The Best of the Realms, Book I

ASSASSIN'S SHADOW

Jess Lebow

Netheril Year 3392

(The Year of Emerald Groves, — 467 DR)

The wet stink of mud hung in the air.

Olostin lowered his foot to the floor at the bottom ofa long flight of stairs. The cellar was dark and wet, and rats splashed,unseen, in the far corners of the room.

"You have come," said a voice from out ofthe darkness.

"As I was directed," replied Olostin.

"You have served us well," came anothervoice.

"Thank you," replied Olostin.

"And you have prospered from the knowledge andpower we have granted to you," continued the first. "Your raiderswreak havoc all over the countryside, and your name strikes fear in the heartsof the common man. Indeed, even the archwizards take notice."

"Your friendship has indeed benefited me greatly.One day I shall bring about the end of thearchwizards' rule, and thus I am foreverin your debt." Olostin bowed toward the sound of the voices.

"Then we have a task for you."

"One that will no doubt be fueled by your hatredof the ruling wizard class," added the second voice.

"Of course," replied Olostin, still bowed."Tell me only what you require, and consider it done."

"An archwizard by the name of Shadow has beenexperimenting with a new type of magic," explained the first voice.

"He calls his new source of power the ShadowWeave," interjected the second.

"This Shadow Weave could be the very thing thearchwizards need to destroy us."

"How is it that I may serve you?" askedOlostin.

"Kill Shadow before he uncovers too much,"affirmed the first voice.

"As you have directed," replied Olostin. Hestood and headed back up the stairs.

"In the name of Olostin, submit or meet yourdoom!"

Cy hurled his torch at a thatch-roofed house andspurred his horse on through the village of Kath. Night had fallen hoursbefore, and the moon was just visible over the high cliffs that outlined oneedge of the valley. The sound of almost one hundred horse hooves beat on intothe slowly brightening night as the southern border of Kath went up in flames.

The door of a house just in front of Cy burst open,and a man in a nightshirt ran into the street, away from the flames and thecontents of his house. The side shutters of the same house creaked open andsmoke billowed out as a coughing woman, dark streaks of ash lining her face,climbed out with a small child under her arm. The child's head lolled to oneside and back in wide flopping arcs with the rhythm of the mother's franticescape.

Cy rode on, herding the villagers toward the north endof the settlement. There, Kath butted up against a heavily wooded forest, andnearly half of the raiding party waited there for the fleeing villagers.

We'll round 'em up, and rob 'em blind, thought Cy.

He smiled. Rich was definitely going to be a good wayto go through life.

Someone screamed ahead. Cy reigned in his horse andstopped in front of a dead-end alleyway. Two other raiders had gotten off theirhorses and had cornered a village woman. She wore only a light white dress, andshe held a tightly bunched section against her chest with one hand. With theother, she was feeling behind her for the wall of the alley, not letting hereyes stray from the men in front of her. Her hair was disheveled, and streaksof dirt or dried blood outlined the curve of her jaw.

"Hey," hollered Cy, getting their attention."Take your pleasures another time. You heard Lume! Force the villagers tothe woods. We don't have time for these games."

The two dismounted men grumbled at Cy and spit towardhis horse. They turned their attention back to the woman. She had backed intothe corner as far as she could and was pounding on the stone behind her indesperation.

Damn fools, thought Cy, and he spurred his horse downthe road.

The village was no more than thirty houses deep fromthe southern border to the edge of the forest. In the confusion of theraid-the unrelenting thunder of horses, the burning roofs, and the hollering ofthe bandits-the villagers scattered and quickly fell into the raiders' trap.

Cy spurred his horse toward the forest, and in thenext moment, he found himself on the ground, his horse barreling away fromhim. His tailbone and back hurt from the fall, and his chest burned in a lineright across the middle. He shook his head and tried to clear his vision. Alarge hulking form loomed up out of the night in front of him. The figureraised its arm, and Cy instinctively rolled to one side. A heavy chain impactedthe ground. Cy rolled back onto his feet and stood up, pulling his scimitar outof its scabbard as he did.

The man with the chain raised his arms over his head,swinging the heavy links around in a circle, gaining momentum withboth hands. Cy's vision cleared somewhat, and he got a better look at hisattacker. The man had long, ragged blond hair and was wearing only black robes,tied at the waist with a length of rope. He was wearing no shoes. Scarscrisscrossed his face and forearms. One near his ear was still covered by adark scab. His shoulders were knotted with lumps of muscle, and his arms easilysuspended the weight of the chain. He moved with a quick, considered motion,passing the chain back and forth between his hands, making arcs in the airaround his body.

Cy turned his blade in his hand, the metal castingreflected light from the fires on the dark ground. He lunged. Metal clanged,and the tip of his scimitar hit the ground. He just managed to keep his grip onthe hilt, but the chain was still moving in quick circles. A crunching thudrang through his ears, and Cy saw stars. His jaw was numb, and he could tasteblood. The chain-wielder seemed to grow much, much taller, then Cy realized hewas on the ground again. He threw himself flat as the chain whistled by hisear.

Lifting himself up on his hands and feet, Cy crabbedbackward, growing the space between himself and the blond man. The chain hitthe ground again, throwing dirt in Cy's face. Rolling backward, the raider cameup on his feet, sword in front of him. The dark-robed man nodded and closed in,moving the chain back and forth, letting it gain momentum as he changed handsagain and again.

