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  Whatever the truth of it may be, we do know that we are confounded by ignorance and need more intelligence. Looking at Amirantha, he said, What can you do to help us?

  The Warlock said, Whatever I might. Even were my brother not involved somehow, I would find this entire prospect fascinating. There is nowhere else Id rather be at the moment.

  A student stuck his head through the door and said, Sir!

  What is it? Pug asked.

  Distant sentry reports a dragon heading this way.

  Pug rose quickly and said, Dragons do not trouble us. It can only be Tomas.

  Tomas? asked Amirantha.

  As Miranda, Pug, and Jommy made toward the door where the student had appeared, Father-Bishop Creegan said, Why dont you two come along? This is something you may never see again in your life.

  They hurried outside, where Pug and his family had quickly gathered. Amirantha saw Brandos had joined them, as well as the young man named Zane. In the distance they could see a speck in the sky grow larger, becoming something birdlike, and then resolving itself into something akin to a wyvern or drake on the wing.

  It kept growing in size, and each time Amirantha thought it was now close enough to begin landing, it just kept coming. Finally it loomed up out of the sky, massive, with wings impossible to measure cracking like thunder as it halted its descent.

  Amazing! said Sandreena, and Amirantha could only nod. He felt pain and looked down and saw she was clutching his arm, squeezing it tight enough to leave a bruise.

  Kaspar walked up from a dell to the north of the landing site, and joined them. To Jommy he said, I never thought Id see this again.

  Me neither, General, replied the red-headed young man.

  The dragon descended itself gently to the ground and lowered its massive head. Pug was surprised to note two figures climbed down. Tomas he was expecting, but the second visitor to this island was a figure completely new to him.

  It looked like an elf, but seven feet tall, with hair the color of a red-roosters comb. It wore robes that appeared to be woven from light satin, with embroidered edges of purple and gold, and across its back carried a staff that reeked of arcane energy.

  Tomas embraced Pug, who said, Welcome, old friend.

  Tomas made his greetings to Miranda and the others known to him, then turned and said, Pug, Miranda, may I present my companion, Gulamendis, Demon Master of the Clans of the Seven Starsthe Taredhel, or Star Elves in our tongue.

  Amirantha turned to Father-Bishop Creegan and Sandreena and said, Now I am certain there is nowhere else on this world Id rather be this moment.

  CHAPTER 16

  ALLIES

  The dragon leaped into the sky.

  Tomas bid it farewell and said he would call it again if needed, though as often as not, when he visited Pug, one of the magicians transported him home in much swifter, if less dramatic, fashion. Everyone watched in silent awe the spectacle of a great golden dragon winging its way into the blue vault above.

  Pug glanced at those standing near him and felt a pang. Here were some of the people he loved most in the world, his wife, his surviving children, his oldest friend. Again, as he had in the past, he felt a burden of foreboding threaten to overwhelm him. Only Nakor, now dead, had known what Pug knew. Miranda had learned most of it, though he held back one painful and terrifying thing: he was doomed to watch everyone he loved die before him.

  He had told Tomas some of the truth behind the manipulations of the god Ban-ath over the years, and even less to Father-Bishop Creegan, but not the entire truth: that most of his life had been spent as a tool for the Trickster to ensure the survival of this very world. He had no doubt that if the God of Thieves and Liars wasnt the primary agency behind what was occurring now, he was involved somehow. Pug pushed aside his rising sense of sadness, realizing that part of what triggered this was his need to communicate some of the truthagain, only a partto others. There was no one alive who fully knew the burden Pug carried every day of his life.

  Pug motioned to Tomas and his companion and said, Come, we have much to discuss. He turned to Father-Bishop Creegan and said, Join us, please, and then with a nod indicated Amirantha was to attend as well. To Sandreena he said, I believe you could use new clothing and some arms?

  She nodded, still agape at what she just witnessed. Pug motioned for one of the students who had observed Tomass arrival, and instructed him to take Sandreena in tow and find her what she needed.

