Coryn felt sick to her stomach as she realized her utter vulnerability. She whirled in panic.
"Why are you doing this?" she cried, raising her voice in a demanding tone-not because she wanted or expected an answer, but to disguise the noise of the gemstone as she dropped it. "You don't belong here!"
In the next instant her bravado wavered as she watched Kalrakin raise his hands and drop them quickly back to his sides. A web of hazy smoke spun from the golden fingertips of his right hand then spread out overhead, before descending from the ceiling with thin strands of magic woven into a fine mesh. In two places that net glowed with an eerie light, and the bearded mage looked up at them with a smile of pride and cunning.
"Oh, is that supposed to be a little warning? Or-oh, of course! — this was a summons to your pathetic comrades, wasn't it? A call to all of those in red and white and black to race to your rescue. How imaginative!"
"You're mad," Coryn said coldly. Her mind was flailing wildly. Their careful plan was a shambles, and she had never been more helpless than she was now, with her feet imprisoned in the anchoring stone of the floor.
"I may be mad… or I may be a genius. Perhaps I will yet embody all the future of magic upon Krynn. Unfortunately for you, my girl, you will be long dead by the time we find that out."
Kalrakin was clearly enjoying himself, flipping the Irda Stone between his hands with practiced gestures. Abruptly he slipped it into a pocket and made a simple gesture, placing his hands together and then slowly spreading them apart. Coryn gasped in pain; she couldn't budge-she was anchored by a heavy weight-yet her legs began to slide apart, stretching her muscles until they hurt. The sorcerer continued to expound.
"This tower… you claim it as your own, the symbol of your gods. But you must understand, those gods are pathetic remnants of the past. This tower is now a bastion of wild magic, a monument to the glory of myself!"
Coryn saw one chance to free her encased feet. She glared at the wild mage while at the same time trying to send a message to the foundation rock.
Help me!
Just as Coryn was sure that she was going to be rent in two, the slowly moving stone ceased its grinding progress. Kalrakin frowned and gestured sharply with his hands, but still the rock refused to move any farther.
"What feeble sorcery do you thwart me with?" he demanded. He pointed a bony finger at her, and though he was half a dozen paces away she could feel the pressure of that digit, like a sharp spear point, pressed against her chest. "I could tear your heart out with a single twist of my hand!"
Instead the floor underneath him buckled sharply, sending him toppling backward against the wall. He cursed and flailed, falling down hard. The Master had heard her, was giving her such aid as he could!
Coryn murmured the same spell she had used against the golem. This time the magic flowed without resistance, into the solid stone encasing her feet. The cramps in her legs eased at once, and she pulled first one, then the other foot, free from what had become a sticky ooze. Collapsing to the side, she kicked, sending gobbets of the mud spattering into Kalrakin's face.
The sorcerer shrieked, an inarticulate cry, causing a huge piece of rock to break from the wall behind him and fly toward Coryn. She was already dodging, and the boulder merely slapped at her robe as it went flying past.
The young wizard cast a haste spell to keep out of the way, then sprang to her feet and dashed across the anteroom and into one of the parlors beyond. A stone, flying very slowly, lumbered through the air and struck the wall behind her.
In the momentary safety of the next room, she pressed her back to the wall and tried to think of another spell. Where were the others? For some reason, it appeared the wizards were not in the Tower. She needed to improvise.
She heard Kalrakin coming, kicking his way through the rubble and crying out in rage, and she cast another spell. When the wild-magic sorcerer raced through the door of the parlor, he was confronted by the sight of five Coryns, each running away in a different direction.
The tall mage had obviously cast some sort of haste spell upon himself, for he was moving equally fast as the White Robe. Now he spat furiously, directing a rain of stones against the quintet of images that were all scattering away from the wall. The mirror images of Coryn each darted toward a different exit, and though two of them puffed into nothingness when they were struck by Kalrakin's missiles, the wizard herself was able to escape into an adjacent chamber. Darting around a corner, Coryn found herself entering the kitchen by one of the rear doors.
And here she came face to face with Luthar.
The rotund magic user held a cleaver in one hand.
"Stop!" he cried. Coryn felt the wild magic pulse. A whisk of her hand before her face broke the force of the lesser sorcerer's spell. She charged forward as he stumbled back, raising the big butcher knife.
Coryn grabbed a large bowl on the counter and threw the heavy piece of crockery, striking Luthar in the head and knocking him backward. She raced past him and down the hallway, back into the main anteroom.
The muddy swath where she had cast her spell had already hardened, leaving the surface pitched and roiling-like a stormy sea with the waves frozen into place. Coryn started across carefully, watching her footing on the irregular slabs. Once past, she broke into a sprint, heading for the last place she had seen Kalrakin, hoping to come up on him from behind.
Beware.
She felt the warning from the Master, but she was moving too fast. Before she could change course, she slammed into an unseen barrier. The force of the impact knocked her backward and down. Stunned, gasping for breath on the rough floor, she looked up to see Kalrakin looming over her.
He waved the pearly stone toward her, and Coryn felt the wild magic surge around her. The floor moved, opening a wide gap that swelled wider and wider, threatening to swallow her whole.
Chapter 26
Storm of Wild Magic
Did you hear that?" Jenna asked, staring at the Tower. Around her the wizards stared in horror, watching the clawlike shape of the giant edifice, listening to the terrible sounds emerging from the black stone spires.
No answer was necessary from the gathered wizards: All heard the creaking, agonized sounds as flagstones twisted, and thick walls were warped and corrupted. The outer shell of the tower seemed to waver in the air like a reed blown by a powerful gale. A collective gasp rose from the throng of magic users as the black spires appeared to sway back and forth.
Some wizards sobbed and others wailed piercingly. All of them had studied, been tested-and passed their Tests-here. Now, many of them cried out in anguish as this hallowed place seemed on the brink of destruction.
"It is suffering-but it is not dying! "Jenna cried, trying to rally the broken spirits. "Not yet-do not lose faith!"
"What can we do?" asked Rasilyss. "How can we fight this?" Her skinny hands planted on her hips, she glared in vexation at the Tower.
"We must get inside-Coryn's in there alone right now. I'm going after her!" declared Adramis, the white-robed elf.
His twin sister Aenell quickly vowed her support, and they were joined by the other White Robes. Adramis pointed toward the high summit of the North Tower. "Each of those balconies has a door, and one of them may be vulnerable! If we can't teleport, so be it; let us fly up to each of the doors and find a way in!"
In seconds the elf White Robe had cast his fly spell, and he started up into the air as his comrades launched their own spellcastings.
"Wait!" Dalamar barked, holding up his hand. "We all have a stake in this. All three orders must act together. We'll have a much better chance."