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Ice and Steel	By : Skullbearer Category: A through F > Dragonlance Views: 3083 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I do not own the book(s) that this fanfiction is written for, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 17
- 18
- 19
Sorry about that, an AFF.net hiccup.
Tests and Puzzles
And I want it
I believe it
I’m a million different things
And not one you know
-I Want To Disappear, Marilyn Manson
It was dark under the trees, light from the two moons flickered and danced between the branches as Raistlin crept quietly under their overhanging spread.
He couldn't believe he'd got in, it was said to be impossible, the elves were very, very vigilant after all. No human had been allowed into Silvanesti for hundreds of years, or so Dalamar had said.
Well, Raistlin might not have been allowed, but he most certainly was in Silvanesti.
For about the fifth time, Raistlin wished Dalamar was with him, the Dark elf would have known the area and Raistlin was in danger of getting lost. It had been out of the question of course. As a human, Raistlin would have just been thrown out if the elves found him, but had Dalamar been caught....Well, Raistlin had heard of what happened to Dark elves who tried to return to their homelands.
Never mind, Dalamar had drawn him a decent map, it showed him that part of Silvanost in good detail, especially the cave where Dalamar had found the spellbooks as well as the small tower where the Dark elf believed the books would have been taken.
Raistlin jumped as a twig cracked underfoot. You'd need a kender for this, he thought standing stock-still, ears pricked for the slightest sound.
There was nothing, not the rustle of leaves in the still air, nor the whisper of boots on the ground, and mercifully not the whirr of flying arrows.
Raistlin caught his breath, shouldered the pack holding his meager belongings, and climbed up a steep incline, from there looking out through the thinning woods towards the tower.
It was oddly squat for an elven tower, reminding Raistlin more of a mossy hillock instead of the soaring tree-like buildings he'd passed earlier. Built of green stone and barely ornamented, there was little to mark it's importance.
Just as it should be; after all, it had been built to hide away powerful magical artifacts. Not just any artifacts, but those dedicated to the God of the Dark Moon, Nuitari. And Nuitari was a jealous God, he wouldn't be pleased with the hoarding of His magic, not pleased at all.
Which was why Raistlin was here.
He knew that what he was doing wasn't right, it was theft, pure and simple. More than that, it was theft of spellbooks whose contents no white robed mage would approach, containing spells of torture, demon summoning and death.
Raistlin could tell himself it was for Dalamar, that the books were his and that he was just doing his lover a favor, but he knew that was a lie, the books were as much for him as for Dalamar.
Anyway, it was a way to repay the Gods of Magic for their gift, in returning spellbooks that would otherwise have languished, dusty and unopened at the bottom of an elven vault.
As much trouble as he would get into with the Conclave for stealing, the concealment of valuable spellbooks by the elves would be seen as the much greater crime, or so he hoped.
The young mage paused at the top of the small hill, thinking over his plan; he needed to sneak into the tower and find the old spellbooks that Dalamar had learnt from when he had lived in Silvanesti.
Raistlin would need to be especially careful not to trigger the many wards which all but carpeted the place, or to gain the notice of the guardians which generations of elven mages had bound there.

So far, so good. He'd reached the shadow of the tower without any kind of outcry being sounded, so hopefully he was still going unnoticed. The tower was quite beautiful up close, the stone was the colour of moss and worn smooth from years of wind and rain.
Raistlin crept up to the front door, it was built of green wood and blended in perfectly with the wall; if it hadn't been for the change in texture then Raistlin would have overlooked it.
When Raistlin tried to push it open, he found it locked.
Well, that came as no surprise, Raistlin whispered an unlocking spell quietly.
Still nothing. There must be some kind of password.
There was a symbol inscribed over the door, Raistlin noticed, this wasn't surprising either, he seen symbols inscribed at intervals all around the walls. More wards and alarms, no doubt.
Actually...
Actually, this wasn't a ward at all. It was a sigil denoting something, plus it looked somewhat familiar...
Raistlin peered closer at the symbol, at first sight it appeared to be a serpent.... No, not a snake, a dragon, a coiled dragon...Raistlin could just make out a few specks of silver marking the dragon's outline, a silver dragon then...Where had he last seen that symbol?