This time the chain came in low. Cy jumped and slashedin a flat arc while he was in midair. The tip of his blade tore through thedark robes and cut a deep wound in the blond man's chest. Landing on both feet,Cy leaped backward, narrowly avoiding a blow to his head. The chain was movingfaster now. It looked almost like a solid wall of metal as it careened throughthe air.

Cy pulled his dagger from its sheath. It was the onlyenchanted weapon he owned. Flipping it over in his left hand, he clutched thetip of the blade between two fingers, then he feigned a lunge with hisscimitar. The blond man brought the chain up in a defensive arc, striking atthe hiltof the sword. Cy lowered the blade under the flailing chain and brought thedagger up to throw. The chain-wielder was too fast, and he changed directions,throwing Cy off balance. Just barely able to keep to his feet, the raider heldonto the dagger but had to lower his arm to keep from falling.

The chain whistled as it came down in an overheadstrike. Cy leaped forward, pressing his body as close to his attacker's aspossible. Blood spattered his boots as his scimitar cut a deep wound into theblond man's leg. The chain changed directions and hit Cy hard in the back,knocking him straight into the black-robed man. The raider lost his grip on thecurved sword as he bounced off a human wall of muscles. The ground came up, andCy found himself once more on the rocky, hard-packed dirt in the streets ofKath.

This is starting to annoy me, he thought as he got tohis feet.

He didn't have time for much more as the chain hit himagain right around his midsection. The cold, heavy links wrapped themselvesaround his body and tangled with the rest of the chain as they made one fullcircle around Cy's stomach. Just as the dark metal clanked into itself, theraider felt himself lift off the ground. The blond man pulled him clear off hisfeet, and Cy grunted as all the air left his lungs. Coming down in a heap atthe foot of the chain-wielder, Cy struggled to stay conscious. He felt thechain tug and begin to unravel itself from his body. The force of the largerman pulling caused Cy to roll over onto his back as the chain uncoiled. Helooked up. The blond man glared back, a crease in his brow, his lips pursed,and hatred in his eyes.

Flinging his arm forward with all of his might, Cyhurled his enchanted dagger at the chain-wielder. The magical metal blade sunkeasily into the soft flesh of the neck, and the hilt moved up and down as theman tried to swallow. Blood seeped out around the edges of the wound.

The blond man staggered backward a step and raised hishands to his throat. The look of anger and spite had left his eyes, only to bereplaced by a distinct note of fear and uncertainty. Grabbing the hilt of thedagger, the blond man pulled the blade from his neck. Blood poured out inspurting gouts.

Cy slid away, getting slowly to his feet. The raiderlooked around for his scimitar. It was lying in the dirt a few yards to hisright. As he moved to retrieve it, the chain-wielder fell to his knees, brightred blood covering his hands, and a look of complete disbelief filled his eyes.Before Cy had retrieved his blade, the man was facedown on the dirt.

Cy took a deep breath and looked around. The houseswere completely consumed by flames. The screaming and chaotic sounds of theraiders riding through the village had stopped. His own horse was nowhere insight, and he cursed his bad luck for having ridden past this chain-swingingbaboon. He felt around his own body to assess the damage. The bruise on hischest where the chain had taken him off his horse had already turned deeppurple. His tailbone and back were sore but functional. He had lost a couple ofteeth, but his jaw worked well enough for him to be able to enjoy supper aroundthe campfire that night, and that was all he needed to know.

Sheathing his sword, Cy walked over to the blond man.His enchanted dagger lay just past the man's fallen fingertips. Thechain-wielder lay facedown in a good-sized puddle of his own cooling blood. Cywiped the dagger off on the back of the fallen man's dark robes.

The sound of horse hooves lifted over the crackling ofthe burning thatch roofs. Cy spun around, his dagger in hand.

"That was a nice bit of fighting, if I do say somyself."

Cy recognized the speaker-Lume, the captain of theraiding party. He rode up on his horse and stopped just in front of the fallenman.

"Sir?" Cy looked down at his bruises andbleeding wounds.

"I saw the whole thing. Most of the rest of thisscum-" He waved his arm over his shoulder toward the forest and theraiding party-"would be dead after fighting a man like that."

"Thank you, sir."

Cy looked down at the blade of his dagger and twirledit absently.

"If all my men could fight like that, we'd beable to take Karsus without the rest of Olostin's raiders."

Lume dismounted and walked over to the dead man. Hekicked him once in the ribs, then rolled him over with his boot.

The man's eyes were open but unfocused. His mouth hungwide as if he were trying to catch a last breath, and blood still trickled downhis neck, but it was already starting to harden into scabs.

Lume regarded the dead man for a moment then said,"You know, Cy, I think I might just have a job for you. Stop by my tent inthe morning, and we'll discuss the details."

Lume put one foot in a stirrup and swung his weightinto his saddle.

"In the meantime," the captain said,"head back to camp. The rest of the party has the villagers well in hand."

Lume turned his horse back toward the village.

"And one more thing, Cy," he said over hisshoulder.

"Yes, sir?"

"Enjoy yourself around the campfire tonight, anddon't forget to get your share of the booty. We made a good haul thistime."

"Thank you, sir, I will."

The evening's festivities were grand. The raiders hadmade their biggest haul ever. One of the men had ransacked Kath's stock ofsupplies and come up with several kegs of good red wine and a large cask ofmead. There was more than enough in those barrels to make the fifty or soraiders in Cy's party jolly as monks in a vineyard.

