Stormlight - Ed Greenwood [76]
As the young wizard hurried from the room, Erlandar looked up at her with something like worship in his eyes. She reached out a hand and hauled him to his feet.
"Consider yourself honored, Lord Summerstar," Storm told him. "You're one of the few mortals to taste, the divine fire of Mystra-and live."
"Lady," the old noble said huskily, "I shall worship the Mother Of All Magic henceforth, to my dying day."
"Dare we touch anything else on our plates," Broglan asked faintly, "or is it too late?"
Storm spread her hands. "Poison's not so easy to get or make as some think, but I doubt… well, let me taste a bit of everything, and then you can eat drink all you like."
"Right now, Lady Storm," Insprin said heavily, "that won't be much. What with crossbow bolts, and men lying dead by yonder door, poison on our platters, and the fire of Our Holy Lady of Spells. I'm… hungry."
There was a general rumble of agreement.
Thalance grinned and said, "I feel a trifle ill, lady-kiss me?"
"Perhaps later," Storm told him with a grin. "I'm still hungry."
Broglan's eyes narrowed. "This silver fire," he asked, "it can't sustain you while it's holding that barrier, can it? You have to eat, to stay strong enough to go on- that's it, isn't it?"
Storm's eyes met his gravely. "Broglan, you see far too well for your own safety. Say nothing of this, any of you-or the foe will know of another gap in my armor."
There's something else I should tell you, lady," Broglan said awkwardly. "We kept Athlan's notes from you. Frankly they don't hold much of use. They were largely what any novice mageling would write of his discoveries, plus a lot of dream visions, and-"
Storm frowned and held up a staying hand. "Did he dream a lot about dragons watching him?"
"Why, yes," the war wizard replied, matching her frown. "Do you know what it meant?"
Storm shrugged. "No. Not yet. Please say on."
Well, the only thing we found of real interest is a few passages about the subsumption you spoke of- stealing powers from beings one kills. It seems that, long ago, Athlan discovered instructions for gaining this ability-instructions we can't find. He wrote that he found the process in notes made by a mad recluse, Glondar of Hilp, once a war wizard of Cormyr."
“And where did Glondar learn of it?” Storm asked softly.
Remembering, Insprin shook his head and shivered. The bard glanced at him, and then back at Broglan.
The leader of the war wizards looked grave. “Ah. Well. Glondar claimed, or so Athlan writes, to have come upon it in notes left by men he came to believe were avatars of two gods: Gargauth and… Bane.”
In a chamber of dank darkness, sudden light flickered and glowed, eddying about a motionless figure slumped on a stone bench. Cold laughter arose as the radiance settled down to a steady glow.
"Soon," a tentacled thing told the slumped man. "Soon you'll be ready, my Hungry Man. And then-" His voice rose and danced with glee. "Then it will be time-" He chortled and began to shuffle about the room, the shape of his body flickering and changing wildly. "Time to feed!"
The cold laughter rose again, high and sharp, echoing around the chamber until it rolled out through the empty passages and rooms of the Haunted Tower.
After a moment, another sound joined it. Slobbering, the Hungry Man began laughing, too.
Thirteen
DRAGONS IN THE KEEP
"All of this is edible," Storm said, looking at the grim-faced men around her. "Take it, just as it is, to some place in the keep you can defend. Go to the pantries and take what raw foodstuffs you can find, too. You'll need water more than anything. Erlandar, where in Firefall Keep are a few secure rooms-no secret passages and no cracked walls or ill-fitting doors? The rooms must have water, and space enough to improvise a privy."
Lord Summerstar frowned, looked at Thalance, and then said, "Well, there 's a pump-room by the kitchens…"
He looked a question, but Thalance shrugged. "The only other pumps I know of are by the stables. There're wells in the Haunted Tower and in the