Pug was silent for a moment, then said, ‘Jommy, tell Amirantha and the others about that encounter you had when we first discovered the Sun Elves and the Quor.’
Jommy was unknown to Sandreena and Amirantha. He looked at them and said, ‘Ten years ago I was still a lad in training and had been given over to the less than tender care of one Kaspar of Olasko.’
Amirantha laughed. He said, ‘He’s here, you know.’
Glancing at Pug he said, ‘Fishing?’
Pug nodded. ‘Even the demons couldn’t stop him.’
Jommy looked uncertain about what that meant, but continued on. ‘In any event, the General trained myself and some other lads while we were undertaking a mission for . . .’ not knowing if the newcomers were aware of the secret organization behind this seemingly straightforward school for magic, he said,’—Pug, and well, we were having a miserable time sitting in the rain waiting for pirates.’
‘Pirates?’ said Amirantha.
‘Well, that was the report.’ He gave Pug a narrow look. ‘Sometimes we lads at the front only get to hear rumours. Anyway, this ship lay off the west coast of the peninsula where the Peaks of the Quor sit, and three boats came ashore. They looked like pirates, save they all wore these black headscarves.’
Sandreena glanced at the others around the table. ‘Black Caps?’
‘Could be,’ said Father-Bishop Creegan. if so, they’ve been keeping to themselves for quite a while.’
‘Even the level of magic Sandreena observed doesn’t come easily. If magicians are trying to learn demon summoning, ten years is not an unreasonable amount of time to hide and study.’
Jommy said, ‘They had this magician, and he ... he summoned this . . . this thing.’
Now interested, Amirantha said, ‘Describe it.’
‘Big and mean, it had a hazy outline like a man, only bigger, maybe seven, or eight feet tall. It had smoke all around it, like it wore a cloak or mantle over its shoulders. It spoke some language the magician understood and its voice was hollow, distant. It took shape and it was . . . hard to describe. The skin rippled, like thick cream when you tip the pitcher, or like a banner waving in a breeze. If that makes sense?’
Amirantha nodded. ‘Yes, it does.’
‘It had eyes like burning embers, bright and red, and then the skin got hard, like dark smoking rock. I can’t tell you much more after that, because General Kaspar ordered a charge and all hell broke loose around me.’
‘I do know that the thing got bigger as it fought, and when it hit something, it burned them. After a minute, it was covered in fire, flames of yellow and white covered it from head to foot. I saw a shield get scorched and a man’s tunic catch alight. Smoke came off it like a campfire. I don’t know if we had a prayer until the elves showed up and banished it.’
‘How did they do that?’ asked Amirantha, keenly interested.
‘I don’t really know,’ said Jommy. ‘Didn’t think to ask. One minute we were scrambling to stay alive, the next there was this bright shaft of light and the thing just froze; then the fire went out. It was raining, did I mention that? Anyway, as soon as it froze, and the fire went out, the rain started steaming off its skin, and then all of a sudden it just fell apart.’
Amirantha said, ‘That was not a true demon. That was a bound elemental servant.’
Pug said, ‘What is the difference?’
Amirantha said, ‘I knew a magician by the name of Celik, who was fascinated with the properties of the elements of earth, air, water and fire.
‘He contended there was an essential part of each element, an aspect that was akin to life, but not true life. He called these creatures elemental servants. They came from some place . . . not the demon realm, I am certain, but some other place, some plane of existence unknown to us.’
‘Fascinating,’ said Pug. His experience on the next plane of existence, with his son and Nakor, the little gambler who had been a friend for many years, when they had confronted the Dasati invasion of Kelewan, had fuelled Pug’s curiosity about the existence of yet more realms. To his continuing frustration there was as little information on those realms as there was on demons.
‘Well, whatever it was, it was one very scary thing to have bearing down on you,’ said Jommy. ‘But I’m not sure what it has to do with what you were investigating back in the Peaks of the Quor.’
‘Neither do I,’ said Pug. ‘These Black Caps serve someone, or something, and for over ten years they’ve been interested in the Peaks of the Quor.’
Father-Bishop Creegan said, ‘The Sven’gar-ri. While we still know nothing of their nature beyond the sheer beauty of their being, we know they are beings of power, and that they drew those wraiths—’
‘Wraiths?’ interrupted Amirantha. ‘You’ve encountered wraiths?’
‘I did,’ said Jommy. ‘Or something enough like a wraith.’ Amirantha said, ‘Tell me.’