The campfire raged. The wine flowed freely. Men toldstories of their conquests during the raids. The men they had fought grewlarger and more fearsome as the evening wore on. The riches they had stolenbecame fortunes even the most powerful kings would envy. They laughed anddanced and lied to each other until they had all passed out. Then they slept.They would be allowed their excesses for the evening since their booty had beenso large. Captain Lume didn't participate in the campfires, but he didn't wakethe men early after a good night's haul.

Yes, life as one of Olostin's raiders was veryfulfilling for someone like Cy. He had the freedom to do what he wanted, solong as it didn't directly contradict the orders he had been given, and he hadthe camaraderie of the other raiders. He had riches and wine, and from time totime he even had the affections of a lady or two. All in all, life was good.

"You're quite fast, Cy," complimented Lume.

Cy had woken just before midday, and after he haddunked his head in a rain barrel and re-bandaged his wounds from the fight thenight before, he went to see his captain.

"Thank you, sir."

Cy didn't have a military background, but he believedin giving respect to his elders. Lume was the captain of the raiding party andat least ten years older than Cy, so he figured the man deserved the title of" sir."

"Sit down, please." Lume pointed to a simplechair in the corner of his tent.

Cy nodded and did as he was told.

For a tent, Lume's place was comfortable and wellappointed. A hammock stretched from a pole holding up the center of the roof inthe middle of the tent to another support forming the corner. A desk sat in theopposite corner with a chair behind it and a large chest beside. Papers werestacked in neat piles on the desk, and a large water pipe sat near them. It waslit, and Lume took a few puffs on it while Cy got comfortable.

The captain leaned forward in his chair, bracing himselfagainst the desk.

"How long have you been with this raiding party,Cy?"

"About a year now, sir."

"Is that all?" he asked.

Cy nodded.

"You know, I hate to admit it, but I've beenworking for Olostin for fifteen years. I've been leading raiding parties foralmost five years now." He leaned back in his chair. "I'm afraid Ilose track of all of the young men whom I've seen come and go. I would havethought you'd been with this group longer, but I guess I'm just rememberingsomeone else."

Lume looked at the palm of his hand for a moment.

Cy shifted in his chair.

"Cy, I make no apologies for the mistakes ofother men. If a man in my party gets himself killed, then it's his ownfault."

He looked the younger man up and down then stared himright in the eyes. Cy held his gaze for a moment, then let if fall.

"If I can't remember how long you've been withthis group it's only because I've seen hundreds of others just like you getkilled. To tell the honest truth, I can't even remember any of their names. Tome, they could have all been named Cy."

Lume chuckled at this. Cy did not.

The captain became serious and once again looked Cyover.

"I'll come to the point, Cy. I have a job foryou."

"Sir," he said, not sure what else he couldsay.

"You're as good with that dagger as I've seen ina long while, and you managed to keep yourself alive last night. I'mhoping," continued Lume, "that you'll manage to get yourself out ofthis little project alive as well. Tell me, what do you know about ourillustrious leader Olostin?"

"Sir, I know he fights to stop the tyranny of thearchwizards, sir."

"That's a good practiced answer if I've everheard one."

Cy was startled and began to stand to defend himself.

Lume raised his hand and started to laugh. "It'sall right, son," he said. "You've got the basic idea."

Cy settled back down into the chair. He felt as if hehad been scolded by his father.

"Do you want to stop the. . tyranny of thearchwizards?" asked Lume.

Cy just looked at the captain, wondering where all ofthis was leading. For a man who said he was going to get to the point, he surehad a round about way of getting there, Cy thought, and all of this questioningof his loyalty and teasing about his age was starting to make him angry.

"Well, Cy?" The captain raised his voice."Do you believe in what we're fighting for?"

"Yes, sir, I do."

Cy gritted his teeth. He didn't think his performancethe previous evening had been as spectacular as the captain seemed to believe,but as Lume himself had said, he was still alive. Surely he didn't deserve areprimand for killing a skilled fighter in the middle of a raid. This meetinghad started so well, and now it seemed as if the captain was accusing him ofbeing a spy or something.

"Well, then, son," Lume said, his voicecalm, "I need you to assassinate the archwizard Shadow."

The journey to the floating city had taken Cy two dayson griffonback. The archwizard Shadow lived in Karsus, a city unlike any Cy hadever seen before. It floated, for one thing, but that was the least of theoddities this bustling town had in store.

The streets were lined with small gutters of runningwater. Brooms moved purposefully along on their own, sweeping dust and debrisinto the moving water as they went. Bridges lifted streets up over widerrivers, and passersby walked not only on top of the curved stone structures,but on the underside as well. Wizards, carefully carrying parcels of food orarmloads of books passed each other and waved as they casually walked upsidedown. In a city park, four elderly, robed mages rotated freely through the air,their attention focused on a globe the size of a maidensthigh melon thatfloated between them. Each took turns moving intricately carved gems across theglobe and laughing as the result of their moves changed the pitch, angle, orspeed of rotation of one of the other wizards playing the game.

It seemed everyone in Karsus used magic, for everythingthey did defied what little Cy knew about the world and how it was supposed towork. Children played games on the sides of buildings instead of on the groundor in a park. Water flowed uphill, and in some places through thin air. Thestrange canals that lined the streets didn't start or end anywhere, they justsimply continued to flush fresh, clean water through the entire city. Peoplewalked adolescent pet dragons through the busy city streets, waving and smilingas they went. Groups of wizards appeared-as if from nowhere-in mid-conversation,apparently unaware that their surroundings had changed. Bags and boxes floatedthrough the air, suspended by nothing, but bound intently for some destinationor another.

