Kulgan and Elgahar sat over a chessboard, while Hochopepa observed, offering unsolicited advice to both players. The room was thick with smoke, for both the stout magicians were sucking on large, after-dinner pipes, enjoying their effects fully, oblivious to the reactions of the others. Meecham sat nearby putting an edge on his hunting knife with a whetstone.
Katala pushed open the door and said, “All of you, come!”
Her tone and the urgency of her manner caused all questions to be put aside as they followed her back down the corridor to where William sat studying Gamina.
Katala knelt before the girl and slowly passed her hand before the glassy eyes. Gamina didn’t respond. She was in some sort of trance. Kulgan whispered, “What is this?”
Katala whispered back, “William says she’s talking to Pug.”
Elgahar, the usually reserved Greater Path magician, moved past Kulgan. “Perhaps I may learn something.” He crossed to kneel before William. “Would you do something with me?”
William shrugged noncommittally. The magician said, “I know you can sometimes hear Gamina, just as she can hear you when you speak to animals. Could you let me hear what she’s saying?”
William said, “How?”
“I’ve been studying how Gamina does what she does, and I think I might be able to do the same. There’s no risk,” he said, looking at Katala.
Katala nodded while William said, “Sure. I don’t mind.”
Elgahar closed his eyes and put his hand upon William’s shoulder, and then after a minute he said, “I can only hear . . . something.” He opened his eyes. “She’s speaking to someone. I think it is Milamber,” he said, using Pug’s Tsurani name.
Hochopepa said, “I wish Dominic hadn’t returned to his abbey. He might be able to listen in.”
Kulgan held up his hand for silence. The girl let out a long sigh and closed her eyes. Katala reached for her, afraid she might faint, but instead the girl opened her eyes wide, then gave a broad smile and leaped up.
Gamina nearly danced around the room, so excited were her movements as she shouted in mind-speech, It was Papa! He talked to me! He’s coming back!
Katala put her hand upon the girl’s shoulder and said, “Gently, daughter. Now, stop jumping about and tell us what you said, and speak, Gamina, speak.”
For the first time ever, the girl spoke above a whisper, in excited shrieks punctuated with laughter. “I spoke to Papa! He called me from someplace!”
“Where?” asked Kulgan.
The child paused in her excited dance and tilted her head, as if thinking. “It was . . . just someplace. It had a beach and was pretty. I don’t know. He didn’t say where it was. It was just someplace.” She jiggled up and down again and started to push on Kulgan’s leg. “We have to go!”
“Where?”
“Papa wants us to meet him. At a place.”
“What place, little one?” asked Katala.
Gamina jumped a little. “Sethanon.”
Meecham said, “That’s a city near the Dimwood, in the centre of the Kingdom.”
Kulgan shot him a black look. “We know that.”
Unabashed, the franklin indicated the two Tsurani magicians, and said, “They didn’t . . . Master Kulgan.” Kulgan’s bushy eyebrows met over the bridge of his nose as he cleared his throat, a sign his old friend was right. It was the only sign Meecham would get.
Katala attempted to calm the girl. “Now, slowly, who is to meet Pug at Sethanon?”
“Everyone. He wants us all to go there. Now.”
“Why?” asked William, feeling neglected.
Suddenly the girl’s mood shifted and she calmed. Her eyes widened and she said, “The bad thing, Uncle Kulgan! The bad thing from Rogen’s vision! It’s there!” She clutched Kulgan’s leg.
Kulgan looked at the others in the room, and finally Hochopepa said, “The Enemy?”
Kulgan nodded and hugged the child to him. “When, child?”
“Now, Kulgan. He said we must go now.”
Katala spoke to Meecham. “Pass word through the community. All the magicians must ready to travel. We must leave for Landreth. We’ll get horses there and ride north.”
Kulgan said, “No daughter of magic would depend on such mundane transportation.” His mood was light in an attempt to relieve the tension. “Pug should have married another magician.”
Katala’s eyes narrowed, for she was in no mood to banter. “What do you propose?”
“I can use my line-of-sight travel to move myself and Hocho to locations in jumps, up to three miles or more. It will take time, but far less than by horse. In the end we can establish a portal, near Sethanon, and you and the others can walk through from here.” He turned to Elgahar. “That will give all of you time to prepare.”
Meecham said, “I’ll come, too, in case you pop into an outlaw camp or some other trouble.”
Gamina said, “Papa said to bring others.”
“Who?” asked Hochopepa, placing his hand on the child’s delicate shoulder.
“Other magicians, Uncle Hocho.”
Elgahar said, “The Assembly. He would ask for such a thing only if the Enemy was indeed upon us.”
“And the army.”
Kulgan looked down at the little face. “The army? Which army?”