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.""I think we should put it under a strong guard."Seiveril looked sharply at the mage and asked, "Why?""It occurs to me that your crusade could be easily defeated or delayed if it proved impossible to move to Faerun when you would like.If you were forced to use a gate that led to some place hundreds of miles from the fight, you might conclude that you could never get there in time.There are powerful families on the council who feel that you flouted their will by arranging your voluntary crusade.They might be willing to return the favor by denying you the means to leave the isle where and when you wish.""You think matters are that serious?" Seiveril asked with a frown.The heavy-shouldered mage replied, "Are you confident they are not, Lord Seiveril?"The nobleman studied his chief mage, conscious of the eyes of the other captains on him."Lord Gaerth,' he said, "have your troops provide a guard over the elfgates we intend to use.Mage Jorildyn,assign a few of your spellcasters to assist him.We may have no cause for such measures, but perhaps it would be better to deter any trouble of this sort than to find out we were wrong."CHAPTER 1016 Ches, the Year of Lightning StormsThe floors above the iron golem's chamber were in dismal condition, damaged by long exposure to rain and rot.The beams supporting the wooden floors sagged noticeably, and the staircase that had once ascended the tower in a circle following the outer wall was unsafe at best, and simply missing in other places.Araevin finally resorted to casting a flying-spell on Grayth so that the heavily armored human would not have to chance a general collapse of the stairs or the floor.Grayth then helped the others ascend to the floors above, simply carrying them up through the gaping holes where the stairs had formerly climbed.The second floor above the golem's chamber seemed to have been the personal chamber of the tower's builder.The mildewed remnants of an oldcanopy bed and several large chests of drawers still stood in the room."That's a human bed," Ilsevele observed."Elves don't use anything like that for Reverie.Are you sure the telkiira is here?""Yes," said Araevin.He rummaged through one of the old chests, finding nothing but a couple of mildewed blankets."Who was this fellow, I wonder? And how did an elven loregem come to be in his hands?""He might have stolen it," Maresa said.She was searching slowly and carefully along the walls for any sign of a hidden door or compartment."Or maybe he bought it from someone who stole it from its true owner.For that matter, he might have just bought it from an elf or traded for it, with no duplicity or theft at all—though what's the fun of that? It's not much of a mystery, and it's one we can't solve anyway, so why bother with it?""She has a point," said Grayth.Araevin shrugged.It probably didn't matter, but it might have shed some light on how Philaerin had come into possession of the first stone.They climbed carefully to the next level, and found it divided into two rooms: a small library full of sodden, illegible books, and a conjury with an old silver circle for the summoning of extraplanar beings inlaid in the floor.Again, wind and weather had worked slow destruction on the room's contents.The ceiling above was mostly gone, showing the interior of the pointed roof, with large holes gaping in the shakes and rafters.Broad windows allowed slanting shafts of light into the room, showing green forest outside.Whatever shutters the windows might once have had were long gone.Ilsevele leaned out and looked down."Brant and the horses are still there," she said."He looks bored.""He should have fought the golem, then," Maresa grumbled.They fell to searching the two rooms thoroughly, looking for any sign of persistent magic or treasure caches.Araevin pored through the remains of the bookshelves, finding book after book decayed beyond any possible perusal.A few had borne the years better, and those he flipped through with greater care, hoping that a spellbook or enchanted tome of some kind might have been left behind.He found nothing of that sort, but he did find a faded mage rune printed carefully on the frontispiece of one of the more intact tomes.It was the mark of a wizard who called himself Gerardin.Araevin pulled out his journal and recorded the shape of the rune and the name, in case he ever got a chance to compare it later with some other scholar or research it himself."Aha! I think I found something," Maresa announced
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