The Best of the Realms, Book I

THE COMMON SPELL

Kate Novak-Grubb

"This is a waste of time. I don't need to learnthis," insisted Marl, the cooper's son.

Kith Lias glared at the boy, but she kept her temperin check. Marl was hardly the first to denigrate the skills she was trying toteach. He wouldn't be the last, either. Marl was a big boy, the kind whose leadthe other boys would follow. While none of the other students said a word, someof them eyed Marl with admiration that he'd had the courage to voice what manyof them were thinking. The rest of the students watched Kith curiously, waitingto see how the teacher would handle his challenge to her authority.

"Even a cooper may need to read and writesometimes, Marl," Kith answered, pushing a strand of her long, dark hairback behind her ear. "You may need to write down the orders for yoursuppliers and customers so you can remember them better."

The other students nodded at Kith's example, but Marl snorted derisively.

"I'm not going to be a cooper," the boydeclared. "Soon as I get enough coin to buy a sword, I'm joining a caravanas a guard. I'm going to be an adventurer."

"A swordling without the common spell," Kithmuttered sadly.

"What's a swordling?" asked Lisaka, thetavernkeep's daughter.

"What's the common spell?" Marl demanded.

"A swordling is an adventurer's word," Kithexplained, "for a novice sellsword. A mageling is a young mage who hasn'tproven herself. The common spell is … well, actually it's a story I heardfrom Alias the Sellsword."

The children in the classroom leaned forward as one.Like all students throughout the Realms, they knew that their teacher could bedistracted from the lesson if they encouraged her to reminisce. They were alsoeager to hear a story about Alias the Sellsword. Alias was a famous adventurer-sherescued the halfling bard Olive Ruskettle from the dragon Mistinarperadnaclesand slew the mad god Moander-twice. Only last year she drove the thieves guildfrom Westgate. A story about Alias would be wonderful.

"Tell us, please," Lisaka asked.

"Yeah, tell the story," Marl demanded.

Kith shrugged and said, "I heard Alias tell thisstory in the village of Serpentsford in Featherdale. The people there weresuspicious of all female strangers who passed through the town, even a herolike Alias, for the village was plagued by a penanggalan."

"What's that?" asked Jewel Weaver, theyoungest student in the class.

"It's a female vampire," Marl said with a superior air.

"Not exactly," Kith retorted. "Apenanggalan is undead, and it does drink the blood of the living, but there thesimilarity ends. A penanggalan appears as an ordinary woman in the daylight,and the sun's rays do not destroy it. But at night its head twists away from itsbody, trailing a black 'tail', which is all that remains of its stomach andguts. The body lies motionless while the head flies off and hunts for itsvictims. It prefers the blood of women and girls."

Jewel squealed, and several other students shivered.Even Marl looked a little pale.

"The people of Serpentsford had known enough tocremate the victims of the penanggalan so they would not become undeadthemselves," Kith explained. "But the villagers were beginning tolose hope that they would ever discover the monster, or even any of her secretlairs, for she was very cunning. Alias told this story to raise theirspirits."

"So what's the story?" Marl growledimpatiently.

Amused at the boy's attentiveness, Kith smiled ever soslightly. She sat back in her chair and folded her hands in her lap. Marl squirmed with annoyance.

Kith began the tale.

"This is a tale of the adventuring party known asthe Swanmays. Their members included two swordswomen, Belinda and Myrtle; apair of rogues, Niom and Shadow; a cleric, Pasil; and a mageling, Kasilith. Inthe Year of the Worm, the Swanmays wintered in the city of Westgate. Their landlord, a weaver woman, had an apprentice, an orphan girl named Stelly whowas thirteen. Stelly and Kasilith, the mageling, became close friends, andStelly wanted to leave the weaver to join the Swanmays.

"Now, though it was a master's legal obligation,the weaver had not yet taught Stelly to read or write. Belinda, the leader ofthe Swanmays, wasn't keen on taking responsibility for an illiterate girl whoseonly skills were with wool, and stealing an apprentice was a crime in Westgate.Yet Belinda liked Stelly. She promised Kasilith that if the mageling taughtStelly to read and write, Belinda would go to the city council, challenge theweaver's claim to Stelly, and petition to take Stelly on as an apprenticeswordswoman.

