Wizards Conclave

Chapter 12
Moons over the Night

We're going to have to get the mules across this valley," Jenna announced matter-of-factly, as if she were declaring that they were going to have to put the cat outside before they turned in for the night.

Staring at the "valley," Coryn was dumbfounded. It looked like more of a gorge or canyon to the girl, from their vantage point at the top of a precipice some two hundred feet from the floor. The rocky face plunged straight down before them and extended as far as they could see to the right and left. They had been following this rim for most of the four days since the trio had left the bandit camp. The opposite rim remained only a stone's throw away, but might as well have been across an ocean, considering the obstacles.

No doubt, Jenna had some ideas. The Red Robe had seemed even more blunt and purposeful than usual, following the trio's retreat from the bandit camp. She had indeed tripped over the alert mechanism, the faerie bells, but had easily and noisily defended herself as sentries closed in, keeping them occupied until Dalamar and Coryn could get away-their exhilarating speed bolstered by a magical haste spell. Still, the experience had been plenty harrowing, though Coryn was relieved that none of them had suffered any real harm.

The three of them, the mules plodding stolidly along behind, had pushed through the immense forest for hour after hour, and day after day. They had encountered the canyon, which seemed to surprise both Jenna and Dalamar-though it had clearly been a fixture here for ages. Still, Coryn got the idea that both of them had expected to reach some place called "Wayreth Forest," but that instead they remained disoriented, wandering around the eastern realms of Qualinesti. One forest had begun to look pretty much like another to the girl, and in fact, she found it ironic how, just a few months earlier, she had longed to see a great expanse of trees. Now she would give up her next day's food for so much as a glimpse of a broad meadow, dusty plain, or even barren tundra. But every step simply took them through more trees.

During this part of the trek she found Dalamar to be a much more engaging companion than the red-robed enchantress. She enjoyed a small sense of conspiracy with him-he had encouraged her to keep secret the fact that she had cast a magic missile spell in the bandit camp, and Coryn had willingly agreed, suspecting that his pride was hurt, since she, after all, had saved him from a sword in the back. She had told him about Captain Samuval, and been surprised when he recognized the name. "He used to be a well-known captain of knights," the elf had explained. "Ironic to think that he is now lord of a bandit horde. And proof, I should say, of how hard times are across the world right now."

Their often whispered conversations opened up new worlds, fresh ideas, for the girl, and had helped to pass the time as they moved along the seemingly impassable barrier of the canyon.

"How will we ever get the mules over there?" the girl asked Jenna, pointing across the gap.

"Well, for starters, we'll push them off this cliff. Let them float down."

She was serious, Coryn saw-not that Jenna was inclined to joke.

"The featherfall spell," Dalamar guessed, looking at Jenna. "I noticed you were reading up on it, last night."

"Yes. I read it three times-one for each mule. I myself will fly across." She looked at Coryn. "I trust you can find your own way down."

"All right." The girl frowned. During the past few days she had seen many ravines and gullies that she could have followed, carefully, down into the canyon-though no track that would have allowed the mules to descend.

"But how will we get the mules up the other side?" she had to ask, even though Jenna was intent on rummaging in Dora's pack.

"Levitation, I suspect," said the dark elf, winking at Coryn even as he addressed the Red Robe. "No doubt you read that spell three times, as well."

"Four." Jenna replied as she pulled a small pouch out of the saddlebag. She opened it to extract several small fluffs of down feathers. "The girl can climb down, certainly, but I am not as confident that she can find her way back up again… without a little assistance."

Coryn turned away to hide her irritation. She was getting tired of being "the girl" while these two talked over her head. Maybe she should tell the Red Robe that she knew how to use a magic spell or two!

"How are you getting across?" Coryn asked Dalamar.

The elf smiled his very handsome smile, but there was a hint of sadness in the expression. "Since I lack the resources of my crimson colleague, I shall climb down, just as you. Levitation, however, is one of the few spells in my paltry collection, so perhaps you and I can float upward together.

