painstakingly copied across, and the results of the current Age appended. This temple is now complete and contains all the knowledge of the past Ages and this. The time has come and our hope is preserved. If we fail, we will all die and be consumed, but this temple and the unbroken and ever watchful Circle will be our continuing legacy of hope.’
‘Do you mean to say that those ruins out there were once like this?’ the Emperor asked.
‘Oh, yes. Each temple was once new and complete. Around the circumference of this valley, there is room for twelve such buildings, and this temple you are sitting in is built on the ruins of one before it.’
‘Thirteen thousand years?’ the Emperor said with disbelief, calculating the sum of each building.
‘I presume it is actually much longer, for some Ages are much longer than others. We really have no idea how long this dreaded cycle has been repeatingitself. It is possible that the temples have been built upon each other many times over. We have no way to know with any certainty for,although the knowledge we passonis immense, some is always lost. We only know that some three thousand years ago, the then members of the Circle came up with a plan-or perhaps they,in turn,had found it from somewhere else, we will never know-to kill the Demon King. For that plan to work, we had to find two unique relics that had been created in the time of the Ancients,two sources of power that, when coupled together, act to call the Demon King into being. My servant, Ash, was responsible for finding the first such item.’
Samuel’s thoughts immediately turned to the ring in his pocket. ‘Is that why Ash was sent to Tindal?’ Samuel asked.
‘Partly, yes,’ the bony magician replied knowingly, ‘but he almost destroyed the relic in the process. Luckily, despite Ash’s treachery, we now possess the first precious thing we need.’ And he gestured towards Samuel.
Samuel was horrified that his secret had been given away, but there was little he could do about it now.
‘What is he talking about, Samuel?’ Eric asked.
Desperately, Samuel struggled against his magical bindings, until he finally managed to get his hand into his pocket. On contact with the cold metal of the ring, the spell around his arm seemed to slip free. He gently drew the Argum Stone out of his pocket and held it up for all to see, to which Cang only smiled smugly.
‘So you have found one of the objects then. What of the other?’ the Emperor asked.
‘I know where the second relic now sits, but I am not capable of taming such a force. Despite my knowledge, I am not capable of putting the two together. The secret of such things is beyond me and is something we have yet to discover. This is not just a matter of brute force. If it were, I could have dealt with the matter myself long ago, or summoned the Lions to see to the task.’
‘You’re suggesting the Lions were also involved in your schemes?’ the Emperor asked, incredulously. ‘Ridiculous!’
‘Not directly, my good friend, but they served me just as well as they served you, in one way or another. Very few are actually ever in the knowledge that they are serving the Circle. As you have seen, I have the ways and means to set people to my needs, despite their own intents.
‘Now, the final part of my plan is not far from realisation. Once you arrive at the heart of the desert, you will surely find the second relic in the hands of the Desert Queen herself. I charge you to go there and face her. Then, you must return the two devices back to me in readiness for my plan. Accomplish this, and the people of the world will live. Fail, and everyone will die. This is the only possible way.
‘We magicians do not father young, but we have a very different burden to bear-the very well-being of humanity. The lost souls of the Ages before this have been calling for this moment and now we, for the first time, have the chance to accomplish the impossible. I know you have all been brought here under false pretences, and no doubt you all have grudges to bear, against me and my servants, but there are no choices from this point on. We must act, or perish.’
‘But what about my ring?’ Samuel asked with concern. ‘Are you allowing me to keep it?’
‘Of course. You will need to keep it. I cannot send you out defenceless and you seem to have become rather dependent on the thing.’
The Emperor had been listening intently, but now spoke up. ‘But you said we are supposed to keep these infernal relics apart at all costs. If we go there with the very thing we are supposed to keep separated, won’t we be risking the return of the demons ourselves?’
‘The relics must be put together in a special way. They cannot be forced or coerced so easily. I doubt even the Paatin Queen couldcompel them together, and she is an expert in such convoluted and difficult tasks of trickery. No, it is a subtle secret that requires time and great care. You must go before her and face the trials of her city. Then, before you can return to me, you must wrest her prize from her grip and return with the two devices safe and sound.’
‘We should just destroy the thing now,’ Eric stated. ‘Why take such a risk? If we destroy one relic then the other is useless. How could they possibly be put together then?’
‘The Demon King is much more cunning than that, Master Pot. His aeons of planning are much more capable than your one poorly devised suggestion for,if one is destroyed, the other becomes undone at the same moment-but they will be spontaneously remade again somewhere upon the earth. Perhaps that would gain us some time, but we are here, now, and we are ready. Seeking and destroying the relics has not succeeded in any Age before and it will not save us now. We
‘Then what is my role in this?’ the Emperor asked. ‘And theirs?’ he added, pointing to the Koians.
‘We all have roles to play, my dear friend. I cannot say more, for the very nature of your being will foretell what role that is and,in the telling, I could spoil that precious but fragile potential.’
The Emperor rubbed at his chin. ‘And what will you do while we are busy enacting your master plan?’
‘I mustpreparethe other components. The moment you return here, we will act. Timing is vital and I must have the spells ready for exactly the right moment-vast spells that have taken years of preparation and require many months more.’
‘When is that right moment?’ Eric asked.
‘When you return.’
‘Howwillyou know when we will return?’ he persisted.
‘Because you will arrive,’ Cang answered without humour.
Eric scowled, for the man spoke in the same riddles as Master Celios, but Samuel took the opportunity to speak. ‘So, Master Celios was complicit in your plan all along. Obviously, Balten also knew what was going on. Does the deceit end there? Who else amongst us has been aiding you? If we must help from our own free will, I don’t want any more secrets.’ In that, he looked directly at Canyon, and he was not disappointed in Cang’s reply.
‘Are you looking for someone on which to focus your frustrations, Samuel? Very well, then that serves a purpose, too. Ambassador Canyon is worthy of your attention in that regard,’ said the devious Cang, twirling his intertwined thumbs around each other. ‘Or why else do you suppose he is being so silent? Even now, the events that led up to today are running feverishly through his mind as he desperately thinks of ways to explain his involvement. He had all the little pieces of his plan worked out, but never did he think he would be put on the spot quite like this. Am I right, Ambassador? See how his pulse races and his skinreddens, despite his efforts to keep himself calm. It seems he is not the master of deception that he imagines. Almost, but not quite. He thought he was first in line for infinite riches and power or something of the kind, I presume, for why else would he be complicit in the destruction of his entire nation,of betraying his own god,of bringing her halfway across the world in effort to satisfy his own greed? Perhaps he even thought to gain favours from the Devil King as reward for helping with his return?’ At this, Canyon, shook his head desperately with denial. ‘Even I am not guilty of so much cruelty. I must admit Ambassador, that you are the only one here who has actually met the end of his usefulness. If the others chose to beat you to a bloody pulp with their bare hands, I would not interrupt them.’ Canyon looked broken and began to sob into his hands. The sight was pitiful, and Samuel had never seen the man so disturbed. ‘If you want to lie down and die,I am sure no one will object. Perhaps, your god will assist you to end your life?’
‘But the Circle promised me everything!’ Canyon blurted out. ‘The Circle promised me power!’
‘Of course I did, you fool, and you believed me. And power would have been yours, but I said nothing about murder and treachery and all the terrible things you have done. I said nothing about genocide,about the rampant destruction of your own people and culture. That was all your own vile nature at work. In truth, I regret that you were even recruited, for you have caused more suffering than I can stomach. I am saddened that my envoys in Koia
