Elaine Cunningham - The Best of the Realms, Book I

"A penanggalan isn't the person she was in life.It's just an evil life-force animating her body that knows what she knew," Marl argued. "Right?"

"That's true," Kith said softly.

"But Kasilith didn't know that, did she?" Jewel asked.

"She knew," Kith replied.

"The penanggalan probably hypnotized her intobeing its slave," Marl said.

Kith shook her head. "No. Kasilith served itwillingly. You see, she felt so guilty that Stelly had died because she hadn'ttaught her to read. So she thought she deserved nothing better for the rest ofher life than to serve as the slave to evil because she'd done an evilthing."

"Then what happened to her?" Jewel askedanxiously.

Kith sighed. "Well, she shrieked and cried andranted and raved for a while. She swore she would never forgive Alias andDragonbait for freeing her from the penanggalan's enslavement. Still, theyattended to her while she was recovering from the penanggalan's wounds."

"More than she deserved," Marl muttered.

"True," Kith agreed. "Alias told themage that Finder Wyvernspur had told her so much about Kasilith thatshe felt she was her friend and would not leave her until she was healed.Kasilith swore she had never met Finder Wyvernspur, but Alias stayed anyway.Finally, one day, something Dragonbait the paladin said made her change hermind about how she felt and about what she should do with her life."

"What did he say?" Jewel asked.

"He told Kasilith that the god of justice abhorspunishment for punishment's sake. That we have to find a way to atone for theevil we do, "and that we cannot atone for evil with evil, but only withgood. He suggested she go out and teach other children who needed to learn toread and write. That way she would honor Stelly's true spirit and maybe bringpeace to her own spirit. And that's just what she did."

"So she became a teacher like you?" Jewelasked.

"She became a teacher like me," Kithanswered. "She teaches the common spell."

Marl the cooper's sonstayed in school another two years before he finally bought his own sword andjoined a caravan as a swordling. By then Kith Lias had taught him to read andwrite the names of every fell creature he might encounter in the Realms and hadmoved to another dale to teach another village's children. It was during Marl's off-duty hours that the other caravan guards taught him the game anagrams. After that,the cooper's son spent even more time wondering about the mage Kasilith and theteacher Kith Lias.

Jess Lebow

Netheril Year 3392

(The Year of Emerald Groves, — 467 DR)

The wet stink of mud hung in the air.

Olostin lowered his foot to the floor at the bottom ofa long flight of stairs. The cellar was dark and wet, and rats splashed,unseen, in the far corners of the room.

"You have come," said a voice from out ofthe darkness.

"As I was directed," replied Olostin.

"You have served us well," came anothervoice.

"Thank you," replied Olostin.

"And you have prospered from the knowledge andpower we have granted to you," continued the first. "Your raiderswreak havoc all over the countryside, and your name strikes fear in the heartsof the common man. Indeed, even the archwizards take notice."

"Your friendship has indeed benefited me greatly.One day I shall bring about the end of thearchwizards' rule, and thus I am foreverin your debt." Olostin bowed toward the sound of the voices.

"Then we have a task for you."

"One that will no doubt be fueled by your hatredof the ruling wizard class," added the second voice.

"Of course," replied Olostin, still bowed."Tell me only what you require, and consider it done."

"An archwizard by the name of Shadow has beenexperimenting with a new type of magic," explained the first voice.

"He calls his new source of power the ShadowWeave," interjected the second.

"This Shadow Weave could be the very thing thearchwizards need to destroy us."

"How is it that I may serve you?" askedOlostin.

"Kill Shadow before he uncovers too much,"affirmed the first voice.

"As you have directed," replied Olostin. Hestood and headed back up the stairs.

"In the name of Olostin, submit or meet yourdoom!"

Cy hurled his torch at a thatch-roofed house andspurred his horse on through the village of Kath. Night had fallen hoursbefore, and the moon was just visible over the high cliffs that outlined oneedge of the valley. The sound of almost one hundred horse hooves beat on intothe slowly brightening night as the southern border of Kath went up in flames.

The door of a house just in front of Cy burst open,and a man in a nightshirt ran into the street, away from the flames and thecontents of his house. The side shutters of the same house creaked open andsmoke billowed out as a coughing woman, dark streaks of ash lining her face,climbed out with a small child under her arm. The child's head lolled to oneside and back in wide flopping arcs with the rhythm of the mother's franticescape.

Cy rode on, herding the villagers toward the north endof the settlement. There, Kath butted up against a heavily wooded forest, andnearly half of the raiding party waited there for the fleeing villagers.

We'll round 'em up, and rob 'em blind, thought Cy.

He smiled. Rich was definitely going to be a good wayto go through life.

Someone screamed ahead. Cy reigned in his horse andstopped in front of a dead-end alleyway. Two other raiders had gotten off theirhorses and had cornered a village woman. She wore only a light white dress, andshe held a tightly bunched section against her chest with one hand. With theother, she was feeling behind her for the wall of the alley, not letting hereyes stray from the men in front of her. Her hair was disheveled, and streaksof dirt or dried blood outlined the curve of her jaw.

"Hey," hollered Cy, getting their attention."Take your pleasures another time. You heard Lume! Force the villagers tothe woods. We don't have time for these games."

The two dismounted men grumbled at Cy and spit towardhis horse. They turned their attention back to the woman. She had backed intothe corner as far as she could and was pounding on the stone behind her indesperation.

Damn fools, thought Cy, and he spurred his horse downthe road.

The village was no more than thirty houses deep fromthe southern border to the edge of the forest. In the confusion of theraid-the unrelenting thunder of horses, the burning roofs, and the hollering ofthe bandits-the villagers scattered and quickly fell into the raiders' trap.

Cy spurred his horse toward the forest, and in thenext moment, he found himself on the ground, his horse barreling away fromhim. His tailbone and back hurt from the fall, and his chest burned in a lineright across the middle. He shook his head and tried to clear his vision. Alarge hulking form loomed up out of the night in front of him. The figureraised its arm, and Cy instinctively rolled to one side. A heavy chain impactedthe ground. Cy rolled back onto his feet and stood up, pulling his scimitar outof its scabbard as he did.

The man with the chain raised his arms over his head,swinging the heavy links around in a circle, gaining momentum withboth hands. Cy's vision cleared somewhat, and he got a better look at hisattacker. The man had long, ragged blond hair and was wearing only black robes,tied at the waist with a length of rope. He was wearing no shoes. Scarscrisscrossed his face and forearms. One near his ear was still covered by adark scab. His shoulders were knotted with lumps of muscle, and his arms easilysuspended the weight of the chain. He moved with a quick, considered motion,passing the chain back and forth between his hands, making arcs in the airaround his body.

Cy turned his blade in his hand, the metal castingreflected light from the fires on the dark ground. He lunged. Metal clanged,and the tip of his scimitar hit the ground. He just managed to keep his grip onthe hilt, but the chain was still moving in quick circles. A crunching thudrang through his ears, and Cy saw stars. His jaw was numb, and he could tasteblood. The chain-wielder seemed to grow much, much taller, then Cy realized hewas on the ground again. He threw himself flat as the chain whistled by hisear.