Magician’s End (61 page)

Pug smiled and said, ‘I will attempt to do that.’

‘Good,’ said Magnus softly, and both knew nothing more need be said on the matter, because both knew the chances of that succeeding were virtually non-existent.

Pug said, ‘Until that moment, you are the only one I can trust to shepherd the others, to take that energy I need and feed it to me. So, first and foremost, no matter what else happens, you must do that. Once I no longer need it, you must flee, for either I’ve failed and the Dread is among us, or that rift will be imploding and most of what we’re standing on will be sucked into a vortex of unimaginable power. Understood?’

‘Understood.’ Magnus looked around. ‘What about the rest of them?’

Pug shook his head in regret. ‘Some things you can’t think about, or bear the pain of doing so.’

‘Miranda?’

‘She can get many free of here.’ He paused and thought for a moment, then said, ‘Thank you, son. You’ve given me an idea.’

Pug hurried to find Miranda. ‘I’ve been speaking to Magnus and we’ve worked out a plan to shut down the rift without needing you to be part of it, so I have favours to ask.’

‘What?’ said Miranda and her suspicious look told Pug he’d have a difficult time convincing her that what they were planning had a modicum of hope.

Pug said, ‘When I go inside the dome—’

‘What?’ interrupted Miranda. ‘
Inside?
When did that become part of your plan?’

‘I have to get to the rift to ensure what I plan to do will work.’

‘And how is it supposed to work if that thing inside obliterates you before you get an opportunity to examine the rift?’ she said, her voice rising until she was shouting.

Pug was silent for a moment, letting his mind wrestle with a flood of emotions. He was old enough and experienced enough that he could separate his feelings from his decision-making. He had lost so many friends over the years, his first three children, and his two wives, but in this one moment, despite knowing that this wasn’t really Miranda, he felt an almost overwhelming fear that he would never see that face again. He willed himself to push aside feelings and to concentrate on the task at hand.

‘I know in many ways this is as difficult for you as it is for me,’ he began.

She grabbed him and kissed him passionately for a long moment, then whispered, ‘You have no idea.’ A tear ran down her cheek. ‘I can barely remember anything of my life as a demon. Every minute I spend in this form those memories … my memories! They are mine!’ She leaned forward and put her cheek against his. ‘I know this has hurt you and Magnus in ways I can only imagine, but here,’ she struck her own chest with her fist, ‘I live and breathe as Miranda. I am your wife, Pug, and I am Magnus’s mother.’ She looked up at the sky as if trying to compose herself. ‘I remember a day and more of labour, and all that pain vanishing the moment he was born.’ She closed her eyes. ‘I miss Caleb every day.’ Then she stepped back a half step and struck him on the chest with a half-hearted blow. ‘And now you’re telling me to … pretend we don’t both know you’re going into that dome and you’re never coming back.’ She took a deep breath and whispered, ‘I’m sorry. I’ll do what you ask, of course. Just don’t ask me not to care.’

With a tear in his eye, he whispered, ‘I have not understood until now … just how painful this must be for you. I’m sorry.’ He kissed her. ‘I know you are not Miranda, but I want to tell you what I never got to say to her. When she … you died, part of me died with you. I have never for a moment in my life thought that love was limited, that there was a finite space in one’s heart for people. I love Tomas like a brother, and still miss Prince Arutha and Martin Longbow, and Father Tully and Kulgan. I wish I could see Hochopepa and Shimone one last time, and watch Fantus frighten the serving staff in Krondor. I miss Carline and Laurie, and I miss Katala as much as I miss you. So different, the two of you, yet both of you made me better and kept me … from spending too much time inside myself. The things we’ve had to do, the places we’ve gone, the pain and loss we’ve endured …’ Now tears ran down his cheeks. ‘I miss Caleb, and Marie.’ Pug started to sob. ‘I miss the boys, Zane, and Tad, and Jommy, and their families. But I want them safely gone from here. I may not survive this. But I want you safe, too. When I tell you, promise me you’ll leave and take as many of these as you can with you.’

‘Pug—’ she whispered.

‘Promise me!’ he demanded, his voice thick with emotion. He knew he was cursed to watch everyone he loved die before him: it was why he had distanced himself from those he met after his encounter with Lims-Kragma after his battle with Jakan the demon. Of those he counted loved ones, he had only Tomas and Magnus left alive. With his foster-grandchildren he had kept his distance, and with close associates like Ruffio he had not let personal bonds grow, as he refused to watch them die. But Miranda had already died, and unless the gods were cruel beyond understanding, what was left of her, her memories, her soul, and her heart, would live on within this body. ‘Promise,’ he repeated.