"During the winter, Kasilith taught Stelly how toread and write her letters. Stelly believed what Kasilith was teaching her wasactually magic; it was so awesome to the girl that scribbles on paper couldmean something.

Kasilith joked that if it was magic, it was the mostcommon spell in the Realms.

"That same winter a penanggalan began to prey onthe women of Westgate. Neither the city watch nor any of the adventurersinhabiting the town could discover the creature's lair. In life, the monsterhad been a noblewoman and her family and their power helped to hide her. Bychance or fate, the undead noblewoman came into Stelly's master's shop to havea tear in her cloak repaired and decided to make the weaver her next victim.Explaining she could not call for the cloak until later that evening, thepenanggalan made arrangements to meet the weaver after the shop closed.

"A little while later, the weaver learned ofBelinda's plan to take Stelly from her. Angrily, the weaver ordered Stelly torepair the noblewoman's cloak, then locked the girl in the workroom. Stellycould hear her master ordering the Swanmays out of her house, then barring thedoor.

"After crying for a while over her lost chance,Stelly went back to her work. In the pocket of the noblewoman's cloak, the girldiscovered an expensive locket engraved with a name. Since Stelly could nowread, she recognized the name belonged to a girl who had already fallen prey tothe penanggalan. Stelly shouted for her master, but the weaver, thinking thegirl was just throwing a tantrum, ignored her cries. Much later in the eveningthe apprentice heard her master unbar the door to the house and cry out oncein fear. The penanggalan had come for the weaver in her true form.

"Locked in the workroom, Stelly could make outthe weaver's moans and the sound of the beast slurping up her life's blood.Stelly cowered silently in fear until she became unconscious.

"In the morning the penanggalan, once again inhuman form, unlocked the workroom door to retrieve her cloak. Pretending concernfor the apprentice, the undead noblewoman promised to return and free Stellyafter dark. Stelly hid her fear and her knowledge of the woman's true nature.Knowing the penanggalan intended to return after dark to kill her as it mustcertainly have killed the weaver, Stelly conceived a desperatestratagem. Across the back of the monster's cloak she scrawled 'pnngalin' witha piece of chalk, then folded the cloak carefully so her repair work showed buther markings did not. The noblewoman nodded with satisfaction at the repairsand allowed Stelly to set the cloak about her shoulders. Then the woman leftthe workroom, locking the apprentice back in. It was the last Stelly ever sawof her."

"Because people spotted the letters.. andkilled the penanggalan," Jewel said excitedly.

"That is how Alias's story ended," Kith saidwith a nod. "Reading and writing, the common spell, saved Stelly'slife."

"Is that all?" Marl asked, obviously notpleased with the tale.

"No, that's not all," Kith retorted, hervoice suddenly deeper and more commanding. "The ending Alias gave the talewas a lie."

The students' eyes widened in surprise.

"But why would Alias lie?" Lisaka asked.

Kith shrugged. "She learned the tale from her father,the bard Finder Wyvernspur, and that is how he told it to her. Bards arenotorious for manipulating the facts for their own purposes. But I know it wasnot the tale's true ending. I was staying at the inn in Serpentsford when Aliastold the story," Kith explained, "and when she finished a woman inthe audience accused her of lying and slapped her."

The students gasped, even Marl.

"The woman had been the Swanmay magelingKasilith," the teacher explained. "She was only twenty-seven, but shelooked fifty at least. She told Alias and the villagers the story's trueending."

"Which was?" Marl prompted.

"Kasilith was supposed to teach Stelly to readand write," Kith said, her voice laden with bitterness, "but insteadthe two girls spent the winter playing frivolous games with magic and toyswords and their hair and dresses. When Stelly found the locket in thepenanggalan's cloak she couldn't read it. The apprentice had no way ofdiscovering that the noblewoman was the penanggalan, and even if she hadsuspected anything upon hearing the weaver cry out that night, the girl didnot know enough of her letters to write anything on the back of the monster'scloak. The next night the noblewoman returned to free Stelly. She freed herfrom her life, by draining all the blood from her body."

