good idea.’
Pug said nothing.
‘I ache to have Magnus embrace me as his mother, just one more time, and I hurt whenever I think of Caleb. But Kalkin did not bring my memories back and place them in his body just so you and I could have a joyful reunion. He placed them here so that Nakor and I can help with whatever needs to be done to save this world. For I am certain we are at a crux, and that the outcome of it all is going to determine the measure of life on this planet, and perhaps a larger portion of this universe.’
From behind them, they both heard Magnus. ‘I agree.’
They turned to see their son standing in the doorway.
Looking at Miranda, Magnus said, ‘You have no more control over who you are than I do. You are as much a victim of this cruel jest as my father and me. Kalkin burdened you with the loves and loss of another and you feel that as strongly as if it were your own, and I do not envy you this.’ Then he looked at his father. ‘I have not changed my opinion on your choices, but I honour your willingness to give all to protect others. But ultimately, it is my feeling that we are indeed at a crux and that whatever forces have been gathering out there in the universe have picked Midkemia as their battleground. I believe that the final conflict is underway.’ He sat between them and added, ‘I too must serve in the best fashion I know how.’
Pug reached out and touched his son’s shoulder. ‘We are free to disagree, but I will never turn my back on you, Magnus.’
Son studied father for a moment, weighing if that was a reproof of his behaviour the night before, or if it was reassurance. He chose to accept the second meaning. ‘I know, Father.’
At that moment Nakor hurried in. ‘Oh, good, you’re all here. Come, I have something to show you. You must see this.’
Without waiting to see if they were following, he hurried out of the room and almost lost them when he entered a busy plaza. Reaching a large building Pug had never seen before, he went inside. They followed him in.
Shelves from floor to ceiling lined the wall and scroll cases were piled in racks across the floor. ‘It’s a library!’ said Nakor with delight. ‘These Pantathians have a library.’
‘Is there anything in there-’ began Magnus.
‘About the Sven-ga’ri?’ finished Nakor. ‘No, not directly, but there were clues in their oldest records. These people have been here a long time. A very long time. I think for many years they were like those Quor, up in the north: primitives, but as they became more civilized, more self-sufficient, they still had this one prime mandate, to care for those … whatever the Sven-ga’ri are.’
Having less patience than the others, Miranda said, ‘What have you found, you annoying little man? You wouldn’t bring us here if you didn’t have something to show off!’
Nakor smiled and cocked his head. ‘True.’ He picked up a scroll and said, ‘Look.’
Pug glanced at it and said, ‘I’ve never seen this language before, Nakor.’
‘Neither have I,’ answered the little gambler, ‘but you can read any language if you know the trick.’
Magnus said, ‘That’s a trick I would like to learn.’
‘I’ll teach you sometime,’ he said.
‘What is in there?’ asked Pug.
‘It’s just a clue, but it’s a really big clue.’ Nakor sat down on the floor and the others took that as a cue that he was about to launch into a long discussion. ‘We assumed the Dragon Lords created or found those things on the roof of that building because they ordered the Sun Elves to protect the Quor who are protecting the Sven-ga’ri, right?’
Pug nodded.
‘This,’ Nakor pointed to the scroll, ‘says, “and then where found, they remain, by order of those …” I think it means gods-brothers/sisters, or something about Alma-Lodaka and her relatives. Dragon Lords. Don’t you see? It’s something they found.’
‘The Sven-ga’ri pre-date the Dragon Lords?’ asked Magnus.
‘Or are at least contemporaneous with them,’ said Nakor. He looked very pleased with himself. ‘They’ve been around a very long time, back to before the Chaos War, I think.’ He waved his hand in an arc over his head. ‘Dragon Lords, the gods, the golden bridges, all of that was happening while those singing lumps of light were over there.’ He grinned. ‘Wonderful, isn’t it?’
‘Nice to know,’ said Miranda, ‘but where does it get us?’
‘It makes me think the Dragon Lords didn’t put guards around the Sven-ga’ri to protect them, but to keep others from accessing them. I think the Quor and these Pantathians have been around them so long they don’t even remember why they were put there. The Sun Elves certainly forgot what they were doing there. And the Star Elves don’t even remember them, nor do any of the spellweavers in Elvandar. I don’t know about the moredhel.’ He shrugged. ‘I could go ask Arkan, I suppose, but I doubt he knows.’
‘Arkan?’ asked Pug.
‘Oh, didn’t I mention?’ said Miranda. ‘A moredhel chieftain is staying on the Island.’
‘You did forget to mention that,’ said Pug. ‘And who is keeping an eye on him while you’re here?’
‘Calis.’
‘That could prove amusing,’ said Magnus.
Pug stood up and said, ‘All very interesting, Nakor, but I’m not sure how it’s going to serve us.’
‘Maybe we should just be more cautious,’ said Miranda.
Pug nodded and glanced at Magnus. ‘You’re the best with protective spells.’
Magnus said, ‘I won’t argue.’
Miranda laughed. ‘It’s good …’ She let the thought go unfinished. It was a life that was not her own.
The portal room was supposed to be unoccupied, by order of the Lord Regent, but two figures approached in the dead of night. Tanderae, Loremaster of the Clan of the Seven Stars moved quietly and quickly along the shadows of the wall. One step behind him was a guard captain of the Sentinels, Egun by name. Tanderae had asked him to accompany him this night because he was certain he was above reproach in his loyalty to the Clan of the Seven Stars and not subject to the politics of the Regent’s Meet.
He needed a witness to bear out what he had been uncovering for a year, and it had to be someone unimpeachable. The two brothers, the conjurer Laromendis and the Demon Master Gulamendis, both understood what was taking place, but they were considered questionable witnesses at best: Laromendis was rumoured to have been a member of the Circle of Light, and had been outlawed by the Lord Regent decades before, while his brother trafficked with demons; so no more need be said.
But the young captain of Sentinels was the soul of integrity and if he bore witness to what Tanderae suspected was taking place tonight, the Loremaster would have the proof he needed to save his people from betrayal at the highest level.
Weeks before, Tanderae, Gulamendis, and his human colleague Amirantha, had been summoned to this very building because of an attempt by the demon host, as they thought, to locate them. Instead they had seen something far more terrifying than a Demon King, for a Dreadlord had hovered briefly on the other side of the portal.
Since that night the Lord Regent had ordered the building emptied and the power to the portals deactivated, but several times Tanderae had seen figures entering and leaving late at night when most of the residents of E’bar were asleep.
A few nights earlier, Tanderae had discovered that one of the figures he had seen was the Lord Regent himself. He had followed him into the building unobserved and what he witnessed had frightened him in a way he could never have imagined before, not even having fought demons across the stars.
Now, on stealthy feet, they entered the main hall and moved to the entrance to the main portal chamber. At the far end they saw the Lord Regent place a crystal in the base of the portal and watched as energy gathered between the pillars to form an opalescent surface. The energy swirled and then resolved into a black form of woeful countenance, a thing man-like in shape, but without discernible features. Around its head burned a crown of flames, yet they appeared to give off no light. Eyes like red-hot coals gazed out at the now-prone form of the Lord Regent.
Words were exchanged in a language neither Tanderae or the Sentinel captain could understand, but the
