The Wizardwar

For a moment she considering attempting another gate spell but was afraid what the next random location might be. She set off on foot, hoping that the sedate mare Dhamari usually rode kept to its usual, plodding pace.

After what seemed an eternity, she reached her tower. She raced up the stairs to gather a few belongings and seek some answers.

"Mistress."

Keturah stopped on the stair landing and whirled, regarding a woman with a face similar to her own, yet somehow coarser and lacking in symmetry.

"What is it, Hessy?"

"Did you see Whendura the greenmage this morn?"

Keturah blinked. "Yes. What of it?"

"She is dead. I heard it cried in the marketplace." Hessy swallowed hard. "It is said she was killed by starsnakes."

"A starsnake? At this hour? Unless she climbed one of the bilboa trees to accost one in its sleep, that seems unlikely."

"She was attacked in her own tower. They say there must have been at least three of the snakes."

Dread began to gnaw at Keturah, giving way to growing certainty. The winged snakes never ventured within human dwellings. They were also fiercely solitary creatures, capable of bearing young without need for another of their kind. They avoided each other assiduously-never had she seen more than one of them in the same place. Though starsnakes had a high resistance to magic, no natural starsnake would attack a wizard-unless compelled to do so by a powerful spell.

Keturah began to see the shape of Dhamari's plan. He could not allow the sympathetic greenmage to become Keturah's ally for fear of what the two women might together discover. Keturah would be confined to her tower, under Dhamari's care, until the birth of the valuable child. Then she would be turned over to Halruaan law-if indeed she survived the birth with her mind intact-and the child would be Dhamari's to control. No doubt a magehound would detect some spark of magic in the babe, and the child would be rejected by the jordaini order. Everyone would regard this as a tragic waste and look upon Dhamari with great sympathy.

Oh, but he was clever! The only flaw in his plan was Keturah was not yet with child. He probably had spells prepared to entrap her long enough to remedy this lack.

"It was Dhamari who found Whendura, I suppose." Her voice was harsh as a swordsmith's rasp. "Or what little was left of her?"

Hessy nodded, and her eyes confirmed Keturah's unspoken suspicions. "The militia are questioning her servants about who came before him. He has not been truth-tested for her death. The militia did not deem it necessary, as he is a maker of potions and not a wizard known for his ability to summon such creatures."

"Unlike his wife," Keturah said bitterly. "Yes, Dhamari can be very convincing."

"They will test you," Hessy said hopefully. "They will learn the truth."

Keturah shook her head. "He has been giving me potions that confuse magical inquiry. Whendura thought I was with child, and she is among the best greenmages in the king's city. The council will wait until after I have given Dhamari a child. By wind and word, that I will never do!" she swore. "Let the mangy whelp of a rabid jackal find me if he can!"

The servant hesitated, then pressed a bit of bright metal into Keturah's hand.

"Wear this talisman wherever you go," she whispered urgently. "It will tell you when Dhamari is near, or those he sends."

Keturah stared at the servant in puzzlement. "This is a rare and costly thing. How did you come by it?"

The girl attempted a smile. "You pay me well, and my needs are small. I saved every coin I could, hoping that when the time came, I could see you safely away."

"When the time came?"

"I clean his lab," Hessy said flatly. "I have seen the spells he creates. Forgive me for not speaking of what I knew!"

Many wizards enspelled their servants and apprentices to keep them from betraying secrets. Even so, Hessy’s concerns were for her mistress's safety and not her own. Words utterly failed Keturah. She opened her arms, and Hessy rushed into them. For a moment the two women stood clasped in a sisters' embrace.

Keturah pulled away and walked to the open window, chanting a spell as she went. Hardly caring if the spell held or not, she stepped out into the wind...

Tzigone hit the ground facedown, landing with a spine-numbing jolt and a solid splat. She pushed herself off the mossy cushion and rose to her feet, wiping the moisture from her face. For a while she paced, waiting for the last lingering shadows of her vision to fade. When all she could see was the bleak expanse of rocky moor, she sat down with her back against one of the jagged standing stones that littered the dark fairies' realm.

So there it was-the begi

That was interesting, but Tzigone didn't see how it could help her get free of this place. She would try again... later. Right now she was bone-weary, soul-weary.

Even so, she gathered her small remaining strength and sank back into recent memory. When she opened her eyes, a tall, solid figure stood over her, arms crossed and an expression of fond exasperation on his face. The illusion of Matteo was nearly as ghostly as the form of his friend Andris, but Tzigone took comfort from the illusion of his presence.

She raised her eyes to his shadowy face. "Good news, Matteo. Dhamari is not my father."

You're sure of this? inquired the illusion with typical jordaini skepticism.

"Positive. I saw it in one of those past memory trances you taught me to do. The little weasel never even made an attempt at fatherhood. You'd think all those wands and chalices and crystal balls that wizards have lying around would plant the idea. The man has no appreciation for symbolism! He never once cast a spell, if you follow."

Matteo's misty visage furrowed. No spells? But Dhamari is a wizard.

Tzigone groaned. "I'll put this in terms a scholar can appreciate: either there was no lead in Dhamari's stylus, or he was just never in the mood to write."

A faint flush suffused the illusion's face. You saw this?

"There wasn't much to see, praise Mystra." The amusement faded from her eyes, and she studied Matteo for a long moment. "None of this is real, you know. Nothing here is real, anyway, and I wouldn't bet on whatever's happening back in Halruaa. Life is mostly illusion and wishful thinking, isn't it?"

Yes.

"You're the only person I've ever known who is exactly what he seems." She gri

No you're not, Matteo's illusion responded.

Tzigone chuckled. "Well, maybe not all those times."

She began to drift, and leaned back against the stone. "Stay with me for a while?"

Always.

Because this was the Unseelie court and because illusions had great power here, the answer Tzigone heard was what she needed to hear. As the exhausted girl sank toward sleep, she realized that truth, in its purest form, was quite different from fact. Matteo was worlds away, but he was truly with her.

The familiar warmth of her friend's presence enfolded her like a cloak. Drawing it around her, Tzigone settled down to sleep while she could.

The dark fairies would return soon enough.