Pug leaned over, almost nose to nose with Patrick, and said, “You who have never drawn a sword in a battle more serious than chasing some goblins around in the north call me ‘traitor?’ I have saved your Kingdom, you fool. I did not save it for you anymore than I saved the Empire for that man’s”—his finger shot out, pointing at the Keshian General—”master. I did it because of the countless souls that would have been lost had I not.”
Looking first at Patrick then the General, Pug said, “Take word to your father, and your master, that Stardock is free. Any attempt to force Kingdom or Empire rule on that entity will bring my intervention. They have my word on that and I shall enforce their independence.” Pug turned and stepped away from the throne. “I care not who sits on your father’s throne, Patrick. You gather together the shards of your broken crown and rebuild your nation. I care not for your titles and rank. I am done with your Kingdom.” He put his arms out and Miranda and Nakor came to stand on either side. “I renounce my title as Duke of the Kingdom. I foreswear my oath as subject to the crown. I have larger concerns than your vanities and national agendas. I am here to protect this world, not just one part of it.
“Let it be known that Pug of Crydee is no more. I am now merely the Black Sorcerer. My island is no longer a hospitable place for the uninvited. Anyone sailing within sight of it is at peril, and anyone setting foot upon it without my leave will be destroyed!”
Then with a thunderous crash and a thick cloud of black smoke, he vanished with his companions.
Dash said, “Greatgrandfather certainly twisted Patrick’s smalls, didn’t he?”
Jimmy said, “I’ve had more pleasant afternoons.”
They had just retired from a council with the Prince. The withdrawal of the Keshian troops was discussed as well as what exactly Patrick would report to his father. It had lasted long past dinner and into the night.
They were walking toward Jimmy’s quarters for a quiet moment alone before retiring for the night. “Did you talk to Francie?” asked Dash.
Jimmy said, “No. I saw her a brief second but didn’t get a chance to really speak with her.”
“She’s afraid that once she’s married to Patrick you’ll just stop .talking to her. She doesn’t want to lose your friendship.”
Jimmy said, “That won’t happen. One thing about this war, it taught me what really is important and what just seems important.”
Dash said, “I know.”
There was a note in his voice Jimmy had never heard before. “What is it?”
Dash said, “Just some people I cared about didn’t get through this.”
Jimmy stopped. “Someone special to you?”
Dash turned and said, “I don’t want to talk about it today. I’ll tell you all about it someday, just not today.”
Jimmy said, “Very well.” He was silent a minute as they continued to walk along the hallways. “I think I learned something myself, and maybe it’s important, too.”
“What?”
“Francie is. . . someone special. But I think I feel the need for something and she is the person I elected to cast in the role of the person to fulfill that need.”
“Grandfather and Grandmother?”
“Yes, what they had. I think that seeing how they felt, especially after seeing how cool Mother and Father always were to each other, it makes me want to have what Grandmother and Grandfather had.”
“Few gain that.”
They reached the door to Jimmy’s room and opened it.
Three people were sitting inside. “Come in and close that door,” said Pug.
Jimmy and Dash entered and Dash closed the door.
Pug said, “I could not leave without speaking to you two. You are the last of my line.”
Trying to lift the mood, Jimmy said, “Please don’t put it that way.”
Miranda laughed.
Dash said, “And we do have relatives in the East.”
Pug laughed. “There is so much of your grandfather in you two.” He looked at Dash. “Upon occasion you look like him when he was a boy.” He looked at Jimmy. “And sometimes you look so much like my Gamina it haunts me.”
He opened his arms and Jimmy and Dash came and hugged him in turn. “I shall not return to the Kingdom unless it is for a reason far more important than the whims of kings,” said Pug. “But you two are my blood, and you and your children will always be welcome on my island.”
Dash said, “You have influence with the King. Do you have to make this sort of break?”
Pug said, “I knew King Lyam as a boy in Crydee. I knew Arutha better, but both knew my heart. The King knew me from his father.”
Nakor said, “Borric knows me well, and my words might carry some weight, but what Pug is being diplomatic in avoiding is that, short of an unexpected disaster, Patrick will someday be King.”
“We are avoiding an argument of momentous proportion later by having it now,” said Pug. “The Kingdom is in shambles. Patrick is forced by circumstances to yield to my demands. If this confrontation occurred years from now, how many innocents would die as I enforced my will?”
“And what would that make him?” said Miranda. “Only a different tyrant than those men of whom we just disposed.”
Dash said, “You cut yourself off from so much.”