Cy tried not to gawk as he made his way through thecity. Across one bridge and down several blocks, he found a tall, narrowbuilding with dozens of doors stacked one on top of the other all the way upthe building's entire facade. A carved wooden sign on street level read: "The Charlesgate Inn," and robed mages floated casually out of thedoors on the higher levels, turning around, suspended in midair, to lock thedoors behind them.

Cy entered the bottom floor of the inn and rented aroom for a few days. He wanted to learn as much about his target as he couldbefore he had to face the man.

Hopefully, Cy thought, Shadow will be so engrossed inhis research that he won't see me coming.

It was the young assassin's only hope. In open combat,Cy may have been able to defeat that skilled fighter in Kath, but an archwizardwas an entirely different story. If he didn't get a quick, clean, surprisekill, he'd be done for. As he settled into his room, he realized he'd get onlyone chance at this assassination. He intended to make the most of that chance.

Before Cy had left for Karsus, Lume had opened theraiding party's store of materials and weapons to allow Cy his pick ofequipment. They had racks and racks of swords, armor, and bows, and even somethings Cy had never seen used before. The job he had been tasked with would bedifficult for sure, but extra gear wasn't going to make it any easier. In theend. He simply took with him a small crossbow, some magical leather armor, andhis own enchanted dagger. Better to travel light, he decided.

The ornately carved brick tower that Shadow lived inwas easy enough for Cy to break into. In fact, there wasn't even a lock on thedoor. Not wanting to fall prey to over-confidence, the assassin moved throughthe entry hall very carefully, checking every few feet for traps or magicalglyphs. It took him almost an hour to creep slowly down the hall and around thecorner. For all of his caution, there were no traps in the long hallway.

At least I wasn't blown to bits, he thought.

Rounding one corner, he entered a very large, grosslywealthy sitting room. The raider in Cy was in awe. Perhaps Lume should havesent him to simply rob the archwizard. The riches held in this one room couldhave paid for a hundred assassins ten times over. High backed chairs sat aroundornately carved wooden tables. Silver sconces with mage-lit stones in them werestationed around the windows, and jeweled candelabra rested on desks, tables,and windowsills. Leather-bound books sat in hundreds of neat rows, arrayed overseveral dozen large bookshelves lining the walls.

A door swung open on the opposite side of the room. Cycrouched and somersaulted behind one of the high-backed chairs. He pressedhimself close to the furniture and held his breath. Heavy footsteps echoedacross the hardwood floor. Cy clutched his dagger. So much for surprise.

The footsteps got closer then passed the chair. Cyfelt a light breeze pass his cheek, and his vision filled with vivid, swirlingcolors of magenta, yellow, and silver. Theyoung man blinked, trying to clear hishead of the befuddling magic, and the colors passed-but they weren't magic.Cy's vision cleared, and he recognized the hem of a lady's skirts. A youngblonde woman, wearing heavy, embroidered linens and carrying a silver tray hadpassed Cy's hiding place. She walked swiftly past the chair and out into thehall. Her heavy footsteps receded.

Cy stood up, and the door swung open again. Duckinghis head behind the furniture, he was certain he'd been seen. Once again, heavyfootsteps traveled across the floor. Cy dodged behind the chair, rolling acrossthe floor, around a table, to pop up behind whoever had entered the room.Bringing his dagger down in a broad arc, the young assassin stopped cold. Thesame blonde, brightly dressed woman who had just passed, only a moment before,was again standing in the middle of the room, only this time she was carrying alarge silver jug. The woman's skirts rustled as she continued across the floor,unflinching and unfazed by Cy.

The door opened again. Cy spun around, his dagger outin front of him. The blonde woman was coming out into the sitting room for thethird time, but now she had a large box in her hands. Her brilliant blue eyesstared straight ahead as she continued to move toward the young assassin. Twosets of heavy footsteps echoed on the hardwood, one in front and one behind.Shaking his head, certain that he was under magical assault, Cy leaped out ofthe woman's path, landing hard on a plush leather chair and letting it break hisfall as he clattered to the floor.

Spinning around and backing into the corner, Cyscanned the room for any way to escape. Two blonde women-both wearing identicalmagenta, yellow, and silver linen skirts, one carrying a jug, one a box-continuedacross the hardwood floor. Neither seemed the least bit interested in Cy. Theymoved through the room and out into the hallway, intent on carrying their packagesto their final destination. The young man watched them as he stood in thecorner catching his breath.

The door opened again. Two more blonde, brightly dressedwomen-the same woman Cy had seen three times already-entered the sittingroom and proceeded across the hardwood, their footsteps echoing heavily as theycrossed. Cy made no attempt to hide this time, and the women ignored himcompletely. Picking up a book, the young assassin hurled it at one of thewomen. It struck with a thud and fell to the floor. Still, the women ignoredhim.

If they aren't illusions, thought Cy, then they mustbe constructs.

Convinced that he wasn't under a spell, he continuedon his mission.

