The spirit wore the face of the old woman when itanswered, "The power of eternal life. The heart of he who wears the crownwill beat forever."
Szass Tam's human form melted away, revealing hisskeletal frame and pinpoint eyes.
"My heart does not beat," he said flatly.
"So instead, you felt pain," the womananswered. "The Lady of the Mists is indeed more treacherous than you.Leira lured you here. The priest who tempted your favored apprentice with therelic was merely a pawn."
The lich kicked the crown across the floor and glaredat the specter.
"Again the Patroness of Illusionists and Liarsstruck when your apprentice betrayed you and sought the crown herself. Then mygoddess triumphed once more when you lost that which you held dear, a beautifulsorceress who would have spent eternity at your side." The ghostly imagepointed at the struggling Frodyne. "You've lost your army, your woman,your ability to trust others. And the prize at the end of your quest was something you cannever possess. Who is the more treacherous, Szass Tam?" The lich threwback his head and laughed, a deep, throaty sound that reverberated off thewalls of the cavern. The lich roared loud and long as he padded from thechamber and climbed the stairs.
THE COMMON SPELL
Kate Novak-Grubb
"This is a waste of time. I don't need to learnthis," insisted Marl, the cooper's son.
Kith Lias glared at the boy, but she kept her temperin check. Marl was hardly the first to denigrate the skills she was trying toteach. He wouldn't be the last, either. Marl was a big boy, the kind whose leadthe other boys would follow. While none of the other students said a word, someof them eyed Marl with admiration that he'd had the courage to voice what manyof them were thinking. The rest of the students watched Kith curiously, waitingto see how the teacher would handle his challenge to her authority.
"Even a cooper may need to read and writesometimes, Marl," Kith answered, pushing a strand of her long, dark hairback behind her ear. "You may need to write down the orders for yoursuppliers and customers so you can remember them better."
The other students nodded at Kith's example, but Marl snorted derisively.
"I'm not going to be a cooper," the boydeclared. "Soon as I get enough coin to buy a sword, I'm joining a caravanas a guard. I'm going to be an adventurer."
"A swordling without the common spell," Kithmuttered sadly.
"What's a swordling?" asked Lisaka, thetavernkeep's daughter.
"What's the common spell?" Marl demanded.
"A swordling is an adventurer's word," Kithexplained, "for a novice sellsword. A mageling is a young mage who hasn'tproven herself. The common spell is … well, actually it's a story I heardfrom Alias the Sellsword."
The children in the classroom leaned forward as one.Like all students throughout the Realms, they knew that their teacher could bedistracted from the lesson if they encouraged her to reminisce. They were alsoeager to hear a story about Alias the Sellsword. Alias was a famous adventurer-sherescued the halfling bard Olive Ruskettle from the dragon Mistinarperadnaclesand slew the mad god Moander-twice. Only last year she drove the thieves guildfrom Westgate. A story about Alias would be wonderful.
"Tell us, please," Lisaka asked.
"Yeah, tell the story," Marl demanded.
Kith shrugged and said, "I heard Alias tell thisstory in the village of Serpentsford in Featherdale. The people there weresuspicious of all female strangers who passed through the town, even a herolike Alias, for the village was plagued by a penanggalan."
"What's that?" asked Jewel Weaver, theyoungest student in the class.
"It's a female vampire," Marl said with a superior air.
"Not exactly," Kith retorted. "Apenanggalan is undead, and it does drink the blood of the living, but there thesimilarity ends. A penanggalan appears as an ordinary woman in the daylight,and the sun's rays do not destroy it. But at night its head twists away from itsbody, trailing a black 'tail', which is all that remains of its stomach andguts. The body lies motionless while the head flies off and hunts for itsvictims. It prefers the blood of women and girls."
Jewel squealed, and several other students shivered.Even Marl looked a little pale.
"The people of Serpentsford had known enough tocremate the victims of the penanggalan so they would not become undeadthemselves," Kith explained. "But the villagers were beginning tolose hope that they would ever discover the monster, or even any of her secretlairs, for she was very cunning. Alias told this story to raise theirspirits."
"So what's the story?" Marl growledimpatiently.
Amused at the boy's attentiveness, Kith smiled ever soslightly. She sat back in her chair and folded her hands in her lap. Marl squirmed with annoyance.
Kith began the tale.
"This is a tale of the adventuring party known asthe Swanmays. Their members included two swordswomen, Belinda and Myrtle; apair of rogues, Niom and Shadow; a cleric, Pasil; and a mageling, Kasilith. Inthe Year of the Worm, the Swanmays wintered in the city of Westgate. Their landlord, a weaver woman, had an apprentice, an orphan girl named Stelly whowas thirteen. Stelly and Kasilith, the mageling, became close friends, andStelly wanted to leave the weaver to join the Swanmays.
"Now, though it was a master's legal obligation,the weaver had not yet taught Stelly to read or write. Belinda, the leader ofthe Swanmays, wasn't keen on taking responsibility for an illiterate girl whoseonly skills were with wool, and stealing an apprentice was a crime in Westgate.Yet Belinda liked Stelly. She promised Kasilith that if the mageling taughtStelly to read and write, Belinda would go to the city council, challenge theweaver's claim to Stelly, and petition to take Stelly on as an apprenticeswordswoman.
"During the winter, Kasilith taught Stelly how toread and write her letters. Stelly believed what Kasilith was teaching her wasactually magic; it was so awesome to the girl that scribbles on paper couldmean something.
Kasilith joked that if it was magic, it was the mostcommon spell in the Realms.
"That same winter a penanggalan began to prey onthe women of Westgate. Neither the city watch nor any of the adventurersinhabiting the town could discover the creature's lair. In life, the monsterhad been a noblewoman and her family and their power helped to hide her. Bychance or fate, the undead noblewoman came into Stelly's master's shop to havea tear in her cloak repaired and decided to make the weaver her next victim.Explaining she could not call for the cloak until later that evening, thepenanggalan made arrangements to meet the weaver after the shop closed.
"A little while later, the weaver learned ofBelinda's plan to take Stelly from her. Angrily, the weaver ordered Stelly torepair the noblewoman's cloak, then locked the girl in the workroom. Stellycould hear her master ordering the Swanmays out of her house, then barring thedoor.
"After crying for a while over her lost chance,Stelly went back to her work. In the pocket of the noblewoman's cloak, the girldiscovered an expensive locket engraved with a name. Since Stelly could nowread, she recognized the name belonged to a girl who had already fallen prey tothe penanggalan. Stelly shouted for her master, but the weaver, thinking thegirl was just throwing a tantrum, ignored her cries. Much later in the eveningthe apprentice heard her master unbar the door to the house and cry out oncein fear. The penanggalan had come for the weaver in her true form.
"Locked in the workroom, Stelly could make outthe weaver's moans and the sound of the beast slurping up her life's blood.Stelly cowered silently in fear until she became unconscious.
"In the morning the penanggalan, once again inhuman form, unlocked the workroom door to retrieve her cloak. Pretending concernfor the apprentice, the undead noblewoman promised to return and free Stellyafter dark. Stelly hid her fear and her knowledge of the woman's true nature.Knowing the penanggalan intended to return after dark to kill her as it mustcertainly have killed the weaver, Stelly conceived a desperatestratagem. Across the back of the monster's cloak she scrawled 'pnngalin' witha piece of chalk, then folded the cloak carefully so her repair work showed buther markings did not. The noblewoman nodded with satisfaction at the repairsand allowed Stelly to set the cloak about her shoulders. Then the woman leftthe workroom, locking the apprentice back in. It was the last Stelly ever sawof her."