‘Ah,’ said Pug with a smile. ‘Don’t let it become a distraction.’
‘Unless the librarians are pretty young women wearing no clothing, Richard,’ he said, using Pug’s false name, ‘I think I shall be fine.’
Pug laughed, but his eyes searched every inch of the room. They had assumed they’d be spied upon, but didn’t know to what extent they would be monitored. It could be as simple as a listening post in a nearby-room, eavesdropping through a simple sound chamber, or through a tiny tube of metal hidden behind a tapestry or decorative plant, or they could well be employing a complex scrying spell, a possibility that Magnus now attempted to determine.
Pug looked at his son, who opened his eyes and shook his head once: they could detect no magic at play. ‘I think I’ll lay down for a while,’ said Magnus as he stood up and moved to one of the nearby doors.
Pug nodded agreement and went to another. Opening the door, he found a small but well-appointed room containing a simple free standing closet, a clean bed under a window that looked down on a tiny flowerbed and across to another window, which was possibly an additional guest apartment from what Pug could tell. He saw no movement through the window and assumed that apartment was empty.
Pug closed the door and lay down, gathering his thoughts.
Since Miranda and Caleb’s death, any amount of reflection plunged him into morbid introspection. He had fought many battles in his life; losing Nakor had begun the struggle, but the death of his wife and son had defeated him.
Still, there was more work to do and he had to pull himself out of a deep cauldron of self-pity and rage towards the gods that shackled him; he had made the bargain, he reminded himself again; he could have left this life after battling Jakan, the demon disguised as the Emerald Queen, but had elected to return and continue the struggle. The price he paid was to watch everyone he loved die.
He sat up. Something tickled the edge of his mind.
Standing, he hurried to the door leading into Amirantha’s bedroom and quietly knocked. When the Warlock answered, Pug held up a warning finger before his lips, then motioned him to follow to Magnus’s door. He knocked lightly again, and when his son appeared made a circling motion with his hand. Magnus nodded and motioned for them to enter.
Once in the room, Magnus positioned the two other magic users to stand close to him. He closed his eyes for a moment then said, ‘We are shrouded. It is only a weak enchantment, more strength might alert anyone watching us.’
‘We’re being spied upon by magic, as well?’ asked Amirantha.
Pug said, ‘My son has skills even beyond mine. As you can sense demons he can sense the practice of magic, even to the point of understanding the spells and being able to counter them.’ He looked at his son with pride in his eyes. ‘It’s a rare gift.’
‘They are only using a poor scrying spell, easily defeated. But the longer I maintain the illusion that we’re talking about which books to examine tomorrow, the more likely it is someone may discover my counter-spell. So, what is it?’
Pug said, ‘Amirantha. I need to ask you something. We have spoken so much about what we know of demons and what we don’t know, that occasionally a question gets set aside and we forget to revisit it.
‘We have speculated much on what happened to Maarg on Shila, but we never returned to something you wished to discuss,’ he said quickly to Amirantha. ‘You were surprised at the demon captain Jakan seizing the Emerald Queen’s body?’
‘Demonic possession is very rare,’ said Amirantha, speaking softly and quickly. ‘And such cases have always been limited to a particular sort of creature. I think of them as spirits or ghosts as much as the demons we face. The idea of a powerful demon lord, one of the great captains, or one of equal strength possessing such an ability…’ Amirantha shrugged. ‘I really don’t remember what I wanted to ask at the time. I am simply confused by it.’
‘Why?’ asked Magnus.
‘It’s not typical demon behaviour. Piecing together what you’ve told me, and what I learned from Gulamendis, I’m beginning to get a rough idea of demonic society, if it can be called that. Or rather, how things are done in the demon realm. It’s chaotic by our standards, yet it has rules and boundaries. This demon possession by a powerful, magic-using demon just doesn’t fit in with them.’
He looked around, frustrated, ‘This really isn’t a subject we can discuss in short, but it’s good that you brought it up. If we don’t find this tome we need, be alert for any other references to demon encounters or lore. It might provide us with additional insights.’
Pug nodded, ‘We’ll talk more when it’s safe to do so.’