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He looked up in the direction of Cassius on the wall, a cocky ss spokesman of Bryn Shander!" he cackled "Welcohed wryly

Cassius had no doubt that the wizard had picked hi the nized He looked to Regis and Glensather for an explanation, but they both shrugged their shoulders

"Yes, I know you, Cassius," Kessell said "And to you, good Spokesuessed that you would be here; ever were the people of Easthaven willing to join in a cause, no matter how hopeless!"

Noas Glensather’s turn to stare duain, there were no explanations forthco

"You know of us," Cassius replied to the apparition, "yet you are unknown to us It seee"

"Unfair?" protested the wizard "I hold every advantage, foolish h "You know of me - at least Glensather does"

The spokesain in reply to Cassius’s inquiring glance The gesture see in Easthaven," the wizard snapped "In the guise of a wizard’s apprentice froree?"

"Do you remereat import"

"It is possible that he stayed in Easthaven," Glensather replied in the saroup from the Hosttower has come into my city for several years Yet we are an open city, andcaravan I tell you the truth, Cassius, I have no recollection of the ed He stamped his foot impatiently, and the s pucker "Perhaps my return to Ten-Toill prove more memorable, fools!" he snapped He held his arms outstretched in self-important proclamation "Behold Akar Kessell, the Tyrant of Icewind Dale!" he cried "People of Ten-Towns, your master has coan, but Kessell cut him short with a frenzied scream

"Never interrupt ing and his face turning as red as blood

Then, as Cassius quieted in disbelief, Kessell seeain a measure of his composure "You shall learn better, proud Cassius," he threatened "You shall learn!"

He turned back to Cryshal-Tirith and uttered a simple word of coh it refused to release the reflections of the sun’s light Then it began to glow, far within its depths, with a light that seemedsecond, the hue shifted and the light began to clie walls

"Behold Akar Kessell!" the wizard proclai "Look upon the splendor of Crenshinibon and surrender all hope!"

More lights began flashing within the tower’s walls, cli about the structure in a frenzied dance that cried out for release Gradually they orking their way up to the pointed pinnacle, and it began to flare as if on fire, shifting through the colors of the spectruhtness of the sun itself

Kessell cried out as a man in ecstacy

The fire was released

It shot out in a thin, searing line northward toward the unfortunate city of Targos Many spectators lined Targos’s high wall, though the toas much farther away from them than it was fro speck on the distant plain They had little idea of as happening beneath the principle city, though they did see the ray of fire co toward them

But by then it was too late

The wrath of Akar Kessell roared into the proud city, cutting a swath of instant devastation Fires sprouted all along its killing line People caught in the direct path never even had a chance to cry out before they were simply vaporized But those who survived the initial assault, wohened men alike, who had faced death a thousand times and more, did scream And their wails carried out across the still lake to Lonelywood and Breoblins in Termalaine, and down the plain to the horrified witnesses in Bryn Shander

Kessell waved his hand and slightly altered the angle of the release, thus arcing the destruction throughout Targos Every , and hundreds of people lay dead or dying, pitifully rolling about on the ground to extinguish the fla helplessly in a desperate search for air in the heavy smoke

Kessell reveled in the moment

But then he felt an involuntary shudder wrack his spine And the tower, too, seemed to quiver The wizard clutched at the relic, still tucked under the folds of his robe He understood that he had pushed the lith too far

Back in the Spine of the World, the first tower that Kessell had raised crumbled into rubble And far out on the open tundra, the second did likewise The shard pulled in its borders, destroying the tower ith

Kessell, too, had been wearied by the effort, and the lights of the rean to calm and then to wane The ray fluttered and died

But it had finished its business

When the invasion had first coos had promised their people that they would hold the city until the last man had fallen, but even the stubborn spokesman realized that they had no choice but to flee Luckily, the city proper, which had taken the brunt of Kessell’s attack, was on high ground overlooking the sheltered bay area The fleets remained unharmed And the homeless fisher stayed with their boats after they had docked in Targos As soon as they had realized the unbelievable extent of the destruction that was occurring in the city proper, they began preparing for the iees Most of the boats of both cities sailed out within et their vulnerable sails safely away from the windblown sparks and debris A few vessels re hazards to rescue any later arrivals on the docks

The people on Bryn Shander’s dock wept at the continued screah, consumed by his quest to seek out and understand the apparent weakness that Kessell had just revealed, had no time for tears In truth, the cries affected hi to let the lunatic Kessell view any hints of weakness frorihed at him "Do not pout, poor Cassius," the wizard taunted, "it is unbecos should be beaten!"

Cassius stayed his fellow spokesman with an outstretched hand "Be calm, my friend," he whispered "Kessell will feed off of our panic Let him talk - he reveals more to us than he believes"

"Poor Cassius," Kessell repeated sarcastically Then suddenly, the wizard’s face twisted in outrage Cassius noted the abrupt swing keenly, filing it aith the other information he had collected

"Mark hat you have witnessed here, people of Bryn Shander!" Kessell sneered "Bow to your master, or the same fate shall befall you! And there is no water behind you! You have nowhere to run!"

He laughed wildly again and looked all about the city’s hill, as though he was searching for so "What are you to do?" he cackled "You have no lake!"

"I have spoken, Cassius Hear me well You will deliver an emissary unto me tomorrow, an emissary to bear the news of your unconditional surrender! And if your pride prevents such an act, reos! Look to the city on the banks of Maer Dualdon for guidance, pitiful Cassius The fires shall not have died when the morrons!"

Just then a courier raced up to the spokes out fronals have already begun coees"

"And what of Kemp?" Cassius asked anxiously

"He lives," the courier answered "And he has vowed revenge"

Cassius breathed a sigh of relief He wasn’t overly fond of his peer froos, but he knew that the battle-seasoned spokesman would prove a valuable asset to Ten-Towns’ cause before all was through

Kessell heard the conversation and growled in disdain "And where shall they run?" he asked Cassius

The spokes this unpredictable and unbalanced adversary, did not reply, but Kessell answered the question for hiinning the chain of a prearranged oblins broke rank and started out to the west

Toward Breh, and yet another fleet will scurry out onto their precious lake The scene shall be repeated in the town in the ith predictable results But what protection will the lakes offer these people when the ins to fall?" he shouted "How fast shall their ships sail away froain, but this tierously "What protection do any of you have against Akar Kessell?"

Cassius and the wizard held each other in unyielding glares The wizard barely mouthed the words, but Cassius heard him clearly

"What protection?"

Out on Maer Dualdon, Kee as he watched his city tumble in fla ruins in horrified disbelief, shouting i for their lost friends and kin

But, like Cassius, Keer As soon as he learned of the goblin force departing for Bremen, he dispatched his fastest ship to warn the people of that distant city and to infors across the lake Then he sent a second ship toward Lonelywood to beg for food and bandages, and perhaps an invitation to dock

Despite their obvious differences, the spokesorho had been happy to sacrifice everything for the good of the people, and Jensin Brent, who refused to yield to despair, Ke his people for a retaliatory strike He didn’t yet knoould accomplish the feat, but he knew that he had not had his final say in the wizard’s war

And poised upon the wall of Bryn Shander, Cassius knew it, too