They left the stable and the monk led them to what appeared to be a barracks. Gardan said, “This place has a martial look to it, brother.”
Entering a long room with a single row of cots, the monk said, “In ancient times this fortress was home to a robber baron. The Kingdom and Kesh lay far enough away for him to be a law unto himself, pillaging, raping, and robbing without fear of retribution. After some time he was turned out by the people of the surrounding towns, made bold by his tyranny. The lands below this escarpment were given over to farming, but so deep was their hatred of the baron that this keep stood abandoned. When a mendicant friar of our Order of Wanderers discovered this place, he sent word back to the temple in the city of Kesh. When we sought the use of this place as an abbey, the descendants of those who had turned out the baron had no objection. Today only those of us who serve here remember the history of this place. To those in the towns and villages along the Bay of Ships this has always been the Abbey of Ishap at Sarth.”
Arutha said, “I assume this was once a barracks.”
Dominic said, “Yes, Highness. We now use it as an infirmary and a place for occasional guests. Make yourselves comfortable, for I must be about my own tasks. The Father Abbot will see you shortly.”
Dominic left and Jimmy fell onto one of the cots with an audible sigh. Martin inspected a small stove at one end of the room and found it lit, with the makings for tea next to it. He immediately set a pot to boil. Under a cloth he found bread, cheese, and fruit, which he passed around. Laurie sat examining his lute for possible travel damage and began tuning it. Gardan sat down opposite the Prince.
Arutha sighed long and deeply. “I am on a ragged edge. I fear these monks will have no knowledge of this Silverthorn.” For an instant his eyes betrayed his anguish, then he again showed only an impassive expression.
Martin cocked his head to one side as he thought aloud. “Tully seems to think they know a great deal.”
Laurie put up his lute. “Whenever I’ve found myself close to magic, priestly or otherwise, there also I’ve found trouble.”
Jimmy spoke to Laurie. “That Pug seemed a friendly enough fellow for a magician. I wanted to speak to him more, but . . .” He left unsaid the events that had prevented it. “There’s little about him that seems remarkable, but the Tsurani seem, to fear him, and some of the court whisper about him.”
“There is a saga begging to be sung,” answered Laurie. He told Jimmy of Pug’s captivity and rise among the Tsurani. “Those who practice arcane arts on Kelewan are a law unto themselves, and whatsoever they command is done without hesitation. There is nothing like them on this world. That is why the Tsurani in LaMut hold him in awe. Old habits die hard.”
Jimmy said, “He gave up a great deal to return, then.”
Laurie laughed. “That wasn’t entirely a matter of choice.”
Jimmy said, “What’s Kelewan like?”
Laurie spun a rich and colorful story of his adventures on that world, with the eye for detail that lay at the heart of his craft, as much as did good voice and playing skills. The others settled in, relaxing and drinking their tea while listening. They all knew the story of Laurie and Pug and their part in the Riftwar, but each time Laurie told the story it was again a riveting adventure, one with the great legends.
When Laurie finished, Jimmy said, “It would be an adventure to go to Kelewan.”
“That is not possible,” observed Gardan, “I’m glad to say.”
Jimmy said, “If it was done once, why not again?”
Martin said, “Arutha, you were with Pug when Kulgan read Macros’s letter explaining why he closed the rift.”
Arutha said, “Rifts are wild things, spanning some impossible no-place between worlds, possibly across time as well. But something about them makes it impossible to know where they’re going to come out. When one is fashioned, then others seem to ‘follow’ it, coming out in the same general area. But that first one is the one you can’t control. That’s as much as I understand. You’d have to ask Kulgan or Pug for more details.”
Gardan said, “Ask Pug. If you ask Kulgan, you’ll get a lecture.”
“So Pug and Macros closed down the first one to end the war?” said Jimmy.
“And more,” said Arutha.
Jimmy looked around the room, sensing they all knew something he was not privy to. Laurie said, “According to Pug, there was in ancient times a vast evil power known to the Tsurani only as the Enemy. Macros said it would find its way to the two worlds if the rift was left open, drawn to it as steel to a lodestone. It was a being of awesome strength that had destroyed armies and humbled mighty magicians. Or at least that is what Pug explained.”
Jimmy cocked his head to one side. “This Pug is that important a magician, then?”