The Chaoswar Saga: A Kingdom Besieged, A Crown Imperilled, Magician’s End. Raymond E. Feist

the Prince!’ blurted Ty. ‘Highness …’ He bowed.

      Hal followed suit. ‘Your highness.’

      The young man grinned. ‘Here I am Captain, not Prince.’

      ‘This is your ship, High— Captain?’ asked Ty.

      ‘Yes.’ He motioned for the two men to sit opposite Franciezka on a padded seat in front of the large stern windows. Even though these were the captain’s quarters, there wasn’t a lot of room.

      ‘We were content merely to watch over you from a distance,’ said Lady Franciezka, ‘until you so foolishly decided to go out brawling.’

      ‘Actually, my lady,’ said Ty, ‘he decided to go out. I went after him to ensure he was safe, and the brawling was not our idea. It just sort of happened.’

      ‘It’s been a month,’ said Hal, as if that explained everything. ‘So, were those Keshians? They didn’t look like Keshians.’

      ‘Those were common thugs, though I suspect at least one among them may have been a trained assassin,’ said Lady Franciezka. ‘You would both have been found dead, or you dead, Prince Henry, and you wounded, young Hawkins, and the story would be that it was a dockside brawl among many men, and the witnesses would have conflicting stories. Create enough confusion and the truth is hidden.’

      ‘And while the city watch was sorting things out,’ added Prince Albér, ‘my father would have the difficult task of informing King Gregory that a distant cousin of his was killed in a brawl.’

      Hal realized something. ‘You didn’t answer me. They were Kesh’s agents, right?’

      ‘No,’ said Lady Franciezka. ‘Despite the fleet looming off the harbour mouth, we’re actually on good terms with Kesh these days, at least relative to what the Kingdom of the Isles is dealing with; no, we have sure knowledge those weren’t Keshian agents trying to kill you.’

      ‘Who then?’ asked Ty.

      ‘That’s the question, isn’t it?’ said Albér.

      ‘Yes. It wasn’t Kesh and it certainly wasn’t Roldem,’ offered Lady Franciezka. ‘That means there’s another, unknown, player taking a hand.’

• CHAPTER SIXTEEN •

       Revelations

      AMIRANTH TENSED.

      He waited to see if anything went awry as Gulamendis completed his preliminary enchanting. The two had spent most of his visit determining a means of investigating the demon realm without actually exposing themselves to an attack from there.

      ‘I think I’m ready,’ said the elven Demon Master.

      ‘I’d be calmer if you had not said “think”.’

      Gulamendis glanced at his friend and then gave him what passed for an amused smile; Amirantha had come to appreciate the subtleties of elven expression over the two and a half weeks he had been the Demon Master’s guest. He’d also come to appreciate his people more, though the experience was leaving him with mixed feelings.

      Amirantha nodded once, and Gulamendis began his final summoning.

      The warlock waited for the tell-tale bristle of energies that signalled the breach of the barriers between the mortal realm and the demon realm. Gulamendis finished his preparations.

      Nothing happened.

      ‘Well, that was disappointing,’ said the elf.

      ‘What did you feel?’

      ‘Nothing.’ He looked at his human friend. ‘Just, nothing. It was as if there was no one on the other side, no demon present.’

      ‘Odd,’ said Amirantha.

      Gulamendis and he were standing in the middle of a large empty room, slated to be a storage area in the future, but presently unused. They had been given permission by Tanderae, the Loremaster and highest ranking member of the Regent’s Meet that was not hostile to them to use it, and had taken almost three days in preparing wards against an accidental summoning. The wards were strong enough in Amirantha’s judgment to hold anything this side of a demon prince in thrall should one come through, and the intent was not to reach through and bring over a demon but simply control a demon in the other realm long enough to speak to it. Had it gone as designed, they’d have seen the image of the demon standing in the centre of the ward and would have been able to communicate with it.

      It had been Amirantha’s idea for a while that somehow they should be able to see across the barrier into the demon kingdoms, but it had taken a long discussion with Gulamendis and his brother, Laromendis the Conjurer, to come up with a workable plan.

      Amirantha had got the idea from two different things told to him, first by those in the Conclave of Jim Dasher’s original encounter with the demon cult serving Dahun, and the summoning of the image before the mass slaughter overseen by the mad magician Belasco. Then he had taken what Laromendis had told him of portals of scrying, ‘rift windows’ as Amirantha thought of them, rifts you could look through, but not pass through.

      Why not combine the two? They had been working on the theory, and more than once Gulamendis had regretted his brother’s absence. The conjurer was again in Elvandar, one of those detailed by Tanderae to be an envoy to the Elf Queen’s court. Amirantha knew some sort of Star Elf politics was at play, but the details were lost on him. He shook his head. ‘Well, I remember a story once where a smith forgot to use one last nail on a horse’s shoe, and the shoe came off at the worst time and the horse went lame, and the rider of the horse was tossed and killed, and failed to deliver a message which kept a king from riding into a trap and his kingdom fell when he was killed. So a kingdom was lost, all for the want of a nail.’

      ‘So what nail did we overlook?’

      Amirantha waved his hand at a pile of parchments they had written furiously on over the last few days. ‘We start again.’ Then he realized how tired he felt and said, ‘But perhaps tomorrow? Right now I could use a flagon of what passes for wine here.’

      The taredhel did not ferment grapes, but had devised a very potent drink from berries. It was called leorwin and Amirantha was developing a taste for it. Or at least for its intoxicating effect.

      ‘Agreed,’ said Gulamendis. ‘We’ll resume work tomorrow; tonight wine.’

      They left the room after extinguishing the lanterns. As they walked away a glowing wisp of vapour formed in the centre of the ornate diagram on the floor. It coalesced into a shimmering oval through which a shape could be seen. The shape stopped moving, as if sensing something. It turned as if seeking the source of the sensation, then approached the window and leaned forward, reaching out. Two burning red eyes resolved themselves in a massive face as it grew closer. Then the mist vanished.

      Amirantha saw the Lord Regent and most of the members of the Regent’s Meet hurrying towards the massive hall used by the Star Elves as their nexus of portals. Gulamendis said, ‘From the expression on his face, the Lord Regent is not in a mood to be social. Let’s just – keep going—’

      Unfortunately, the Lord Regent spotted them and waved them over. ‘I’ve been summoned by the Loremaster to the Portals, something to do with demons, he thinks. You two attend me.’

      Saying nothing, the two Demon Masters fell in behind the group. Amirantha glanced at Gulamendis, clear in his eyes the silent thought, What now?

      The party mounted the broad stairs leading up to the huge building used to house all portals for the taredhel. They entered and found several elves scurrying about, or as close to scurrying as Amirantha had seen them. A lithe and graceful race, the taredhel always seemed to move with elegance and precision even when hurrying.