Miranda laughed with her husband and Pug said, ‘Fetch a bottle of wine from the cellar - and see if we still have some of that old Ravensburg red; I think there are a few bottles left. Bring it up and fetch some goblets.’ He looked around the table. Magnus, Caleb, and Miranda indicated they were fine, so Pug said, ‘Two goblets.’
Sandreena held up a hand with one finger extended, and Pug-said, ‘Make that three.’
The student hurried off and Miranda said, ‘I’ve been organizing some old documents that have been languishing in the cellar at Stardock, on so-called "demon lore". Amirantha, if you’d like to look at it later I’d appreciate your appraisal of its worth. There isn’t much, so it shouldn’t take very long.’
The Warlock inclined his head indicating he was willing.
Magnus said, ‘Well, I have a lesson to conduct after lunch, which is now, so I’d better be getting along. I will see you all later.’
Caleb also stood up as his brother departed and said, ‘And there are household accounts and other matters which also need attention.’ He took his leave of the guests as well.
The wine appeared and Amirantha was impressed at the quality of the vintage. As they sipped in silence, Pug’s expression caused him to turn.
From a door across the room he saw a tall, redheaded man enter with Father-Bishop Creegan behind him. Amirantha muttered, ‘There goes a pleasant moment.’
Sandreena began to rise, but the Father-Bishop waved her back into her chair. ‘Finish eating, girl,’ he said. Looking at Amirantha he said, ‘I thought you were dead.’
‘Hoped, you mean,’ said the Warlock. ‘Creegan,’ he said in greeting.
Pug rose and said, ‘Wine?’
Glancing around the table, the Father-Bishop nodded and pulled out his own chair.
Pug looked at the redheaded man and said, ‘Jommy, wine?’
Grinning, and suddenly looking much younger, the man said, ‘Of course.’
Pug motioned for two more goblets and Father-Bishop Creegan said to Sandreena, ‘What did you find out?’
Sandreena began her tale slowly, starting with the assault on the innkeeper’s wagon on the road to Akrakon. She omitted nothing she could remember, concerned that any detail might prove critical to the Father-Bishop and his companions. Occasionally she let her eyes drift to Amirantha, who sat motionless, listening as closely as everyone else at the table. Finally she recounted visiting the cave to find the old hermit dead.
When she was finished, she added, ‘Most of the journey from Akrakon to Ithra is still a blur to me. I was fevered and passed out several times. My horse was stalwart and saw to my protection when I lay at her feet. I recall a little about entering Ithra and finding the monks at the Temple. After that, well, it is nothing to do with this mission, anyway’
Father-Bishop Creegan looked at Amirantha. ‘What do you draw from the summoning and the murder of the magician?’
Amirantha shrugged. ‘It is obvious the cultists weren’t happy with the results.’ He fell silent for a minute and then said, ‘I can only surmise, but the sacrifices were designed to call forth something, but from Sandreena’s description they instead invoked a series of minor demons. I think I know their ilk; a particularly nasty little thing I call a ripper: bat-wings, huge talons on its forefingers . . .’ Sandreena nodded. ‘Whoever that unlucky magician was, he was attempting craft far beyond his ability and paid the ultimate price. He was fishing in unknown waters, using bait that could have landed him a shark as easily as a mackerel.’ He was silent a moment longer, then asked Sandreena, ‘All the demons, they were identical?’
She nodded.
‘They vanished after they killed the sacrifice?’ Again she nodded.
He sighed. ‘Murderous fools. Somehow, they managed to get their hands on a summoning ritual, and probably thought they could amend it somehow to call forth something else. Those who don’t know demon magic . . .’ He looked at Pug. ‘It would be as if you were trying to call down rain, and decided to substitute the word snow.’
Pug said, ‘I’m not a master of weather magic; that would be Temar, but your example holds. The entire structure of the spell would have to be crafted differently.’
Amirantha nodded in agreement. ‘So it is with a summoning. If I could contrive one spell of summoning and just change the name of the demon, my life would have been a lot simpler.’
‘Or shorter,’ said Sandreena wryly. Pug and Father-Bishop Creegan looked at her and she said, ‘I’ve seen him work. He can take liberties and often puts himself, and others at risk,’ she added with emphasis. Letting her voice return to normal, she looked at the Warlock and added, ‘You’re an arrogant bastard, Amirantha.’
Amirantha inclined his head slightly as if conceding the point. ‘But I know more demon lore than any man I’ve met.’ He looked at Pug. ‘Someone is attempting to master in short order what takes years to master. I suspect that means they feel there is an issue of time involved.’