Chapter 1 Escape
The fearless Kender and great Hero of the Lance, Tasslehoff Burrfoot, found himself bored. And, as everyone on Krynn knows, there's nothing more dangerous than a bored Kender! As he sat in the jail in Sancrist for the first time in a few months (he was honestly only borrowing that guard's purse and had meant to give it back! Why did everyone overreact so much?), he began to fiddle with his lockpicks in the lock that would release him into the city once more.
"Oh what's the use? There is nothing to do here! I must have done and seen everything on Krynn already! I've been to the past, the future, and everything in between! I've saved the world countless times – with little to no thanks from anyone I might add! - flown a flying citadel all by myself, made it through the forest of Wayreth to the Tower of High Sorcery, polymorphed into tons of animals, used a teleporting ring to outsmart a mage, ridden a dragon twice, talked to the dead in Darken Wood, escaped from the Abyss, and now I'm going to die the first Kender in all of Krynn to have completed everything there is to do! I'm miserable!" Tas dropped his lock pick and, grabbing his long topknot of hair, dried his streaming eyes.
Tas sat down on the straw covered floor of his jail cell and sobbed in sheer misery. After a time, he stood up and, wiping his damp topknot on his red leggings, shook a fist toward the roof of his cell. "What kind of cruel joke is this!?" he demanded, his shrill voice ringing through his cell. "I thought you and I were friends, Fizban!" he shouted indignantly, using the traditional name that Kender use for the Platinum Dragon god of good. "How could you have let this happen? I mean, sure, I enjoyed all of the adventures, but now what am I supposed to do? You left me all alone in this boring world. You even took my best friend, Flint! I bet you two are up there laughing it up, having the time of your lives! Well, afterlives, I guess," he amended, some of the anger going out of his voice.
"I know you must be busy, keeping the Dark Queen in check and all," at this Tas felt a shiver go through him, "but what happened to the good old days when I had all of my friends to adventure with? Now Tanis, Laurana, Tika, Caramon, and even Goldmoon and Riverwind have settled down and had kids to leave me all alone and adventureless. Even Raistlin is too busy being stuck in the abyss to think about poor old Tasslehoff Burrfoot. Well I won't stand for it! Fizban, if you were ever my friend, you will give me a new adventure right this instant!" For emphasis, Tasslehoff stomped his foot on the stone floor.
The jolt that he sent through his tiny frame jostled open one of his inner pouches that the guards had neglected to take. Tas looked down at a glittering object that had fallen out and onto his boot. He picked it up and turned it over, examining it in awe and wonder. "It's the magic time travel device," he breathed quietly to himself. He quickly looked around to make sure that nobody was around to see the treasure that he had found and possibly make him surrender it. But, of course, he was alone in the dungeon, well forgotten by the rest of the town. He returned his attention to the device in his hand and began manipulating it, muttering to himself as he did so. "I don't want to go back there… not really, you see. But I have to admit, the Abyss was never boring!"
~*~*~*~
Raistlin awoke with a groan, the way he did every morning since the fateful day he came to the Abyss. He tugged weakly at the chains latched to the manacles on his ankles and wrists, but knew that it was worthless to do so, just like it was every morning before and just like it would be every morning afterward until the end of time.
"I deserve this," he said aloud to himself just to hear his own voice. He often found comfort in hearing a voice, any voice besides the one that came from those 5 dragon heads… He shuddered, longing for the warmth of his velvety black robes and the security of the staff of Magius in his hand. He was too proud to cry, but the urge was great.
"Who's there?" he suddenly demanded, trying to turn unsuccessfully to see where the noise had come from. Every day was the same, and the sound he heard was new, almost familiar. Was Takhisis toying with him? After years of torment, had The Dark Queen finally gotten bored with the same routine and switched things up on him? Unlikely, he thought. He felt a tug on the manacle on his left wrist and craned his neck to see what was happening.
"Hold still, will you?" a familiar, shrill voice replied. "It's hard enough working these locks while my hands and knees are shaking. Not that I'm scared or anything… I just keep getting that same funny feeling that I got the last time I was here. You know, the Abyss really hasn't changed that much. How do Fizban and The Dark Queen stand it? It must be so dull!" with a last little twist, the lock popped and the manacle opened. For the first time in years, Raistlin felt cool air on his wrist. He almost wept.
~*~*~*~
"We have to move quickly," he was telling Tasslehoff as he gathered a cloak around him. It wasn't black and velvet, like he wanted, but it would do for now. "Takhisis will be here soon. She undoubtedly knows of my escape and your presence here will disrupt the whole Abyss if we don't get out of here."
"Yeah, she told me last time I was here that Kender weren't allowed in the Abyss. Why do you think that is? Not that I like it here or want to stay or anything, but I don't think it's exactly fair do you? Don't look at me like that, Raistlin. I'm still a bit upset at you for killing my friend, Gnimsh you know!" Tas pouted in response to Raistlin's impatient glare. "Besides, I still remember the secret to traveling in the Abyss. Just think of where or what you want, and it'll be there waiting for you!" As if in response to his words, the two found themselves standing by a glowing portal that appeared to lead into a small study, obviously unused for quite some time. "See?"
