Into the Void

up. The warrior's expression was still grim, but there was understanding in his eyes. 'Don't get me wrong,' the first mate told him. 'It's cost you, too. I'm not blaming you. Nobody who knew the facts could. You had no choice through any of this.' He spat a curse. 'Neogi. May the gods damn them to the lowest pits of the Nine Hells. How did they find us anyway?'

It seems possible the neogi are able to somehow track the cloak, Estriss remarked.

'How?' Teldin demanded, very glad that the conversation was on another subject. 'You said you could only sense magic from it when it actually did something.'

Estriss gave a broken-backed shrug. Through the use of my limited abilities, yes, he admitted, but that does not mean that others cannot sense it even in its dormant state. In fact, there are many legends that tell how various artifacts have other artifacts that are attuned to them. The illithid paused. There is also another possibility. Perhaps, when the cloak's power is used, the characteristics of that power can be detected and recognized from a distance. Did you first experience the powers of the cloak before or after the neogi pursuit began?

Teldin searched back through his memory to the start of this whole affair: not long ago, in the grand scheme of things, but it seemed now like a lifetime. Memories had begun to fade…. When had he first realized there was something unique about the cloak? Surely it was soon after the ship crashed, but was that before or after the first spidership had arrived? 'It was after,' he said slowly, 'I think.'

'You're not sure,' Aelfred said flatly, 'and how could you be? How could you know just what the cloak was doing, and when? Hells, it could have been protecting you from bird droppings from the first moment you saw it, and you just thought the birds had lousy aim.' The warrior grumbled into silence for a moment, then took off on another tangent. 'Neogi aren't common in Krynnspace,' he mused. 'It's one of the few places you're reasonably safe from them, but what happens? We take you-and your cloak-aboard, and we get intercepted by a deathspider. Coincidence?'

Perhaps, Estriss replied. It happens.

'I know it happens,' Aelfred rumbled, 'but think. We know there were neogi in Krynnspace, the ones who were after Teldin. It's possible-vaguely-that we were just unlucky enough to run into them, but do you know what the odds are of passing another ship in the flow so close that you're dropped to tactical speed?'

It happens, Estriss said again. Neogi, by nature, will attack my ship they encounter. That means nothing one way or the other.

Aelfred growled in frustration. 'I know, I know, but I can't help thinking. If the neogi can track the cloak somehow, that explains how they intercepted us. It makes me wonder, Teldin. Those pirates who attacked the gnomish dreadnought, were they pirates? Just pirates? Or were they after the dreadnought for a reason?'

You may as well ask why the Probe happened along when it did, Estriss put in mildly.

Aelfred had no answer for a moment, then he smiled ruefully. 'Aye, I know,' he said, 'that way lies paranoia.' He turned to Teldin. 'We've been arguing past you as though you've got nothing to say, while you're the person who can probably say the most. Have you got anything to add, or ask, or anything?'

Teldin had to admit he'd welcomed the respite while the other two shot comments and theories back and forth. While they debated, he could pretend the whole thing was an intellectual exercise, the kind of discussion he'd sometimes overheard between his grandfather and the old man's friends: interesting in its own way, but with little relevance to the real world of crops and plantings. Now he was forced to accept how deadly serious the whole thing was.

The other two were looking at him steadily, expecting an answer. He sighed, bone-weary of the whole burden. Why him? he asked yet again. But the burden was his, and he had to bear it as best he could. It hadn't been laid on Dana, or Sweor, or Shandess, or any of the others who'd died aboard the Probe. It had been laid on him and him alone.

'If the neogi can somehow track the cloak,' he said slowly, 'if they can-and I think we have to assume they can-then I have to leave the ship.'

Teldin wasn't sure what kind of response he expected from the other two. What he didn't expect was the reaction he got from Aelfred.

The first mate threw back his head and roared with laughter. 'You'll find it a long walk back to Krynn, old son,' the warrior said.

Teldin felt his cheeks coloring. ''You can drop me on some other planet,' he said sharply. 'Anywhere will do.'

Aelfred sobered immediately and laid a calming hand on Teldin's shoulder. 'Sorry, friend,' he said earnestly. 'I shouldn't have laughed. What you said was nobly said, but none too practical. If the neogi can track the cloak, then they'll come and get you wherever you hide. If you're by yourself, they'll kill you and get the cloak.' He grinned deprecatingly. 'Truth be told, I'm just an old mercenary. I know little about magic, and that's just the way I like it, but I do know one thing.' His voice hardened. 'I've got good reason to hate the neogi, and just because they want something-whatever it is-well, that's quite enough reason to keep it away from them.'

For me as well, Estriss put in. It seems to me that the best way to keep the neogi's prize from them is to learn how to use it, to control its power. The creature's featureless white eyes settled on Teldin. But not now, the illithid finished. You are tired. Perhaps after sleep we can continue this.

Teldin felt exhaustion wash over him like a wave. Despite his attempts to keep them open, his eyes began to hood.

'Use my cabin,' Aelfred told him. 'It's certain I'm not going to get the chance for a good while.'

'Thanks,' Teldin said weakly. He was tired. Maybe it was something the illithid had done-he remembered an attacker collapsing under the mind flayer's mental attack-or maybe it was something to do with the cloak. Or maybe it was something less mysterious: the stress, fear, and exertion of the day finally getting to him. In any case, he was only barely aware of Aelfred helping him across the hallway to the first mate's cabin, and sleep swallowed him the instant he lay on the bed.

Chapter Eight

Consciousness returned slowly. For an immeasurable time, Teldin luxuriated in a relaxed state of half-sleep, half-wakefulness. Thoughts that were almost dreams drifted through his mind. Real events of the past weeks combined with memories of his childhood. People and places mixed and matched in totally illogical combinations. Grandfather and Aelfred collaborated on teaching Teldin to use a short sword, while Estriss and Dana-now inexplicably wearing Teldin's cloak-stood on the forecastle, watching. Throughout, the only emotion he felt was mild puzzlement, not the deep pain that by rights should have accompanied some of the images.

As he drifted closer and closer to full consciousness, he found that he could manipulate some of the thoughts, some of the images. For the first time, he could review events at least somewhat objectively. Lying there, he went over the decisions he'd made, the points where he could have turned the course of events to a different path. There were, he realized, all too few of them. His actions had been more constrained than he'd perceived. At each branch point, he'd really had only one option that made complete sense, and-he saw now-if he'd strayed from the most logical path, the outcome would almost certainly have been worse than it was now. The vast majority of other paths ended with him dead, and with the cloak in the hands of the neogi.

So it was with a grim sense of relief-of exoneration, even of redemption-that he finally returned to full consciousness. The results of his actions still weighed heavily on him-and he knew they always would-but at least now he felt better prepared to bear the burden he'd been given.

He opened his eyes and squinted in the flow-light that poured in through the porthole. For a moment he didn't remember exactly where he was, then memory returned fully. He was in Aelfred's cabin.

He swung himself off the narrow bunk and looked around with interest. He'd expected the first mate's cabin to somehow match the big man's personality and background. There would be mementos mounted on the bulkheads,