Miranda said, “Well, I still think you may be rushing things.”
“I’m not about to fly to Krondor and explain my stance to Patrick until I’ve taken care of a few other things,” Pug said.
They climbed over some rocks and picked their way among some tidal pools. Pug said, “When I was a boy in Crydee, I used to beg Tomas’s father to let me go to the pools south of town, where I looked for rockclaws and crabs; he made the best shellfish stew.”
Miranda said, “Seems like a long time ago, doesn’t it?”
Pug turned, a youthful grin on his face, and said, “Sometimes it seems like ages, but other times it’s as fresh in my mind as yesterday.”
“What about the Saaur?” asked Miranda. “That problem won’t go away by dwelling in the past.”
“For several nights, my love, I have been spending some time with one of the oldest toys in my collection.”
“That crystal you inherited from Kulgan?”
“The very one. Fashioned by Athalfain of Carse. I’ve been scouring the globe and think I may have found a place to which we can move the Saaur.”
“Care to show me?”
Pug extended his hand and said, “I need to practice that transport spell, anyway. Put a protective shell around us, please.”
Miranda did so, and suddenly a bluish, transparent globe surrounded them. “Don’t materialize us inside a mountain again and we won’t need this.”
Pug said, “I’m trying.” He put his arm around her waist, and said, “Let’s try this.”
Instantly the scene around them swirled, resolving itself into a vast grassy plain.
“Where are we?” asked Miranda.
“The Ethel-du-ath, in the local tongue,” said Pug.
The blue globe vanished, and they were struck by a hot summer wind. “That sounds like Lower Delkian,” said Miranda.
“The Duathian Plain,” said Pug. “Come here.”
He walked her a few hundred yards south and suddenly they were peering down the face of a towering cliff. Pug said, “Sometime ages ago, this part of the continent rose up while that down there fell. There’s no portion of this cliff face less than six hundred feet high. There are two or three places you might climb, but I wouldn’t recommend it.”
Miranda stepped off into the air and continued walking. She turned and looked down. “That’s quite a drop.”
“Show-off,” said Pug. “The lower portion of the continent was settled by refugees from Triasia, during the purging of the Ishapian Temple of the Heretics of Al-maral.”
“That’s the same bunch that settled down in Novindus,” said Miranda, walking back to solid ground. “No people up here?”
“No people,” said Pug. “Just a million or so square miles of grassland, rolling hills, rivers, and lakes, with mountains to the north and west, and cliffs to the south and east.”
“So you want to put the Saaur here.”
“Until I come up with a better solution,” said Pug. “This place is large enough they can live here for several hundred years, if need be. Eventually, I’ll go back to Shila and rid that place of the remaining demons. But even then it will take centuries to get enough life back on the planet to support the Saaur.”
Miranda said, “What if they don’t want to live here?”
“I may not be able to afford them the luxury of a choice,” said Pug.
Miranda put her arms about Pug’s waist. Hugging him, she said, “Just getting the feel of how much these choices are going to cost, aren’t you?”
“I never told you the story about the Imperial Games, did I?” he asked.
“No,” she said.
He held her, and suddenly they were back on the beach on Sorcerer’s Island. “Now who’s being a show-off!” she demanded, halfway between amusement and anger.
“I think I have the hang of it now,” he said with a wry smile.
She playfully punched him in the arm. “You’re not allowed to ‘think’ you have the hang of it. You damn well better know, unless you want to see how quickly you can erect a protective spell when you’re materializing inside of rock!”
“Sorry,” he said, his expression clearly showing he wasn’t. “Let’s get back to the house.”
“I could use some sleep,” she said. “We’ve been talking all night.”
“Lots of important things to discuss,” he said, putting his arm back around her waist. They walked quietly for a short distance, up to the path that led over the hill and back to the villa.
“I was a new Great One,” Pug began, “and Hochopepa, my mentor in the Assembly, persuaded me to attend a great festival the Warlord was orchestrating to honor the Emperor. And to announce a great victory over the Kingdom.” He fell silent, in remembrance. After a moment, he continued. “Kingdom soldiers were pitted against soldiers of the Thruil, my wife’s people. I became enraged.”
“I can understand that,” said Miranda. They continued to walk the path upward.
“I used my power to tear apart the imperial arena. I caused the winds to blow, fire to fall from the sky, rain, earthquakes, the whole bag of tricks.”