He pulled a small, frightened brown hare from the middle of the dead mass and cradled it in his arms like a mother would a baby, then passed it gently to Brenna. The hare put up no resistance, seeming to lack the energy even to move.
With fevered urgency, Galvin wrenched the remaining cages open, prodding through the dead animals, searching to find any that gave off body heat. The lizards and snakes had been dead a long time. The birds were almost skeletal. In a small cage, where the wire mesh was bent from the occupants’ futile attempts to escape, three gray rats huddled. They appeared healthy, and the druid determined they must have survived by eating the dead caged with them. Galvin released the rats, and they scurried away to find a home elsewhere in the tower.
Only one other cage evidenced life, a mole and a hedgehog that quivered beneath a pile of their dead brothers. Galvin removed them from the cage and cradled both in the crook of his left arm.
“The monster!” Galvin vented, staring into the cages. “These animals were pawns for Maligor’s experiments. Up till now, I considered going after Maligor for Szass Tam as the lesser of two evils. But one less monster in Faerûn—no matter how he’s eliminated—is a goal worth accomplishing. I want Maligor to rot forever in the Nine Hells! He deserves nothing better.”
Brenna fought to keep from retching at the grisly tableau. She wanted to run, but she didn’t want to abandon Galvin.
“There’s no water or food in here.” The druid was talking to himself now, or maybe to the animals. “Nothing but vials of magic and poison to turn you into monsters. What makes someone think he has the right to defile nature? Why would a man play god with defenseless animals?”
Brenna glanced at Galvin, and saw tears spilling from his eyes. Here was a man who could fight his way into Thay, confront gnolls, battle the undead, and live through a meeting with Szass Tam, yet he was crushed by the sad fate of the helpless animals.
“I love you,” she said simply, knowing the words were out of place but wanting to say them anyway.
Galvin ignored her and continued to look over the table. “How can any man live with himself and do this?” The druid soothed the animals, rubbing them. “How?”
“Remember, Maligor is the Zulkir of Alteration,” Brenna said softly, turning her attention to the hare she held. “Maligor apparently specializes in transmuting one living thing into another. I’ve studied a little alteration magic myself, but nothing like this.”
Brenna continued her explanation, but Galvin appeared not to hear her. He was making odd chittering and clicking sounds that were being answered by the hedgehog.
The enchantress began to pace about the room, stroking the hare and absorbing the rest of her surroundings. Occasionally she glanced back at the druid to note he was still continuing his conversation with the hedgehog. The floor was coated with dust except for a path between the door and the table. Spiderwebs were as thick as cloth in the corners. She wondered why Maligor had this simple laboratory so far from the rest of his rooms and why he guarded it with magic strong enough to turn a man to ashes. Perhaps his own malign reasoning wanted this particular torture chamber kept separate, secret, his own private sickness, she decided.
She continued to stroke the hare while she turned her attention to a rack of vials. As she bent to take a closer look, out of the corner of her eye, she saw Galvin wince as if in pain.
Galvin’s mind had merged with the malnourished hedgehog’s. For an instant, the druid saw through its tiny eyes, saw Brenna pacing about the room. Then Galvin was again assailed by the smell of the room, for the hedgehog’s senses were far more acute than his own; the pungent smell made the druid wince.
The druid concentrated through the hedgehog, going past the animal’s current surroundings to a time, a few days ago, when more of the animals had been alive—to a time when the Red Wizard was puttering about the table, pouring liquids and powders into a small ceramic bowl. Galvin stared at the wizard through the hedgehog’s eyes. He had expected to see an elderly man, but this man was clearly middle-aged. A wild tangle of black hair hung about his shoulders, and his penetrating black eyes held the touch of madness. On the top of his head, just above his brow, was the tattoo of a grinning white skull on a midnight field. Merged with the hedgehog’s senses, the druid trembled in fear.
Whatever the Red Wizard was mixing in the small bowl made Galvin’s eyes water as he peered out through the wire mesh cage. He watched Maligor finish stirring the noxious brew, then saw the wizard place it in the cage with the lizards and snakes. For a moment, Galvin felt relieved, for he and the animals watching from their crowded cage had worried that the concoction was meant for them.
Then their relief turned to terror, as the wizard turned his gaze toward the cage filled with hedgehogs and moles. The wizard drummed his slender fingers across the front of the cage, then reached up to lace his fingers about a wire handle on top. Galvin felt himself being lifted, and his small hedgehog feet scrabbled against the wire mesh bottom to stay upright.
Across the room the cage was toted, then down, down. They passed doors and long-haired humans bowing low to Maligor. Then the wizard stopped before a wall, which parted to reveal more stairs. A new stench wafted up from the bowels of the tower as Maligor and his furry charges descended still farther. The druid could smell the fear of the other animals in the cage. It mingled with the unknown scent of something living below.
Several moments later, Maligor emerged with the cage into the darkenbeast chamber, and the moles and hedgehogs chittered amongst themselves in dread. Galvin felt himself huddling at the back of the cage, trying to hide. He closed his tiny eyes, hearing the squeals of his brothers as they were pulled from the cage by the wizard’s bony hands. More and more animals were hauled out of the cage, and the druid wrapped his tiny, trembling claws about the back mesh.
Then he heard the cage door latch shut, and he relaxed enough to notice that he and four companions had been spared. Skittering to the front of the cage, he pushed his face against the mesh to see what was transpiring. The druid watched in horror as Maligor mumbled something incomprehensible, and the group of small animals on the stone at his feet began to bubble, stretch, and transform grotesquely into enormous bat creatures that screamed and flapped their leathery wings.
The druid watched as his one-time brothers took to flight in the chamber to join hundreds of other creatures just like them. The things skimmed below the ceiling, clung to the walls, and voiced their hideous screams.
Galvin felt himself being lifted again, beginning the long ascent to the laboratory.
Trembling, the druid severed his mental link with the hedgehog to see Brenna staring at him. Clutching the animal to his chest, he whirled from the table and started toward the door.
“Come on!” the druid urged. “I’ve got a few things to do before we start after Maligor. And we’ve left Wynter alone far too long.”
“Do you know where Maligor’s going?” Brenna asked, hurrying to catch up with him and stepping over the pile of ashes beyond the doorway, the remnants of the Red Wizard’s apprentice.
“Not yet. But I know what he’s up to.” The druid took the steps two at a time and quickly found himself back with the slaves he had left in the apprentices’ chambers.
Rushing inside, Galvin found the slaves going through the apprentices’ belongings, taking objects that might be valuable. He disregarded their looting and strode to the nearest man.
“Take care of these animals. Get them food, water,” Galvin ordered. “Keep them under close watch for a while. They’re not healthy enough to be turned loose.” Gently he handed the mole and hedgehog to the man. Brenna gave the hare to the slave girl from Aglarond.