Chapter Four

Ladonna was having the best sleep of her life in a different guest suite that was directly beside Raistlin's sleeping quarters. In the fashion typical of towers steeped with magic, a door had appeared to attach her sleeping quarters to his... in case 'he needed her' in the night. While she had cooed and reassured him that she was sure that he would sleep like an innocent baby, there was a minute amount of doubt in his gold eyes...

... Thinking of which... once she had him where she wanted him, her next step would be bullying Par-Salian into removing the Curse of Reylanna so that her 'nephew' could see normally again. Then, once they were gone, even if Raistlin regained his memory (which she highly doubted as memory loss caused by injury very rarely ever returned...) he would owe her for his sight's return to normal.

Her sleep, as self-satisfied as it was, was shattered when a earth-rending scream of terror sounded from his bedroom. Ladonna blinked her eyes, took a moment to make sure that it was 'Marinda' in the mirror and not 'Ladonna', she ran into his room still in her nightclothes in time for another scream as well as half-garbled shouts and orders. Managing to catch one flailing arm, she gently but firmly called out, "It's just a dream, shh... it's just a dream..."

It appeared to calm him somewhat, but she could tell the way his eyes moved underneath clenched eyelids, that he was still in the very midst of whatever night terror gripped him. In case he needed me? she wondered. Sweet Nuitari, has he always had these dreams?

She pursed her lips as she remembered the story behind Rosamun Majere's death... Has this passed on to the son? Have we truly missed another powerful mage to lunacy and death? It had appeared that they had. Rosamun had likely been as talented as her son, and had passed on her talent in magic to her son, Raistlin, but lack of training and control had likely killed her... Ladonna found herself smiling grimly... Her loss, my gain...

Finally he quieted and his eyes flickered open, "Hey you... are you all right?"

For a moment he closed his eyes as if in answer, then quietly said, "Every night since hitting my head, I have had these dreams. I don't understand them..."

"They could be your memories," said Ladonna in thought. "They could also be a way your power manifests itself now that you haven't any spells memorized, or control to do so. We may have to have you trained all over again in the use of your magic..."

He blinked, "You know something of this?"

Ladonna realized her error a moment too late, and also noticed that while he had no memory his mind was still remarkably quick to pick up on things. She made a humming noise as if in thought and then shook her head, "No, dear... I have listened to your Apprentice speak of how much time and energy goes into the magic, and how much of yourself. Logic spoke with a reasonable conclusion..." she tapped him gently on the top of his hand, "...And remember where you inherited that quick mind, my boy. It was not your father's family."

She saw him bristle with the pride of a son for his father, even if he couldn't remember him, and quickly explained, "I mean no offense, Raistlin! I speak only the hard plain truth. Your father was a pragmatic, and intelligent, man, but he was not quick, clever, or very imaginative. That came from your mother's side of the family, from my family. We are the artists, the debonaire of Palanthas. It was only natural for another artist in his own Art to seek out his roots, whether he was fully aware of it or not."

He settled back into his pillows, "Will I meet others in this side of the family?"

Ladonna patted his hand and promised, "When you are feeling better. Now, you need rest."

"It seems all I have been doing has been sleeping..."

"Yes... if a person is to rest an arm after it is sprained or broken by not using it, how do you suppose your head has to heal?" she asked with a soft laugh. "Unfortunately, you cannot rest your head without resting the rest of your body. And that, my dear boy, is the rest of the story I am going to give you."

Raistlin's eyes began to droop as he yawned, and then coughed slightly. Ladonna pulled the covers up around him as his eyes closed almost on their own, "I... I just don't like to sleep for some reason..."

He was quiet and she was fairly certain he was asleep, although the faint crease between his brows was still there. She moved off and was about to stand up when his hand suddenly snaked out to grab her arm. Ladonna gasped in surprise and turned to him, his eyes open a mere slit although she could see a vague hint of terror in them. "I..." he fell silent, but his eyes still were on her. "Please..."

She knew what he was asking and she swallowed hard. Closing her eyes for a moment in resignation, she nodded once and he let her arm go. Ladonna slowly walked around the bed to the side where he didn't occupy it and pulled back the covers a little. She hesitated only a moment, but noted the tenseness in his golden shoulders. She slid into the bed and her arms around his slender waist. Finally she heard his sigh as he seemed to suddenly go boneless in her arms. Rolling him over to his back, she noted that the crease, indeed, any expression whatsoever, had melted from his face.

It was at this moment she was harshly reminded of how very, very young he had been to be Tested, and how young he still was. He was not even a man of thirty but yet the weight of Krynn seemed to press him down into a tiny shell and the worries and illness, and the cost of his magic, had stripped him cruelly of his youth. But now he slept. Those worries and life were far from him, far from his mind. If he died in his sleep she was sure that now either Paladine or Gilean, perhaps even the Veiled Lady, would take him and he would never see the Abyss nor Takhisis' wrath. He would never know pain...

He was too weak to fight off an attacker if someone simply held a pillow over his face and pressed down... Too weak to fight the smothering constriction... too weak, and too ill, for it to last very long... in fact... with his lungs it was as swift a death one could ask for and with one sleep spell he would never know...

"Ast Simulran krynawi..." she murmured, rose petals in hand.