A set of stairs led down one side of the room. Cycrossed and headed down, avoiding the female golems as he went. The stairwaywas long, and the air grew cooler as he continued down. The old wooden stepswere warped in places, so Cy was careful to transfer all of his weight ontoeach step slowly, so as to avoid creaking. At the bottom, another hallwaycontinued on. A doorway near the end was partly open, and light spilled outinto the hall from the opening. Another of the magenta-skirted women came outof the room and walked down the hall.

Slipping past the unobservant construct, Cy lookedthrough the door. He could see a bed and a night stand in half of a nice, ifmessy, bed chamber. Someone was shuffling around with a drawer and some papersoutside of his field of view. Cy pulled his dagger from his sheath, pressedhimself up against the wall, and waited.

Several moments passed. Sweat started to bead on Cy'sforehead. The shuffling inside the room continued.

A drawer slammed shut, and a figure came into view andsat on the bed. Square jaw, sandy-brown hair, green eyes, small wire-rimmedglasses, and a tell-tale scar on his left cheek-it was Shadow. Though youngerlooking than Cy had expected, the man matched the descriptions Lume had givenhim. The archwizard's attention was focused on a large stack of papers he hadin his hands, and he was making marks on them with a piece of charcoal.

Cy took a deep breath and held it. Raising his dagger up to hisshoulder, he burst into the room, hurling the enchanted blade at Shadow as hedid so. The wizard didn't even look up from his papers. He simply waved hishand, and the dagger stopped in midair. Worse, Cy stood frozen as well, unableto blink or even wipe the ever-increasing sweat from his forehead.

For quite some time, Shadow simply continued to readhis papers. Leafing through them casually as if he didn't have an assassinmagically suspended in his bedroom. Eventually, he finished with his work,straightened the papers, and turned his attention to Cy.

"Aren't you a little young to be anassassin?" he asked.

Cy didn't answer. This had been his firstassassination, so he really didn't know how the industry worked. He supposedhe'd never get the opportunity to find out.

"No matter," reassured the archwizard."Your age isn't important. What is, however, is the fact that you tried tokill me. So?" He looked Cy right in the eye. "What do you suppose weshould do about that?"

Cy tried to spit at the man, to show his indignationand contempt for the wizards who mucked around with the powerful, otherworldlymagic that he felt certain would be the doom of all the world, but he wasstuck. He couldn't move his lips or even his tongue.

"Well?" asked the archwizard. "Aren'tyou going to answer me?"

The man chuckled, then he put his hands on his kneesand stood up from the bed. He plucked the enchanted blade from where it wassuspended in the air.

"Very nice, very nice indeed," he commented."Don't have much use for these sorts of toys." He walked over to achest of drawers and placed the dagger on top of it. "I have a few I keeparound as souvenirs of the assassins who have most interested me, but Igenerally don't like to use them. All that blood and such." Shadow rankledhis nose. "No, magic is much cleaner."

He picked up a wand with a clear stone attached to theend of it by a leather band.

"And," he added, walking back toward Cy,"far more entertaining and punitive. Just think, if I simply poked youwith your blade a few times, sure it would hurt, but in short order you'd die,and the agony you'd feel would be over. With magic-" he brandished thewand-"I can trap you inside this crystal. There you will die slowly asyour predecessors sap your strength and tear at your skin."

He smiled warmly at Cy who was still unable to move.

"The best part, however, is that once you'vedied, your punishment hasn't ended. You will awaken as a shadow, and you'lllive out the rest of eternity as an ethereal creature, unable to affect thesolid world around you. Doesn't that sound far more horrifying?"

Cy grunted, trying everything in his power to simplymove his fingers.

"Yes, I'm sure you'd agree, imprisonment is farworse than simple death."

Shadow turned away from the doorway and startedtidying up the room.

"Though, I don't want you to think my trappingyou in this wand is at all an easy feat."

Cy continued to struggle, gaining a modicum of hopefrom the fact that he could already wiggle his toes and clench the muscles inhis jaw.

"It's taken me years to be able to perfect thiswand," continued the archwizard. "True, the imprisonment spells aresimple enough, as you are now, I'm sure, painfully aware."

Shadow continued to fiddle in the room.

"No, it's the transformation from human flesh tothe insubstantial that has proven tricky, though not impossible."

Cy could feel warmth spreading through his arms andchest, and he was able to shuffle his feet a little.

Shadow looked at the wand with reverent awe.

"This little device right here represents most ofmy life's work. You know," he said, speaking not really to Cy but ratherto himself, "I've lived a long time, and it seems to me that as we'vegrown, things just keep getting smaller and smaller." He chuckled. "Iguess that's what we call progress."

Cy almost had control of his body back. If Shadow continuedto amuse himself for just a few more minutes, he might be able to make a breakfor it, and he'd much rather get killed fleeing than just standing there like astupid jackass.

"Anyway, enough with the chit chat." Thearchwizard turned his attention back to the young assassin and leveled the wandat him. "I suppose I should figure out who hired you to kill me before Idispose of you. I don't suppose you came of your own accord. You're too youngfor that."

The wall behind Shadow exploded outward into the room.What had appeared to be solid stone was actually a secret door made of wood,and the splinters of stone-colored door sprayed out at the two men. Twogigantic ogres stood at the top of a set of stairs in the space where the doorused to be.

Cy was thrown to the floor next to the bed. Shadow,too distracted with the first assassin to protect himself from the two newones, was also knocked face-first to the floor. The ogres didn't waste anytime, and they rushed into the room to clobber the fallen archwizard. Ham-sizedfists began to beat the mage. The two beasts worked together, pummeling the mansimultaneously with opposing blows. Then one stopped pounding the wizard andunsheathed a large sword off its back. The blade slid out of the scabbard withan oily grind.

