A/N: We played this through again with another set of original characters this weekend, only we weren't aware of what Andrew had in store for us when we created characters. In later chapters, short little cameos of said characters will appear, lol. One may appear sooner because of how much she sticks out like a sore thumb in Dragonlance...

Chapter Nine

The Renegade

Raistlin watched as the familiar blasted rock and fiery volcanos that surrounded Neraka came into view. The blue dragon circled before descending to an area where other blue dragons bugled their greeting. As Steel's dragon landed, an armored man, and judging by the armor, someone of very high rank, walked up to them, as well as a black robed cleric, her holy symbol showing the five headed dragon of Takhisis, as well as the Nightlord walked up.

Steel pulled Raistlin up to present him to these three, and the man said, "Ah, Knight Brightblade, he didn't give you much trouble?"

"No sir, he did not," answered Steel, giving Raistlin a push down to the cobblestone square.

As there was nothing to prevent him from falling, he hit the ground, but managed to roll and not hurt himself. However, with his hands tied behind him, there was no way for him to get up from the ground. The man smiled and drew his sword at Raistlin's struggle, held it underneath his chin. Raistlin stilled and stared up at the man. "I must admit, you look nothing like your legends tell."

Raistlin did not answer him. The man frowned and looked up at Steel, "Is the Archmagus mute?"

"No, Lord Ariakan," answered Steel. "He had spoken to me upon waking. I have no idea why he would not be speaking now."

Steel poked Raistlin in the shoulder with a finger, "Come on, I know you can talk. Say something."

"There is nothing to be said," whispered Raistlin in a low, soft whisper, one that for all its softness was still easily heard. "That I have not already said."

"Will you submit to our Dark Queen and receive your part in her great Vision?" asked Ariakan.

"No."

The Nightlord, Lillith, interjected before Ariakan swung his great sword to finish Raistlin right then and there, "Excuse me, my Lord, but perhaps I can offer a solution acceptable to both parties?"

Ariakan planted the point of his sword in a small groove between stones. "Speak, Nightlord," growled the Commander of the Dark Knights.

"Allow me to take him into custody for now, show him the error of being independent of Our Great Queen, show him the power and Vision that only She can grant him," suggested Lillith. "I saw myself that he had run himself out of memorized spells. He is of no threat. Allow me to take him under my wing."

For a moment, Ariakan seemed to refuse, then he nodded, "Very well. But you are responsible for all that he does or fails to do."

Lillith inclined her head in acceptance, and Ariakan spun on his heel and walked away. The Nightlord helped Raistlin to his feet and undid the binding on his wrists. Raistlin rubbed his wrists to ease the aches and to help the blood flowing again. Steel watched, inwardly not liking this at all. He turned to leave, but Lillith said, "Knight Brightblade, I understand that this man is your Uncle, your mother's younger brother."

"Half-brother," corrected Raistlin softly. "Kitiara's father was not mine nor my Twin's."

She waved that off as if the detail was unimportant, "Half-brother, brother, it matters little. You are still this Knight's Uncle."

"Yes," answered Raistlin in puzzlement and the old sharpness slipped in to his voice, not seeing where this was going, and wishing she would make her point.

"Then consider this your first task, Majere," she said coldly. "You will go to your Tower, and you will open the Portal in your lab."

"And why would I do that?" asked Raistlin in stunned disbelief.

The Nightlord smiled, "To allow our Queen to enter Krynn and finally take what is hers. No one will stand against her."

Steel caught the single lift of Raistlin's auburn eyebrow, but Lillith missed it. Raistlin seemed to smile a bit, his lip slightly turning up so little so as to escape notice, but it was there nonetheless. He could only guess what was running through Raistlin's mind at that moment, and then he was answered as Raistlin pointed out sarcastically, "But you know that I cannot do that, Nightlord. It requires one other– a cleric of good, preferably of Paladine. And last time I checked, you weren't one of them."

"What's wrong with that cleric you used last time?" she asked.

"She won't do it, and you know it," Raistlin sighed. "Enough of this. Kill me and be done with it, you know that I won't submit to Takhisis, and what you ask of me when it comes to that is impossible, even if I wanted to."

