A Resurrection

Raistlin did not have to wait long to witness the very thing he had been hoping to see since his arrival. A mere two hours after the abrupt departure of General Fenric, the door to the lab was opened yet again, this time by a quartet of Elvish servants carrying between them a huge covered litter. Roltan, who had been quietly organizing a corner of the room for Raistlin's use, looked up just in time to see a large, wet, hairy body being laid carefully across one of his spotless steel work tables.

"Master," a woman, following behind the sad little party, looked up at the vampire beseechingly, "Please help me."

"What has happened, Carina?"

"My husband - " she trailed off, breaking into fresh tears. Roltan beckoned to Raistlin, and the younger mage joined him immediately.

"Fear not, Carina, I will soon have him right as rain. This is Raistlin, my assistant. He will be helping me."

Raistlin was hardly listening. His eyes were riveted on the furry mound that lay still on the table. He had never seen such a thing before in all his years, and his first thought was that it must be some kind of animal.

But the woman, the slim little human woman with the green eyes, had said 'husband'.

He moved closer cautiously, pulling back the water-soaked white sheet a little as Roltan comforted the grieving woman quietly behind him. The Elves were gathered near the door, speaking in hushed tones.

Raistlin stared.

The thing, the hairy husband of that lovely young lady, was a monster. A bear's face and thick neck rose from huge human-like shoulders, the hands below his muscled wrists tipped with curved ursine claws. Whatever spell had gone wrong to cause such a potent mutation must have been very powerful indeed.

He let out his breath abruptly, explosively, and jumped a little at the sound. He hadn't realized he'd been holding it in.

"My God, Roltan. What happened to him?" he asked, dazed. The vampire helped Carina to sit down in the same green chair his assistant had just vacated and came to stand on the other side of the table, looking down with a sad expression in his eyes.

"It's awful, I know."

"But how did this horror occur?"

"He's not a very strong swimmer. Poor fellow."

"No mage would be, if they were daring enough to cast such spells in the water!"

"Oh no, no he wouldn't do that. Artemin doesn't know any spells."

Raistlin prodded the slightly opened jaws gingerly with his finger, feeling the razor-sharp teeth within.

"Meddling with an artifact then, do you think?"

Roltan, with an almost frightening effortlessness, shifted the massive creature into a more prone position, straightening its limbs with one hand and reaching for his medical cart with the other.

"He really can't abide magic. No, I think it was just a simple case of drowning."

Dead silence. Raistlin looked slowly from the beast on the table to the weeping woman, now being comforted by several of the Elves. He looked back at Artemin again. Then back to Carina.

His eyes widened with comprehension, and he stared for a long moment at the pattern of sunlight skittering across the floor. A little breeze lifted the hair on his neck, and he smiled slightly.

"This is his natural form." he said. Roltan, intent on his duties, merely nodded distractedly.

"And that is her natural form."

"Yes. Sindarian Bear male and human female. Reproductively a bit incompatible, but nothing I couldn't overcome. They have a daughter."

Raistlin stifled a small laugh. Of course they did, and why not? He felt giddy, overjoyed.

"He drowned. There was no spell. He drowned and they brought him to you to resurrect."

Something in his voice caused Roltan to look up sharply, some little bubble of mirth or amusement.

"They are in love, Raistlin." he explained patiently, but Raistlin's face didn't change with the gentle admonishment. Instead, his smile grew a bit wider. He patted the massive chest of the bear fondly.

"What in the name of Law are you grinning at?" Roltan whispered, glancing behind him to make sure that the grieving widow was not aware of his assistant's humorous take on the situation.

Raistlin covered his mouth with one hand, trying to hide the smile, and leaned forward to whisper back "If such things can happen here, if such men can marry such women, then..."

"Then what?"

"Then, my friend, even one such as I may find a wife."

Roltan found himself suddenly smiling as well.

"Rather. Perhaps if you can refrain from complimenting a lady on her powers of not rotting, you might have a slim chance, my friend."

Raistlin tried to suppress a laugh and ended up snorting, which set Roltan off. He covered his mirth as best he could with a coughing fit, which caused Raistlin to snort again. The two mages, shaking with barely contained laughter, began to work on the poor bear while his weeping wife waited hopefully behind them.

Six hours and ten minutes.

That's all the time it took.

Six hours and ten minutes, and life was returned to the dead. Raistlin wiped at the sweat trickling down his forehead and slumped into an armchair. He was completely spent.

"Try to follow the light with only your eyes, Artemin." Roltan was saying softly to the Sindarian. He held a small gleaming stone in front of the bear's glazed brown eyes, moving it slowly back and forth. Outwardly the creature seemed to be rather well, considering the fact that he'd been technically dead just a few hours before. Raistlin still couldn't get over that, it was just too much to take in. But Roltan, with his quiet voice and steady hands, had gently coaxed the cavorting soul back into its former body with all the patience of a father bringing his wayward child home. The wife, for her part, was overjoyed.

She stood nearby Raistlin's elbow, patting him excitedly as she talked.

"I can't even begin to tell you how grateful we both are..."

"It was mostly Master Mettamoon, you know."

"Our daughter would have been heartbroken if her father hadn't come home! And I just don't know what I would have done..."

"Yes, yes. Glad to be of help. I just handed him sponges, though."

"The way you brought him back like that, just called to him and he opened his eyes..."

"Just the sponges, my lady."

"Oh thank you!" And here she actually bent down and pressed a kiss to his cheek, silencing his protests. If he hadn't been so exhausted, Raistlin would have been very much more gratified at the contact. But as it was, he was too tired to even rise to his feet again, and so he simply favored the woman with a wan smile.

Six hours and ten minutes.

Six hours and ten minutes.

Raistlin's mind was a whirl of thoughts, mentally adding up the time it would take to bring his family back. He hoped with all of his heart that Dalamar was having some luck in finding them.