Cy had regained control of his body, and he got to hisfeet, pulling the larger splinters from his skin. The ogres were completelyignoring him, but they were pounding Shadow into a bloody pulp right in themiddle of the doorway. He glanced over toward the passageway.

If the ogres got in that way, then there must be a wayout, he thought.

He took a deep breath and steadied himself. In themoment he took to compose his thoughts, his mind reeled. What if there weremore ogres down there? What if they had used magic to get into the lowerchamber? If he went down there would he be trapped?

"Lift him up," shouted the ogre with thesword.

The other grunted and stopped beating the archwizard longenough to bend down and grab the man by the robes.

Cy turned back toward the doorway, deciding to takehis chances with the ogres he knew of rather than whatever could be dwellingdown the stairs. While they prepared to behead Shadow, the young assassincharged the door, hoping to slip behind the busy brutes and the doomedarchwizard on his way to freedom.

He took two large steps and dropped into a crouch,trying to ram right through. The ogre holding Shadow took a half step back atthat precise moment, crashing into the charging human as he barreled across theroom. The two assassins got tangled in each other's limbs, and they both hitthe floor with a crash-Cy tumbling head over feet into the hallway, and the ogreagainst the doorframe. Shadow came to his feet, being pulled from the floor bythe ogre and gaining momentum from the great brute's fall.

Wand still in his hand, he shouted, "Shadominiaropalazitsi,"and leveled the crystal end at the standing ogre.

A dark gray stream fired out of the wand in a directline at the ogre assassin. As it approached the ogre's upright form, the streamspread out and began to curve and split. It formed a whirlwind of darknessaround the beast, and the gray areas started to separate and take onindividual, humanlike shapes. The shadows had narrow, elongated heads, andspindly, malformed limbs, and they flew in ever-quickening circles around theogre. For his part, the assassin stood, his sword poised over his head, andgawked in awe and horror.

The shadows attacked, diving toward the armed figureand tearing at him with claws that seemed to form out of thin air. Cy couldhear the ogre howl as if he was in great pain, but no blood issued forth.Instead, the ogre dropped his sword and slowly sank to the floor, landing onthe ground with a thud like a sack of horse manure.

Cy gained his feet and turned up the steps. He'd seenenough. As fast as he'd ever felt himself move, he was up the stairs, dodgingbrightly dressed constructs as he fled out the front door. Never did he turnaround, and it wasn't until he was on his griffon on the way back to report to Lumethat he realized he no longer had his enchanted dagger.

Arriving in camp by sunup the second day, Cy enteredLume's tent at a run.

"Sir, I have terrible, urgent news."

Lume was sitting at his desk eating his morning meal,and the young man's frantic entrance startled the captain, causing him tocough up a mouthful of food.

"In the name of all the gods, what do you thinkyou're doing?" he screamed. Then, abruptly, his tone changed. "Oh,Cy!" Lume stood up. "What is it lad? Did you kill thearchwizard?"

"No, sir, I did not."

Lume slammed his hand on the desk. "Then what areyou doing here?"

Cy proceeded to intone to Lume all the details of hisassassination attempt. He left out nothing, and the captain listened intentlyto the entire story. Then it was Lume's turn to talk.

"Are you certain they were shadows that came outof the wand?" he asked.

"Yes, sir, I'm absolutely positive."

"Gods. A wand with that kind of power could…"

Turning around and placing his hands to the sides ofhis head, he paced out from behind the desk and moved around the tent. After afew moments, he came out of his reverie. He looked at Cy and shook his head.

"But you failed. I should have known thatchain-wielder wasn't an adequate challenge to determine if you could kill anarchwizard."

"Sir?"

Lume whirled, blurting out his words. "Thechain-wielder, son! I sent him to test you. How else do you think a man of thatskill ended up in such a backwater village as Kath?"

"You sentthe blond man after me, sir? But, I… I don't understand."

"Are you stupid, boy? I planted the man in Kathand paid him to attack you," replied Lume.

"But… but why? That man almost killed me."

"To see if you were up to thisassassination," he explained, "but obviously it was a poortest."

Cy stood with his arms limp and his mouth open wide.

Lume paced back and forth for a while longer, then hecaught sight of Cy. "Child, stop your bemoaning. You lived. All thatmatters now is that we go back to kill Shadow and get that wand." Lumewalked over to the young man and put his hand on his shoulder. "Despitethe fact that you failed, you've provided us-provided our great leader Olostinhimself-with a real opportunity to reclaim our world from the haughtyarchwizards."

Cy just stared, fuming at Lume.

"Son, if we get that wand," explained thecaptain, "we could use it against Shadow and all of his kind. We've beentrying to kill that man for years, and now we might finally have an opportunityto use his own research against him. Wouldn't that be beautiful?" Hesmiled and slapped Cy on the shoulder. "You know something Cy, I've sent acountless number of assassins after Shadow over the years, and you're the firstto come back alive. You should take pride in that. You're one in perhaps a thousand,and now you'll get another chance to complete your mission."

Cy pulled away from the captain. "You do what youwant, but I'll have no part of it."

Lume narrowed his gaze. "You'll do what I tellyou, or you'll be dead."