  Pug said, Excuse me a moment, then went to speak privately with Miranda. They conferred quietly and briefly, then she nodded and departed, hurrying off to another part of the house.

  Pug motioned for his guests to join him and led them to the private quarters set aside for him and his family. An open garden with several benches served as a casual meeting place, and while this gathering lacked any aspect of the social about it, the privacy afforded here was needed. There was no one on the island Pug didnt trust, but many of his students were young, excitable, and prone to gossip.

  If anyone wishes any refreshments, said Pug, Ill send for them.

  As Amirantha and Father-Bishop Creegan had just finished a repast in the dining hall, it fell to Tomas and Gulamendis to decline.

  Very well, said Pug. He glanced from face to face, then said, Too many times in my life I assumed coincidence, only to find later that some higher agency was at work. I may say things that either surprise or alarm you, but what I say will be not conjecture but truth. There is something here bringing us all to council, something of the gods, or perhaps fate. He looked at the strange elf from another world and said, Let us begin with our newest guest. Tell us your tale, Gulamendis.

  The elf studied the three human faces before him, his own an unreadable mask, but he did glance at Tomas, who subtly nodded he should cooperate, and the elf began to tell his tale. He started slowly and began with the history of his people as it pertained to this current crisis.

  Time seemed to halt for Amirantha, Father-Bishop Creegan, and Pug as the elf painted images with his words. He spoke of a struggling band of refugees, fleeing this world for another, and a few thousand survivors mastering the land around them. He evoked images of the reverent elves planting the saplings of the great trees they called the Seven Stars and building their first city around those trees, then expanding their control over the world.

  His tale became a peoples epic as the elves who had fled to the stars became masters of all they beheld. Arts flourished, music, healing, and scholarship. They encountered other races, and Gulamendis was unapologetic in recounting how those encounters became conflict and how relentless and unforgiving the Taredhel were. Those who would not yield were destroyed. And few yielded.

  The client races withered and died out, so that after five centuries, on all the worlds of the Clan of the Seven Stars, only elves endured.

  Pug remained stoic during the narrative, but Tomas, his oldest living friend, could see the subtle signs of concern as the tall elf spoke. These were a harsh and unforgiving people, as relentless in their own fashion as the Moredhel but so much more powerful.

  For nearly a millennium, we had peace and we flourished, said Gulamendis. Then we came to a new world. It was devoid of life, but life had once abided. We saw the rubble of structures and the remnants of civilization. We investigated and discovered another portal, one not of our fashioning. Our aremancers studied it while others scoured the world, seeking clues as to what happened. Those who worked with the portal unraveled its secrets and we opened it to yet another world. And there we met the demons.

  He looked from face to face and asked, Have any of you faced a demon?

  Pug said, Of one stripe or another, all of us at different times.

  Looking at Amirantha, Gulamendis said, You are a summoner, yes?

  Amirantha nodded. I am.

  You understand then, better than these others, what is required to bring a demon across the realms to our own dimension.

  Yes, said Amirantha. The magic is com
plex and difficult to master.

  With a smile that could only be called ironic, the elf said, That is why there are so few of us. Those who lack talent do not survive the learning process.

  He paused, and said, We are explorers, and for centuries we used our translocation portals, what you call rifts, to reach other worlds.

  Explorers died and most worlds we found were uninhabitable, but over the centuries we moved through the stars.

  Of late, for two hundred years or so, some have spoken of finding this world, our Home, the world from which we sprang. Some were against this, thinking it likely this world was destroyed by the war between the Valheruhe glanced at Tomasand the new gods.

  Others dreamed of finding this world free of strife, as it was in our oldest myths. Again he glanced at Tomas. Though it was judged likely we might again face our former masters. He took a deep breath. Until I met Tomas I, like most of my people, thought we had risen high enough in our ability that we could vanquish the Valheru should they endure. He lowered his eyes. I fear that proud certainty of our own power is why we fall before the demons.