The Nightlord flushed as angry shade of crimson, but Raistlin cut in as he said to Steel, "Don't you have a patrol with your wing?"

Steel blinked and heard Blayze's positive and answering rumble. Wordlessly he mounted and watched the other blues and their Knights did the same. Once they were out of all sight and sound of Neraka, he asked Blayze, "Why did we leave?"

"Because he warned me that he still has two spells left. Two spells he created himself, and ones that make Meteor Swarm look like a simple cantrip," answered the dragon. "And I think he means to use them as a lesson to the Nightlord."

"So why spare me, us?"

"You are his nephew, and as evil as he is, he is still requires by his own set of ethics to protect his family," answered the blue matter of factly.

Meanwhile, the Nightlord thinned her eyes and with one gesture, they were in her suite. Raistlin sighed, "This is getting tiresome, Nightlord."

"You will not dictate to me what is to be," she said angrily. "You... are... mine!"

Raistlin lifted a brow as he allowed his gold skin to show. He smiled slightly. "I am no one's. Even Takhisis knows that. You mean to break me, to bend me to your will, not of your Dark Queen's!" he shouted the last, then regained his composure.

A moment later they both realized his minor slip of the tongue. "Of my Dark Queen?" she asked. "If not the Gods of Darkness, of which She is Queen, then who do you follow?"

Raistlin could feel a slight tingling on his left ring finger where the Blue Star sat, and was aware of the slow feeling of a swelling sensation, like his body was too small. But it was not an uncomfortable swelling.

His eyes closed, and he still saw a starry field.

Guardian

He opened his eyes and was on a blasted island.

Miiro

Raistlin looked around and saw the fire giant turn to face him.

Brother

The Fire Giant looked surprised, even a bit alarmed at seeing Raistlin. For the life of him, Raistlin couldn't figure out why as this giant was Chaos, father of the Gods.

You still sleep, but I am awake. I find this amusing, Brother, said Chaos. I wonder if you will wake to see our precious Mother's creation die, and burn.

Raistlin felt the swelling again, and this time he knew his Sight lay not in the present, but the past.

Chaos you shall be called, and Chaos you will be, said a voice that seemed to echo in his ears and he wanted to put his hands over his ears at the sound.

The God, Chaos laughed in this one's face and Raistlin could see the finger point of said High God, God of all Law, Creation, and of Order level on Chaos. Without thinking, knowing that the two halves of the whole were required, Raistlin jumped in between.

He could hear the yelled warning from Law, Chaos' intake of shocked breath. But it was too late.

The swelling feeling was done, replaced by a feeling of a shattering.

Raistlin covered his eyes and knelt on the stone floor, sucking in half panicked breaths. Lillith creased her brows in worry and held onto his shoulders. While she was angry with his refusal, she was concerned, but as her touch he yelled, "Let go of me!"

The reaction was near instantaneous and Lillith was sent flying up to the sixty foot ceiling, across the room and into the far wall as the force of Raistlin's second to last spell hit her full on. The sound of the destructive energy seemed to explode in the room and Raistlin's scream of sudden shock and pain from the backlash of his own spell.

Other grey robed wizards who heard Raistlin's scream rushed in and the first thing they saw was Raistlin with his gold skin a bit paler than normal (which, made the first thing they saw was Raistlin Majere). The next thing they saw was what remained of the Nightlord.

The first woman held a hand to her mouth in shock at the sight. All that remained of Lillith was a crushed form, blood pouring out of her nose, her eyes, her mouth, even her fingernails. They looked back at Raistlin, who was just climbing back to his feet as he leaned on the wall staring at Lillith himself. He laughed then, mostly in shock as they could tell from the uneasy laugh.

Then he fainted.

Tanin watched as Sturm paced in their chambers. Gilthanas opened the door and walked in with a grim look on his face. Tanin stood up and Sturm stopped pacing. Gilthanas pointed to the Staff of Magius, "Grab it and come on. It's time."

