‘Energy pulse?’
‘Each occurrence of magic leaves a signature, a pattern of forces that can tell you a great deal about what has taken place. Rifts are both unique and common. They are unique in that each acts in a particular way, in where it comes from and where it goes to, but common in that they share many properties. This one is more unique than common. In fact, it’s completely unique.’ He rubbed his chin. ‘I would love to have the opportunity to study the rift to the demon realm. It might give me a clue to who built this one.’ He sat back with a sigh. ‘I’m certain it wasn’t the Pantathians. Someone else gave them the tools to do this.’
‘Who?’
‘I don’t know.’ He pointed at the rift. ‘This one was opened from the other side. If you get a chance to study enough of these fissures in space and time, you’ll be able to tell the difference between the sending side and the receiving side, or if it’s a two-way gate - this is a two-way gate.’ He shook his head in obvious wonder. ‘Now, this other energy,’ he said, pointing to the weaving. ‘This is even stranger.’
‘What is it?’
‘A barrier, obviously, but one that puzzles me.’ He motioned for her to come closer. ‘What do you see here?’ he asked, pointing to several of the strands.
‘Dark green strands.’
‘Hmmm. To me they’re more of a lime color. Anyway, look closer.’
She leaned forward and studied the strands. ‘There’s something irregular about this.’
‘Yes!’ he said with delight. ‘I think they have been sundered and reconnected.’
‘By whom?’
Macros sat. ‘If what Hanam has told us is entirely accurate, he was the uninvited guest when the third demon was sent through. I suspect the first two encountered Pantathians. The first one fought and killed many, while the second, this Jakan, slipped away to safety. The first demon may have been the one you witnessed when you came here with Calis: the huge killer, driven mad or mindless by the Pantathians’ magic’
‘So Jakan slipped away, started sneaking around the halls, killing as he went and building up his strength,’ Miranda said.
‘Yes. Eventually the Pantathians rallied, and sealed this rift again.’
‘That must have been when we found their deepest enclave and killed those high priests.’
Macros nodded. ‘I wondered what happened to the first demon.’
Miranda looked around. ‘Dead? I hope.’
Macros laughed. ‘If he’s still around, I think the two of us can deal with him. He won’t have had much to eat, and from what you told me, he didn’t appear to have much of a mind left.’
Miranda said, ‘It’s hard to appraise the intellect of a demon when it’s embroiled in a battle with a dozen Pantathian serpent priests.’
‘True,’ he agreed. ‘There are three different ways we could approach this. We could wait to see if something else tries to break through from the other side. Or we could attempt to unwrap these barrier forces, letting whatever is on the other side come through unaided. Or we could destroy the barrier and go through to the other side.’
‘I like the fourth choice.’
‘Which is?’
‘We do our best to reinforce the barrier.’
Macros shook his head. ‘No, that won’t do.’
‘Why not?’
Macros looked at his daughter. ‘I take it you haven’t studied rifts much?’
‘Not at all. I know next to nothing about them.’
Macros shrugged. ‘Well, there’s a large volume of my work on the subject in Pug’s library. But given we can’t risk the time to return there and wait while you study, let me sum up: no matter what barriers we add to those already in existence, as long as the rift exists it can be opened. We not only have to destroy it, we have to ensure that the demons don’t create another.’
‘I was under the impression the demons followed the Pantathian rift,’ Miranda said. ‘Or is there something else here you’re not telling me?’
‘Not really. Just that it’s foolish to make assumptions. We both know we have things locked away up here.’ He tapped his head with his forefinger. ‘We both feel comfortable that the knowledge is locked away for a good reason, but we are foolish not to draw a few likely conclusions from the fact of that hidden knowledge.’
‘Such as?’
‘Such as there may be yet another player who had a hand in the creation of these rifts. From what we know, the demons seized the advantage when the mad priests of Ahsart opened the seal between their realm and Shila, but no one has asked who built that portal in the first place. Why were the priests of Ahsart driven to open the rift to the demon realm? What compulsion or obsession involved them in that particular idiocy?
‘We also know that the Pantathians came here easily with the Saaur, yet the demons must struggle to come here, and given the conflict between them, they are not allies.’
‘Or at least allies who had a falling out.’