Pug said, “I have seen worlds and traveled through time, my boy. I have so much more to see. This Kingdom of the Isles is but one of many places that are now dear to me.”
Nakor said, “And if need be, we’ll be back.”
Dash said, “Well, we have a lot of work to do, and if you want my opinion, you’re doing the right thing.”
Pug smiled. “Thank you for that.”
Jimmy said, “I can’t say I agree with Dash, but I know that it is your choice and I wish you well.” He smiled at Miranda. “Shall I call you Great-grandmother?”
“Not if you value your life,” said Miranda with a smile.
Dash said, “I shall think of you a lot.”
Jimmy said, “As shall I.”
Pug stood. “Be well,” he said, holding out his hands to Nakor and Miranda, and they vanished.
Dash sat down on Jimmy’s bed, leaning back against his down pillow. “I think I’m going to sleep for a week.”
“Then make it next week, Sheriff,” said Jimmy. “We have a lot of work to do in the morning and one hell of a mess to unravel.” He glanced over and saw his brother was already asleep. For a moment he considered waking him, then he shrugged, left, and went next door to sleep in Dash’s bed.
Twenty-Eight - Division
Gathis bowed.
“I am pleased to see you all return and looking well,” he said.
Pug, Miranda, and Nakor had just materialized near the fountain that was the centerpiece of the garden of Pug’s estate on Sorcerer’s Island.
Pug said, “We are equally pleased to see you. How fare things here?”
Gathis smiled his toothy goblinlike grin. “Very well. If you would indulge me, there is something I think you should see before you rest. It should only take a few moments.”
Pug nodded and Gathis led him out through the building and across the meadow toward the hidden cave that was the shrine to the lost God of Magic. The cave stood open to view.
“What is this?” asked Pug.
“You observed, I think, Master Pug,” said Gathis, “that eventually the appropriate person would find this shrine.”
Miranda said, “And that person has arrived?”
“Not as we thought,” said Gathis.
Pug entered the cave, with the others behind him, and looked at the statue that had once resembled Macros the Black. He faltered as he saw his own features upon the statue. “What?”
Miranda stepped around beside her husband and she saw her features upon the statue. “I see myself!”
Nakor said, “Watch a moment.”
The face on the statue shifted and they saw the features of Robert d’Lyse. Then they saw the features of other students on the island.
“What does this mean?” asked Miranda.
“It means,” said Nakor, “that all of you are servants of magic and that there is no one person who shall be the god’s agent on Midkemia. Rather, many people will work on behalf of returning the lost God of Magic to his place in this universe.”
Pug studied the statue as other faces appeared, magicians known to him and those he had never met. After a few minutes Pug saw his own face again. Pug said, “Let’s return to the house.”
As they walked toward the house, Pug said, “Nakor, I didn’t see your face upon the statue.”
Nakor grinned and shrugged. “I know there is no magic.”
Pug laughed. “It is an all or nothing proposition, Nakor. Either everything is magic or nothing is magic.”
Nakor shrugged. “I find either proposition equally probable, but aesthetically I prefer the concept that there is no magic. Just power and the ability to utilize it.”
Miranda said, “This borders on the type of long debate you two enjoy over wine, and I am very hungry.”
Gathis said, “Food and wine wait you in your study, Master Pug.”
“Join us,” said Pug to his servant.
When they returned to the house, they found a sumptuous table set for them. Miranda took a plate and began piling on fruit and cheeses. Pug took a large flagon of wine and filled goblets.
“Gathis,” said Pug, “you are the keeper of that shrine. What is your opinion on what we’ve seen?”
“It is as Master Nakor has observed: no longer will one individual act as an agent on behalf of the lost God of Magic. Perhaps the powers have learned the error of depending too much on one individual. It says that those who practice the arts will aid the return of magic.”
Nakor shrugged. “It means that whatever power seeks to return, the God of Magic has deduced that assigning all that responsibility to one individual is risky. Macros, for all his power, made mistakes.”
Pug said, “I appreciate that fact, having already made quite a few myself.”