The Unwelcome Warlock

The others exchanged looks.

“Where is he?” Gita asked. “Upstairs?”

“No, he’s gone out,” Hanner replied. “But he could be back at any time, and I don’t know how he’ll like finding out I’ve invited you all to stay here.”

“If he’s chairman now, then how can you invite us at all?” Edara asked.

“Because it’s my house,” Hanner explained. “My uncle built it. The Council used it with my permission, but never owned it.”

“Well, then, what business is it of this Vond’s if you have other guests?” Bardec demanded.

“Vond is the last warlock in the World,” Hanner said, “and one of the most powerful to ever live. He’s also Emperor Vond, absolute ruler of eighteen or nineteen of the Small Kingdoms. He’s accustomed to getting his way, regardless of details like law or justice. He has no legal say in whether or not I invite you to stay here, but he may not care about such niceties. If you anger him he may smash you against a wall, or stop your heart, or do something else equally unpleasant.”

“So we won’t anger him” Bardec said.

“We’ll try not to,” Edara said.

“I understand he does have a temper,” Hanner said. “If you’re willing to risk it, then by all means, stay here. If you think you’d rather face slavers or the Field than a foul-tempered warlock — well, that’s a personal judgment.”

“Do you think he could tell us how to use this second source?” Hinda asked.

Three or four other voices chimed in, joining in Hinda’s inquiry.

“I don’t know,” Hanner said, raising his hands for quiet. “I really don’t. And I’d think long and hard before asking him.”

“That’s all right for you,” a man whose name Hanner hadn’t gotten yet said. “You have this house, and probably some of your friends and family are still around. Some of us don’t have anything; our whole world is gone. At least if we had magic again we could earn a living!”

Hanner could not really counter that effectively, but he said, “I’m just asking you not to be too hasty. We don’t know how Vond’s magic works. Let’s give some other possibilities a try before we start harassing the emperor.”

“What other possibilities?” Edara demanded. “My old life is gone!”

“I don’t know what other possibilities,” Hanner said. “But you’ve hardly looked. It’s been what, less than a sixnight since we woke up in Aldagmor? Give it some time! Think about it! Some of you have skills from your old lives; maybe you’ve lost your homes and businesses, but you can start over. Maybe you do still have family, and just haven’t found them yet. I have three children, and they’re all still alive, but none of them live here anymore; they have their own places. Maybe your children, or nieces and nephews, or grandchildren, are still out there, and would be happy to see you if they knew how to find you.”

Most of his guests did not look convinced, but some of them appeared to at least be considering his words.

“And I think,” Hanner continued, “that other magicians might be willing to give some of you a hand. They’ve already gotten us all safely back to the city; they might be willing to do more.”

“Why would they do that?” Gita asked. “Wizards don’t generally do anything for free.”

“As a favor to their fellow magicians,” Hanner said. “The Wizards’ Guild and the Council of Warlocks always cooperated with each other. Besides, I wasn’t just thinking of wizards; theurgists might help out, as well. You all heard Piskor — the gods want us to help one another, and there might be dozens of theurgists who owe her, or some other god, a debt of service. Witches will often help out their neighbors without payment, too.”

“Without payment in coin, maybe,” Bardec said. “They usually find some way to make it worth their while.”

“Well, what’s wrong with that? Aren’t you willing to earn your keep?”

“What can we do, though?” Hinda asked.

“I don’t like counting on the generosity of witches,” Bardec said.

“Or wizards,” someone added.

“Or theurgists,” someone else chimed in.

“But you want mine?” Hanner asked, a little annoyed.

“That’s different,” Edara said. “You’re one of us.”

“Maybe Vond will help us out. After all, he’s a warlock, too.”

“Didn’t he take those others with him to the Small Kingdoms, and promise them things?”

“Did he really give them important positions?”

“Who knows?”

“But if he’s here, he’s not in the Small Kingdoms.”

“If he’s here, where are they?”

“Maybe they’re all in the Small Kingdoms running his empire for him.”

“Or maybe he killed them all.”

“Or maybe he taught them all to use this second source.”

“Where are they, Chairman? Did Vond bring them here with him?”

“No, he didn’t,” Hanner said. “I don’t know what happened to them.”

“So they might be warlocks again?”

“Or they might be dead.”

“We need to know!”

“Well, we don’t know,” Hanner said loudly. “Vond hasn’t said anything about them.”

Several people began to speak, but Hanner raised his hands for silence.

“For now,” Hanner said, before anyone could argue further, “you can stay here, but I am not responsible for anything that happens if you bother Emperor Vond. That includes anything that happens if you do learn to use the Second Source the way he does — just because he hasn’t yet heard a new Calling doesn’t mean there isn’t one, or perhaps there’s something different, something worse. For all I know, his new source isn’t in the World at all, and could suck him into some other universe at any moment. I know I’m not in any hurry to test it out.”

“He’s been using it for years, hasn’t he?” Gita asked.

Hanner shook his head. “Months,” he said. “Only a few months. At least, if you don’t count the fifteen years he spent in Aldagmor.”

Some of the others exchanged thoughtful glances.

“There’s no need to rush,” someone said.

Hanner held his peace for a moment while the others gradually fell in line; then he said, “Now, let me show you where you can sleep,” and beckoned them toward the stairs.

He had assigned rooms to perhaps half the new arrivals when the next group knocked at the door.

A rather bemused Rudhira was with them; she watched as Hanner welcomed them in and ran through more or less the same conversation, listening to them explain how they had nowhere else to go, then telling them that they could stay, but should be careful not to bother Vond. She looked past him, up the stairs at the guests leaning over the rail and listening.

Hanner noticed her gaze, and turned up an empty palm. He also saw that her arms were full of supplies she had brought from the markets. “Let me help Rudhira, then I’ll show you to your rooms,” he said to the others. Then he took the largest bundle from her arms and headed toward the kitchen.

“How many are there?” Rudhira asked when they were out of earshot.

“There were nine in the first two groups,” Hanner said, as he set the bundle on a table and reached for a cabinet door. “How many were there who arrived the same time you did?”