‘I promise,’ she said, tears running down her face. ‘I have lived a short life, by mortal standards, yet I have centuries of memory. But most of all, I have known love beyond my ability to imagine in the realm of my birth.’

‘Just stay alive,’ he whispered.

She stepped back, wiping her eyes. ‘I will,’ she replied.

Pug looked around and said, ‘The time of reckoning is near.’ He pointed to where a fatigued Liallan stood, perspiration dripping from her face, as she waited against another assault from the dome. ‘She must be saved.’

‘Why, of all of them?’

‘She is the future of the dark elves,’ said Pug. ‘I know something of what occurs up there, and there is a dark elf named Narab … he must not take the crown of the moredhel. She can make them so much more than what they are now. Besides, we are in their debt.’ He indicated the pyre that was being lit. ‘They’re here, giving their lives not just for themselves, but for even their most hated enemies on this world. We have a debt.’

‘I’ll do what I can,’ she said.

Disentangling himself from her embrace, he looked to see if anyone was watching. It was amusing that with a cataclysmic event perhaps hours away, he was still concerned over their privacy. ‘We have very little time,’ he said. ‘Get ready.’

She nodded. ‘What of our son?’

‘I have told him what I need of him.’ He refused to share with her in this moment, in this form, what he had not shared with her when she was human: that Magnus was preordained to die before him.

‘What happens next?’ asked Miranda.

‘We wait and when the next upheaval occurs, I will use all my powers to get to the pit and examine the rift and begin the transformation. Magnus will act as a conduit for all the magic we are gathering, and if all goes according to plan I’ll be able to trap whatever is emerging through the rift in it, suspend it between the void and here, then drop this entire mountain on top of it.’

‘The last time you did something like that, an entire world was destroyed, Pug,’ said Miranda.

Pain flickered across his face as he thought of the millions who had died to prevent the last incursion of the Dread into this space and time. ‘I know,’ he said softly. ‘I had less preparation and less understanding of the transit from that realm to this. I basically had no other idea how to close down that rift and destroy the link. But here we have an advantage. That red thing is its making, the Dread’s, and by luck or genius the original elf who tried to stem it created a perfect tool to manipulate it. I will use the spell to turn it back on itself, driving the Dread back into the void, and the vortex it creates should pull most of this valley and some of the surrounding mountains after it, sealing the passage.’

‘There’s a lot of conjecture there. If your calculations are off …’ She left the end of her thought unfinished, for they both knew the possible consequences.

‘I’ve been doing little but study this since I arrived,’ he said. ‘I know the risk, but we have no other choice. If I did have another course of action, I’d take it.’

‘How soon?’

‘Soon. If there’s not another major shift within the dome, or another breach in it, I’ll order the dome opened from this side, and we’ll try to achieve what we need.’

‘If you can do that, why wait?’

‘It will take a great deal of energy to force the upheaval from this side. If we wait, we can let the Dread do half our work for us. But from what I’m seeing in that matrix, I suggest sooner rather than later.’ He looked up the hillside to where Nakor, Magnus, and Ruffio were in deep conversation with a pair of priests. ‘I need to speak with some others, so if we don’t get the opportunity to speak again …’

‘I know.’ She took his hand and squeezed it, then let it go.

Pug moved to where the three magicians were and nodded greeting. He was in time to hear Ruffio say, ‘All you need to ensure is that those back at your temples are ready. I judge we’ll be ready soon.’ He glanced at Pug.

Pug said, ‘Very soon. In fact I was coming to ask you to start spreading the word.’ He glanced again at the dome and said, ‘Within hours.’

The two priests bowed and moved off. Pug turned to Ruffio and Nakor and said, ‘I have something to ask of you both.’

Ruffio said, ‘Anything.’

‘Magnus and I will be responsible for the assault on the rift. You, despite being magicians of prodigious power, will add little here by linking into the web of magic we will be using. Magnus will funnel the energy to me which will allow me to form a protective barrier around myself and reach the pit and rift. I need you two to keep as many people alive as you can once the dome is reopened.’