The young mage ground the heels of his hands into his eyes, racking his brains for the memory.
Gods.
Something about Gods.
A book, a book about the ancient deities of Krynn.
The symbol, the symbol of an old God, the symbol of a silver dragon... No, not silver, platinum. The platinum dragon, Paladine.
Raistlin opened his eyes, "Paladine." He whispered, fearful of being overheard.
Nothing.
No, Paladine was the human name for the God. Raistlin could hear Dalamar's scornful tones in his mind, telling him of the morning chant to Paladine which was heard all throughout Silvanesti, a chant to a God who never heard.
Raistlin muttered the chant as he recalled it, in Dalamar's mocking, angry tone. 'From the might of the Dragon Queen, deliver us, O E'li.'
"E'li?" Raistlin said carefully, wary of being overhead or worse, triggering an alarm.
The crackling hiss of magic sounded on the edge of hearing and Raistlin's eyes snapped open. The symbol above the door was glowing, glowing upon the utterance of a word that few outsiders could have known.
Few outsiders, save those who had won the trust of a Dark elf.
Raistlin pushed on the door again, and this time it obeyed his demands and swung open, he grinned; delighted at his own cleverness.
It was cold inside the tower after the warmth of the summer night, Raistlin pulled his robes closer around his body and quietly made his way down the corridor in front of him.
Not only was it cold, it was also dark, and before long, Raistlin stopped in order to call up a magical ball of light, floating the ghostly sphere above his outstretched hand, he crept on further into the tower.
Soon it became apparent that the tower was deserted; dust lay thick on the ground and the sconces on the wall hung empty. Clearly this place was only entered to throw in some unwanted Dark item and then sealed.
All the better, less for him to look out for.
The corridor Raistlin was in suddenly became much more lavish, empty candelabras hung from the ceiling and rich tapestries covered the walls, showing scenes of battles long gone. Raistlin paused to examine one, it showed a golden haired elven female wielding a long silver lance and riding a silver dragon to battle against an army mounted on blue dragons.
Raistlin shrugged and glanced at the next one- showing a warrior mage calling up light to destroy a hoard of shadow creatures- before walking on. This was no time to dawdle and look at the decor, he scolded himself, he had a job to do.
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It was hard to find anything here, Raistlin thought, now feeling more than slightly worried. He'd been in the tower for a good few hours and all he'd found were empty rooms seemingly endless passageways. The night was getting long and Raistlin was not looking forward to escaping back out of Silvanesti in broad daylight.
The latest passageway ended in a black iron door, it too was inscribed with symbols, not to keep people out, Raistlin noticed, but rather to keep something in. At last, he hoped, he had found something.
The door handle turned easily under the mage's hand, the door opening to reveal a long flight of stairs down, vanishing into the darkness.
Raistlin carefully stepped down to the stair ledge, lifting his hand to illuminate more of the room.
He was very glad he did.
The stairs were broken into separate steps, all of which hung unsupported in mid air. Worse, they were constantly shifting and what may one second look like a traversable bridge might warp into a tangled mess of steps the next.
Looking down made Raistlin feel dizzy, seeing nothing but ongoing darkness beneath his feet.
Several meters down and many more across was a nondescript wooden door, set into the wall. It was unwarded and slightly open and after all the alarms and wards Raistlin had passed, this door stood out in just how ordinary it was.
Staring at the floating stairs, Raistlin tried desperately to remember some spell that could get him across, but nothing seemed to fit this. It was too far to jump and the steps moved too fast for any attempt to run across.
Raistlin looked despondently across to the opposite door, wondering how in the world he was going to tell Dalamar that he'd failed. In front of him the steps danced, wildly, swiftly...Predictably.
He blinked, something in his mind going 'click', there was a definite pattern in the motion of the stairs. Individually they didn't seem to move in any sort of order, but as a whole...
Steps would float apart, then blur together, forming, however briefly, a traversable stairway. Then the pieces would float apart; but part of the walkway, that closest to the ledge Raistlin was standing on would stay together. The stairs would then come together and float apart, but this time the piece that stayed together would be further along. Again and again this pattern was repeated, allowing a traveler to leap-frog their way across to the opposite door.
