The Unwelcome Warlock

Hanner stared dumbly at the warlock, trying to comprehend what it would be like to possess that level of magical power.

“I told you to bring Zallin,” Vond said, the grin vanishing.

“I...I did try to, but then I went out...”

Vond waved a hand. “Don’t worry about it. I talked to him earlier. He claims to know nothing about your magical picture, but he agreed to serve as my aide.”

“He...he never saw the tapestry, your Majesty. It was my own project, not anything the Council did.”

“That’s fine. Show me.”

Hanner wanted nothing more than to fall into bed and sleep for a day or two, but he could think of no way to safely refuse the emperor. Perhaps if he were not so muddled by exhaustion, he thought, he might have managed to talk his way out of it, but as it was he simply said, “Yes, your Majesty. This way.”

His legs did not want to carry him up the two additional flights, but he managed it, with Vond sailing happily along at his heels, until the two of them stood in the fourth-floor bedroom, looking at the tapestry.

“How does it work?” Vond asked. “Is there some ritual, or a magic word?”

For a moment Hanner considered lying, and luring the warlock into touching the tapestry. Then he could run up to the attic and do something to block the exit, trapping Vond in the other world, and putting an end to the threat he posed.

But if he did that, the palace would fall out of the sky and smash several blocks of the New City. People might die, and even if everyone had been safely evacuated, which Hanner did not believe to be the case, the property damage would be immense.

It might be worth it. It might be. But Hanner did not feel he had the right to decide that, and in his current bone-weary state he did not trust himself to make so important a choice. Perhaps later there would be a time when tricking Vond into the golden village would be a good idea, but right now — no.

“No,” Hanner said. “The spell is active — if you touch it, you’ll instantly be transported to the place in the picture. And if you do that, your Majesty, the overlord’s palace will fall, so please be very careful to stay well clear.”

“Ah,” Vond said. He nodded, and moved back a few inches. “So anyone can just step through into that place?”

“Yes, your Majesty. I’ve sent fifty or sixty people there.”

Vond turned. “You mean they’re in there now?”

Startled, Hanner stepped back, blinking. “Yes, of course, your Majesty. That’s why it’s here.”

“And they can come back out whenever they want?”

“Ah...yes, your Majesty.” Hanner did not see any reason to explain the existence and nature of the return tapestry.

“Here in my house?” Vond demanded.

Hanner swallowed his resentment at Vond’s casual appropriation of the house Uncle Faran had built. “Yes, your Majesty.”

Vond turned to stare at the tapestry. “If I tore this thing to shreds, would the people in there still be able to get out?”

“Yes, your Majesty — but no one else could get in. Please don’t do that. The spell was very expensive.”

“So anyone who gets into that pretty little world of yours can just reappear here in my home, whenever they want?”

“More or less, yes, your Majesty,” Hanner answered wearily.

“Is there any other way to get there, other than touching this hanging?”

Hanner blinked. “I...I don’t know, your Majesty. I don’t think so.”

“But you don’t know?”

“No, your Majesty. I suppose some wizard might have made another tapestry just like this one, that would go to the same place.”

“And if someone went through that tapestry, could they still come out here?”

“In this house? Yes, your Majesty.”

Vond shook his head. “That won’t do. People could just pop in here undetected?”

“Well, yes, I suppose so.”

“I can’t allow that,” Vond said. “That’s completely unacceptable. We need to get everyone out of there and seal it off somehow — destroy the tapestry, or get it out of the house.”

“If it troubles you to have it here, we could move it to my sister Nerra’s house, your Majesty,” Hanner said. “Or simply roll it up and put it away; it won’t work if it isn’t spread flat.”

“What would happen to the people inside, if we moved it or rolled it up?”

“Nothing, your Majesty.”

“Could they still come out in this house, even if the tapestry was somewhere else, or not working at all?”

Hanner hesitated. He was unsure exactly where this was going, but he was becoming more and more certain that he did not want Vond to understand how the tapestries really worked. “That would depend, your Majesty,” he said. “The magic involved is complicated.”

“Depend on what?” the warlock demanded.

“Well, there is a second part to the spell, your Majesty, in there,” Hanner said, pointing to the tapestry. “That determines where users return to our world.”

“So if someone changed that, people could use this to come out anywhere?”

Hanner blinked again. He had not really thought about this himself. If someone brought other tapestries into the village, then his refuge could have more exits, coming out anywhere the tapestries depicted. “Yes, I suppose so,” he said.

“That could be valuable,” Vond said. “You could send armies right inside an enemy’s walls. You could send spies into your enemy’s home. I wonder why no one’s done that? Or maybe they have, and we just don’t know about it.”

“I don’t know, your Majesty,” Hanner said.

“That could be useful,” Vond said, stroking his chin thoughtfully. “But no, it’s too dangerous. Is there some way to ensure that no one can get into this house through that magical village?”

“I don’t know what wizardry can and can’t do, your Majesty,” Hanner said. “I’m not sure anyone does.” He hesitated, then said, “Perhaps you should move elsewhere, if this concerns you so.”

Vond waved the idea away. “No, no. This is Warlock House, and I am the last warlock. The symbolism is important. Besides, I mustn’t look weak. I am staying here, and that tapestry cannot be allowed to remain as it is. The spell as it is now, the way you bought it — can it be changed so that no one can emerge in this house?”

“I don’t know,” Hanner said, hoping that Vond would not notice any of the physical indications that this was his first outright lie. Up until now he had managed with misleading answers and half-truths, but he knew perfectly well that the return tapestry could easily be blocked or even destroyed.

“But right now, there are fifty or sixty people in there who could walk back out into this house at any moment?”

“Yes, your Majesty.”

“If we got them all out, and then rolled this tapestry of yours up, would there be any way anyone else could use this village as a path into my home?”

“Not with any magic I know, your Majesty,” Hanner said.

“Then I want you to get in there and get them all out, Hanner.”

“I’m sure that we —”

“Now.”

“What?”

Vond pointed at the tapestry. “I want you to go through that thing right now, and