"Oh, no," Jewel whispered.

"Oh, yes," Kith replied.

"Did they ever catch the penanggalan?" askedTodd, the baker's son. "Wait a minute!" the boy exclaimed. "I'llbet it was the same penanggalan in Westgate that was in Serpentsford. Kasilithwas still hunting her to avenge Stelly's death, wasn't she?"

"That is what she told Alias and her companion,Dragonbait," Kith answered.

"So, did they catch the penanggalan?" Marl asked.

Kith continued. "Alias had a shard of thefinder's stone, an old broken artifact. If you held the stone and had a clearpicture of someone or something, the shard sent out a beacon of light in thedirection of whomever or whatever you wanted to find. Kasilith said she'd seenthe penanggalan's human body once, so Alias gave her the stone. Its light ledthem to a lair hidden underground, where the penanggalan's torso lay on a bierof fresh pine branches. The monster's head was not there; it would returnbefore dawn, but now it was off hunting.

"With an exalted air, Kasilith used her magic toburn the body. Without its torso the penanggalan would not be able to hide itstrue nature again. If the head was struck by the sunlight and did not return toits torso within a few hours, it would rot, so the penanggalan would not beable to travel in the daylight anymore, either. The adventurers hid themselvesand waited for the penanggalan's head to return."

"And did it?" Marl asked. He sat on the edgeof his seat.

Kith shook her head.

"Then what happened?" Jewel prompted.

"Alias and Dragonbait and the villagers searchedeverywhere. For days and nights they looked for the penanggalan orits remains. They found no other secret lairs, nor did they find any othervictims of the penanggalan. They hoped that the creature had been struck bysunlight and had rotted, but Alias would not give up the hunt until she hadpositive proof the penanggalan was dead.

"Kasilith did give up, though. She was just aboutto leave the village when a great snowstorm came down from the northeast.Travel in any direction outside the vale was impossible for nearly a tenday,and so she remained. The mage grew remote and haggard in appearance. The snowstormbroke, but by then Kasilith was so ill she was too weak to leave her bed. Hertraveling companion, a pretty foundling girl called Jilly, remained at herbedside.

Then one night, just as Alias and her companionDragonbait were about to leave the inn for the hunt, Dragonbait turned aboutand hissed. Now, Dragonbait came from a strange race of lizard creatures calledsaurials, but really they're no different from you and me. Dragonbait was apaladin, a champion of the god of justice, and just like a human paladin hecould sense the presence of evil. He dashed up to Kasilith's room with Aliashot on his heels. The pair smashed open the door.

"Something lay on Kasilith's chest, nuzzling ather neck. For a moment Alias mistook it for a sleeping toddler. It had silkystrawberry blond hair, which Kasilith stroked with one hand. The mage's otherhand was wrapped around what appeared to be a child's arm. Then the innkeepcame to the door with a lantern, and Alias could see the thing lying onKasilith was a penanggalan. It was lapping at the blood that oozed from twowounds on the mage's throat, and a glistening black tail attached to the fairhead writhed like a snake beneath the mage's hand.

The innkeep dropped the lantern and fled. Alias gaggedin spite of herself, and the penanggalan raised its head and hissed. It had theface of Kasilith's traveling companion, Jilly. Jilly's headless torso lay onthe bed beside the mage. The monster rose from the bed, its eyes glowing red,blood gurgling down its throat. In a raspy voice it called out its victim'sname and flew toward the window, but its escape was blocked by the saurialpaladin and his magically flaming sword. Alias slammed the door shut, trappingthe monster in the room with its victim and the two adventurers.

"The penanggalan could fly, but the room'sceiling was low, and Alias's sword was long. She pressed the monster into acorner and was just about to deliver a killing blow when her back exploded withthe pain of five magical darts sinking into her flesh. Alias whirled around insurprise. Her eyes widened in shock as she discovered it was Kasilith who'djust attacked her. The mage was not just the penanggalan's victim; she wasprotecting the undead beast as well.

