Gulamendis said nothing.
‘Like yourself, I have witnessed the fall of our great race.’
Gulamendis kept quiet as they walked past a circle of priests who were enchanting a Star Stone. Having been raised by his mother in a small town on the frontier of the Empire of the Stars, he had never before seen one created. Their fabrication was rare, yet seven were being fashioned in this, the People’s new home. He paused to observe the wonder, then finally said, ‘No one has escaped being witness to tragedy.’
Tandarae nodded and remained silent for a moment.
The priests finished their spell. A dull grey object, like a large piece of unfinished lead or tin ore, hovered in the air. It began to glow, slightly at first and with a pulse. Over the next minute the glow brightened and the pulse quickened. In less than an hour it would glow with the brightness of a star and to gaze upon it for more than a moment would blind you. But the magic prepared the ground for the most holy of the People’s artefacts, their living breathing heart, one of the seven great trees known as the Stars.
Quietly Tandarae said, ‘I could be burned at the stake for saying so, but all of this is unnecessary.’
Gulamendis turned to study the Lorekeeper. He looked much like any young male of the People, tall and regal, with broad shoulders and a haughty expression. His features were unremarkable: a straight nose, deep-set eyes, a strong chin and high cheekbones. His hair however, was unusually dark, almost deep auburn in colour. ‘Unnecessary?’
Tandarae knelt and gently rubbed his hand over the dirt of the valley floor, as if stroking a pet. He then picked up a loose clot of soil. ‘This is Home, Gulamendis.’ He raised it to his face, sniffed, and said, ‘The magic is already here.’
Standing again, he looked at the Demon Master. ‘We needed the Star Stones in the past to prepare the soil of an alien world and allow the Seven Stars to flourish.’ He took a long, slow, deep breath, and said, ‘The magic here is in the air. I know you felt it when you first came through the portal.’
Gulamendis nodded. ‘It was impossible not to.’
‘We could excavate the Seven Stars, wrap their mighty roots, magic them through the portal and plant them without the stones and they would thrive here. This is their home, too.
‘But the People are wed to tradition.’
Gulamendis nodded in agreement. Entrenched beliefs were difficult to challenge. Those in power were so certain that a Demon Master had caused the invasion that it was only by fortune’s favour he still lived.
Looking around to make sure no one eavesdropped, Tandarae continued. ‘You and your brother have lived on the fringes for too long, my friend. Masters of Illusion are treated with indifference, they have no place on the Council of Magic. Over the centuries, the builders, geomancers, aremancers—’ he nodded at the group of priests and magicians who were now leaving the site where they had created the Star Stone, ‘—and especially the tarmancers, have convinced the People that they alone should be entrusted with advising the Regent. Overcoming their bias …’ He left the thought unfinished.
Quietly, Gulamendis said, ‘Why are you saying these things to me?’
With a slightly sad smile, Tandarae said, ‘I have no magic, Gulamendis. My only gift is a prodigious memory. I speak without false modesty when I say that no Lorekeeper before me has been able to recall, word for word, every passage in every tome he has read. I know the history of our People better than any living elf, better than any who came before me.
‘And I can see a pattern.’
‘Pattern?’
‘We have much to talk about, but first you must find us a demon.’
‘I don’t understand?’
Taking Gulamendis’s arm, the Lorekeeper gently turned him towards a distant gate. ‘We both know that your obligation to report to the Grand Master is a formality. You’re a free agent, under direct orders from the Regent Lord. You have two tasks …’ He squinted a little as he studied the Demon Master’s face. ‘No, you have three tasks,’ he said softly. ‘You have one of your own, I see.’
Gulamendis stiffened slightly, but didn’t break a stride. ‘I am to seek out demon sign,’ he said. ‘If I find none, I rejoice.’
‘Oh, I suspect you’ll find some …’ He again studied the Demon Master while they walked. ‘Perhaps you already have.’ Gulamendis stopped, and Tandarae smiled. ‘My other gift is reading expressions.’ He waited for the Demon Master to speak, but when he did not, the Lorekeeper said, ‘Too long have we glorified power, Gulamendis. When it serves us, it is a grand thing, but to seek power for its own sake makes us little different from those we call the Forgotten.’
For a brief instant Gulamendis wondered if the Lorekeeper could read this thoughts, for his words echoed them. Weighing his response carefully, he asked, ‘What do you advise?’
Tandarae started moving towards the distant gate. ‘I will speak to Grand Master Colsarius, who will discharge your obligation to report. He will consider it a blessing to be saved from meeting a demon lover.’ He gave a wry smile and Gulamendis understood he meant the insult to be humorous. ‘There’s always the risk that he might take it upon himself to augment or extend the Regent Lord’s instructions, and I’d rather you weren’t distracted from your tasks.’
Gulamendis saw they were approaching the gate opposite the one through which he had entered the burgeoning city, and said, ‘What do you know of my tasks, Tandarae?’
‘I know the Regent Lord wants you to ensure we are not troubled by demons. And I’m guessing he will send someone with a great deal of experience to skulk through dark places to investigate a few other things too, such as how our kin on this world fare.’
Gulamendis was impressed. His meeting with the Regent Lord had been private, and held over the first good meal the Demon Master had been given in months. The Regent Lord had been adamant that Laromendis would remain hostage against his brother’s good behaviour while Gulamendis carried out two tasks; firstly to see if they were free of demon taint in Midkemia, and secondly to travel north and discover what he could about the elves living there, especially the so-called Elf Queen. Gulamendis suspected that the Regent Lord was in no hurry to surrender his authority to another, no matter what her lineage might be. She could claim to be descended from the true kings of the edhel, but it would take more than a garland crown and some rustic, leather-clad attendants to convince him to bend his knee before her.
Tandarae said, ‘And there’s something else, but I can’t tell what it is …’
Gulamendis preferred it that way. This young Lorekeeper was too adept at discerning truth from fragments and glimpses. He might prove to be a powerful ally, but he would make a deeply dangerous enemy. Still, Gulamendis wasn’t without his own talents in seeing a larger picture when enough information was available. He studied Tandarae and said, ‘You have great ambitions, my friend. Is not Master of Lore enough?’
The young elf smiled, but it was a pained expression. ‘I am a loyal friend. But the needs of my people come before any single elf’s desires.’
Gulamendis nodded and turned to walk through the gate. He understood completely. The young Lorekeeper meant to be the next Regent Lord. It now made sense why he had sought out the Demon Master. He wished the Elf Queen to know there were those within the ranks of the taredhel who were ready to acknowledge her as the rightful ruler of all the edhel. And they would aid her in exchange for certain considerations, such as being named her Regent Lord in Elenbar.
Gulamendis turned just as Tandarae was about to return to his other tasks, and said, ‘Why have this conversation? You already knew of my mission, yet you expose yourself, even if only slightly, by talking as you have. Why?’
The Lorekeeper turned back towards Gulamendis and said, ‘Do you know the Tome of Akar-Ree?’