She had managed to bring Sandreena, Amirantha, Brandos, Jommy, Kaspar and Father-Bishop Creegan with her. The moment they appeared at the mouth of the passage leading up into the clearing where the summoning would occur, they were instructed to remain silent.
Kaspar still whispered, ‘I don’t care how many times I do that, I’ll never find the experience pleasant.’
Miranda smiled slightly. ‘It is, however, efficient.’
Kaspar glanced at her and smiled. ‘This is true.’
Sandreena looked around to see if there was any sign remaining of the Black Caps. All appeared quiet. She relaxed and considered this undertaking. She was pleased the Father-Bishop was with them, for while he had never been a warrior like the Knights-Adamant, he was a magic user of significant power, especially in the area of banishing demons. She had known Brandos during her first encounter with Amirantha, years before in the village of Yellow Mule. Kaspar and Jommy were also brawlers if she judged them correctly, and would be useful standing at her side if they needed to protect the spell casters.
Sandreena also found herself wondering about Miranda. At first the woman annoyed her, and Sandreena couldn’t quite understand why. Then it dawned on her, she shared the same expectation of obedience as the High Priestess of her Order in Krondor. The difference was, Sandreena suspected, Miranda had earned that attitude, whereas the High Priestess considered it her birthright.
Miranda looked around as if saying, ‘If everyone’s ready, let’s begin.’
They had fashioned the plan over the last four days. If possible, they were going to try to gain a better idea of what was taking place, who the Black Caps, these Servants of Dahun, were, before the mayhem truly began. The agreement was they would all observe as best they could, no one was to launch an assault unless discovered or upon Miranda’s command. Getting some knowledge of the enemy was vital.
Too many times Miranda and Pug had discovered darker forces behind the apparent troublemakers they faced. Ban-ath, the God of Thieves and Liars, had a hand in everything, and they were horrified to discover the so-called Dark God of the Dasati was actually a Dread Lord who had managed to insinuate himself into the Dasati culture, usurping the allegiance of the Dasati race, twisting and warping them into a tool of evil.
Miranda had tried to pry as much information out of Amirantha as she could, but he had not had contact with his brother in any meaningful fashion in over a century, and had no notion of what had brought him to his current position as the apparent leader of these Black Caps. After several long discussions, Miranda was convinced of only one thing about Amirantha: he wanted to see his brother dead and felt it could not come too soon.
Miranda’s own childhood had been anything but conventional. Her father, the legendary Macros the Black, had vanished when she was still a child. Her mother, known by several names over the years, Lady Clovis, the Emerald Queen, and others, had been alternately loving and remote. After Miranda matured, the only thing they had in common was their love of magic. But Miranda had inherited, perhaps from her father, a fundamental distaste for the very things that drew her mother deeper into darkness: the pursuit of power and a fear of ageing. Ironically, Miranda never seemed to age, this was in part due to her long lifespan, but also because of her exposure to the energies of an artefact called the Lifestone.
Her experiences gave her a unique perspective, she understood how two brothers could become so different, and why Amirantha would show no hesitation in killing Belasco.
Belasco was the mystery. He was unknown to any of them, save Amirantha and Brandos, and what the old fighter new about Belasco came through Amirantha.
It wasn’t so much that Miranda didn’t trust the Warlock; not that she was particularly fearful of him. If Miranda had a critical flaw, it was of overestimating her ability. Should the demon summoner prove a danger, she felt certain she could deal with him. Her unease sprang from her uncertainty about his motives beyond dealing with a murderous brother. He said he was envious of the community on Sorcerer’s Isle, and wished to return after this encounter to spend time learning from Pug and the others. Miranda only half believed him. She didn’t know what he was hiding, but she knew he was hiding something.
Miranda also didn’t care for the fact that Sandreena and Amirantha shared a past. One that was far from happy, by all appearances. One of the reasons she agreed to have Creegan accompany them was he might be a calming influence on the Knight-Adamant. Like most of those of her Order, Sandreena was used to working alone, unsupervised. She might be a powerful fighter, but she also might be as dangerous as loose cargo on the deck of a ship during a storm.