Ladonna caught herself all the way into holding the pillow just above his head with a sudden jerk of surprise at her own thought, and almost the deed... She let it drop back on her side of the bed. Laying down and closing her eyes she wondered, briefly, why she was willing to kill one man. Just as quick, her answer was, Because you could, and more for once that murder would be one those that even the Gods would not know how to judge, because for once you were not doing it out of your own gain, but out of a sudden feeling of mercy- knowing that in death he would be better off than in life.

Amazing how I can kill for power, but I can't kill for love, she marveled, kissing Raistlin's cheek, "Sleep well, dear nephew, and know that I hold your life in my hands..."

Dalamar woke early in the morning to begin his daily chores. Sighing in resignation as he, once again, thought about what he would have to do to keep the entire tower in running order for a mere two wizards and the Master's guests...

The two guests, if one of them could be called that, were a handful to say the least. One didn't know, or care, to stay out of areas that would see her dead or worse while the other had such high scale tastes that Dalamar often was reminded of life back in Silvanost.

And not the nice type of reminders either...

He got dressed, first in the long black tunic and pants to do the first half of his chores which was to make sure the lab on the topmost floor was in working order. That would take him most of the morning. Dalamar was halfway through it when he looked up and saw the first thought of the guests... the one which no hesitation of sticking her nose where it not ought to be...

"Madam Uth Matar..." began Dalamar. "This area is off limits. If you had any idea how long it took your brother to warm up enough to even let me in here, I can imagine that he would be 'having kittens' if he caught someone outside the Art in his lab."

"I am his sister," she snorted derisively.

"You're not a wizard, and therefore have no place in a lab of wizards," countered Dalamar. "It is more for your safety, and that of others. If you touched..." he neatly took a beaker from her curious hands... "...the wrong thing you could send us all to the Abyss."

Her crooked smile was his answer as she moved extremely close to him, "Well then, I had better not touch anything that doesn't want to be touched, now should I?"

Dalamar clutched his broom even as another part of him rose to that challenge. "No... you should not."

She grinned more then, but turned around sharply and left the lab. Dalamar stood there, trying to get his breathing to return to normal. A short time later he could hear Kitiara's shout all the way from what had to be his Shalafi's rooms, "What in the Abyss do you think you're doing there!?"

With a sigh, he closed his eyes a moment, then opened them again and whispered the words of magic that took him immediately outside the study door. Walking serenely into the study, turning sharply to his left he stared at Kitiara's back which was rigidly held straight. Oh, she was rather angry. Dalamar walked up behind, and without disturbing her caught a glance of...

For a moment his mind went blank.

"Mistress Ladonna?" he said in shock. "How did you get here?"

"Why, you let me in here, and he accepted me as a guest," she said languidly as she slid from the bed, her nightgown clinging to her still prime form.

Kitiara stepped into the room, still angry enough to murder the black robe Wizard where she stood. Dalamar let the air out of his lungs in a faint hiss, "You tricked us to gain access to his tower... and you tricked him into accepting you... now, he thinks you're his aunt..."

Too late he saw her game, as did Kitiara. Ladonna smirked, "Why don't we take this in his study and let him sleep. All our intentions will come to naught if he fails to heal, and to heal he needs that rest."

As much as both Dalamar and Kitiara didn't like where Ladonna had neatly led them, they bowed to her wisdom in this and followed her into the study where she closed the bedroom door. "Now, he thinks I'm his aunt..."

"I knew there was no aunt," snarled Kitiara. "Pity I couldn't kill you and then prove it to him."

Ladonna laughed, "Oh, Uth Matar, so predictable. I wouldn't rule out Marinda Talvines, by the way. Oh, she exists all right, and is blissfully unaware of the family that resides mere hundreds of feet away from her door. And I didn't exaggerate her wealth, either, nor the family. I just borrowed her likeness for awhile."

Kitiara moved back as if slapped in the face, "H... how could you know? How do you know?"

"Research," Ladonna tapped one elegant finger against her own head. "A strength you didn't possess when you hunted for your father's family. It would have been better to hunt for your mother's... ah... but you didn't know your mother's maiden name... but I could do the cross referencing, and the checking, after all, that's a wizard's job in their search for more magic. It was nothing to do it for something as simple as a family tree... of course... for more power and more magic."

"You did it for his magic," realized Dalamar. "And the Tower of High Sorcery here in Palanthas. Once he had accepted you as family you would have full run of the Tower, and with its secrets take control of the Conclave in Wayreth."

Ladonna smiled coldly, "Amazing how it turned out that my deadliest rival has now become by loving nephew. Once he finds out that I share his gift he will share with me the secrets of this Tower. I will be unstoppable."

"Or we could tell him of this plan," said Kitiara.

"Go ahead, Mistress Uth Matar," said Ladonna darkly. "See who he believes. The odd sister who tends to be brash and react to things violently, or the kind and understanding elder Aunt. Who would you believe if you were him."

Kitiara paused as she realized that Ladonna had them. Swallowing she turned away, "What will you do to us?"

"Nothing, of course," soothed Ladonna. "Dalamar is the Conclave's spy anyway, and I need someone to help me take care of this Tower. Raistlin is still the Master, and you, my dear, will remain a Highlord to be called when we need you."

The silence was broken by the sound of a bell. Ladonna and Kitiara turned to Dalamar whose brows creased in sudden thought, "We have another guest..."

"And who could that be," responded Ladonna tersely just as a Guardian appeared to answer her question.

"Master Dalamar, there is another man here," it began. "He says his name is Caramon Majere, the Master's twin brother."