The Unwelcome Warlock

stairs.

The third floor was as deserted as the fourth, and that didn’t seem right. Where Hanner had kept the fourth floor vacant, there had been people staying in the rooms on this floor. Had they all gone out for the day? If so, where? The whole reason they were here in the first place was that they didn’t have anywhere to go!

Maybe they had all gathered downstairs for some reason. She frowned, and started down the next flight.

On the second floor she once again saw nobody, but now she could hear voices from below, so she knew the house was not entirely abandoned. She leaned over the rail to listen.

“...need some trustworthy men,” a man’s voice was saying. “I can’t be everywhere.”

“If you let us use your magic, we could do it,” someone replied.

“You have not yet convinced me you are that trustworthy, Zallin. If I let you use the remaining source, you will instantly be as powerful as you were before the Aldagmor source departed, and that might make you strong enough to defy me.”

“Your Majesty, I was never Called! I would be well below your own astonishing level.”

“A little practice would take care of that, wouldn’t it? Your turn will come, Zallin, I promise you that, but only when I know I can trust you. It’s been less than a sixnight; give me a month or two to get to know you.”

“A month or two?”

“Is that so very long? You have your whole life ahead of you! You served at least three years as an apprentice, didn’t you?”

“But I was given my magic on the third day!”

“Have I known you for three days?”

“Well...almost.”

“At any rate, I’m not looking for more warlocks. I want some men who can fight without magic.”

“Why?” This was a new voice, one Edara did not recognize at all.

“Because there may be times and places I can’t use my magic! You know the wizards are trying to stop us from resuming our rightful place in the World; what if they find a way to block my source of magic? What if they destroy it outright?”

“If they destroy it, then we’re all done,” a fourth voice said. “That’s the end of it, and we can all go back to being nobody.”

“I won’t!” Zallin protested. “I don’t care what the wizards want — I’m a warlock!”

“You don’t have any magic,” the third voice said.

“Nonetheless, I am a warlock!”

“You’re a fool,” someone muttered — Edara could just barely make out the mumbled words, and could not be sure whether this was a new voice, or one she had already heard.

“Your Majesty,” the fourth voice said, “if the wizards cut off your magic, then the palace falls out of the sky. They won’t allow that. You’re worrying needlessly.”

Edara wondered what that meant, about a palace falling out of the sky.

“Wizards can be ruthless when they think it necessary,” the first voice — Emperor Vond, Edara assumed — said. “Oh, I don’t think they’ll do it, I don’t even know whether they actually can, but I want to be prepared. If I’m going to run things the way I want here in Ethshar, I’m going to need a staff, and I’m going to need guards. The overlord has his soldiers, Ithinia has her gargoyles, and I need some trustworthy men. Now, I know most of you were thrown into the future just the way I was, but you, Zallin, you were never in Aldagmor. You know people. You know how the city works. I want you to go out and hire those men for me.”

“You want them to be loyal,” Zallin said. “How can I guarantee that?”

“Well, for one thing, we’re going to pay them very, very well,” Vond said. “Money won’t be a problem for us.”

“How do I convince them of that?”

Vond gave a bark of laughter. “You’re joking! Just show them what’s hanging in the air over Lower Street.”

Edara was puzzled; what was hanging there? She would have to go take a look, if she could figure out how to get out of the house undetected.

This whole discussion about Vond wanting to hire himself a small private army was interesting, but Edara could not see what it had to do with Hanner the Generous turning up in the Refuge in an advanced state of exhaustion, or with the absence of anyone in the upper stories of Warlock House.

“Why can’t we do it?” the third voice asked.

“Do what?” Zallin said.

“Why can’t we be your guards?”

“Because you were warlocks,” Vond said. “What do you know about using a sword or a spear?”

No one spoke for a moment, then Vond clapped his hands and said, “Well, then! Zallin, go find some recruits — men who do know how to use swords — and fetch them back here. I’ll want a couple of dozen, at the very least. As for the rest of you, you’ll be my staff. I’ll need a purser, and at least one secretary, and an envoy — maybe several envoys. Why don’t you think it over? Discuss among yourselves, and when I come back down you can tell me who’s chosen which role.”

“Where are you going?” the fourth voice asked.

“Upstairs,” Vond said. “I want to change my clothes — ah, Zallin, you might also see about finding a tailor or two, while you’re at it! My wardrobe here is hopelessly inadequate.”

“Yes, your Majesty,” Zallin said sullenly.

“Off with you, then!”

Then Edara heard footsteps, and a moment later the front door slammed. She leaned over a little further, to peer down into the entryway, and found herself looking the Great Vond in the eye. She froze.

“Hai,” the warlock said. “Who are you?”

Edara’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. She closed it again.

“I won’t hurt you,” Vond said gently. “You’re a former warlock, aren’t you? I can see you are.”

“Yes, my lord,” she said, drawing back over the railing.

“It’s ‘your Majesty,’” Vond said. “Where did you come from? I thought I’d gone through the whole house.”

Edara tried to think of some clever answer, some foolproof lie, but nothing came, and as Vond’s eyes began to harden at how long she was taking to answer, she lost her nerve and blurted out the truth.

“I was in Hanner’s Refuge, your Majesty!”

“Hanner’s...you mean that magical tapestry thing?”

“Yes, my lo...your Majesty.”

“And he chased you out, as I ordered?” Vond looked past her. “Where are the others?”

“No, he...I came back on my own, your Majesty. No one chased me out.”

“Hanner didn’t tell you I wanted everyone out of there?”

“No, your Majesty. I haven’t seen Hanner since I touched the tapestry.” She carefully didn’t specify which tapestry.

“But I saw him step into it!”

“I...well, time is different in the other world, your Majesty. I didn’t see him.”

“Time is...Is it?” Vond’s eyes lit up. “Really?”

“Yes, your Majesty. I was quite surprised to see that it was morning here; it was mid-afternoon in the Refuge.” She didn’t mention that it was always mid-afternoon there, if the term had any meaning, and if the direction she thought of as “west” was really west, and not east or south.

“How interesting! Why did you emerge, then, if Hanner had not yet informed you that I wanted you all