"I'd like that," Coryn said. She had learned through eavesdropping that Dalamar, while a powerful wizard in his own right, was seriously hampered, because he possessed only a very small spell book, one that an old friend had given him in an act of what the elf had described as "pity." Jenna tended to lord it over him, and though the elf took pains to conceal his deep frustration, she sensed that he was resentful. Jenna was very private and secretive regarding her personal magical trove-all of which was stored in Dora's saddlebags. She wasn't being very fair to the elf, Cory thought, especially since they were clearly very old friends.

Jenna was holding one of the mules-Diva-by its ear. The Red Robe said a word of magic and released a tuft of feathers over the animal's withers; Cory felt a tingle on her scalp and sensed that the enchantress had just cast the first featherfall spell.

Jenna was starting toward a second mule when Coryn asked her a question. "The levitate spell will cause the mules to float upward, right?"

"That's correct," said the woman cautiously.

"And featherfall-I guess, to judge from the name-will allow them to fall down to the bottom gently, without hurting themselves."

"Yes."

"But it will still be terribly frightening, won't it? For the mules? I mean, when we push them off the cliff, they'll buck and kick and just generally panic."

"It can't be helped," the Red Robe said with a shrug. "They won't be hurt, if that's what you're worried about."

"Maybe there's a better way. Why not tether the mules to our rope, and have two of us carry the rope across. Climb down and up again if we have to. But keep one end of the rope here, and get the other over there with two of us to pull. Then you can levitate the mules right here and we can tug them across-there's no need for them to go all the way down to the bottom of the canyon."

"Hmm. I think it's a good idea!" Dalamar said, clearly impressed. Cory was inordinately proud of his reaction, and she looked to Jenna.

The woman frowned thoughtfully and nodded. "Yes, all right. That should work. I agree, it's a better idea than mine- and it saves the casting of three spells. Though I daresay the mules might also panic to find themselves floating above a two-hundred-foot fall."

"It shouldn't take long to pull them across," said the girl.

A half hour later, Coryn was holding tightly to Dalamar's hand as Jenna cast a levitate spell upon her. She was unable to suppress a cry of delight as the ground dropped away below her feet. Looking down at the mules, at Jenna, she kicked her feet and whooped, utterly unafraid. She was flying!

Well, floating, if she wanted to be strictly accurate. After casting her spell of levitation on the girl, Jenna cast her spell of flying upon Dalamar. Coryn paid careful attention to the words and gestures used by the older woman, committing them to memory so she could repeat them, if necessary.

Coryn had the end of their long coil of rope securely wrapped around her right wrist and hand, with the left clenched in Dalamar's strong grip. Willing herself upward, Coryn drifted farther above the ground, pulling the elf along as she rose as high as the treetops. Dora, Dolly, and Diva stared at the strange sight with ears raised in alarm. Simply by thinking about it, Coryn floated back down to hover just a few feet above the goggle-eyed mules.

But when she tried to move to the side, or float backward, she learned that the magic gave her no such flexibility. The levitate spell was limited, as its name suggested, to transporting her up and down.

Dalamar, with his greater experience in magical matters, would propel them across the canyon. With a slight shift of posture he now angled away from Jenna, and Coryn felt herself pulled behind-even a little dizzy as they whisked away from the canyon rim, hovering over a sheer drop of two hundred feet. But she was not afraid-she knew she wasn't going to fall. She felt an exhilarating sense of freedom, and at the same time perfectly secure. The beauty of the view took her breath away, and she wanted to soar up and up!

"Can't we go higher?" she asked.

Dalamar smiled, squeezing her hand reassuringly. "Sometime we will-but for now"-he glanced over at Jenna, who was watching them intently-"I think we'd better stick to business."

All too soon they neared the far rim of the canyon. Dalamar finally released her hand, and she settled gently to the ground, still holding the length of rope that Jenna had been gradually paying out.

"I like that!" she declared, grinning.

"And you were paying close attention, weren't you?" Dalamar asked breezily, "when Jenna spoke the spells."

