breaking his neck."

"At least not until we are finished with him," Micah said, with a trilling, musical laugh that accorded oddly

with his dire words.

"Strike a light."

One of the elves produced quickmatch, put the match to a candle standing on the counter. The elves politely

handed the candle to Raistlin, who just as politely took it.

"This way." Micah led them from the shop.

Raistlin could have supplied himself with light, magical light, but he did not mention this to the elves. He

chose to save his energy. He was going to need it before this night was out.

The four left the shop, entered the kitchen, which Raistlin remembered from his first visit. They continued

through the pantry, entered a door, and passed into a small storage room containing a veritable thicket of mops

and brooms. Working swiftly and silently, the elves cleared these to one side.

"I see no spellbooks," Raistlin remarked.

"Of course you don't," Liam grunted, barely biting off the appellation "fool." "I told you. They are hidden in

the cellar. The trapdoor is beneath that table."

The table in question was a butcher's block, used to cut meat. Made of oak, it was stained with the blood of

countless animals.

Raistlin was amused to see that the sight and smell disgusted the dark elves, who were prepared to murder humans

without compunction, but who looked queasy over the idea of steaks and lamb chops. Holding their breaths against

what must have been to them a malodorous stench, Micah and Renet hauled the table to one side. Both hastily

wiped their hands on a towel when they had finished.

"We will put back all as we have found it when we leave," Liam said. "This Lemuel is such a stupid, unobservant

little man. He will likely go for years without noticing that the books have been discovered and removed."

Raistlin admitted the truth of this statement. Lemuel cared for nothing except his garden, took little interest in

magic unless it pertained to his herbs. He had probably never even looked at these books, was merely obeying his

father's injunction to keep them hidden.

When Raistlin took the books to the tower at Wayrethwhich he fully intended to do, confessing his own sins at the

time-the conclave could inform Lemuel that the books had been removed. As for what the conclave might do to

Raistlin, he considered it likely that they would reprimand him for thievery, but probably nothing more severe. The

conclave would not take kindly to the fact that these valuable spellbooks had been concealed all these years. Of the

two crimes, they would consider concealment the greater.

Raistlin hoped their sanctions would fall on the father, if he still lived, not on the son.

Micah tugged at the handle of the trapdoor. It did not budge, and at first the elves thought it might be locked,

either with bolts or magic. The elves checked for bolts, Raistlin cast a minor spell which would ascertain the presence

of magic. No bolts were visible, neither was there a wizard-lock. The trapdoor was stuck tight, the wood having

swelled with the damp. The elves wrenched and tugged and eventually the door popped open.

Cold air, cold and dank as the breath of a tomb, flowed up out of the darkness below. The air had a foul smell that

caused the elves to wrinkle their noses and back off. Raistlin covered his mouth with the sleeve of his robe.

Micah and Renet cast furtive glances at Liam, fearful he was going to order them to walk down into that chancy

darkness. Liam himself looked uneasy.

"What is that stench?" he wondered aloud. "It's like something died down there. Surely books on magic, even

human

books on magic, could not smell that bad."

"I am not afraid of a bad smell," Raistlin said scornfully. "I will go down to see what is amiss."

Micah was not happy at this; he took offense at Raistlin's suggestion of cowardice, though not offense enough to

enter the cellar. The elves discussed the matter in their own language. Raistlin listened, diverted by their arrogance.

They did not even consider the possibility that a human might be able to understand their language.

Renet concluded that Raistlin shoul d go down alone. It was possible the spellbooks might have a guardian.

Raistlin was a human and therefore expendable. Micah argued that since Raistlin was a mage, he might grab several

of the spellbooks and abscond with them, traveling the corridors of magic, where the elves could not follow.