‘You already have, Kaspar.’ Pug watched the Talnoy still flying through the rift, and added, ‘Would you like me to get you down to Muboya?’
Kaspar shook his head. ‘The day is still long here, and there’s a village not too far away where I can buy a horse. After what we’ve been through, I could use a few hours of quiet. The walk will do me good.’
‘I understand,’ said Pug, extending his hand. They shook. ‘Fare you well, Kaspar of Olasko.’
‘Fare you well, magician.’ Kaspar turned and walked down the trail. By the time he reached the bottom of the hill, the last of the Talnoy was gone, and so was Pug. As he looked upward, the rift in the air vanished.
Thanking the gods for being alive, Kaspar of Olasko walked purposefully down the trail, beginning the next journey of his life.
Pug appeared in his study, where Miranda, Magnus and Caleb waited. Miranda threw her arms around her husband and held him close. ‘Is it over?’ she asked.
‘Not quite.’
She stepped back, examining his expression. ‘You’re going back!’ It was more of an accusation than a question. Before he could answer, she declared, ‘I’m going with you.’
‘No!’ This came out harsher than he meant it to: an exhausted and drained woman was about to get into a serious argument with her husband. ‘No,’ he said again, more softly. ‘I need you here. Without you, I can’t get back.’
Slowly, her mood changed. ‘Why?’
‘Because I’m going to do something I’ve only done once before.’
‘What?’
‘Close down a rift while I’m inside it.’
Miranda stared at him. ‘There has to be another way.’
‘I wish there were, but we are hours, perhaps only minutes, from whatever is coming up that tunnel from the Dasati realm to this one from gaining control of the rifts. I must go back and shut them down, but the last one can not be closed from this side. You know that. It can be closed only from the Kelewan side.’
‘Or from inside,’ said Magnus. He was nowhere near the master of rift-magic that his father was, but he had studied it far more rigorously than his mother had. ‘Father, what do you need us to do?’
‘There is a pair of staves in my quarters. Please bring them to me.’
Magnus hurried out and Pug turned to his wife, ‘I will be fine if you just remain here and do your part.’
Tears welled up in Miranda’s eyes and she found she couldn’t speak. She just held tightly to her husband’s robe with both hands, as if afraid to let him go. At last, she just nodded.
Caleb came over to them. ‘Can I trust you to get back here safely?’ he asked.
Pug laughed. He put his arm around his younger son’s neck and squeezed him tight. ‘You were always the sweetest child, Caleb, and despite being a strong man any father would take pride in, it’s good to see that little boy is still in there somewhere.’
Softly Caleb whispered, ‘You’re my father. I love you.’
‘And I you.’
Magnus returned and Pug said, ‘We do not have much time. Outside, please.’
They exited the building and stopped a short distance down the path in a small garden at the side of the house. Pug took one of the staves and handed it to his wife. ‘I had these fashioned from an old lightning-struck oak on the other side of this island. They are twins and I need one here, in the soil of this place, as an anchor.’
Miranda planted the butt of the staff into the soil. Pug looked to where Magnus stood with his brother and said, ‘Can you please help your mother, boys?’
Magnus and Caleb gripped the staff, and nodded.
‘No matter what happens, for the next hour do not let go of that staff. Keep it anchored to the ground. It is my only way back.’
‘Where did you learn this?’ Miranda asked.
‘From your father.’
She rolled her eyes, but said nothing.
‘I will come back,’ he promised. Then he vanished.
Mother and sons stood motionless, with Miranda, Caleb, and Magnus holding tightly to the staff.
Pug appeared at the rift site at the Academy to find half a dozen magicians anxiously watching the flood of refugees streaming through. One of them, a tall magician named Malcolm of Tyr-Sog shouted, ‘Pug! We can’t keep this up! We can’t get them off the island fast enough, and there are food riots beginning over in Shamata!’
‘Then take the rest of them up to Landreth!’ Pug pointed to the twin outward-bound rift and said, ‘Once I’m through that, shut it down. Is that understood?’
‘Yes, but what about this one?’
Those coming through were close to panic, pushing and shouting and almost tumbling over one another. ‘I’ll close it down from the other side.’ Pug took a deep breath. ‘I’m closing down all the rifts!’
He hurried past a situation that was almost out of control and, shouldering his staff, stepped through the rift gate into Kelewan.
He walked into a scene of insanity and chaos.