They followed to the Conclave chambers. Tanin and Sturm looked at each other. Tanin held the Staff and Sturm stood beside him. Gilthanas was just to the side, but still near them. The Head of the Conclave, Dunbar, motioned them to a side. "We have come to a decision about the Black Robe Wizard Raistlin Majere, and because he is your Uncle, we felt you deserved to know our decision," began Dunbar, then he turned to the wizards. "We all put a stone into the bag, black for Raistlin Majere's condemnation as renegade, white for his acceptance back into the Conclave."

He shook the bag, and Tanin and Sturm watched with interest as he pulled out the stones one by one. Tanin clutched the Staff tighter as he watched for every one white stone, two black were pulled out until finally Dunbar pulled the last of the twenty one stones out. It was also black. Seven white stones, fourteen black. Dunbar sighed, looked down at the ground, then looked at them all, "This is your decision?"

There was an affirmative as the other twenty confirmed their votes. Dunbar nodded and said, "It is our decision that Raistlin Majere be condemned a renegade. His punishment for being a renegade is death."

Sturm stepped forward, "You can't do that to him! I can see where before he was a renegade, but look at all the good he has done! He even joined your Conclave. He could have remained in his Tower..."

"He joined under false pretenses, Knight Majere," replied Ladonna cooly. "Your judgement in this matter is clouded by your emotion anyhow."

With that she seemed to turn to other matters of the Conclave, but Sturm wasn't finished. For once Tanin didn't rein in his younger, and more impulsive brother. He only voiced what Tanin felt anyway. "I thought you had honor, but now I see you are as capricious as all the Gods of Evil," stated Sturm. "Now I see why the Knighthood rightly called you all evil. We will not support your decision, and will defend our Uncle to the death, if that is what it comes to!"

Dalamar's voice boomed, "Calm yourself, Knight, and remember on what grounds you stand."

"He has a point," said Gilthanas. "And remember that Raistlin sent us here for our safety, and then offered himself up as a distraction so we had enough time to escape. But you do remember that. You are afraid of him, afraid of what he can do to you but ignore what he can do for you. I thought the same on that wall in Kalaman when he revealed himself. I thought we were betrayed, but he saved us, even if we lost in the end. I'd say you owe him a favor. I stand with the Majere's on this, as I owe Raistlin a debt of honor for saving my life, and you owe him for alerting you to the danger. He said something else on the wall, you see, he said 'We don't have time for this'. He meant the war with the Knights of Takhisis. I think there is something much worse on the horizon, and I now wish there had more time for him to elaborate."

The Conclave looked from each other and Ladonna said, "Or it was a distraction tactic. It matters little now. We have made our decision."

Dunbar sighed, and turned to Dalamar, "You've been quiet throughout this. You are the Head of the Black Robes, what say you?"

"I made my peace, Dunbar," said Dalamar quietly. "I told you, he was not the same upon returning. And trust me on this, even when he was a threat, he didn't care to hide the matter. I do believe the young Knights, and the Prince, have a very valid point."

Dunbar rubbed his chin and said, "Very well, we still proclaim Raistlin Majere a renegade, but, he will not be hunted down as such. The bounty will for him to be brought in alive, and unharmed if possible. We would like to hear why he had returned from his own lips, so to speak. That is our decision."

Caramon and Tanis relayed the message to Laurana, and she looked at them with puzzlement, "I had no idea Palin was so gifted."

The two looked at each other, and Tanis said, "Well, dear, he was given his Uncle's staff, and it has been a year since his Test. He's traveled quite a bit, right Caramon?"

Caramon looked from Tanis to Laurana and back again, "Oh, yeah, right. He has."

Laurana's eyes narrowed. "All right you two, there's something you're not telling me. Caramon gave that away, Tanthalas."

Tanis sat down, and Caramon walked to the window and looked out over the plains and forests beyond. Laurana sighed, and asked, "What is it with you? Come on, Raistlin... oh by Paladine, it's Raistlin that boy was talking about, isn't it?"

Caramon nodded, "A redeemed and... well... I don't know. I just know he's changed..."

"...Again," finished Tanis. "Only now he's... well..."

Laurana lifted her eyebrows, "He's what?"

"It's like he carries a heavy burden," described Tanis.

