“There is very little left to destroy, if you ask me,” Ladonna
remarked coldly. She rose to her feet. Justarius rose with her,
staggering a little until he obtained his balance on his crippled
leg. “As long as you get rid of the woman, I care little what you
do about the man, Par-Salian. If you believe it will wash the
blood from your robes, then help him, by all means.” She
smiled grimly. “In a way, I find this quite funny. Maybe – as we
get older – we aren’t so different after all, are we, my dear?”
“The differences are there, Ladonna,” Par-Salian said, smil-
ing wearily. “It is the crisp, clear outlines that begin to fade and
blur in our sight. Does this mean the Black Robes will go along
with my decision?”
“It seems we have no choice,” Ladonna said without emo-
tion. “If you fail -”
“Enjoy my downfall,” Par-Salian said wryly.
“I will,” the woman answered softly, “the more so as it will
probably be the last thing I enjoy in this life. Farewell, Par-
Salian.”
“Farewell, Ladonna,” he said.
“A wise woman,” Justarius remarked as the door shut behind
her.
“A rival worthy of you, my friend.” Par-Salian returned to
his seat behind the desk. “I will enjoy watching you two do bat-
tle for my position.”
“I sincerely hope you have the opportunity to do so,” Justa-
rius said, his hand on the door. “When will you cast the spell?”
“Early morning,” Par-Salian said, speaking heavily. “It takes
days of preparation. I have already spent long hours working
on it.”
“What about assistance?”
“No one, not even an apprentice. I will be exhausted at the
end. See to the disbanding of the Conclave, will you, my
friend?”
“Certainly. And the kender and the gully dwarf?”
“Return the gully dwarf to her home with whatever small
treasures you think she would like. As for the kender” – Par-
Salian smiled – “you may send him wherever he would like to
go – barring the moons, of course. As for treasure, I’m certain
he will have acquired a sufficient amount before he leaves. Do
a surreptitious check on his pouches, but, if it’s nothing impor-
tant, let him keep what he finds.”
Justarius nodded. “And Dalamar?”
Par-Salian’s face grew grim. “The dark elf has undoubtedly
left already. He would not want to keep his Shalafi waiting.”
Par-Salian’s fingers drummed on the desk, his brow furrowed
in frustration. “It is a strange charm Raistlin possesses! You
never met him, did you? No. I felt it myself and I cannot under-
stand….”
“Perhaps I can,” Justarius said. “We’ve all been laughed at
one time in our lives. We’ve all been jealous of a sibling. We
have felt pain and suffered, just as he has suffered. And we’ve
all longed – just once – for the power to crush our enemies! We
pity him. We hate him. We fear him – all because there is a little
of him in each of us, though we admit it to ourselves only in the
darkest part of the night.”
“If we admit it to ourselves at all. That wretched cleric! Why
did she have to get involved!” Par-Salian clasped his head in his
shaking hands.
“Farewell, my friend,” Justarius said gently. “I will wait for
you outside the laboratory should you need help when it is all
over.”
“Thank you,” Par-Salian whispered without raising his head.
Justarius limped from the study. Shutting the door too hast-
ily, he caught the hem of his red robe and was forced to open it
again to free himself. Before he closed the door again, he heard
the sound of weeping.
CHAPTER 15
Tasslehoff Burrfoot
was bored.
And, as everyone knows, there is nothing more dangerous
on Krynn than a bored kender.
Tas and Bupu and Caramon had finished their meal – a very
dull one. Caramon, lost in his thoughts, never said a word but
sat wrapped in bleak silence while absent-mindedly devouring
nearly everything in sight. Bupu did not even sit. Grabbing a
bowl, she scooped out the contents with her hands, shoveling it
into her mouth with a rapidity learned long ago at gully dwarf