"Dragonbait threw himself on Kasilith, preventingher from casting any more magic, but the penanggalan, taking advantage ofAlias's diverted attention, had turned on its attacker with a vengeance. Itswooped down upon the swordswoman and lashed its tail about her neck. Aliasflailed her sword awkwardly over her head while she tugged at the creature'stail to keep it from choking her. The tail felt slimy, like a decaying piece ofmeat, and it stunk of curdling blood. Realizing she hadn't long before themonster crushed her windpipe, Alias tried a desperate measure. She dropped hersword and snatched her dagger from her boot sheath.

"A second later she'd slashed the penanggalanalong the length of its tail. Hot blood gushed down on her, momentarilyobscuring her vision. The penanggalan sank its teeth into her cheek. Droppingher dagger, Alias grabbed the hair at the monster's temples and ripped it fromher, smashing it into the wall over and over, until she had crushed its skull.The tail about her throat went limp and slid from her. Alias dropped themonster on the floor and, retrieving her sword, cleaved its head in two.

"An inky cloud rose from the monstrous head,shrank to a pinpoint of blackness, then vanished. From the bed, Kasilith sobbedout, 'Stelly,' and Alias realized what must have happened."

Kith paused in her story and hung her head for a moment.She breathed in deeply and let her breath out slowly.

"Jilly was Stelly," Todd cried out. "Noone had cremated Stelly's body," the boy speculated, "so she became apenanggalan. But what about the other penanggalan? The one whose body Kasilithdestroyed?" the boy asked. "Was that the one that killedStelly?"

Kith shook her head. "No, the Swanmays didfinally find and destroy that one. There was no other penanggalan. Kasilithcreated an illusion of the body and destroyed it so Alias would think themonster was dead and would go away."

"But Alias was too thorough a hunter, and didn'tleave," Marl noted.

"And when Kasilith and Stelly were trapped inSerpentsford by the snow, Stelly had to feed on Kasilith so she wouldn't getcaught," Todd added.

"And Kasilith helped Stelly even though she was apenanggalan because she was her friend," Lisaka said.

"A penanggalan isn't the person she was in life.It's just an evil life-force animating her body that knows what she knew," Marl argued. "Right?"

"That's true," Kith said softly.

"But Kasilith didn't know that, did she?" Jewel asked.

"She knew," Kith replied.

"The penanggalan probably hypnotized her intobeing its slave," Marl said.

Kith shook her head. "No. Kasilith served itwillingly. You see, she felt so guilty that Stelly had died because she hadn'ttaught her to read. So she thought she deserved nothing better for the rest ofher life than to serve as the slave to evil because she'd done an evilthing."

"Then what happened to her?" Jewel askedanxiously.

Kith sighed. "Well, she shrieked and cried andranted and raved for a while. She swore she would never forgive Alias andDragonbait for freeing her from the penanggalan's enslavement. Still, theyattended to her while she was recovering from the penanggalan's wounds."

"More than she deserved," Marl muttered.

"True," Kith agreed. "Alias told themage that Finder Wyvernspur had told her so much about Kasilith thatshe felt she was her friend and would not leave her until she was healed.Kasilith swore she had never met Finder Wyvernspur, but Alias stayed anyway.Finally, one day, something Dragonbait the paladin said made her change hermind about how she felt and about what she should do with her life."

"What did he say?" Jewel asked.

"He told Kasilith that the god of justice abhorspunishment for punishment's sake. That we have to find a way to atone for theevil we do, "and that we cannot atone for evil with evil, but only withgood. He suggested she go out and teach other children who needed to learn toread and write. That way she would honor Stelly's true spirit and maybe bringpeace to her own spirit. And that's just what she did."

"So she became a teacher like you?" Jewelasked.

"She became a teacher like me," Kithanswered. "She teaches the common spell."

Marl the cooper's sonstayed in school another two years before he finally bought his own sword andjoined a caravan as a swordling. By then Kith Lias had taught him to read andwrite the names of every fell creature he might encounter in the Realms and hadmoved to another dale to teach another village's children. It was during Marl's off-duty hours that the other caravan guards taught him the game anagrams. After that,the cooper's son spent even more time wondering about the mage Kasilith and theteacher Kith Lias.