Hantilia blushed-her skin turning a deeper shade of emerald. 'Some even became lovers. A few married. Fewer still managed to bring forth a child.'
Safar's heart bumped. Hantilia saw his reaction and said, 'You have one such child with you, I understand. The Oracle spoke of him.'
'Yes,' Safar said. 'His name is Palimak.'
Hantilia frowned. Then her brow cleared. 'Ah, now I understand. It is in the Walarian tongue. Palimak means promise, does it not?'
Safar nodded. 'Yes.'
'A lovely name,' she said. Then-'It is quite likely the child comes from just such a union as those I described. In fact it is impossible for it to be otherwise. And I'll tell you why.
'When the Demon Moon rose and ill befell the land many of us were forced to flee our homes because of sickness and starvation and evil things crawling out of the earth. My kingdom was one of the early victims and my people and I became refugees, wandering Esmir, finding our living where we could. The others of our cult did the same. Many did not survive. I suspect Palimak was the child of such a couple-demon and human-who met with misfortune during that time and he eventually came into your care. Someday you must tell me that tale.'
Safar bit into the bitter memory of Nerisa and grimaced. 'Someday,' was all he said.
The queen saw his discomfort and steered her remarks past that desolate trail. 'The day arrived when things were at their worst,' she said. 'I didn't know how I would find food and shelter for my people.
Then the Oracle appeared to me.'
'The Oracle of Hadin?' Safar asked.
'The very one. You'll meet her soon enough. At least I pray you will agree to such a meeting. But to go on. The Oracle appeared and commanded me to make my way to Caluz. She said the fate of the world depended on it. I learned later she made many such appearances to members of our cult throughout Esmir.
'Soon all of us were streaming toward Caluz. Our strength grew as we came together and the journey was made easier because we no longer had to fear bandits. We arrived in Caluz just before it collapsed.
The city was in a panic because the Oracle was issuing dire warnings. But the Caluzians only became more hysterical with each passing day. And so all the things she urged them to do were left until it was too late.'
Safar frowned, remembering the old Caluzian priest who'd told him his people were of that temperament.
'The last I heard,' he said, 'the city leaders were going to divert the rivers, which would effectively shut off the machine. It seemed like a good plan to me. What went wrong?'
'The Demon Moon,' Hantilia said. 'No one took its tides into account. At the time the plan did seem like an artful solution. After the dams were built and the new channels dug the machine fell silent for a long time. Then the influence of the Demon Moon became more powerful.
'The river tides began to rise, overflowing their banks. This went on day after day, the floods reaching higher each time. The people filled bags with sand and stacked them along the riverbanks trying to halt the flow. Finally the currents jumped back into their original courses and the machine returned to life. This time worse than before.'
'I saw the Black Lands,' Safar said. 'I saw what the machine has done.'
'As I said,' the Queen continued, 'the Oracle warned of the disaster all along. She'd urged a course of action, but only the priests listened. This is when I arrived in Caluz with my followers. And at the pleadings of the priests- and the Oracle's command-we did all we could to help construct her spell.'
Hantilia paused, lines of sadness creasing her face. She wiped an eye with her claw, then said. 'I have seen many things in my life. Horrible things. But the day we cast the spell overshadowed all the horrors I'd seen before. It is too painful a memory for me to recount.
'Suffice it to say, Caluz was destroyed and the priests all died nobly, staying until the end so the rest of us could escape.'
She gestured at the lovely scene that was the false Caluz. 'And we've been here ever since. Waiting for you.'
Safar sighed. 'What do you want of me?' he asked.
The Queen's eyes glittered. 'Only to save our lives, Safar Timura,' she said. 'For without your help all of us will be dead within the month.'
Leiria was mortified. Although her memory was hazy from the moment she met Queen Hantilia until the spell was lifted many hours later, she had flashes of seeing herself and Sergeant Dario behaving like two tavern sots.
'I don't like this,' she said to Safar, who was riding beside her on Khysmet. 'We're trusting everything to a complete stranger.'
Safar chuckled. 'You're only embarrassed,' he said. 'Don't be angry with Hantilia.'
'I'm not angry!' Leiria snapped. 'I just don't know the bi-uh, know anything about her. Oh, I understand the spells were the gentlest way she could handle us. And that certain things were done because the Oracle of Stupid Hadin wanted it that way. So I have nothing to hold against her. In fact, I quite like Hantilia. For someone I only met, that is.'
She suddenly grinned at Safar, a devil's glint in her eye. 'Although a certain friend of mine-who shall remain nameless, but whose seal bears the letters S.T.-seems to have gotten a great deal more out of that first meeting than I did.'
'Ouch!' Safar laughed. 'Come on. You're just jabbing at me to relieve your own frustration. Go back to being embarrassed. See if I care. You're right. You were a total fool and should be ashamed of yourself.
There. Chew on that, my sweet Leiria.'
'You can't get off that easily,' Leiria parried. 'Admit it. You're attracted to her.'
Safar blushed. 'A little,' he said.
'Even though she's a demon, right?'
Safar's reply was a muttered, 'Right.'
Leiria snickered. 'Now you know how Palimak was made,' she said. 'First hand, or claw, or whatever.'
Another mutter-'Whatever.' Then, firm-'Do you feel better now, my dear Leiria? After putting me in my place?'
'Sure I do,' Leiria said, eyes dancing with fun. 'But what about you? And Hantilia? What do you intend to do about it?'
Safar squared his shoulders. 'Nothing,' he said. 'Except note it as a curiosity of nature.'
'Don't make me laugh,' Leiria chortled.
'You are laughing.'
'Well, who wouldn't?'
'All right! All right!' Safar snapped, switching moods with Leiria. 'Let's talk about something else.
Something depressing and morbid like your premonitions of doom and betrayal.'
'I didn't say that,' Leiria retorted. 'I only said we were trusting an awful lot to someone we don't know.
We're fetching the entire caravan to Caluz. Or whatever that place is. You say there's two of them, I'll take your word for it. Anyway, we're throwing ourselves on the mercy of these people.' She shuddered, remembering. 'And those … Guardians! I'll never forget how helpless I felt when I realized they were all ghosts. And they could hurt me, but I could do nothing to them!'
'Don't worry about the Guardians,' Safar said, matter of factly. 'I can take care of them.'
'Sure you can, or at least I believe you when you tell me something like that. You're a mighty wizard, and all. But we'll still be outnumbered. They can overwhelm us at will.'
'That's true,' Safar said, 'but you're forgetting something. They need me to stop the machine.'
Leiria became angry. 'I just don't want you to get killed, Safar!' she said. 'That's all. What's down in that damned temple? Who is the Oracle? She could be the great devil queen of all devil queens, as far as we know. What if it's a trap?'
Safar started to laugh. 'Thanks,' he said. 'I feel much better now.'
'What are you talking about?'
'You just reminded me of the worst thing that could happen.'
