A lieutenant whom Erik didn’t know well, named Ronald Bumaris, said, ‘What was that. Captain?’
Erik said, ‘That was the palace, Lieutenant.’
The lieutenant said nothing, waiting for orders. After a half-hour, the flood of humanity out of the northernmost gate in the city fell off to a trickle, and Erik ordered his men to form up for a rear guard.
He watched as the civilians moved eastward, toward the coming night, and then he turned to the west, as fires burned in the distance, and he waited.
Honest John’s was doing its usual business, and Macros and Miranda moved through the crowd. They waved politely to their host, but declined his invitation to a drink. They moved purposefully to the stairs and mounted them to the upper concourse, to the gallery of shops.
Reaching the shop of Mustafa, they entered. The old man looked up and said, ‘So it’s you again?’
‘Yes,’ said Miranda.
‘Did you catch up to Pug?’
Miranda smiled. ‘You could say so.’
‘What can I do for you? A divination?’
Miranda sat in the chair opposite the old fortune teller, and said, ‘Do you recognize my father?’
Mustafa squinted, and then said, ‘No, should I?’
‘I am Macros.’
‘Oh,’ said the old fortune teller. ‘I heard you were dead. Or missing. Something like that.’
‘I need information,’ said Miranda.
‘I deal in such.’
‘I need a way into the world of Shila.’
‘You wouldn’t like it,’ said Mustafa. ‘It’s overrun by demons. Some idiot unsealed the barrier between the Fifth Circle and that world, and now it is just gone to hell.’
Macros laughed a dry laugh. ‘That’s one way of putting it.’
‘Why do you need to go there?’
‘To close two rifts,’ said Miranda. ‘One between Shila and Midkemia, then one between Shila and the demon realm.’
‘That’s difficult.’ The old man rubbed his chin. ‘I have information that would prove useful, I think. I can tell you a doorway to a location not far from the city of Ahsart, which is where I think you want to go.’
‘How do you know that?’ asked Macros.
‘I wouldn’t be much of a dealer in information if I didn’t know that, would I?’
‘How much?’ asked Miranda.
Mustafa set a price, the souls of a dozen children who had never been born, and Miranda stood up. ‘Perhaps Querl Dagat will prove less outrageous in his price.’
At the mention of one of his chief rivals, Mustafa said, ‘Wait a minute! Make me a counteroffer.’
‘I have a Word of Power, one which will gain you a greater wish.’
‘What’s the catch?’
‘You have to cast it on Midkemia.’
The old man sighed. ‘Midkemia, by all reports, is presently a less than hospitable place.’
‘That’s one of the reasons we need to close those portals. If we do, then once the mess is cleaned up, you can travel to Midkemia, cast your wish, and be back before you know it.’
Sighing, the old man said, ‘I would like to lose a few years. I don’t age here, as you know, but I discovered the Hall late in life, and most of the youth cures I’ve discovered involve less than appealing requirements, such as eating the still-beating heart of your lover, or murdering babies in their cradles. My ethics do not permit such.’
‘If I were you,’ suggested Miranda, ‘I’d wish for eternal good health. You can be young and still have problems.’
‘That’s not a bad idea. I don’t suppose you have two of those wishes, do you?’
Miranda shook her head.
‘Very well, I’ll take it.’
‘Done.’
The old fortune teller reached under the table and pulled out a map. ‘We’re here,’ he said, pointing to a large black square surrounded on four sides by lines that curved away after touching. ‘When you leave, tell the door witch you want exit number six hundred fifty-nine.’ His finger stabbed the map. ‘That will put you here. Go right, move down sixteen doors on the right - remember the doors are staggered and if you count on the left, you’ll go through the wrong one. The sixteenth door will open into a cave on Shila, about one day’s ride by horse to Ahsart. I assume travel once you’re there won’t be a problem.’
‘It won’t.’
‘Just travel due south and you’ll see the city off to your right. Now, to give you a little insight into what you face,’ he said, putting away the map, ‘let me tell you a bit about demons.
‘There are seven circles of what men call hell. The upper level is just a very unpleasant place populated by creatures not too different from those you meet on Midkemia. The Seventh Circle is populated by those you know as the Dread. They are life-drainers and beings of alien energy; they can’t exist in your world without killing anything they touch. They are so at odds with life as we know it they aren’t welcome in Honest John’s.’