‘And once it is closed again?’ asked Ruffio.

‘I need you to take as many of the moredhel, the Sentinels, and any magician or priest too injured or weak to be part of the web, and get them as far from here as you can.’

Nakor held up a small Tsurani orb. ‘I can do that.’

‘Where did you get that?’ asked Pug. ‘I thought we’d allocated all of them.’

‘I’ve had it for years,’ said Nakor. ‘In my bag. I’m always travelling with someone else so I’ve never had to use it.’

‘Good,’ said Pug. ‘Where’s it calibrated to?’

‘This one goes to Krondor, Rillanon, Stardock, the Isle, and somewhere else …’ He toggled it and vanished. A moment later he returned. ‘Ah, to LaMut! That inn with the doorway into the Hall.’

‘How did you get back here?’ asked Pug, pointing to the sphere.

‘It’s a trick,’ said Nakor with a grin.

‘Then do you have a trick that can extend the field of that device to encompass more than just those holding on to you?’

Nakor’s grin vanished. ‘I can do that. How many?’

‘As many as you can manage,’ said Pug. ‘Take the moredhel and taredhel to LaMut, along with the eledhel. From there they can make their way to the Northlands or Elvandar as they please. The wounded can be cared for there as well.’ He dropped his voice. ‘Make sure that the two elven princes are among the first. Calin has been trying to help, but he’s just another warrior and we have more than we need: I’d trade a dozen warriors for another magic-user. And Calis …’ He lowered his voice. ‘I’ll not chance his mother losing a husband and son on the same day.’

Nakor said, ‘I understand, Pug.’

To Ruffio he said, ‘Take as many as you can, as well. Once you’ve reached LaMut, I want you to return to the Villa.’

‘Very well,’ said Ruffio. ‘What then?’

‘You wait, and if we survive all this, you will have the burden of rebuilding the Conclave and the Academy. Amirantha is there and he will do what he can to help you.’

‘But—’ began the younger magician, but Pug held up his hand.

‘Most of those here will probably not survive,’ said Pug. ‘If the damage to the dome is less than I anticipate, perhaps some will. No one here is ignorant of the risk. I’ve spoken to the leaders, and asked them to give permission to depart to those who wanted to leave.’

‘How many left?’ asked Magnus.

‘Three,’ said Pug. ‘A very old cleric of Sung who says his heart is weak and he can’t be of help, but he can tend to the injured should we need to recall him. And two young magicians from the Academy who just admitted to being too frightened to risk not fleeing at the last moment, disrupting the web.’

‘They may be the intelligent ones,’ said Nakor with a grin.

‘Anyway, I think we’re ready,’ said Pug.

‘What’s this?’ asked Ruffio, looking past Pug.

Pug turned and saw Calis and Arkan walking their way.

Calis said, ‘Pug, Arkan has a question.’

‘Yes?’ said Pug.

The moredhel chieftain paused for a moment, then said, ‘In a dream I was seen defending a human magician, clad in black.’ He pointed to Pug, then to Magnus. ‘I am unsure where I am destined to fight.’

Pug didn’t hesitate. He pointed to the large outcrop. ‘There. My son will be standing there and his concentration cannot be broken once he starts working his arts. If you will defend him, I will be in your debt.’

‘There is no debt,’ said the chieftain of the Ardanien. ‘It has been foretold and is ordained.’

He turned and walked towards Liallan’s pavilion.

Pug looked at Calis watching the moredhel’s retreating back. ‘He’s an interesting fellow.’

Calin was coming from where he saw to the wounded and passed Arkan without a nod. When he reached Pug and the others, he said, ‘We are doing as well as we could hope. Some of the wounded will be crippled, but they will live.’ He saw his brother and Nakor watching Arkan and gave his brother a questioning look.

Calis nodded. ‘I’ve killed a fair number of his kin over the years.’ He looked down a moment, his expression one of regret. ‘Never enjoyed it, really.’

Calin nodded and said nothing: there was nothing to say.

Calis glanced at Nakor. ‘He remembers a time when we soldiered for the king,’ he said.

‘Indeed, I do,’ said Nakor. ‘With Bobby de Longville and your band of desperate men.’ Then he said, ‘Sorry, I forget about naming the dead.’

Calin shrugged. ‘I will leave you to reminisce, brother.’ He moved back uphill toward the clearing where the wounded were being tended and those resting could get a meal.