Caramon wasn’t paying attention. The big man was vainly trying to sooth the babbling kender.
Raistlin lifted the ring warily, holding it in the palm of his hand. Almost immediately, he heard the silken whisper: Put me on. Put me on.
He stared at it, thinking he had seen the ring somewhere before.
No, he realized. I haven’t seen it! I’ve seen where it is supposed to be!
Shavas’s necklace-the opal she wore around her neck. Closing his eyes, he pictured the golden band fitting around the top of the jewel where it attached to the chain. Swiftly, he thrust the ring into one of his pouches.
The kender began to writhe and thrash about, screaming, “In my head! In my head! In my head!”
“I can’t help him, Raistlin!” said Caramon, looking up at his brother with pleading eyes. “Can’t you do something?”
“No, my brother,” said Raistlin softly. “But there is one here who can.”
Bast bent down, touched Earwig’s forehead. The kender blinked and rubbed his eyes.
“Hi, Caramon! Why are you holding me- Hey! You’ve been in a fight!” Earwig cried accusingly, pointing at the blood on the warrior’s sleeve. He sprang to his feet. “You’ve been in a fight, and you let me sleep through it again!”
“Earwig,” said the confused warrior. “I- Wait!”
The kender lashed out with his small foot and kicked Caramon in the shins.
“Ouch! Drat it, Earwig. Let me explain-”
“What must we do?” Raistlin asked the Cat Lord.
Bast’s long, white teeth flashed. “You must decide. I cannot intervene.”
“It seems to me, my lord,” said Raistlin dryly, “that you have already intervened!”
“I have done nothing. The choices have always been yours.”
Yes, thought Raistlin. You are right. The choices have always been mine. Now it is up to me to put together what I have learned.
“Mereklar itself is the gate spoken of in the prophecy. Tonight, when the Great Eye forms, the Dark Queen will try to use its magic to open the gate.”
“How do you know that?” Caramon asked, looking at his brother dubiously.
“From the model in the dead wizard’s cave. You saw the lines glowing then. I have seen the lines glowing ever since I was in the Black Cat Inn. I didn’t know what they were until the wizard touched me. He gave me his knowledge, to avenge himself on the one who had destroyed him.”
Caramon struggled to his feet. His shoulder wound had reopened. A trickle of blood poured down his arm. “So how do we keep the gate from opening?”
“When the gate opens, it will act as a door for any to enter or leave. However, only one side of the door allows access to a place, and the other only allows access from a place.”
“That is correct,” the Lord of Cats said. “The manner in which this gate is created allows only one person to enter at a given point.”
“And that point would be the corners of the city walls, where the portal will be formed, giving us three from which to enter,” said Raistlin. “I need to know how the portal was formed, my lord. You said you cannot choose for us, but apparently you can aid us in some way. Tell me what I need to know.”
“There is an altar that will be used by the Dark Queen when the Great Eye forms. Destroy it, and the gate closes.”
Caramon shook his head. “But how do we destroy this thing? I mean, we don’t even know what it looks like!”
“Yes, you do,” said Bast. “I will enter by the southeast corner.”
“Enter where?” Caramon demanded. “Would someone tell me what’s going on!”
“Enter the city of Mereklar that lies beneath the city of Mereklar, my brother,” said Raistlin. “The city shown in the wizard’s model. The city where Lady Shavas’s house does not stand.”
“What’s in its place?” Caramon asked, almost positive he didn’t want to know.
“A temple to the Dark Queen,” answered the Cat Lord. “We must hurry. Time grows short.”
“What about them?” Caramon demanded, pointing at the men standing around the dais.
Bast made a motion with his hand. Caramon, watching, caught his breath. He was no longer staring at men but at cats-all shapes and sizes. They curled around the legs of the Cat Lord, rubbing against him, awaiting his orders.
“They will fulfill the prophecy. The Great Eye begins to form.” Bast started to leave. At the entrance to the chamber, he turned. “Use only that sword, Caramon Majere.” The Cat Lord pointed to the hand-and-a-half sword strapped to the warrior’s broad back. “I have enchanted it to slay the demons.”
“I thought you couldn’t aid us,” said Raistlin with some asperity.
Bast raised dark eyebrows. “A gift, in return for one he gave the fallen.” The Cat Lord held a ball in his hand. Round and yellow, its sequins sparkled in the light.
“What about me?” Earwig cried, disappointed. “Don’t I get an enchanted weapon?”
“You are a kender,” said the Lord of the Cats. “That is enchantment enough.” With that, Bast disappeared into the darkness, the cats following him.
“Wow!” said Earwig, eyes wide. “Did you hear that?”
Caramon drew his sword, staring at it suspiciously. He tested the balance with a rotating swing.
“I don’t like anyone messing with my weapons,” he muttered. “Not even gods.”
“Oh, boy! A fight! And this time no one’s going to cheat me out of being in it!” Earwig spun his hoopak in the air.
“Do you know what you have to do, my brother?” Raistlin asked.
“No,” said Caramon bluntly. “I don’t understand a damn thing!”
“You must each find a place atop the city walls, over the gates. Caramon, you go over Eastgate. Earwig …” Raistlin paused to consider entrusting the fate of the world to a kender. He sighed. There was no help for it. “Earwig, you go above Westgate. When you’re inside, head for the center of the city, to the place in which we’re standing.”
Caramon’s face wrinkled in perplexity. “But, Raist! We’re already in the gates! We’re already standing in the center of the city.”
“You are standing in this city,” Raistlin corrected. “You must enter the one below. The one that resides in the Abyss!”
Earwig’s eyes opened wide in joy.
Caramon’s eyes opened wide.
“Once you are in this room, you must destroy whatever you find on top of that.” Raistlin pointed at the stone dais.
“How?”
“That you must discover for yourself, my brother!” the mage answered testily, turning. “Time grows short, and I have much to do.”
“But … you’re not coming with us?” Caramon reached to stop him. “I can’t let you go off by yourself!”
“You must, my brother,” said Raistlin.
“Where are you going?”
“Into an abyss of my own.”
The night sky was filled with stars, constellations of great powers watching in anticipation. The three moons moved slowly together. Solinari and Lunitari embraced each other first. The black sphere of Nuitari began to slide over their combined light, heading for the center of their unity, three flawless orbs starting to form the most wonderful and fearsome sight in the world: the Great Eye.
The power from three wizards long dead began to flood the land-water released to drown the world with magic. A canopy formed over the white walls of the city of Mereklar, a pointed cover whose apex rose in the middle, held above the hill in the center of Mereklar where a temple lay beneath earth and stone, buried for hundreds of years. Darkness choked the light from the stars, and even the sight of the Eye was dimmed, as if it were closing.
Recognizing what was happening, the gods of good acted as they had foreseen they must. The three gates of the city slammed closed and sealed shut, trapping everything within. When next they opened to the world-if they opened-they would do so at the command of the Dark Queen.
Chapter 24
Earwig stood atop Mereklar’s wall at the Westgate. All around him it was dark but directly above him, the sky was clear and bright. He stood fascinated, watching the Great Eye glare down upon the land, casting shadows that flickered and moved like red and silver phantoms.