Caramon snorted, "You have no idea. I even have no idea. I just know that he does."

Tanis and Laurana looked at Caramon, and Tanis asked, "What kind of burden?"

"He is a Guardian of an artifact called the Blue Star," answered Caramon. "I have no idea what this 'Blue Star' does, or why he was chosen to carry it, or even guard the thrice damned thing, but he was, and he does."

"The Blue Star?" asked Laurana. "Oh, why does that sound so familiar?"

Tanis ran a hand down his face, "I've heard legends. Myths. Gods, that artifact is supposed to be a myth..."

"...Like dragonlances?" asked Caramon, a bit mischievously.

Tanis glared at his old friend and continued, "Only a demi-god can wear it, and only the Gods can call upon its power. In that I mean, the Blue Star is the resting place of a God older than those we worship now: The Shattered God."

Caramon stopped for a moment, "Only a god, even a lower god, can wear it? You're sure?"

"Yes, I am fairly sure that's how the legend went. Why, or dare I ask?" Tanis visibly cringed.

He cringed more when Caramon answered, "Because Raistlin wears it, always has worn it since he was entrusted with it."

Usha walked through the city, taking in the amazing place. On Selesia, the Isle of the Irda, no one really congregated like the humans seemed to now. And the buildings were much too tall to even see over where on Selesia, except for where the Decider resided, the buildings were all low to the ground and built out of wood. These were great stone structures, some reaching to the sky itself (or so it seemed to her).

She asked one person, "Where can I find Lord Dalamar?"

The man recoiled and pointed down the road, and she yelled back at him as she continued down the road, "Thank you!"

As she kept walking, she noticed that every time she asked someone where Dalamar could be found, the reaction was the same, but, thankfully, the direction never changed. Finally she reached the gnarled and twisted trees of the Shoikan Grove. Stopping dead at the horror and fear she felt from the grove, she thought, An elf lives here? Impossible! No one could live here.

She walked back into town and asked the first person she saw which was a merchant, "About that Tower, and of Dalamar, how would I see him if I had to? How do I get past the grove of trees?"

The merchant stared at her in disbelief. "You want to go where and see who? My Lady, no one sees the Dark Elf unless he wants to see them first."

Dark Elf? she wondered. Why would the Protector send her to a Dark Elf? She creased her brows, "Is there a way to get in contact with him?"

"Well, you might try Mistress Jenna?"

"Mistress Jenna? Where would I find her?"

Dalamar paced his chambers in the Tower of High Sorcery in Wayreth. Lately it had seemed like his life had been turned up on his head and then thrown haphazardly all over like a kender rifled through it. First, his Shalafi had returned. That was fine, except that his Shalafi seemed to have too much on his mind to devote a lot of time to his magic. Oh, and for some reason he was masquerading as Palin.

Now the Conclave knew. Dalamar seethed at this. He had his reasons for keeping his Shalafi's secret. Granted, none of them were really to Raistlin's benefit, but they were to Dalamar. With Raistlin distracted, but alive, Dalamar could not only bleed as much magic knowledge as he could from the man, but also finally have access to the main lab again. Eventually it had been his aim to defeat Raistlin, but for now he was satisfied with having access to areas he could not before again.

Of course, Raistlin having to be hunted down was not going to help. Oh no, far from it, since the Conclave had decided that it be Dalamar to hunt him down since he had been his apprentice. Doing something like that would require not only tracking him down (which would distract Dalamar from his own experimentations with magic...) but also when Dalamar finally tracked him down meant that there would be a confrontation that he was not altogether sure he was ready for.

Unless, of course, that was Ladonna's plan. Kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

In frustration, Dalamar slammed his hand into the oak table and with satisfaction watched as the books were propelled into the air by the force of the slam on the table. While venting his frustration did not help with matters, it did make him feel marginally better.

There had to be some way...

His thoughts were interrupted when the magic mirror on the wall activated and Jenna's voice came through it, "Dalamar, I think you should return to Palanthas."

"Why?"

"I'll be in the Tower, just come and see for yourself. You might find this... interesting. Alarming, but interesting..."