Chapter 41
Shards Assembled

Third Bakukal, Reapember
374 AC

Fistandantilus felt the flush of power as the kender’s hands touched either side of the skull. The circle was complete and needed only the explosion of blood and magic to bring the archmage’s scheme to fruition. His will, his memories, and his presence coalesced into a single powerful entity, an entity with a growing semblance of control.

At the same time, he felt the pulse, the heated throbbing of the bloodstone. It was coming from nearby, and with the skull, it would make him complete.

Yet still there was that cursed, impenetrable interference that was somehow tied into the presence of the boy. But that, too, would soon end!

Indeed, the kender was his slave now, the skull giving Fistandantilus the power at last to overwhelm his host’s limited powers of resistance. The wretch would suffer before he died, but first there was another task to perform. Still maintaining his focus, Fistandantilus felt the nearness of the bloodstone. He gathered his might, plunging through the recesses of the kender’s mind, taking full control.

Emilo Haversack sidled to the side, until he crouched next to the prone form of Kelryn Darewind. The bloodstone was there, and through the skull, the archmage could at last bring the kender under his control.

And Fistandantilus hungered for the nearness, the imminence, of killing.