‘And as magic is being practiced here every day, if you do decide to do some work, no one will notice.’ She sipped her wine and said, ‘Very neat. And this is very good.’
‘Is it?’ asked Pug. He sipped. ‘Yes, it is. I wonder which …’ He held up the bottle. ‘I have to ask Gathis if there is more of this in the cellar at Sorcerer’s Isle when I return.’
‘Why all the misdirection?’ asked Miranda.
‘Why were you looking for me?’
‘I asked you first.’
Pug nodded. Fair enough. The Pantathians are wary of me and my arts. They’ve discovered ways to neutralize me, so I make sure they and their agents can’t find me.’
‘Neutralize you?’ Her eyes narrowed. ‘I’ve run across snake magic before and there are smoking corpses to mark those battles. If you’re as powerful as they say –’
Pug said, ‘There are more ways to stem attack than simply to meet it with more strength. What if I were to hold a child you love and put a dagger to her throat?’
Miranda said, ‘So if they don’t know where you are, they can’t threaten anyone you care about.’
‘Yes. Now, why are you looking for me?’
Miranda said, ‘The Oracle of Aal enters her birthing cycle and we lose her ability to help us. I have been asked –’
‘By whom?’ interrupted Pug.
‘By some people who would rather not see this world end any time soon,’ she snapped. ‘I have been asked to help preserve the Lifestone –’
Pug stood. ‘How do you know of the Lifestone?’
Miranda said, ‘I am Keshian. Do you remember one who came to support the King’s army at the battle?’
‘Lord Abdur Rachmad Memo Hazara-Khan,’ answered Pug.
Miranda nodded. ‘It took years to penetrate the illusions and false trails, but after a while, those few who entered to speak to the Oracle and leave with whatever wisdom she gave them, even with that statue at Malac’s Cross as the transfer point, even after decades, the truth was known.’
‘So you work for the Emperor?’
‘Do you work for the King?’ countered Miranda.
‘Borric and I are something of cousins,’ said Pug, sipping at his wine again.
‘You beg the question.’
‘So I do.’ He set his goblet down. ‘Let’s say that I’m somewhat less constricted in my loyalties than I used to be. Which is all beside the point. If you know anything of the Lifestone, you know that national interests are petty at this point. If the Valheru reawaken, we will all perish.’
‘Then you must help me,’ said Miranda. ‘If those foolish men I helped recruit for the Prince survive, we’ll know who and what we face.’
Pug sighed. ‘You, a Keshian, recruiting for the Prince?’
‘It seemed the prudent thing to do to serve my real master’s interests.’
Pug only raised an eyebrow. ‘So which foolish men are these?’
‘Calis leads them.’
‘Tomas’s son,’ said Pug. ‘I haven’t seen him since he was young; it must be twenty or more years.’
‘He’s still young. And angry and confused.’
He’s unique. There is no other creature like him in the universe. He’s the product of a union that should not have borne fruit, and he will die someday, unique.’
‘And alone.’
Pug nodded. ‘Who else?’
‘A band of men condemned to die, none known to you. And Nakor the Isalani.’
Pug smiled. ‘I miss his rambling brilliance. And his sense of fun.’
Miranda said, ‘Fun is far from his mind these days, I fear. With Arutha’s death, Nicholas becomes the hope for the Western Realm, the Kingdom, and the world. He has grudgingly adopted his father’s plan, but he has little enthusiasm for it.’
‘What plan is this?’
She told him of the previous voyages to Novindus, and of the destruction endured by Calis and his men the last time. She told him of the plan to send men down to join with the conquering army, men who would return with the truth about what was facing them.
‘Do you think,’ asked Pug after she finished, ‘that this is anything but a full-scale consolidation of all the armed might in Novindus, so that an attack can be launched across the sea to seize the Lifestone?’
‘The Pantathians lack subtlety,’ answered Miranda, ‘but it could be someone is manipulating them the way they manipulated the moredhel during the Great Uprising.’
Pug conceded that this was true. ‘But every indication is that they are seeking to put all Novindus under their sway, to create the largest army ever seen in this world, and from that it is just one logical step to assume they are going to throw that army at the Kingdom, perhaps sail right into Krondor harbor, then march across half the Kingdom to Sethanon.’ Pug was silent for a moment, then said, ‘I don’t think anyone is using them in the sense you suggest. The Pantathians are too alien by other beings’ standards, judging by everything I’ve seen.
‘They have a view of the universe that is so warped it defies logic, but it is so ingrained in their very nature that they have not allowed more than two thousand years of observing the way in which the universe really works to sway them from their fanatic devotion to their unique view of things.’
Miranda raised an eyebrow. ‘That’s a little too analytical for me, Pug. I have encountered other fanatics, and reality doesn’t seem to sway them much either.’ She waved off a comment he was about to make. ‘But I see your point. If they move for their own dark purposes in such numbers, then it’s clear they risk all or nothing on this massive undertaking.’
Pug shook his head no and sighed. ‘Not really. The damnable thing about all this is we can defeat them again, perhaps destroying every man and creature they send across the sea, but what does this gain us save wholesale ruin on our own shore?’
‘We still don’t know where they live,’ Miranda said.
Pug nodded yes. ‘We have only vague rumors. Up north, near the headwaters of the Serpent River, the Serpent Lake, down in the Great South Forest, somewhere deep in the heart of the Forest of Irabek. No one knows.’
‘You’ve looked?’
Pug nodded. ‘I’ve used every magic spell I could find or dream up and have traveled on foot across a great deal of that continent. The sad truth is they are either incredibly gifted in shielding themselves from sight, both magic and mundane, or they are doing something so obvious I’m not seeing it.’
Miranda sipped her wine. After a moment she said, ‘That still leaves us with an army to defeat.’
‘More, I’m afraid.’
‘What?’