Raistlin waited until the cycle had been completed, the last block of steps reaching the doorway across from him, then as soon as it had flown apart and reformed, he jumped onto the brief stairway.
If he was wrong, then he had a long drop ahead on him. He just had time to break out in a cold sweat, wondering if he had just jumped to his death, before the stair broke apart, with Raistlin riding the largest fragment.
Then it reformed, and he moved to the next one, again and again, dodging flying stairs when they came too close for comfort, slowly making his way across the lethal drop.
One last jump, and he'd reached the door, there was a small ledge jutting out from it to step on to. Finally, with no small relief, Raistlin landed on it, pushed the door open and stepped through. His heart hammered wildly against his chest in anticipation of the magic awaiting him inside.
The room was empty, earthy floor bare.
Raistlin's stomach had time to knot itself to pieces before the young mage noticed the door standing to one side. Eagerly, Raistlin hurried over to it, hand stretching out to grasp the handle.
"Hrr, I wouldn't do that if...Hrr...I was you."
Raistlin froze, hand inches away from touching the door. He turned his head and his shaken gaze met hollow, translucent eye sockets.
A guardian spirit, whispered the only part of Raistlin's brain not transfixed by this apparition.
A few seconds elapsed while Raistlin regained control of the majority of his motor functions.
"Why shouldn't I do that?" He said when he could speak again.
The Guardian gave a horrible, rasping laugh, "Because it would...Hrr...suck you dry of life in seconds...Heh heh hrr...Nothing left but a pile of...Hrr...dust."
"Oh." Raistlin stared at the door handle, shaken, "Thanks for the warning." A quickly muttered Identification spell confirmed the spirit's words, touching the door would result in his death.
He was just racking his brain a spell to negate that on the door when the Guardian interrupted his thoughts. "You're not getting away that...Hrr...easily though."
A shiver of fear ran up Raistlin's spine, as skilled as he was, he was no match for something like this.
"I've been down here for...Hrr...more years than I care to count, and it's been very...Hrr...boring."
Raistlin waited.
"So, I...Hrr...hope you have some game we can play. Tell you what human...Hrr...If you win, I'll open the door so you can go in."
"And if I lose?" Raistlin asked, arching an eyebrow.
"Oh...Hrr...Then I sound the alarm."
Raistlin bowed his head, thinking. He was stuck here, he was sure the spellbooks were through that door and it seemed that the only way through there was by playing a game with the Guardian.
It would be no use taking risks, this would have to be a game Raistlin knew he would win, in other words, a game where he could cheat.
A memory flickered into his mind's eye, a summer fair in Solace, watching a con artist swindle the gullible out of their money...Yes, that would be perfect.
"Alright, one moment." Raistlin shrugged off his pack and dug around in it, looking for the trail rations he'd packed there earlier. Raistlin smiled, finding what he was looking for and emerging a moment later holding three walnuts. He used his knife to pry the shells open and, ignoring the nut, fished around on the floor until he found a pebble.
Raistlin sat cross legged on the floor and indicated that the Guardian be seated across from him. He took three of the shells and placed them down in front of him, sliding the pebble under the middle one.
"It's a simple game, I'm going to shuffle these around and you have to guess which one the pebble's under, if you guess right, then you sound the alarm, if you guess wrong, then you keep silent and open the door.
The Guardian nodded eagerly.
Raistlin hid his smile, and started to mix the shells around, fast enough to be convincing, but slowly enough for the Guardian to track the one with the pebble.
Halfway through, Raistlin lifted one shell and flicked the pebble from under it to another, so fast that the Guardian noticed nothing.
Finally, he stopped moving the shells and sat back, "Well, which one's it under?"
The Guardian smiled horribly and pointed at the left hand shell.
Raistlin smiled back pityingly and lifted the shell to reveal...nothing.
The Guardian blinked, stunned.
"I believe you have a promise to fulfill?" Raistlin prompted.
Wordlessly, the Guardian turned the door handle and pushed the door open.
"Thank you." Raistlin bowed his head and stepped inside the room.

Skull Bearer.
- 17
- 18
- 19
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Ice and Steel