Just then, something exploded in the courtyard. Coryn heard shouts of alarm and saw a residue of dust floating in the air, marking the spot of a violent impact. Two wizards, a White and Red Robe, lay near that place. The Red Robe was twitching and groaning; the White Robe, her garment stained with blood, lay still.

"Damn him-not the slightest warning. A blast of wild magic came from up there," said Galarant, pointing toward a lofty parapet. "I saw the sorcerer for a moment; then he cast the spell. Then he disappeared."

"Spread out!" someone called-Coryn thought it was Jenna-and the wizards were already instinctively obeying.

"There!" cried one of the elf twins, pointing toward a different parapet. Kalrakin stood there, glaring down at them from perhaps halfway up the tower. Several wizards were taking to the air, spells of flying lifting them quickly skyward. Others cast quick spells of attack: lightning bolts, magic missiles, and other violent magical onslaughts, which surged upward.

The wild sorcerer laughed aloud. He held up his right hand, where the Irda Stone glowed brightly. One lightning bolt, lancing through the shadows of twilight, blasted into Kalrakin and simply vanished, causing the stone to pulse briefly brighter. The other spells slammed home and each one disappeared, sucked into the powerful enchantment of the ancient artifact. With each attack the stone shimmered and glowed even stronger until, after the volley had faded away, the object gleamed furiously in the sorcerer's hand.

By this time several of the flying wizards had closed in. A Red Robe was in the lead, a man who lunged for the sorcerer with his hands outstretched. Kalrakin laughed loud again, and his wild magic pulsed; a stab of brilliant light flashed out, tearing through the flying wizard's flesh with brutal violence. Immediately the man fell backward, smoke and flames trailing from his ruined robes. Coryn hoped the poor mage was already dead before he violently struck the unforgiving paving stones.

Other brave flyers veered away. One White Robe-Cory recognized old Bernardus-cast a series of potent missiles that vanished, one after the other, into the artifact. The attack served one purpose, at least, in that the rest of those wizards who had taken to the air were able to dive and swerve out of the sorcerer's line of sight. Bernardus pressed home his onslaught, but then Coryn moaned with horror as a well- aimed bolt of wild magic ripped into his frail body. He, too, tumbled, smoking and charred, out of the sky.

"Fall back!" cried Coryn. "Back to the gates!"

Kalrakin disappeared in a blink. Coryn looked around wildly, expecting him to appear somewhere in the courtyard. Apparently he had retreated back into the Tower, however, for there was no sign of him on the ground.

One by one the wizards drew back from the area just below the Tower walls. Some were limping and several-old friends of those who had been slain-were sobbing quietly. Others glared in fury and hatred at the now vacant balcony from which the sorcerer had launched his vile attacks. Slowly they gathered around the gates, still within the courtyard but, they hoped, out of range of their enemy's attacks. Even if they were in danger here, none were willing to leave the courtyard. After coming this close to their hallowed hall of learning, they were unwilling to quit and retreat.

By now it was almost full night, and the black spires loomed like ghastly tombstones. Black and White and Red Robes mingled within the gossamer gates, muttering and cursing. "How can we fight this?" someone asked.

"It's impossible-he is too strong!" another replied.

"The artifact-" yet a third wizard started to say.

"Silence!" Dalamar snapped, and all of them obeyed him. "We will have to change our tactics, and be more clever than this if we are going to take back our tower."

"The Black Robe is right," Jenna said. "The sorcerer has an artifact that protects him from our strongest magical attacks. So gather under the moonlight, my cousins, and let us make a plan."

Muddy Flagstones

The moons were all high in the night sky. Lunitari and Solinari, just past full, were approaching zenith, while Nuitari was beginning to set. Two cast their light on the world, and all lent their might to the practitioners of the three robes.

But would that might, the power of those three moons, be enough?

Dalamar pushed himself to his feet. He had been sitting with his back against the courtyard wall, studying his spell book and thinking about their formidable foe. Coryn had been sitting nearby, also reading, studying the incantations she had used in the battle with the golem. After a long time she had closed her eyes, and Dalamar noticed she had fallen asleep.

Other wizards were all around, and they, too, were resting, restoring their spells, meditating, or praying. He himself felt no need of rest. There would be time enough to gather their numbers, and that time would be very soon.

The dark elf shook his head to clear away his fatigue. He felt sluggish. He was surprised to see Jenna standing beside him-she had come up completely unnoticed.

"Do you think we should wait until tomorrow?" the red-robed woman asked. "The three of us haven't slept for two nights. And I'm certain those we summoned under the Eye have had no rest since then, either."

Dalamar pointed to the moons. "They are nearly full tonight. Tomorrow they will be fainter, our power weaker. I think we should attack as soon as possible."

"Yes, I agree," she said.

"And I," Coryn said. She had awoken and now climbed to her feet, her expression serious, glaring at the tower as if it were a personal enemy. With visible reluctance the white robe broke her stare to meet the eyes of Jenna and Dalamar, as the other wizards slowly gathered around them.

"Do you have any ideas as to what we should do?" asked the young woman.

"Yes," Dalamar replied. "I suggest we do something unexpected. We should use teleport spells to teleport ourselves into the Tower. Working in pairs or threes perhaps, we can spread out through the interior. When someone encounters Kalrakin we'll rush to that wizard's signal, and perhaps we can take the sorcerer by sheer numbers, if nothing else."

"Other spells are useless against him?" asked a young-looking woman in a black robe. She had large eyes and a very exotic, attractive appearance.

"Yes, Sirene," the dark elf replied. "At least, any spell he can absorb with the Irda Stone. But I don't see how he can counter our teleport spells."

"Here. These will help," Jenna said. She had drawn a small pouch from the depths of her red robe, and now poured the contents into her palm, revealing an array of small, sparkling gems. "Everyone take one of these," she said, handing them around. "If you spot Kalrakin, drop it to the ground. It will alert the rest of us, and we'll come as quickly as possible. Even if the one who drops the stone is killed before others arrive, you will have delivered a key warning-and your life will not have been lost in vain."

Dalamar took one of the stones as Jenna finished passing them out. "Are we all prepared? Let's team up, for safety. I will go to the Hall of Mages with Willim-if that's agreeable to my dwarven comrade?"

"Aye, elf. We go together," growled the eyeless dwarf. "Let's get on with it."

Swiftly the other mages paired up, Jenna joining her old teacher, Rasilyss-they would go to the aerie in the North Tower-while Coryn agreed to ally with old Galarant, the two of them teleporting to the anteroom in the foretower. As best as possible they divided up the inside of the Tower.

"All right," Jenna said. "Good luck-may the gods of magic smile upon us. And let's go."