Fistandantilus Reborn - Douglas Niles [105]
Allowing Emilo to pick a path through the wreckage, they reached the base of the tower. Danyal helped the kender pull rocks away from the doorway, where they found that the sturdy portal had been smashed in by the destructive force of the dragon’s attack.
Quickly they scrambled up the stairs that spiraled around the interior of the tower. “Foryth!” Danyal cried as they pounded toward the top.
When they reached the landing and burst through the open door, they found themselves in a small library. The historian was seated at a large table. A huge book lay open before him. Nearby were stacked numerous other tomes, and several scrolls had been tossed casually on the other end of the table. One of these had been unrolled and was being held open by a pair of heavy stone paperweights.
“Ah, there you are,” Foryth said cheerfully. “I heard a bit of excitement out there. Glad to see that the three of you were able to get away.”
“Why did you take off like that?” demanded Danyal, suddenly furious at the historian’s nonchalance. “You could have been killed! We were supposed to stay together! Weren’t you paying attention?”
“What? Er, yes… I suppose not. That is-tsk! Look here, my boy. I’ve found something absolutely fascinat-ing.”
In spite of his agitation, Danyal leaned over the page that Foryth indicated. He wasn’t surprised that he couldn’t recognize the symbols written there. “What’s that supposed to mean?” the lad demanded.
“Why, right here!” The historian could barely contain his excitement.
“It says that there is a skull! The skull of Fistandantilus exists!”
“And why is that important?” Mirabeth asked.
“Because if Kelryn Darewind was to get both of those talismans, the results would be… well, they would be too horrible to talk about, that’s what.”
“Why? Kelryn is dead!” Dan objected. “The dragon surely killed him!”
“Perhaps. But the threat remains. If anyone of evil ambition should gain possession of the skull and the bloodstone, he would gain an unthinkable power.”
“What power?”
“He could travel through time-become the Master of Past and Present, as Fistandantilus was in another era. That is, I believe that the combination of the skull and bloodstone would allow the holder to travel through time, much as Fistandantilus himself did.”
“And that would be bad for Krynn?” Mirabeth wondered out loud.
“If the time traveler is wicked and ambitious enough, there are no limits to the damage he could do. Kelryn Darewind could easily become a virtually immortal dictator, a master of a realm greater than Solamnia.
And he would be utterly, absolutely invulnerable, for he could use the same power to foresee any attempt against him before it was enacted!”
“Where is the skull?” Dan asked.
“That’s the mystery that stopped Kelryn Darewind, that prevented him from going after the skull. And a good thing for the world, I might add.”
“You told us. But does that mean you don’t know where it is, either?”
The lad was becoming exasperated with the historian’s indirect responses.
“Then why don’t we get out of here?”
“Tsk. I said that Kelryn Darewind didn’t know, but he lacks the keen eye of the researcher, the ability to perceive obscure clues. I myself have made a deduction.”
“I think I understand…” Emilo Haversack chewed on the end of his topknot. “The skull-“
“Precisely!” The historian could hardly contain himself. “It has to be in the lair of the dragon!”
CHAPTER 38
A Captive Once More Second Kirinor, Reapember
374 AC
“I’ll be going to the lair of the dragon immediately,” Foryth Teel said.
“I have already looked in my book. There’s a fair approximation of a map on page twelve thousand, six hundred and forty-seven.”
“You