‘Yes,’ he whispered back. ‘He’s on our island, safe.’
She sobbed once. ‘Thank the gods.’ Then she asked, ‘Nakor?’
‘No,’ he said softly, and he felt her body go rigid. She was still for a moment, then took a deep breath.
She turned to the Emperor and said, ‘Despite this interruption, I must continue to urge you to make ready to seek refuge on Midkemia, Majesty.’
Pug said, ‘That won’t be necessary’
All eyes turned to him. ‘What are you saying, Milamber?’ asked the Emperor. ‘Can you defeat the Dasati?’
‘No,’ said Pug, acknowledging his Tsurani name. ‘But I have found you a haven.’
‘A haven?’
‘It’s a fair world.’ He smiled. ‘I’d say it’s even a little more hospitable than Kelewan. There are forests and valleys, great seas with beautiful beaches, mountains and deserts. There’s game in abundance and many places for farms and orchards, to run herds and build cities. And no one else lives there.’
‘Milamber, is there no other way?’ asked Sezu, and for the first time since meeting the Emperor, Pug saw the mask of imperial confidence break, and behind it he spied the uncertain young man.
‘I wish there was, Majesty. I wish I could say the horror I’ve seen can be defeated, but it cannot. It can only be frustrated, and to save other worlds in this universe from it, Kelewan…’ He hesitated to say what he knew to be true, that this world must be destroyed to prevent the Dark One from establishing any sort of foothold in this realm. Finally he said, ‘Kelewan must be abandoned. It is the only hope for your people.’
Softly, the Emperor said, ‘What shall I do?’ He first looked at his elderly First Advisor, then at Pug and Miranda.
Finally Pug said, ‘When I trained for the Black Robe, Majesty, I stood upon the Tower of Testing, and part of that ritual showed me what is known of the history of the Tsurani people.
‘It all began with the Golden Bridge, when the people of Kelewan first came here, fleeing from some nameless terror through a vast portal, to this world.’
‘This is our legend,’ said Chomata.
‘The Tsurani people did not originate on Kelewan,’ Miranda added.
‘The Tsurani people can survive on another world,’ said Pug. ‘Tsuranuanni is not your cities and temples, the villages and towns, for you can build again, nor is it titles and honours for those can be restored. Tsuranuanni is your people. If they endure, a new Tsuranuanni can be forged.’
The Emperor was silent for a very long time, then he nodded. ‘It shall be done.’
Pug said to Miranda, ‘We have much to do. I will speak to the Thūn and you must speak with the Cho-ja. I will first go to the Assembly and see if any of those remaining have knowledge of the dwarves across the sea or other intelligent races.
‘Then I must go to the Hall, and find that world I visited so long ago. Once there, I will open as large a rift as I can between that world and the original rift site, near the City of the Plain.
‘Have the Great Ones of the Empire begin building rifts from every major city and from any safe place away from the Dasati and tell the people to gather what they may, for the Empire must be ready, the nations must be ready, the people must be ready! We have little time left.’
‘How much time do we have?’ asked the Emperor.
‘Less than a week, Majesty. If we linger, we die, and with us die other worlds, eventually. I have seen it. It is the truth.’
‘Go,’ said Sezu, who now truly looked like a crestfallen young man, a young man wearing the mantle of leadership that had been thrust on him by an accident of birth. It was clear to everyone in the room that he would rather that burden be on other shoulders at this time, but he had made his decision and he was ready to act. ‘Make it so,’ he said.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO - Warnings
THE CHILL WIND BLEW.
Pug repeated an approach he had used many years before, of transporting himself via magic to a place on the vast tundra of the Thūn. He hiked to the north for the better part of an hour, his black robe a stark contrast to the bare grey-and-white soil beneath his feet. He was in one of the few places on this world which knew cold and ice, and it felt strange.
A band of Thūn males appeared an hour before sunset, riding towards him. They were centaur-like creatures, but rather than a marriage of man and horse, they looked more like Saaur warriors grafted to the torsos of warhorses. Each carried a round shield and a sword and they hooted odd battle chants.
Pug was ready to attempt the same tactic he had used the only previous time he had come this far north: erecting a passive barrier so that they could not harm him, or force him to defend himself with violence.