  Tell us of the demons, urged Pug.

  One of our explorers found a world, desolate beyond measure. Barren rock and empty oceans, but once lush.

  How could you judge that? asked Father-Bishop Creegan.

  The world had been inhabited; there were ruins of great cities. In those cities we found artifacts belonging to the people who had lived on that world. Within were sprawling gardens with irrigation systems of clever design. Given the volume of water employed, we assume that hot, dusty world was once tropical, or at least verdant on every hand. Vast plains of farming land, again with miles of irrigation systems still in evidence, lay exposed to relentless hot winds, stripping them down to rock and sand. From the age of the artifacts and buildings, we judged the world depopulated less than a century.

  Yet there was not a hint of life. Of the great race that once inhabited this world, we found nothing, not even bones, and there was little remaining to give us any hint of who they might be. They were physically small, we think, because their doorways were short and their rooms tiny by our measure, yet they built majestic monuments to their own glory, great pyramids of stone. We found art, paintings and tapestries, though few showed any hint of their maker; they tended to abstract designs of rich color. We found a few likenesses, and we think they may have been a race akin to the dwarves.

  They may have had libraries or great schools, but of books, tomes, or scrolls we found nothing but ash. Fires raged throughout their cities, across every vista, and we wondered who or what had caused this planetwide catastrophe.

  In the deepest vault of one of those great stone buildings we found words, hastily scrawled over murals on a wall. Words painted with the most indelible paint they knew, so that this tiny legacy of this race might endure.

  It took our Lorekeepers years to unravel their meaning, but they simply said, Why have our gods deserted us? Why are we to perish? And a word that we could not translate followed by are without this hall. So we will end. Should any read this, cry for the and another word we could not translate.

  Demons? asked Amirantha.

  Later experience led us to believe so.

  Pug said, If demons somehow came to that world, and ran free, eventually all life as we know it would end. Once they ran out of prey, they would turn on one another, and eventually one would survive. He would finally starve to death.

  Amirantha and Gulamendis exchanged questioning looks, and the Warlock said, Ive never conjured a demon to this realm that remained long enough to starve to death.

  The elf smiled as he nodded agreement. I have fed a few, along the way, but as with you, when they have done my bidding I banish them back to their own realm. Until we encountered the Demon Legion, I had never even considered how an unfettered demon would behave in our realm.

  Amirantha said, I have encountered a few. He glanced at Father-Bishop Creegan and said, Not everything I do is a confidence trick. I have rid this world of several serious evils over the years.

  No doubt, said the cleric dryly.

  Amirantha turned his attention back to Gulamendis. One weak-willed would-be demon master, overstepping his limitations, to his very short regret, and a demon would be running loose. I have hunted down and dispatched a dozen over the years.

  Jommy appeared at the doorway and entered the garden. Pug motioned him over and the red-headed noble said, Miranda is gone, she asked me to tell you. Shell be back soon. He glanced around, and said, Should I leave?

  Pug shook his head no, and said, Stay. Youll be neck-deep in whatever we run into as much as any of the rest of us.

  Jommy moved off to one side and took a seat on the bench beside where Tomas stood.

  Gulamendis said, Among my people, I am considered something of an outcast. He noted Amiranthas slight smile in acknowledgment. Many of my people mistakenly blame me and others who are students of demon lore for the assaults.

  Even though you found proof of demon incursion into other worlds decades before you encountered the Demon Legion?

  Gulamendis nodded sadly. It is the nature of things that many people are more interested in affixing blame than fixing the problem.

  Amirantha said, We hadnt encountered any of the problems youve mentioned on any significant scale until recently. He sat back. Im not sure we are, even now. It is almost certain that much of what Ive recently seen with unexpected demon encounters is the work of one agency, a summoner who has the ability to wreak havoc forhis own reasons. He shrugged.

  How certain are you of this? asked Gulamendis.

