another very human gesture. Still, your cloak puzzles me, Estriss admitted. It is not enchanted in the sense that the word is normally used. It has no dweomer about it, no aura or quality of power to it. I have checked it to the limit of my abilities. But, when you faced the scavver, the sense of power was very intense. I have experienced nothing like this before. Will you tell me how you came to possess it?

Teldin felt another twinge of doubt-should he tell the illithid everything?-but quickly suppressed it. Telling the story could do no further harm. 'I… acquired it on Krynn,' he began, 'but it didn't come from there. Several weeks ago, a vessel-a spelljamming vessel-crashed near my farm. The owner of the cloak was badly wounded, dying. She gave me the cloak before she passed away, and she told me to take it to 'the creators.' ' Teldin raised himself on one elbow to look into the illithid's eyes. 'Who are 'the creators'?' he asked.

Estriss didn't answer directly. Instead, he asked, What happened then?

Teldin closed his eyes as a wave of sadness and pain washed over him. The fear and danger was too recent, all the deaths too immediate, for him to dwell on it. He wished he could just blot everything out of his mind.

Estriss must have sensed some of his emotions. There is no need to tell me everything now, he said gently. There was pain and there was loss. You were pursued?

'By neogi,' Teldin confirmed. 'They want the cloak.'

The illithid nodded. It is an artifact of some kind, and artifacts are usually notable for their power, he said. If the neogi are aware of the nature of the cloak, then they would wont it. I refer to individual neogi, here. An individual neogi wants power, all it can acquire, and it cares not at all how it gets it. It was Teldin's turn to nod. That was the kind of behavior he'd come to associate with neogi. 'The traveler told me to keep the cloak away from the neogi,' he said.

Well that you do, Estriss agreed. Until you learn more about it, you should keep it away from everyone. Humor tinged the creature's mental voice. Even from me.

'Can you help me?' Teldin asked. 'Who are 'the creators'?'

The mind flayer gave one of its broken-backed shrugs. I have no knowledge of this, he said after a moment, only speculation, and that may well be groundless.

'Tell me,' Teldin prompted.

Estriss paused. Just as when they'd first spoken on the stern-castle, Teldin was convinced that the illithid was embarrassed. 'Tell me,' he urged again. 'Please, I'm interested.'

Estriss nodded his acquiescence. I must tell you something of my life's work, he