Raistlin entered a room. Its four walls were solid, but the ceiling and floor lacked substance. A small table stood in front of him. He took one of the two drinks upon it and gulped it down. The liquid brought cold, soothing relief—a taste of fruit and spirit. He waited for the other to arrive.
A shadowy figure clad in long, black robes, dimly seen, dimly recognized, appeared.
“You are he?” Raistlin asked. His voice sounded strange. He didn’t recognize it as his own. He saw the golden thread run glistening from himself to the other.
“Of course. You don’t remember?” asked the other, as he always did.
“And the price?” Raistlin inquired, as he always did.
“You have already paid a part. The rest will be paid later,” answered the other, as he always answered.
Only this time, there was a difference. The conversation did not end. The room did not vanish. Raistlin was able to ask the one question previously forbidden to him.
“And my reward?”
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Majene
“Follow the line, as others are.”
“Others?”
“You are watched even now.”
“Who can see me here?”
“A man, though not a man.”
“Does he wish me good or evil?”
“It depends on what you wish him.”
Raistlin left the four walls with the ceiling and floor that didn’t matter, the winged beasts flying from his path. The line led him back to the inn and the safety of his bed. The golden thread flowed backward, shimmering, trailing off into darkness.
Cljapten 5
r/?e city OF MenekJan stooo IN tlje Mibb/e Of a fra/-angle shaped by three huge stone walls, each towering thirty feet high. The stone was pure, unblemished, without seams, cracks, or holes. But the white stone walls that faced outward were etched with symbols, signs, and pictures, each depicting some era of the world. Some of the legends were easily discernible—the Greystone of Gargath, the Hammer of Kharas, Huma and the Silver Dragon. Others had been lost to the memory of human, elf, or dwarf. All were depicted with a skill none now could rival or hope to attain.
When the stories came to an end, the walls were left
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blank, as if waiting for the original artisan to return and place another piece of history upon them. Those who lived in Mereklar believed that when the outer walls were filled with stories, the world would end and another would be reborn in its place.
Unlike the outer walls, the inner walls of the city held no symbols. The ancient stone could not be cracked by any tool or weapon known to the hands of Krynn. It was a mystery to the citizens how anyone came to build the walls. In fact, the very origin of Mereklar was as much a mystery to the current inhabitants of the city as it was to their ancestors.
Their legends claimed that Mereklar was created by the first gods of good for purposes unknown. Following the Cataclysm, its first inhabitants had come down from the hills and mountains surrounding it, fleeing the chaos in the world, to find the city already built, as if awaiting their arrival. The people moved in and had, from that time until the present, been safe from any outside interference. Even the oldest of Mereklar’s families, who had lived there for hundreds of years, knew nothing of the city’s origins. The world changed, people changed, but Mereklar, City of the White Stone, remained the same.
There were ten noble families of Mereklar, and each lived in a large, opulent estate whose great white spires could be seen rising high above the streets. The ten great families were the first negotiators and coordinators, supervising the fields of grain, orchards of fruit, and pastures for animals, making the city grow and thrive. They maintained their positions with wisdom and foresight, intelligence and flexibility.
Each of the ten great homes had its own park, lush, green, filled with trees and flowers that remained in full bloom the year round. Small streams running through
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the city created ponds where members of the noble families would occasionally gather for parties or walk alone to relieve the romantic, melancholy needs of a somber heart. The houses themselves were four-storied and four-sided, as were almost all the houses in Mereklar.