War of the Twins by Margaret Weis Read Free Book Online

words of chanting and raised his voice in an answering chant himself.
    The battle lasted long. The two guardians of the Tower who watched the sight they had conjured up from the memories of the black-robed mage lying within their grasp, were lost in confusion. They had, up to this point, seen everything through Raistlin’s vision. But so close now were the two magic-users that the Tower’s guardians saw the battle through the eyes of
both
opponents.
    Lightning crackled from fingertips, black-robed bodies twisted in pain, screams of agony and fury echoed amidst the crash of rock and timber.
    Magical walls of fire thawed walls of ice, hot winds blew with the force of hurricanes. Storms of flame swept the hallways, apparitions sprang from the Abyss at the behest of their masters, elementals shook the very foundations of the castle. The great dark fortress of Fistandantilus began to crack, stones tumbling from the battlements.
    And then, with a fearful shriek of rage and pain, one of the black-robed mages collapsed, blood flowing from his mouth.
    Which was which? Who had fallen? The guardians sought frantically to tell, but it was impossible.
    The other mage, nearly spent, rested a moment, then managed to drag himself across the floor. His trembling hand reached up to the top of the stone slab, groped about, then found and grasped the bloodstone pendant. With his laststrength, the black-robed mage gripped the pendant and crawled back to kneel beside the still-living body of his victim.
    The mage on the floor could not speak, but his eyes, as they gazed into the eyes of his murderer, cast a curse of such hideous aspect that the two guardians of the Tower felt even the chill of their tormented existence grow warm by comparison.
    The black-robed mage holding the bloodstone hesitated. He was so close to his victim’s mind that he could read the unspoken message of those eyes, and his soul shrank from what it saw. But then his lips tightened. Shaking his hooded head and giving a grim smile of triumph, he carefully and deliberately pressed the pendant down on the black-robed chest of his victim.
    The body on the floor writhed in tormented agony, a shrill scream bubbled from his blood-frothed lips. Then, suddenly, the screams ceased. The mage’s skin wrinkled and cracked like dry parchment, his eyes stared sightlessly into the darkness. He slowly withered away.
    With a shuddering sigh, the other mage collapsed on top of the body of his victim, he himself weak, wounded, near death. But clutched in his hand was the bloodstone and flowing through his veins was new blood, giving him life that would—in time—fully restore him to health. In his mind was knowledge, memories of hundreds of years of power, spells, visions of wonders and terrors that spanned generations. But there, too, were memories of a twin brother, memories of a shattered body, of a prolonged, painful existence.
    As two lives mingled within him, as hundreds of strange, conflicting memories surged through him, the mage reeled at the impact. Crouching beside the corpse of his rival, the black-robed mage who had been the victor stared at the bloodstone in his hand. Then he whispered in horror.
    “Who am I?”

C HAPTER
4     
    he guardians slid away from Raistlin, staring at him with hollow eyes. Too weak to move, the mage stared back, his own eyes reflecting the darkness.
    “I tell you this”—he spoke to them without a voice and was understood—“touch me again, and I will turn you to dust—as I did him.”
    “Yes, Master,” the voices whispered as their pale visages faded back into the shadows.
    “What—” murmured Crysania sleepily. “Did you say something?” Realizing she had been sleeping with her head upon his shoulder, she flushed in confusion and embarrassment and hurriedly sat up. “Can-can I get you anything?” she asked.
    “Hot water”—Raistlin lay back limply—“for … my potion.”
    Crysania glanced around, brushing her dark