Elgahar said, “I shall endeavor.”
Hochopepa said, “That’s a capital idea. I’ve long wondered about this barbaric land you hail from, and I could use a vacation from my wife. I’ll go, too.”
“Hocho,” said Pug, laughing, “the academy is a rough place, devoid of your usual comforts.”
He stepped forward. “Never mind that. Milamber, you’ll require allies on your world. I may speak lightly, but your friends will need help and soon. The Enemy is something beyond the experience of any of us. We’ll start now to combat it. As for the discomfort, I’ll manage.”
“Besides,” said Pug, “you've been licking your lips over Macros’s library ever since I’ve spoken of it.”
Meecham shook his head. “Him and Kulgan. Two peas in a pod.”
Hochopepa said, “What’s a pea?”
“You’ll discover soon, old friend.” Pug embraced Hocho and Shimone, shook hands with Meecham and Dominic, and bowed to the other members of the Assembly. “Follow the instructions on activating the rift as I’ve written them. And be certain to close it, once through, the Enemy may still seek a rift to enter our worlds.
“I go to the Shinzawai estate, the northernmost destination where I can use a pattern. From there I’ll take horse and cross the Thun tundra. If the Watchers still exist, I shall find them and return to Midkemia with what they know of the Enemy. Then shall we meet again. Until then, my friends, care for one another.”
Pug incanted the required spell, and with a shimmer he was gone.
The others stood about awhile. Finally Hochopepa said, “Come, we must make ready.” He looked at Dominic, Meecham, and Elgahar. “Come, my friends.”
EIGHTEEN - Vengeance
Jimmy woke with a start.
Someone had walked by on the surface. Jimmy had slept through the day with the others, awaiting the fall of night for the investigation of the black building. He had taken the position closest to the surface.
Jimmy shivered. Throughout the day his dreams had been alien, haunted by troubling images—not true nightmares, but rather dreams filled with odd longings and dim recognitions. It was almost as if he had inherited another’s dreams, and that other hadn’t been human. Somehow he felt lingering memories of rage and hatred. It left him feeling dirty.
Shaking off the odd, fuzzy feeling, he looked down. The others were dozing, except for Baru, who seemed to be meditating. At least, he sat upright with legs crossed and his hands before him, eyes closed and breath even.
Jimmy cautiously pulled himself upward, until he was just below the surface. Two voices sounded some distance away. “. . . here somewhere.”
“If he was stupid enough to go inside, then the fault is his,” came another voice with a strange accent. A Dark Brother, Jimmy thought.
Well, I’m not going in after him—not after being warned to keep clear,” said a second human voice.
“Reitz said to find Jaccon, and you know how he is about desertion. If we don’t find Jaccon, he’ll likely have our ears just for spite,” complained the first human.
“Reitz is nothing,” came the voice of the moredhel. “Murad has ordered that none should enter the black building. Would you invoke his wrath and face his Black Slayers?”
“No,” said the first human voice, “but you better think of something to tell Reitz. I’m fresh out . . .”
The voices trailed off. Jimmy waited until the voices couldn’t be heard, then chanced another brief look. Two humans and a moredhel were walking toward the bridge, one of the humans gesturing. They halted at the end of the bridge, pointing toward the house and explaining something. It was Murad they were speaking to. At the far end of the bridge, Jimmy could see an entire company of human horsemen waiting as the four crossed over.
Jimmy dropped down and woke Arutha. “We’ve got company upstairs,” the boy whispered. Lowering his voice so Baru would not hear, he said, “And your old scar-faced friend is back with them.”
“How close is it to sundown?”
“Less than an hour, perhaps two to full darkness.”
Arutha nodded and settled in to wait. Jimmy dropped past him to the floor of the upper cavern and foraged through his pack for some jerked beef. His stomach had been reminding him he had not eaten for the last day, and he decided that if he was going to die tonight, he might as well eat first.