Those dark eyes flickered. "Stand over me, so that your mantle touches the rune, and I am within it. Then cast a magic missile, and let its target be the rune. In what follows, you should be unharmed…and I, freed. Be warned: 'twill cost you your mantle."
"Prepare thyself," Elminster told her, and stepped over her.
"Man, I have been waiting for an age, it seems, I am well prepared. Touch not the rune with your boots."
The last prince of Athalantar made sure his feet were clear of the glowing sigil, and made a careful casting. Blue-white radiance surged around him, roiling and tugging, the rune beneath him flared to blinding brilliance, and he heard Saeraede gasp.
Her breathing was ragged and swift as she surged up into the collapsing mantle beside him. As El stepped back, he saw wild delight in her face. All of the magic seemed to be rushing into her, and with each passing moment she grew more solid … more substantial. Her flickering, wraithlike form grew whole and acquired a dark gown. She was broad of shoulders, slim-waisted, and as tall or taller than he, her hair was an unbound, waist-length flow of velvet black, her brows startlingly dark tufts above eyes of leaping green. Her face was proud and lively…and very, very beautiful.
"Hail, savior mage," she said, eyes glowing with gratitude, as the last fires of magic fled into her. A single tongue of flame escaped from between her lips as she spoke. "Saeraede stands in your debt." She hesitated, reaching out one slender hand. "May I know your name?"
"Elminster, I am called," El told her, keeping a careful pace out of reach.
"Elminster," she breathed, eyes sparkling, "oh, have my thanks."
She hugged herself, as if scarcely believing that she was whole and solid once more…and stepped forward off the rune. Her feet seemed to have grown spike-heeled, pointed black boots.
The moment she moved off it, the rune erupted. A column of white fire burst up from it, twice the height of a man, and smoke surged out in all directions from its snarling. Elminster took a pace back, eyes narrowing…and something unseen in the darkness of a deep crevice stirred and made as if to spring forth … but remained where it was, not all that far from the mage's unsuspecting back.
"Saeraede," El snapped, keeping his eyes on the unfolding magic, "what is this?"
"The magic of the rune," she replied, smiling at him. "Karsus prepared it to impress intruders. 'Tis harmless, a parade of illusions. Watch."
She turned to look at the column of flame, folding her arms, mild interest on her face. As she did so, the surging smoke seemed to freeze and thicken.
The archway of glowing runes solidified out of the smoke and air with startling swiftness. It occurred behind the fiery column, framing it, a wall that looked every bit as old and as solid as those of the cavern around…but hovered a few feet above the smooth stone floor. The runes around the arch matched those graven on the floor, save that all were afire, and even spitting lightning … the risen lightning of awakened magic, now crawling between them almost continuously.
Saeraede stood calmly watching, and El, struck by a sudden thought, glided to her elbow and indicated the empty throne. "Will ye sit, lady?"
Saeraede gave him a dazzling smile, raised a hand in wordless thanks…not quite touching him…and sat upon the throne. No change in it, or her, was apparent to El's intent eyes. Hmmm, well. Nothing learned there.
As Saeraede crossed her legs and leaned back in ease upon the stone seat, the column of flame grew a face…a youthful face ringed by tousled hair and the stubble of a beard aborning, its eyes two points of blazing gold. They were fixed on the throne, and when Elminster swung his left arm in a sudden, wild flourish, the eyes did not move to follow it.
The air in the cavern was suddenly alive with a singing tension. The proud mouth opened, and the voice that issued from it crashed and rolled like thunder through Elminster's mind as well as through the cavern. "I am Karsus! Behold me, and fear. I am The Lord of Lords, a God Among Men, Arcanist Supreme. All magic is my domain, and all who work it or trifle with it without my blessing shall suffer. Begone, and live. Tarry, and the first and least of my curses shall begin its work upon you forthwith, gnawing memories from your brain until naught is left but a sighing shadow."
Elminster looked sharply at Saeraede at those last words, but she sat calmly watching as the hair on the flaming head spat a halo of lightning out to the runes, the echoes of its mighty voice still rolling around the cavern as they faded, leaving it shaking and dust-ridden. They burst into showers of sparks and fell, taking the illusion of the arch and its wall with them.
Still wearing its cruel smile, the face closed its eyes and shrank back into the column of flame, fading as it did so. In a few moments the flames fell back into the rune, and it winked out, becoming mere dark and lifeless grooves in the stone floor.
"Did that curse afflict ye?" Elminster demanded, striding around to where he could see Saeraede.
She lifted the edge of her beautiful mouth in a wry smile. "Never.. nor has it touched anyone, for 'tis all a bluff. Believe me, I've seen it many times down the years, whenever I grew overly lonely for the sight and sound of another human. 'Tis an empty warning, no more."
El nodded, almost trembling in his eagerness, and asked, "How can one see the scenes held by the other runes…and just what is in each?"
Saeraede pointed. "In this next rune lie two of the most destructive spells devised by Karsus…magics none else have attained since…as well as a defensive shielding of surpassing strength and a healing magic, he placed them thus in case his new self should have urgent need to do battle."
Her pointing finger moved. "The rune beyond holds another four magics, as powerful as the battle-spells but of more mundane usage. One creates a floating 'worldlet' to serve as a stronghold for the mage who uses magic to modify it further, one can stop and hold the waters of a river while digging out a new course for its bed, one can shield an area permanently against specific spells or schools of spells with precision…so that one can allow a lightning bolt but deny chain lightning, say, and the last can coddle and keep from harm a living human while permanently altering one limb or organ…Karsus most often used that to move heart or brain to an unexpected place, or graft beast claws where hands had been or extra eyeballs from others … he also gave some men gills to work under the sea for him, as I recall."
Saeraede waved her hand at the curving row of runes. "The others hold lesser magics, four in each…and Karsus himself demonstrates all castings, noting drawbacks, details, and effective strategies."
She watched the hunger in Elminster's face and suppressed a smile. She had seen this so many times before … even Chosen, it seemed, were like eager children when offered new toys. She waited for the question she knew would come.
Elminster licked lips that were suddenly dry, before he could swallow and say quietly, "I asked how one can awaken these runes, lady, to view what waits within … and ye've not answered that. Is there some secret here, some hazard or caution?"
Saeraede gave him a warm and welcoming smile. 'Nay, sir. As you're not Karsus and able to work the magics that respond only to his blood, there's but a matter of time…and your patience."
El raised a questioning eyebrow, and her smile broadened and slid into sadness.
"Only I can activate the runes," the woman on the throne added softly, "and I can call forth the power of only one in a month, by means of a nameless spell bound into me by Karsus. 'Tis a spell I know not how to cast, nor can I teach it to another. I can only call on it when the time is right…and I have no doubt 'tis the sole reason I still exist."
Elminster opened his mouth to say something, his eyes alight with eager fire, but Saeraede held up a hand to stay his speech, and added, "You asked of a hazard? There is one, and 'tis thus: long years must have passed since I was bound here, for my powers have faded indeed. I can awaken one rune, and no more. To open another will destroy me…and all of the magic stored here will drain away and be lost, it cannot persist without me."