Coryn flushed. "Well, yes. Of course. Why shouldn't I?"

"Oh," the elf said with an easy smile. "I think you should. Now, let's see about pulling those mules over here."

Already the three beasts of burden were braying and kicking as Jenna's spell lifted them gently off the ground. Tugging hard on the rope, Coryn and Dalamar started to pull them across while Jenna took a drink from a small bottle and, moments later, took to the air with her own spell of flight.

The white moon rose, clear as a beacon through the intertwined branches of the trees. The moon was only half full, but it was as bright and beautiful as any that Coryn had ever seen. She had been sleeping, but when she opened her eyes and saw that gleaming semicircle, she sat up, her tiredness forgotten. Memories of her brief flight earlier today still thrilled her. And Jenna had actually been pleasant to her at dinner, engaging her in conversation instead of simply reading or talking quietly with Dalamar.

The fire had faded, though orange embers still gleamed here and there in a mountain of ash. The spring night was unseasonably warm, and she had no qualms about climbing out of her bedroll and walking away from the fire, the mules, and her two sleeping companions. The woods were quiet and peaceful, smelling of sweet pine, the stillness broken only by the rustle of an occasional small creature moving across the dry needles on the ground.

She made her way back to the rim of the canyon, through a fringe of pine forest. As she walked out onto the precipice- a smooth slab of stone extending beyond the shadows of the trees-she experienced the full glory of the moon. It was big, nearly as large as the moon of her childhood, and though less than three quarters full, it still cast Cory's surroundings in stark relief. She gazed at the beautiful moon and the starry sky in awe, thinking of Jenna's levitate spell, and momentarily tempted to try it on herself.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

She gasped and spun around, relieved-pleased-to see Dalamar emerge from the trees. His hood was pulled back, and in the moonlight his face looked pure, almost godlike. "Y-yes. Yes, it is," she agreed.

He was standing very close to her, and she liked that. A little giddy, she turned her back to him and looked back out over the view, dry and still, with bright highlights broken by very murky shadows in the ravines and gullies, all the lower places where the moonlight could not penetrate.

"Nuitari is full tonight," said the elf. "Can you feel him?"

Coryn thought a moment, looking at the vault of the sky. There was a void there, well past its zenith now, and she did sense the invisible presence of the black moon.

"Yes-there, in the west, setting now." She looked to the east, saw the glow of red light beyond the horizon. "And here comes Lunitari, just rising." Earlier in their trek she had learned the names of the moons from Dalamar, and they sounded meaningful and powerful, rolling off her tongue.

"Do you sense the cycles, yet?" he asked.

She thought for a moment. "Nuitari has the shortest, that much I can tell. It seems that Lunitari takes longer, nearly a full month, and Solinari cycles once per month, like the false moon of my childhood."

"Very perceptive. Yes, Nuitari cycles in about eight days. And what does that tell you about the next full moon?"

Coryn did some quick calculations. "Why, Solinari and Nuitari will be full at almost the same time. And Lunitari-I can't tell for sure-will be close."

"Actually, the red moon will be full, too. Eight nights from now, all Krynn will behold the Night of the Eye. It is a fabled time of high magic-of profound power for the wizards of the three moons."

"I can imagine!" Cory declared, almost breathless at the thought. Three full moons on one night! She sighed, taking in the splendor of the scene, marveling at the things she had yet to learn.

Dalamar placed a hand on her shoulder, a hand that felt very warm, understanding… simply wonderful. She welcomed his presence as he took a step forward, welcomed the warmth, the soothing smell, of his soft black robe, and she allowed herself to lean back against him. She felt very grown-up tonight.

They stood in silence for several minutes, watching the moon and the rugged landscape. Dalamar finally spoke.

"There are not many people who can do what you do, you know."

Coryn was startled, simultaneously pleased and puzzled. It sounded like a compliment, but she wasn't entirely sure of his meaning. "What is it that I can do?"

