Antimodes was bitter, refusing to be mollified. "And now you have your sword."

"The metal withstood the fire," Par-Salian replied gravely, "and came out tempered and true, with a fine

cutting edge. Now the young man must practice, he must hone the skills he will need in the future and learn new

ones."

"None of the conclave will apprentice him, not if they think he is somehow tied to Fistandantilus. Not even the

Black Robes. They would not trust him. How, then, will he learn?"

"I believe he will find a master. A lady has taken an interest in him, a very great interest."

"Not Ladonna?" Antimodes frowned.

"No, no. Another lady, far greater and more powerful." Par-Salian cast a glance out the window, where the red

moon shone with a ruby's glittering brilliance.

"Ah, indeed?" Antimodes said, impressed. "Well, if that's the case, I suppose I need not worry about him. Still,

he's very young and very frail, and we don't have much time."

"As you said, it will be some years before the Dark Queen can muster her forces, before she is prepared to

launch her attack."

"Yet already the clouds of war gather," Antimodes remarked ominously. "We stand alone in the last rays of

the setting sun. And I ask again, where are the true gods now that we need them?"

"Where they have always been," Par-Salian replied complacently.

Raistiin sat in a chair before a desk in the Tower of High Sorcery. He had been a resident of the tower for several

days, Par-Salian having given the young man permission

to remain in the tower for as long as he deemed necessary to recover from the effects of the Test.

Not that Raistlin would ever truly recover. He had never before been physically strong or healthy, but in

comparison to what he was today, he looked back upon his former self with envy. He spent a moment recalling the

days of his youth, realized regretfully that he had never fully appreciated them, never fully appreciated his energy

and vigor. But would he go back? Would he trade his shattered body for a whole one?

Raistlin's hand touched the wood of the Staff of Magius, which stood at his side, was never far from his side. The

wood was smooth and warm, the enchantment within the staff tingled through his fingers, an exhilarating sensation.

He had only the vaguest idea what magic the staff could perform. It was requisite that any mage coming into

possession of a magical artifact search out such power himself. But he was aware of the staff's immense magical

power, and he reveled in it.

Not much information on the staff existed in the tower; many of the old manuscripts concerning Magius, which

had been kept in the Tower of Palanthas, had been lost when the magi evacuated to the tower at Wayreth. The staff

itself had been retained, as being of far more value, though it had-according to Par-Salian-remained unused all these

centuries.

The time had not been right for the staff's return to the world, Par-Salian had said evasively in answer to Raistlin's

question. Until now the staff had not been needed. Raistlin wondered what made the time right now, right for a staff

that

had purportedly been used to help fight dragons. He was not likely to find out. Par-Salian kept his own counsel. He

would tell Raistlin nothing about the staff, beyond where to find the books that might provide him with knowledge.

One of those books was before him now, a smallish quarto written by some scribe attached to Huma's retinue. The

book was more frustrating than helpful. Raistlin learned a great deal about manning battlements and posting

guards, information that would be useful to a war mage, but very little about the staff. What he had learned had been

inadvertent. The scribe, writing an account of Magius, described the mage leaping from the topmost tower of the

besieged castle to land unharmed among us, much to our great astonishment and wonder. He claimed to have used

the magic of his staff....

Raistlin wrote in his own small volume:It appears that the staff has the ability to allow its owner to float through the air as

lightly as a feather. Is this spell inherent in the staff? Must magical words be recited in order to activate this spell? Is there a limit to

its usage? Will the spell work for anyone other than the magus who is in possession of the staff?

All these were questions that must be answered, and that was just for one of the staff's enchantments. Raistlin

guessed there must be many more bound within the wood. In one sense, it was frustrating not to know. He would

have liked to have had them delineated. Yet if the nature of the staff's powers had been presented to him, he still