.

of the god.

      Pug could never quite fathom if there was something truly significant about the statue, or if it was merely some manifestation of Macros’s love of the theatrical.

      A still-sleepy magician named Jerome hurried in, obviously having just got dressed after bathing, his wet hair still plastered to his skull. ‘Sorry,’ he said, nodding in greeting.

      That left just one member missing. Glancing around the cave, Pug said questioningly, ‘Sandreena?’

      It was Grand Master Creegan who replied. ‘There is no reason I can imagine that would keep her from answering the call. She must be incapacitated somehow.’

      Magnus said, ‘Or the device failed.’

      Pug sighed and nodded. The ancient Tsurani transportation orbs were becoming a problem. Translocation or teleportation was one of the more difficult feats, even for practised magicians. Magnus was unparalleled in his ability to travel anywhere he had visited before, as well as certain places he had never seen on the basis of unique features well described to him. Pug could travel easily to any place he could see, or knew, and Magnus had helped him master greater range. But only a handful of magicians could match even Pug’s more limited abilities, and many of the agents of the Conclave, like Grand Master Creegan, were not magicians.

      Pug whispered to Magnus, ‘If it’s the device, make sure to turn off the summons. I can’t have her itching every half-hour.’ He paused. ‘Unless you’d like to face her and her mace when she finally does get here?’

      Magnus vanished and in a moment he was back. ‘Taken care of, Father.’

      Pug said, ‘And Amirantha?’

      Magnus said, ‘Despite his residency here for the last few years, you’ve never formally invited him into the Conclave, so he doesn’t have means to return in a hurry. I’ll have to fetch him from the elven city.’

      Pug said, ‘Later. I’d rather not disturb him while he’s at E’bar.’ His gaze travelled around the assembled members of the Conclave. Then he took a deep breath and announced, ‘Apparently a very large war is erupting between the Empire of Great Kesh and the Kingdom of the Isles.’

      Everyone in the room appeared surprised, yet there was little evidence of shock. One magician, by the name of Brandtly, whom Pug had serving as a liaison with Stardock, said, ‘We’ve heard rumours, and some of the Keshian magicians at Stardock have been absent of late, but rumours of war in the Vale are constant.’

      Grand Master Creegan asked, ‘You’ve had no word from agents in either court?’

      ‘We don’t properly have an agent in the court in Rillanon,’ Pug said, ‘though we enjoy a special relationship with their intelligence service.’ Most in the room knew of Pug’s treatment of the future King of the Isles, Prince Patrick of Krondor, at the end of the war with the Emerald Queen, when Kesh had tried to press its advantage against the Kingdom’s weakened defences in the West. Pug had ended the war, but had publicly embarrassed the hot-tempered young monarch. Since then, relations between the Conclave and the Kingdom had been strained at best, hostile at worst. ‘If James Jamison had heard anything that had any bearing on this, I can’t imagine he wouldn’t share that intelligence with us. He more than anyone in the King’s service has a sense of what is at stake, what dangers are still out there.’ His hand waved vaguely towards the cave entrance, but everyone knew he meant those unknown beings behind the onslaught of demons against this realm. ‘It may have been years since our enemies last assaulted us, but they will come again, there is no doubt. And we will need every force at our disposal to oppose them. We cannot permit this war. Two devastated armies will not do; two plundered populations will not do.’ His voice rose. ‘Two severely weakened nations will not do.

      ‘None of our friends in the court of the Emperor have hinted at such an undertaking. We’ve had reports detailing debates within the Chamber of Lords and Masters, some calling for a more aggressive policy towards the Kingdom, especially regarding the Vale of Dreams. But no warnings, no alarms, nothing.’ Pug let out a long breath. ‘This is no mad adventure conducted by dissidents or a break-away faction in the Empire. For something of this scale, the Emperor himself had to give approval, or at least be in no position to object.’

      Pug looked at Creegan. ‘Had the temples any warning?’

      ‘No, just the usual: some members of the Congress of Lords urging a more belligerent posture towards Kesh, and closer ties with Roldem.’ He stopped. ‘Usually, those in favour of adventure turn their eyes to the Eastern Kingdoms, seeking to expand in that direction. War with Kesh is never anyone’s notion of a good idea.’ He paused, then added, ‘But we haven’t received any reports from our temples or shrines in the south of Kesh for over a month now. And Sandreena was investigating some reports of …’

      ‘What?’ prompted Pug.

      ‘Just some things that sounded to her as if the Black Caps might have returned.’

      The Black Caps were a group of murderers and thugs attached to those who had been in the service of Belasco, the mad magician who had attempted to bring the Demon King Dahun into this realm and had been possessed by him for his trouble. In the end both the magician and the Demon Lord had been destroyed, but many of those serving them had escaped into the wilds of Kesh. Any rumour of their re-emergence would have attracted Sandreena’s attention, as she had more run-ins with them than anyone else.

      ‘You didn’t think this worthy of a mention?’ asked Magnus.

      ‘I would have once she returned,’ said Creegan. Members of the Conclave were not merely Pug’s agents, but powerful men and women in their own right, and many bristled at the idea they had to defend their choices within their own areas of influence.

      Pug held up his hand, forestalling any argument. ‘I trust each of you to let me know what’s critical.’

      He looked from face to face, almost as if trying to read their thoughts, then seized upon something Creegan had said. ‘Sandreena ventured to the south of Great Kesh?’

      ‘Yes, somewhere below the Girdle,’ said the Grand Master.

      ‘Have any of you received reports from your agents south of the Girdle recently?’

      Glances were exchanged, and finally a woman named Veronica said, ‘No. But then it’s not unusual to not hear from them for months. There is very little that happens in the Confederacy that has any particular bearing on our interests, save the occasional magician who is found and recruited for the Academy or your island.’

      Pug nodded. ‘If our enemies know us as well as I think they do, where better to stage a massive operation against us than somewhere we just choose to ignore?’

      Daniel, a highly-placed warrior in the martial order known as The Hammer, stood up. The Hammer was a disavowed sect putatively associated with the Temple of Tith-Onanka. In fact they were close to being a mercenary army, tolerated on both sides of the border between Kesh and the Kingdom. They answered only to their leader, the Knight-Marshal of the order, and it had taken years for Pug to place an agent within their ranks: like other martial orders associated with the temples, they were wary of spies and had magical means by which they could ferret them out. ‘How big was the fleet you saw, Pug?’ Daniel asked.

      ‘I counted over one hundred ships making for Port Vykor or Krondor.’

      ‘If they’re sending that many ships into the Bitter Sea, they have other fleets as well. They’ll not leave their coasts unprotected from pirates, raiders, retaliation, or other disasters. Moreover, the combined fleets of Roldem and Isles in the Sea of Kingdoms needs be met with a show of strength.’ Daniel paused, thinking. ‘To muster such a fleet south of the Girdle and then sail up to the Straits of Darkness and into the Bitter Sea within a few weeks to catch the Kingdom unawares …’ He stopped. ‘What I’m trying to say is the execution may have only taken weeks, but the planning … that’s been months, perhaps years. Food, weapons, drinking water: it’s a massive cargo! It all has to be moved somewhere out-of-the-way, somewhere they have