Part 19 (2/2)

”He is so weak!” Alodar exclaimed. ”This is hardly the one with whom I wrestled so long ago.”

The archimage paused a moment, then immediately shook off his astonishment.

”What is it you wish?” he said. ”We have decided long ago, Elezar, that the affairs of the realm of men were no longer to be your concern.”

”So they are not,” Elezar replied. ”But I am one prince among many. I maneuver to keep the interests of the others away by your command and have succeeded because of my own great power.”

The fire spit and sputtered.

”My prince has not recovered from his wound.” Astron took a step toward the hearth. ”And by the weakness of his voice I would deduce that he has received another.”

137.

”But consider this, archimage,” Elezar continued, apparently not hearing the voice of his cataloguer. ”If my own power were to wane, who then would keep the other princes from coveting the realm of men as I did myself? And unlike creatures of my kind, you age, master. Are you ready again to undergo the test of wills that you undertook in your prime?”

”What other prince?” Aiodar leaned forward in his chair. ”Who else in the realm of daemon focuses his thoughts in a way that should not be his concern?”

”There is Gaspar,” Elezar said. ”He has proven far more potent an adversary than I did first suspect. My own domain he has ripped from the void. And before his attack a full dozen other princes he had previously allied to his cause. My hiding places in the blackness he has found one by one. The dark node I now occupy is the last. There is little time left before I am overwhelmed. Do as my messenger directs; you can fight to save the realm of men now or wait till later when the outcome will be more in your disfavor.”

Kestrel shook his head. He could barely believe what he was hearing. Imps and sprites or minor devils summoned with anvilwood were one thing, but warring demon princes and archimages were quite another. And evidently Astron's story was correct, just as he had stated from the first. What had he got himself into?

”These events are all very sudden,” Aiodar said. ”I find it hard to believe that one as crafty as you, Elezar, would be reduced to such straits. I will need time to verify if what you say is true.”

”Time is the luxury that you do not have, master,” the fiame whispered with Elezar's voice. ”Gaspar hunts not only me but all who serve as well. In the last few ticks of the eon, many imps have crossed the barrier between our realms. Some have been instructed, I know, to track down my cataloguer-track him down so that mightier djinns can pluck off his limbs one by one, just as surely as Gaspar wishes the same fate for me. Each moment you hesitate brings closer the time when you must confront not one demon pa.s.sing through the flame but more

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than a score. Discover what must be done before it is too

late.”

The flame sputtered. Elezar's voice faded into the glow of the hot coals. Kestrel strained to hear more but the whispers of the demon dissolved into indistinctness. Aiodar frowned and then turned to look at Astron. ”What then is the message of your prince?” he asked. ”What would he have me do that would restore him to power and protect the realm of men as well?”

”The prince needs a transporter,” Astron said. ”One to carry matter between the realms. One whom he trusted you to choose.”

”We have little traffic with the realm of the skyskirr,” Aiodar said. ”Ever since the metamagician Jemidon restored our laws to their natural state, the path between the two universes has been opened but rarely. It is merely by chance that you have arrived while some manipulants are also here.”

”I do not think it is to the skyskirr that we must go,” Astron said. ”Their realm has little more diverse matter than my own. It would be somewhere else instead.”

Alodar's eyes narrowed. ”There are others, are there not?” he said slowly. ”It was of course obvious after I learned of the existence of the 'hedron, but I dared not seek the definite proof. Contact with one other realm was disruptive enough. It would have been folly to explore too far.”

”Yet, just as the number of laws number more than seven,” Astron said, ”so does the counting of the diverse universes that populate the void, each with its own essence and rituals, distinct from the rest.”

Kestrel stirred uncomfortably. The conversation was about things he could well avoid. He would have to divert its course into matters of more direct concern.

”The wizards of Brythia are responsible for the imps of which this-this Prince Elezar speaks,” he said. ”Restricting the masters from such reckless action might help with your other problem as well.”

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