"It seems to me as though you listen very carefully when you hear a magic spell cast. And then you are able to repeat the words yourself. Not just say the words, but cast the spell! I have seen you do that with the magic missile, and I suspect you were doing that with the light spell, also. Without study, reading, training. I don't know anyone who has ever done that."

"Oh, really? Huh! I guess I've always known I was a little different. As a child I could work magic with water, with wood-"

"That was not true magic!" Dalamar interjected, with startling intensity. He turned her around so that he could look at her, his hands on both of her shoulders. Her own palms were against his chest, but she wasn't pushing him away. His eyes burned with something that she didn't understand, and she wanted desperately to understand. But her attention was already drifting. He was so close… so warm. His robe surrounded her with comfortable smells, like spices and a pleasant kind of sweat.

"That was sorcery, wild magic," he explained. "A feeble balm, perhaps, while the moon-gods were gone from the world. I even dabbled in it a bit myself, to fill the time. But you should know that it is a poor relation, weak and corrupt by comparison to the immortal gifts bestowed by Nuitari and his cousins! I have cast it aside, forever, and you should do so, too."

"You're right-I'm sure you're right. I know I should. I guess I've been fortunate. My grandmother had a small spellbook, and I read it after the Night of Two Moons. I found I could understand the words!"

"Remarkable. And still… Jenna doesn't know?" Dalamar asked, shrugging as if the answer meant little to him.

"I… I'm not sure." Coryn knew that she had been furtive where the Red Robe was concerned. "I guess she didn't see the pebble. And I didn't tell her about the magic missile in the bandit camp because, well, maybe because I didn't want to worry her. Didn't you give me that advice?"

That sounded foolish even as she said it, though Dalamar nodded calmly. In fact, she had been hiding her skill from Jenna, for reasons she didn't exactly understand. "I'm sorry-I guess it wasn't very forthright of me."

"Perhaps not," the dark elf said with a smile. "But it was smart. It is best to keep some secrets, when it comes to magic. Jenna is also smart, and she's very wise. But her goals are her own, and she is determined to achieve them. If she thought she could achieve them by sacrificing you, she would."

"No-she wouldn't do that!" Cory argued. "What do I have to do with her goals?"

"You don't know the history of the Red Robes," Dalamar said, not unkindly. "They are ever seeking to serve their own ends. I can't blame her, not very much, anyway. She's the last of her order, and she is desperate to continue that legacy. I suspect she intends to make you her protege, the next Mistress of the Red Robe."

"What!?" Coryn looked flabbergasted, but she was quick with another question. "And what are the Black Robes striving for? What do you want?"

"A fair question. The Black Robes strive to further the glories of magic for our brethren, and for posterity. As for what I want…" He leaned in, his face very close to hers, just a little above. There was a different kind of light in his eyes, now, a very warm and appealing brightness.

Coryn held her breath as his lips closed in, touching hers. She felt a fluttering in her belly as she pressed close to him, relishing his kiss. Her arms were suddenly around him, his chest broad and powerful against hers, and she more than equaled his passion with her returning embrace. She pulled him close, still breathless, and felt that warmth turn to genuine heat.

Abruptly, then, he pulled away from her, roughly breaking the embrace, and in the moonlight the expression of anger that flashed across his face chilled Coryn. He was furious- looking past her, furious with another. The girl gasped and stepped back as Jenna's voice lashed out of the darkness.

"I expected better of you-much better!" she snapped. It was she who had spun Dalamar around. Now she faced her rival, her tone like ice.

Dalamar smiled, almost a smirk. Coryn did not think it was a very attractive expression, nor did she like the vicious tone of his words.

"Haven't you waited a little too long to turn into a prude?" he asked.

Jenna spun to glare at Coryn, her jaw set, the sparks blazing in her eyes. "You silly twit! Did you let him charm you with Black Robe lies?" She turned back to Dalamar, her fury rising. Then she snapped out the command word to another magic spell, one that the girl had heard before.

It was the cone of silence. Once again Jenna was shouting at Dalamar, just a few steps away from her, but Coryn couldn't hear a word she said.