"You imbecile!" Raistlin hissed. "We can't leave through the portal! She will follow us into Krynn and then she will take over, like she tried to do during the War of the Lance!" He snarled, desperation creeping into his voice. "Do not tell me that I have escaped this far only to be thwarted by this, or else to play into her hand again!"
"Don't be silly," Tas said, reaching into one of his many pouches. "I was only proving a point. I've brought this – it's how I got here." He grinned and held up what appeared to be an ordinary pendant.
"The device!" Raistlin breathed. He reached for it, but Tas jerked his hand away with all the quick deftness of a Kender. Raistlin's eyes narrowed, the hourglass pupils becoming quite small and giving him a rather sinister look indeed. "Give it to me now, Tas, or-"
"Or what?" demanded Tas archly. "You owe me, Raist! Not only did I save you from ruling over nothing as the only god, but you also killed my friend Gnimsh!" he shouted shrilly, tears filling his eyes at the memory. Raistlin did not seem convinced and leapt at Tas again, but the Kender danced out of the way. "And I just helped you escape."
As if to prove him wrong, a dark shadow fell across the two. They both looked up instantly to see the largest and most fierce dragon either had ever seen. Raistlin let out a cry of anguish at the sight of the body swirled before his eyes, becoming all colors and none at the same time. The five heads, each representing a different color of the evil dragons, let out a cry of rage at the same time."
"Guess I better get moving, huh?" said Tas, swallowing hard. He began to manipulate the device with trembling hands.
"Work faster, damn you!" cried Raistlin hysterically. "She's coming nearer!"
Sure enough, when Tasslehoff stopped a minute to look up, the massive form above them was closer than before, the shadow in which they stood becoming even larger.
"Wow… was she always this big?" Tas asked in awe.
"The device, you idiot! We have to escape!"
"Oh right!" Tas' hands swiveled and turned, the device becoming a jeweled scepter in his small hands. He smiled up at Raistlin triumphantly. "It didn't fall apart this time. Don't worry; I know you didn't mean to give me the wrong directions back in Ishtar. I'm sure you had a lot on your mind, what with the Cataclysm and everything on its way. By the way, Lady Crysania is doing well. She's blind from whatever happened in the Abyss when she was here with you, but she's the head of Fizban's church now. I guess you would know him as Paladine, but he told me it's ok for me to still call him Fizban. Do you remember how he- oh, not time for a story?"
"So help me, Tasslehoff Burrfoot, if you do not get us out of here you will be the first Kender to be allowed to stay in the Abyss – permanently!" Raistlin shouted. The sudden change from his normally soft half-whisper startled the Kender into action.
"Uh, where to then? Wow, she's really close!" Tasslehoff commented.
"To my laboratory so that I might get my staff and robes and retake my tower. Dalamar has ruled there too long, calling himself master where he is not." Raistlin grabbed Tas' arm. Just as the ground thundered with the impact of the dragon landing near them, the stones around the portal began to sing and they disappeared. The last sound they heard was five simultaneous shrieks, the most terrifying sound that either of them would ever hear.
~*~*~*~
They reappeared in Raistlin's study. He was mildly surprised to see that nothing had been changed since he entered the portal those many years ago. He let his delicate fingers trace trails in the dust on the table to his left, searching the room for the item he most desired. His eyes moved across his old spell books, the spell books of Fistandandilus, and the dried blood stain on the floor under his old table, and finally came to rest on the wooden staff with the golden dragon's claw clutching the familiar orb in its claws – the Staff of Magius.
Meanwhile, Tasslehoff was buzzing around the laboratory, poking at dead things in cages curiously, when a pair of ominous white eyes appeared in front of him. A disembodied voice, seeming to come from everywhere and yet nowhere all at once, made Tas shudder and step back quickly.
"No one is to enter this room, lest they wish to suffer a quick and painful death… Yet I have the key here…" An outstretched hand materialized under the eyes, holding a key. "How did you get in here?" the voice demanded.
Before Tasslehoff had time to reply, Raistlin stepped in between the eyes and Tas' shaking topknot of hair. "I am the master of this tower," came the soft whisper from under the black velvet hood. "And you will stand aside… Shirak…" at the last word, the orb of light on top of the staff of Magius began to glow, filling the room with hollow white light.
"Massster…" the voice hissed. "But you are trapped in the Abyss for all eternity…"
"And I, the greatest mage in all of Krynn and the Abyss, have escaped. Who set you to this task?" Raistlin demanded.
"Dalamar… Your apprentice…" replied the voice.
"And where is Dalamar the dark?" Raistlin said with a sneer.
"He is now head of the order of the black robes… He resides in the Tower of High Sorcery at Wayreth now…"
Raistlin turned to Tas, who was trying to get a good look at the creature behind Raistlin's form. "Tas, give me the device. We are going to pay my apprentice and the other mages at the Tower of High Sorcery a little visit…"
"No way! Caramon gave this to me!" said Tas. Seeing the look on Raistlin's face, he added quickly. "Uh, that is, I can take you there though."
"Good, let us be off. Concentrate all of your being on the tower and we will arrive there shortly." The stones around them began to sing as Tasslehoff manipulated the device. But he wasn't thinking of Wayreth…