Part 10 (1/2)

'The third plane of existence?'

Pug nodded.

'Nothing, really.'

'The fourth?' asked Pug.

'Again, nothing.'

'The fifth?'

Macros sighed. 'I had a few very painful but highly memorable moments in the fifth plane. When you closed the rift to the demon realm behind me, I was left in the clutches of Maarg, the Demon King. I unleashed every bit of power I possessed, stunning him for the briefest instant, and he released his hold on me. I fell to what I take it was a stone floor, in some sort of demonic palace. Merely touching it caused me great pain. I had only a few impressions, then I lost consciousness. I expect Maarg killed me moments later, for the next thing I knew I was in front of Lims-Kragma, listening to a litany of...' He faltered.

'What?' asked Pug.

'Until this moment, I had no memory of... the time between my death and my childhood here.' He paused. 'In fact, I had no memory of a childhood, really. Impressions of a mother and being in hiding, and a difficult journey to...' He looked from face to face. 'I really didn't live that life. My memories are... someone else's.'

Nakor nodded. 'Somehow Lims-Kragma put you in another's body'

'How many years has it been since I died, Pug?'

'About forty.'

'I've been here, or at least I remember being here, thirty-three or so Midkemian years.'

'What happened to the rest?' asked Magnus.

Macros let out a slow breath. 'It's a mystery.'

Nakor said, 'Not really. What is your earliest memory, of you being you, Macros, not the Dasati you thought you were?'

'Eleven years ago, after a summer rite, I was walking home and became overcome with dizziness. I ducked out of sight, afraid that someone might seem me weakened...' He shook his head. 'Before that, I was a Lesser, a minor fabricator of clothing.'

'A tailor,' said Magnus.

'Yes,' said Macros.

'But in only eleven years you have fas.h.i.+oned a planets-wide resistance to the Dark G.o.d, and have won over thousands of followers,' said Pug.

Macros closed his eyes. 'The White has been around a lot longer than me...'

'Who was the Gardener before you?' asked Magnus.

Macros appeared confused, uncertain. 'I... don't know.' His shoulders rounded as he slumped down, looking troubled. 'I awoke under a stone wall, not unlike those you see around here. I had a ma.s.sive headache and I stumbled back to the hovel where I... where this body lived.' He looked Nakor in the eyes. 'I was not reborn, was I?'

Nakor slowly shook his head. 'I don't know, but I think not. I think somehow the G.o.ds of our home world took your mind and put it in another body. I think that's why you're sick.'

'Dying,' corrected Macros.

'Who was the Gardener before you?' repeated Magnus.

Now Macros looked genuinely disturbed. 'I don't know,' he said again. 'I don't know who would know,' he added quietly.

'No one here is likely to know. Perhaps Martuch, Hirea, or Narueen, or they might know...'

'What?' asked Pug.

'The Bloodwitch Sisters. If anyone knows, it is they.'

Nakor stood, as if ready to depart. 'Then we must ask them.'

Pug said, 'Yes.'

Macros said, 'But we should...'

For the first time in his life, since meeting Macros the Black on Sorcerer's Island, back when Pug was only a simple squire in Lord Borric's court at Crydee Castle Pug saw confusion and uncertainty in Macros's face. 'Nakor is right. We are embarking on the most dangerous undertaking attempted in this, or perhaps any other, world. There is a being who calls itself the Dark G.o.d of the Dasati, who endangers not only this world, but countless others. And we are going to stop it.

'I am not going to attempt such an undertaking rashly, and waste the lives of myself and my friend and my son because someone else wants us to act the part of mindless dupes. I need to know who is truly the person responsible for all this.'

Magnus said, 'We need to know who controlled the White before you.'

'I...' began Macros, then he faltered. He shook his head. 'I left my home, in a quadrant of the city not too distant from here, and I took the Star Bridge to another world. Mathusia. From there I travelled to... a place. I don't remember where, but when I got there, they were expecting me!'

'What sort of place was it?' asked Nakor.

'A Bloodwitch enclave,' said Macros softly.

'Then we must speak with whoever is in charge of the Bloodwitch Sisterhood.'

'Lady Narueen?' asked Magnus.

'No,' said Nakor. 'She is important, but she's not in charge.'

'How do you know that?' asked Pug.

'Because whoever is in charge isn't having babies and hiding out and risking being killed by crazy Bloodknights. Whoever's in charge is somewhere very safe telling others to go out and take risks.'

'Father's in charge of the Conclave, and he certainly takes risks.'

Nakor grinned and even through his false alien visage, the smile was all his own. 'Your father, at times, is not the sanest man I know, but on our world, it's rarely the case that when you step outside the door of your home, everyone and everything is trying to kill you.'

'Rarely,' Pug agreed dryly.