‘They may have had libraries or great schools, but we found nothing but ash. Fires raged throughout their cities, across every vista, and we wondered who or what had caused this planet-wide catastrophe.
‘In the deepest vault of one of those great stone buildings we found words, hastily scrawled over murals on a wall. Words painted with the most indelible paint they possessed, so that this tiny legacy might endure.
‘It took our Lorekeepers years to unravel their meaning, but they simply said, "Why have our gods deserted us? Why are we to perish?" And then a word that we could not translate followed by "are without this hall. So we will end. Should any read this, cry for the ..." and another word we could not translate.’
‘Demons?’ asked Amirantha.
‘Later experience led us to believe so.’
Pug said, ‘If demons somehow came to that world, and ran free, eventually all life as we know it would end. Once they ran out of prey, they would turn on one another, and eventually one would survive. The last would finally starve to death.’
Amirantha and Gulamendis exchanged questioning looks, and the Warlock said, i’ve never conjured a demon that remained long enough to starve to death.’
The elf smiled as he nodded agreement, ‘I have fed a few, along the way, but as with you, when they have done my bidding I banish them back to their own realm. Until we encountered the Demon Legion I had never even considered how a free demon would behave in our realm.’
Amirantha said, ‘I have encountered a few.’ He glanced at Father-Bishop Creegan and said, ‘Not everything I do is a confidence trick. I have rid this world of several serious evils over the years.’
‘No doubt,’ said the cleric dryly.
Amirantha turned his attention back to Gulamendis. ‘If one weak-willed, would-be Demon Master oversteps his limitations, a demon could easily run loose. I have hunted down and dispatched at least a dozen over the years.’
Jommy appeared at the doorway and entered the garden. Pug motioned him over and the redheaded noble said, ‘Miranda is gone, she asked me to tell you. She’ll be back soon.’ He glanced around, and said, ‘Should I leave?’
Pug shook his head and said, ‘No, stay. You’ll be involved deeply in whatever we run into as much as the rest of us.’
Jommy moved off to one side and took a seat on the bench near where Tomas stood.
Gulamendis said, ‘Among my people, I am considered something of an outcast.’ He noted Amirantha’s slight smile in acknowledgement. ‘Many of my people mistakenly blame me and others who are students of demon lore for the assaults.’
‘Even though you found proof of demon incursion into other worlds decades before you encountered the Demon Legion?’
Gulamendis nodded sadly, it is the nature of things that many people are more interested in affixing blame than fixing the problem.’
Amirantha said, ‘We hadn’t encountered any of the problems you’ve mentioned on any significant scale until recently.’ He sat back, ‘I’m not sure we are, even now. It is almost certain that much of what I’ve recently seen with unexpected demon encounters is the work of one agency, a summoner who has the ability to wreak havoc for his own reasons.’ He shrugged.
‘How certain are you of this?’ asked Gulamendis.
‘Absolutely, for he interfered with one of my summonings and almost got me killed. I tried calling forth a familiar demon and instead got the most aggressive battle demon I’ve ever encountered.’
‘Fascinating,’ said the elf. ‘I’ve never heard of a summons being distorted that way. I’ve had them interrupted, abruptly at times, but never . . . perverted in such a fashion.’ His eyes narrowed, it would involve magic of extreme power . . .’
‘And subtlety,’ added the Warlock. ‘Changes in the summoning would need to be introduced at key times.’
The two demon experts seemed on the verge of discussing the specifics when Pug interrupted, ‘I’m as fascinated by this as you, but we need to consider the larger question: Why?’
‘Why?’ repeated Amirantha. ‘Well, as I’ve said, my brother has been trying to kill me for years.’
‘Your brother?’ asked Gulamendis.
‘I’ll explain,’ said Amirantha. Then to Pug he said, ‘I’m surprised he has developed the skills needed, but not that he’s trying to kill me.’
‘Why now?’ asked Pug. ‘Why after all these years, and in a way that would be most likely to create chaos? If he’s as powerful as you say, and he has knowledge of your whereabouts, why not just drop a ball of fire on your head?’
‘Fire wards are part of the proactive spells,’ said Amirantha while Gulamendis nodded in agreement. ‘But I see your point. He could easily have dropped a very large rock on my head while I walked to the cave.’
‘Unless he couldn’t see you,’ added Jommy. When all eyes turned to him, he said, ‘Sorry.’
‘No need to be sorry,’ said Pug. ‘That is a good point.’
Amirantha said, ‘It means he sees me with magic, not sight.’