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?’
Pug said, ‘I believe that Calis is going to find something far more powerful at the heart of this particular campaign, and I can’t tell you why.’ He went over to a bookshelf. There are several tomes here that speak of doorways, pathways, and routes between different levels of reality.’
‘Like the Hall of Worlds?’
Pug shook his head no. ‘That place exists in the objective universe as we understand it, though it is somewhat of an artifact of creation, allowing those who travel the halls to exist beyond certain limits of that objective reality. Do you remember how real the Hall of the Gods looked?’
‘Yes. A most convincing illusion.’
‘It was more than an illusion. I tapped into a higher level of reality, a higher-energy state for lack of a better description. A long time ago, I went into the city of the dead gods, and entered through a … seam, into the Hall of the Goddess of Death. I spoke to Lims-Kragma.’
‘Interesting,’ said Miranda.
Pug looked at her and saw she was not mocking him.
‘It was really the Goddess of Death you spoke to?’
‘That’s the point I’m trying to make. There is no Goddess of Death, yet there is. There’s the natural force of creation and the equally natural act of destruction. What breaks down a once-living being provides food for new life. We understand so little of these things,’ he said, showing a hint of frustration. ‘But these personifications, these gods and goddesses, they may be but a way in which we, who live in one state of reality, can interact with forces, beings, energy from another reality.’
‘Interesting theory,’ said Miranda.
‘Actually, most of it is Nakor’s.’
‘But what has this to do with all the murder about to be done?’
‘Beings from these other states exist. I have faced the Dread, to name but one.’
‘Really?’ she said, obviously impressed. ‘The stealers of life are not to be trifled with by all reports.’
‘That’s the first clue I had.’ Pug’s face grew animated as he said, ‘When I fought the Dread for the first time, I sensed a different rhythm, a different state to the energy of his being. When I bested him, I learned a few things.
‘Over the years I’ve discovered other things. Living on Kelewan, the Tsurani homeworld, for a number of years gave me insights I never would have gained here on Midkemia.
‘One thing I’ve discovered is that the Dread do not “drink” the life of living beings on this world. They change the energies to a state they can use. The unfortunate side effect of that change is the death of the creature they touch.’
‘Such academic considerations are of little interest to those who die, I’m afraid.’
‘True, but you see, it’s important. If they can do that, why can’t forces we can’t see in our normal frame of reference not be able to reach out and manipulate energy here in our world?’
‘Where are we going with this?’ asked Miranda, betraying impatience.
‘What was the Lifestone like when you last visited the Oracle?’ asked Pug.
‘What do you mean?’
‘Did it appear as it always did?’
‘I don’t know.’ Miranda looked puzzled. ‘It’s the only time I’ve ever seen it.’
‘But there was something odd about it, wasn’t there?’
Miranda shrugged. ‘I had a feeling …’
‘That the Valheru trapped inside were somehow doing something.’
Miranda had a faraway look. ‘Stirring. I think that’s what I said. They were stirring more than usual.’
‘I fear they may have found a way to interact directly with someone or some group within the Pantathian community. Perhaps with this so-called Emerald Queen who now leads them.’
‘That’s a chilling thought.’
Pug said, ‘There is something few know. Have you heard of Macros the Black?’
Miranda said, ‘By reputation.’ Her tone was dry, and Pug assumed she didn’t believe the inflated tales about the Black Sorcerer.
‘Much of what he did was theatrics, but much was an order of magic beyond even my understanding today. He was able to do things with time that I can only speculate on, for one example.’
Her eyes narrowed at that. ‘Time travel?’
‘More. Tomas and I were trapped in a time well with him and we traveled to the dawn of time and returned. But he could use his mind and will across eons.’
‘How do you mean?’
‘He used his skills and powers to fashion a relationship between Tomas, a boyhood friend of mine, and Ashen-Shugar –’
The Valheru whose armor he wears!’ supplied Miranda.
‘It was never a simple case of an ancient magic lingering in a mystic suit of armor. Macros used that armor as a vehicle for his own manipulation of my friend, centuries later, so he could act as he did during the Riftwar.’
‘That wily bastard,’ muttered Miranda.
‘What if Tomas’s armor isn’t the only vehicle for such manipulation?’
Miranda’s eyes grew wide. ‘Is it possible?’
‘Of course it’s possible,’ said Pug. ‘The older I get, the more certain I become that there is very little that isn’t possible.’
Miranda stood up and began to pace the tiny room. ‘How would we know?’
‘We wait for Calis to return, or somehow get word to us. When last I saw Nakor I asked him to travel with Calis if possible, for he is uniquely suited to spying out this sort of problem. I suggested the possibility I just spoke of to you more than three years ago. Now that you tell me he’s gone with Calis, I am content to wait until they return. And we keep out of sight until then, so as not to provide the Pantathians with a target.
‘I could protect myself for a while, as you can, I am sure, but constantly having to defend myself would prove wearisome and divert me from certain studies.’
Miranda nodded. ‘What was that business of the clue and the rest, with the Hall of Worlds and the City of the Gods, all about, anyway?’
‘I wanted a way to keep to myself and yet be found if someone with the wit and talent needed to find me. Had you gone prowling the Hall, asking questions on any number of worlds,