He stepped toward Cy and lowered his hand to hissaber. Cy stood his ground.

"You sent me to die once already. I'm not goingback."

The captain brought his sword up in a quick arc, hittingCy squarely under the jaw with the pommel as the blade scraped out of itsscabbard.

The young assassin fell back, and he held his hand tohis face, trying to stop the flow of blood as he stared up at his captain fromthe floor. Two armed guards came through the tent flap, their swords drawn.

"Take him back to his tent," Lume instructedthe men, "and make sure he doesn't go anywhere." He turned back tothe young man on the floor. "He'll be needed shortly-to finish his failedduties."

Two days later, Lume sent a group of men to escort Cyto the party's armory. The captain was there briefing a small group of men onthe coming assassination.

"I will personally accompany you men to make surethat this time we succeed where Cy failed," intoned Lume. He smiled at Cyas the guards untied the younger man's bonds. "Cy will go along, under mypersonal supervision, to provide the necessary details about Shadow's home andhabits." He looked out at the crowd of assembled assassins. "If thisman-" he pointed to Cy-"attempts to escape or in any other way avoidhis duty to this group, he is to be executed. Do I make myself clear?"

Every head in the group nodded assent.

Each of the assassins was given special boots thatmasked the sound of their footsteps and special cloaks that made them moredifficult to see, and each was issued an amulet that made them less susceptibleto the effects of Shadow's magic.

"These won't protect you from the shadows,"explained Lume, "but they will make you less of a target for thearchwizard."

Cy gritted his teeth. This whole mission might not benecessary had he had one of those amulets on the first attempt.

Then Lume gave each of the men a light crossbow with asingle bolt, and a small dagger, and they left for Karsus. The plan was for Cyto lead the other assassins into Shadow's bedchamber where they would overwhelmhim with sheer numbers.

"The archwizard won't try to use anything toodeadly inside the small confines of that room," strategized the captain."He'll more likely try to subdue us as he did Cy, or enspell the wholegroup to make us think he is our ally, and deal with us individually at his leisure. We'renot going to let that happen. As soon as we get in sight, we unload with thecrossbows. The bolts I gave you are magically enhanced to ensure a perfectstrike. You only have one, because if you fail, there won't be an opportunityfor another shot. Keep him distracted, so he can't use his magic, and we shouldall live through this." Lume looked at each of the assassins in turn."Once Shadow is dead, we find his wand, and we get out of there andcelebrate."

The other raiders let out a loud whoop at their captain'sconfidence. Cy kept his mouth shut. It wasn't going to be that easy, and heknew most of these men, himself included, weren't coming back. He just hopedthat one of those who wasn't going back to camp would be Captain Lume.

At the entry to Shadow's opulent home, Lume jabbed theend of his saber into Cy's ribs and said, "Now, be a good lad and show usin."

Cy lead the silent, nearly invisible band of assassinsdown the long hallway into the decadent siting room. In complete silence, theentire troop weaved through the blonde constructs and marched down toward thebedchamber.

Just as before, the door at the end of the hall wasajar and a light was on inside the room. Cy beckoned the other assassins aheadof him and pressed himself against the wall. The raiders complied and movedaround him, taking up positions on either side of the door. Lume came up behindCy, and he nodded to the waiting troops. One of them held his hand out andsilently counted to three with his fingers, then he charged through the door,the others following him in.

From where he was standing, Cy could only see the menleave the hall. With the boots they were wearing, he couldn't even hear themmove. He and Captain Lume waited for the sounds of a scuffle or of magic beingcast, but they never came. After several moments of silence, one of the mencame back into the hall and waved the two men in. Lume pushed Cy by theshoulder, and he moved around the door in front of his captain.

The bedchamber was still in a shambles, but the wallwas once more intact where the ogres had burst into the room. The otherassassins stood around, casting nervous glances back and forth as if somethinginvisible might sneak up on them. Cy moved over toward the wall, stoppingbriefly at the chest of drawers where his enchanted dagger was still resting.

I'd rather die with this in my hand, he thought. Hepicked up the blade.

When he reached the section of wall where the secretdoor had been, he placed his hand where he thought the doorframe might begin.His fingers slipped through the wall. The archwizard hadn't fixed the brokensection, he had simply cast a spell over the opening. It would be a simplematter of stepping through the illusion to get to the stairs beyond.

Cy straightened up and headed out into the hall,motioning to Lume as he did.

The captain glared at Cy and asked, "What's goingon?"

"Shadow has a laboratory in the basement behindthat wall. He's cast an illusion over the opening to make us think the wall issolid, but if I were him, I'd have other defenses in place as well. I thinkwe're better off hiding out here and waiting for him to come out."

Lume nodded and pushed Cy back through the door. Thecaptain arranged the assassins in strategic positions around the room, then hewent back into the hallway, dragging Cy with him.

Hours passed. The assassins waited. Finally, the wallwobbled as the illusion allowed someone to pass through. Shadow was lookingdown at a contraption in his hands and not at all paying attention to his surroundings.The wand was stuck in the belt of his robe, and he didn't appear to have any ofthe bruises or scars that a man who had been brutally beaten by two ogresshould have.

Two steps into the bedroom, the archwizard realized thatsomething was wrong, and he began to cast a spell. The assassins unloaded theircrossbows, and the man screamed, dropping the gadget in his hands and stumblingtoward the bed, his spell lost on his lips.

