The smaller beholder spun all ten eye tentacles in the direction from which the sword had come, only to be driven to the ground when Malik came flying off his horse from behind and began slashing eyestalks with his dagger. Galaeron scrambled to his feet and rushed to help, but by then Vala was already on the creature. She extended one hand to summon her sword, used the other to crush an eye when the stalk swung in her direction, then caught the weapon and drove the tip through the beholder's skull. Unlike Galaeron's blade, hers sank to the hilt.
"Elf?" Aris's looming figure peered over the fallen tree, a big boulder grasped in each hand. "Elf, are you alive?" "For now."
Galaeron turned to see Melegaunt's mangled body dissolving into shadow, and his shadow coalescing into a healthy body.
"Melegaunt, you were not to risk your life," Galaeron said. "We agreed for the sake of Evereska."
"Aye," said the wizard. "But after you troubled yourself so dearly to save him, how could I let the giant die?"
CHAPTER TWELVE
27 Nightal, the Year of the Unstrung Harp
Galaeron felt himself jerk, then felt the hand clamped over his shoulder and knew that-impossibly-an intruder had crept up on him during his own watch. He rolled away from the tree he had been leaning against and tangled in a heavy cloak in which he did not recall covering himself.
"To your weapons!" Even as he yelled the alarm, he feared he was too late. "They're on us!"
Despite the entangling cloak, Galaeron somehow rolled to his knees and faced his attacker. He found himself looking at three bewildered humans and a very concerned stone giant.
"It's only us, Galaeron," said Vala. "That must have been some dream."
"Dream?" Galaeron threw off the cloak and, searching the woods behind them, reached for his sword. "I wasn't dreaming. How could I have been dreaming?"
Vala rolled her eyes. "That's what people do when they sleep."
"That's what humans do when they sleep," Galaeron corrected. He was not sure which implication he resented more, that humans were Tel'Quess-of the People-or that he had neglected his duty by sleeping on his watch. "And I was not sleeping!"
"No?" It was the little round-faced man with the bulging eyes who asked this. Galaeron needed a moment recall what he was doing with them. "Then what are you doing when you close your eyes and snore?"
The night did seem oddly bright, Galaeron realized. He frowned and looked eastward, where an amorphous sphere of light hung just above the Greypeak Mountains. Even through the thick mantle of concealing snow clouds, there could be little doubt that the glowing pearl was the morning sun.
"I fell asleep?" The alarm in Galaeron's voice was unmistakable. "In the middle of my watch?"
"Don't feel bad." Vala gathered his cloak off the snow and offered it to him. "Malik took over, and you needed the rest."
Galaeron accepted the cloak and dropped to his haunches. After two days without a Reverie, there was no denying he needed rest. But to fall asleep-by accident? He suddenly began to feel lost and hollow, as though something inside had vanished.
"Why so worried?" Melegaunt came to his side. "Elves do sleep. I've seen them."
"Occasionally," said Galaeron. "When we're sick or wounded, sometimes when we're despondent or fall prey to the Gloom, more often as we grow older and the time to go West draws near."
Vala nodded. "When you need to escape your pain and rest. Not so different from humans."
"Much the same," allowed Galaeron, "except that we never fall asleep. It's a purposeful act."
"What a joy that must be," exclaimed Malik. "Me, I am always lying awake when I should be sleeping and sleeping when I should be awake. This year alone, it has nearly cost me my life a dozen times." He hesitated a moment, his mouth contorting oddly as he struggled not to say more, then he blurted, "I hardly dare close my eyes for fear of having my throat cut by that Harper witch Ruha!"
Galaeron frowned. The Harpers were among the few humans generally accorded admittance to Evereska, and the mere fact that one of them counted Malik an enemy was reason to be suspicious of him. On the other hand, the little man had risked his own life to save Galaeron and Aris from the beholders, and any trouble between humans was no business of the tomb guard's or Evereska's.
Vala and Melegaunt seemed even less interested in Malik's revelation than Galaeron. Vala pursed her lips as though wondering why the little man thought they should care, and Melegaunt merely tugged his beard and studied Galaeron.
Finally, he said, "Things didn't go exactly as we planned with Aris's rescue. How much did you strain yourself with the magic I showed you?"
"1 think of it as the cold magic," said Galaeron. "A lot. There was no choice."
Melegaunt's face turned instantly stormy. "Fool! Did I not warn you against testing yourself with this magic?"
"I wasn't testing," said Galaeron. "There was no other choice."
"There is always another choice," said Melegaunt. "It would be better to surrender your body to the beholders than to surrender your spirit to your shadow."
Melegaunt came forward and grabbed Galaeron's head, then tipped it back and pulled his eyelids open. "There it is. You've let your shadow inside." Galaeron's stomach turned to ice. "Then get it out!" "I can't." Melegaunt released Galaeron's eyelids and stepped back. "You must learn to control it, before it learns to control you." "Control it? How?"
"Carefully-very carefully," said Melegaunt. "Shadows are subtle things. It will try to subvert your nature, to make you see the dark in everything around you."
"See the dark?" asked Galaeron. "You mean dark motives?"
"In a way, yes. For every light, there is a shadow. It will make you look at the shadow instead of the light, to see how every noble act might be selfish. Gradually, you will come to see the darkness before the light. When that happens, you are your shadow."
Galaeron's throat went dry, and he could not bring himself to speak again.
"Galaeron, you must learn to do the hardest thing of all," said Melegaunt. "You must always make sure you see the light before you see the shadow"
"That will be hard." Galaeron thought of the suspicions that had been plaguing him the past few days, and of his decision to keep secret the way the cold magic had rushed into him during the battle against the bugbears. "Why did you ever show me this magic, Melegaunt?"
"Are you that weak?" Melegaunt grabbed his arm and pulled him to his feet. "I give you the most precious gift in the world, and you call it poison? Your shadow is winning already, elf."
The words hit Galaeron like a blow, for his trouble entering the Reverie had come with his doubts about Melegaunt's character. Had the shadow been inside even then? Despite the cold, he felt flushed and sweaty.
"There's something I should have told you about the bugbear battle," Galaeron said. "The new magic came to you?"
"Unbidden," Galaeron replied. "When 1 cast my spells, it rushed in of its own accord. 1 had to concentrate to keep it out." Melegaunt nodded. "Looming death has a way of bringing you closer to your shadow self." The wizard stared at him. "It is more troubling that you kept it from me."
"You keep so many secrets of your own." Even to Galaeron, his tone sounded defensive. "And after you sicked the illithids on Lord Imesfor, I did have reason to doubt you."
"We talked about that If you were not satisfied with my explanation, you should have said so." Melegaunt's voice lacked its usual patience. "This will be a struggle, elf, and I don't know that you will win."
Galaeron's heart sank. "I don't want this magic. There must be something you can do."
"There is." Melegaunt glanced meaningfully toward Vala's sword. "And should you fail, I will." "It would be that bad?"