  Absolutely, for he interfered with one of my summonings and almost got me killed. I tried calling forth a familiar demon and instead got the most aggressive battle demon Ive ever encountered.

  Fascinating, said the elf. Ive never heard of a summons being distorted that way. Ive had them interrupted, abruptly at times, but neverperverted in such a fashion. His eyes narrowed. It would involve magic of extreme power

  And subtlety, added the Warlock. At key instances changes in the summoning would need to be introduced.

  The two demon experts seemed on the verge of discussing the specifics when Pug interrupted. Im as fascinated by this as either of you, but we need to consider the larger picture. Why?

  Why? repeated Amirantha. Well, as Ive said, my brother has been trying to kill me for years.

  Your brother? asked Gulamendis.

  Ill explain, said Amirantha. To Pug he said, As I said, Im surprised he has developed the skills needed, but not that hes trying to kill me.

  Why now? asked Pug. Why after all these years, and in a way that would be the most likely to create echoing chaos around you? If hes as powerful as you say, and he has knowledge of your whereabouts, why not just drop a ball of fire into the room with you?

  Fire wards are part of the proactive spells, said Amirantha while Gulamendis nodded in agreement. But I see your point. He could easily have dropped a very large rock on my head while I walked to the cave.

  Unless he couldnt see you, added Jommy. When all eyes turned to him, he said, Sorry.

  No need to be sorry, said Pug. That is a good point.

  Amirantha said, It means he sees me with magic, not sight.

  So he could be anywhere, added Gulamendis, but he needs you to be working your arts to know exactly where you are at the moment.

  Pug said, My feelings, entirely. But to be able to spy upon you, somehow, so as to know when youre actively conjuring a demon? Pug shrugged, as if asking how.

  Gulamendis slowly shook his head. That is very subtle and very powerful magic craft, even for my people.

  Pug said, I have been a student of magic for most of my life, and am well into my second century of study, yet there is so much more we do not know than what we do.

  I also have difficulty imagining how your brother is able to do this.

  My magic signature, for lack of a better term, would be as familiar to Belasco
as his is to me, said Amirantha. As yours and your wifes are, apparently, to your son Magnus.

  But how is he able to know where you will be, until you actually begin to conjure?

  That, said Amirantha, is, indeed, the question.

  Spies? offered Jommy.

  Amirantha said, Only Brandos, and perhaps his wife, Samantha, might know where Im going to be when next I conjure. I trust them as family.

  What about demon spies? asked Jommy. I mean, I dont really know how this conjuring of demons works, do I? But maybe hes got a demon somewhere whose job is to alert him when youre calling up some other demon.

  Amirantha and Gulamendis both looked thunderstruck. The human demon master spoke first. I dont know?

  Is that possible? asked the elf.

  Jommy shrugged. You two are the demon lore experts. You dont know?

  Gulamendis seemed insulted by the remark, but said nothing. Amirantha said, There is far more that we dont know, as Pug observed, than we do.

  Jommy shrugged. So, why dont you ask?

  Ask whom? Gulamendiss tone was cold.

  Jommy grinned. Ask the demons?

  Amirantha looked stunned. Then he laughed aloud. Oh, gods and fishes, he exclaimed. The Star Elf also looked astonished at the suggestion, then he started to chuckle.

  Amirantha said, I suspect my new friend here has fallen prey to the same failing as I have, to wit, being so focused on mastering our particular artswhich is part of staying alivethat we neglected a broader curiosity about those very creatures we employ to do our bidding.

  What do you do now? asked Creegan.

  Amirantha stood and said, Why, we summon a demon and start asking questions!

  With a single gesture and a word, he executed a spell. Pug and Jommy both felt the familiar sensation, like hair rising on the arms, when standing near a powerful spell. Tomas remained standing, but his hand fell to the hilt of his sword.

  Creegan stood reflexively and stepped back as a puff of black smoke revealed a small, blue-skinned imp. Nalnar! shouted Amirantha. You are summoned.

  Master, said the creature, looking around the group.