Cy watched as the wizard fell to his knees, and Lumelet out an excited yelp and bolted into the room, his dagger in hand. Shadowwas holding his hands against his chest and looking at the ground. He wasbleeding quite heavily.

"Well, well, well," intoned Lume. He wasstanding a few feet away from the archwizard with a large smile on his face."If it isn't the mighty archwizard Shadow. Do you have any idea how longI've been trying to kill you?"

The man looked up from his position on the floor, andhe finished mouthing the lasts words of another spell. He glared up at thecaptain as the magical bolts jutting from his body shot back out, sailingacross the room and striking the assassins who had shot them. Every one ofthem fell to the floor, dead with a bolt buried in his forehead. Shadowcontinued to bleed, and he put his hand out to steady himself. His skin turnedquite pale.

"No. Frankly," said the wizard, "youhave a lot of competition when it comes to assassinating me."

Lume didn't waste any time. He crossed to the wizardand pushed him to the floor, taking the wand from his belt with one hand andplacing the edge of his dagger to Shadow's throat with the other.

"Well allow me to introduce myself. My name isLume, and I work for Olostin."

"Yes-" Shadow coughed hard-"Yes, Irecognize the name. Pleasure to make your acquaintance."

"Believe me, the pleasure is all mine." Heturned to Cy. "Is this the wand you spoke of," he asked, holding upthe crystal-tipped rod.

"It appears to be, yes."

The captain took a step back and turned again to thearchwizard.

No longer under the watchful eyes of a band of assassins,Cy lunged at Lume with his dagger.

"Die, you pig!"

The captain sidestepped the blow, but hestumble-stepped to one side.

Cy swung again at the older man's back. The enchantedblade sliced through Lume's leather armor, opening a long, bloody gash in thecaptain's side.

"You stupid fool," Lume hissed.

Pulling his saber is a flash, the captain made twoquick slashing attacks.

Cy parried the first blow, but the second landed justbelow his wrist, knocking his dagger from his hand. Lume swung again, and Cystruggled backward, avoiding the blade but falling back over the bed. Cy landedon the floor against Shadow, cradling his wrist where Lume had cut him.

The captain leveled the wand at the two men on thefloor.

The archwizard struggled to breathe, but he laughedanyway.

"You can't use that," he said. "Youdon't know the command word."

"You're wrong, wizard, and now I'm going todestroy you with your own toy." Lume smiled down at Shadow. "Ironicthat you could spend so much of your life perfecting a tool such asthis-" he shook the wand-"only to be killed by it in the end."

"You don't know what sort of forces you'remessing with." He coughed, blood trickling down the corner of his mouth.

"Neither did you." Lume straightened his armand spoke the word Cy had repeated for him back at camp. "Shadominiaropalazitsi."

Once again a column of rushing dark gray plasma flowedout of the wand. It headed straight for the prone archwizard, coalescing intohumanlike forms along the way. As it jetted forward, the stream of shadowssplit into a curling mass. Shadow raised his hand instinctively to protect hisface, but this time, the shadows broke into individual swirls, and twisted,wavering forms spread out all over the room. They filled every corner and placeof darkness.

Now spread out, the shadows began to collect again,forming a cyclone around Captain Lume.

Lume screamed, "What's happening? What's goingon?"

"Don't you see, you fool?" explained thearchwizard. "Don't you recognize any of those shadows?"

"No, no, I don't." He swung his saber inwide, swooping arcs. "Stay away from me," he screamed. "Stayaway, you hear?"

Shadow lifted himself off the floor.

"Is that any way to treat your previousassassins?" asked the archwizard.

Lume's face dropped, and his swinging momentarilyslowed.

"That's right." Shadow smiled. "Ipunished your assassins by turning them into shadows and trapping them in thatwand, and you just released them to seek vengeance on you for earning them aneternity of suffering."

The shadows wasted no time, diving in to touch thestunned captain while he listened to the archwizard.

Lume's knees went weak, and he began his franticswinging again.

"But you were the one who sent them to theirdeaths," he screamed.

"They don't blame me for defending myself fromassassination. They blame you for sending them to kill an archwizard. Youshould learn to not mess with forces beyond your control."

Lume was getting tired, and his defense was weakening.His wild arcs with his saber were slowing, and the shadows were touching himrepeatedly. He dropped to the ground, lifting his head to speak again toShadow.

"Those are fine words, coming from the likes ofyou."

Lume collapsed, his head hitting the wooden planks ofthe floor with a decided thud.

The shadows spun around in a pack over the limp bodyon the floor. A dark shape formed around the captain's corpse, then itcoalesced into a humanlike shadow and lifted into the air, joining the swirlingmass above. As a group, they dived toward the wand still gripped in Lume's deadhand. The dark gray stream narrowed as itapproached the crystal, and as quickly asthey had come forth, the shadows disappeared.

The archwizard reached into the sleeve of his robesand pulled forth a large purple bottle. Uncorking the vial, he swiftly drankdown the contents. A strange white glow surrounded his skin, and the bleedingstopped. He looked much better, though not quite whole and hearty.

He looked at Cy, who was still on the floor cradlinghis bleeding wrist, and said, "As I said before, you are entirely tooyoung to be an assassin. I suggest you find another line of work."

With that, he turned around and went back through theillusionary wall.

Cy looked down at the dead body of Captain Lume andnodded, then he turned around and headed back up the stairs, dodging a prettyblonde golem on his way out.