All eyes turned to the magician. Pug looked at Macros. ‘You have a message, somewhere in your memory, that someone was desperate to relay to us, but not until we had been here a while and seen with our own eyes the circumstances we are confronting.’
Macros said, ‘But nothing stirs. Nothing is apparent.’
Magnus looked at the creature who had claimed to be his grandfather’s spirit in a Dasati body and with a detached interest said, ‘How do you feel?’
‘The potion has restored some of my strength and I feel… otherwise, I feel empty.’
‘The false life given you is draining away,’ said Audarun. ‘Your remaining time is short. At some point you will close your eyes and cease to be. There will be no pain.’
Macros lay back and stared at the ceiling. He said, ‘I feel I should be angry, or frightened, or something. Instead I am merely concerned that I fulfil whatever mission I was created for, to bring you that message, Pug, if that’s what I am to do.’ He fell silent and then took a deep breath. ‘It’s so very strange to have these memories, yet to be told they are not my own.’
‘What about this Dasati body?’ Magnus asked Audarun.
‘I suspect it was meant to die at that moment of faintness, when those false memories came, perhaps from a weakness of the heart or some other malady. But something – someone – seized that instant to instil the false human memories and keep the Dasati mind intact.’ She shook her head slightly. ‘It is an admirable feat, as subtle a magic as any I’ve encountered, yet at the same time it’s extremely powerful necromancy.’ She let out an audible sigh. ‘I wish I knew who did this.’
‘Ban-ath,’ Pug said.
‘Who?’ asked the old witch.
‘Ban-ath,’
Magnus said, ‘The God of Thieves?’
Macros nodded. ‘Kalkin.’
‘Who is this being?’ asked Audarun.
Pug said, ‘In our realm we have many gods, though from what I have learned, not as many as you had before the rise of the Dark One.’
She smiled. ‘How can one realm have more gods than another?’
Pug said, ‘I’ll leave theology to the clerics, but it may be that we merely find convenient labels for common elements so that we can better understand them; in short, fifty of your gods may in reality be only fifty aspects of a single god we worship under a single name.’
‘Tell us of this Ban-ath.’
‘Ban-ath, also called Kalkin, Aderios, Jashamish, and many other names by people of other nations. His simple soubriquet is "The Trickster", but he is more than this. He is the God of Thieves, but also the God of Lost Causes and Hopeless Quests, a rule-breaker and a master of misdirection.’
She laughed bitterly. ‘Olapangi! Also known as the Deceiver to our people. I have long been a student of the old lore, and among the ten thousand gods he was always a favourite of mine. There are many old stories of the Deceiver, how he played pranks on the other gods and mortals alike. The name Dathamay, the man who this creature said came to him and made all things clear, that name is from an ancient myth: Dathamay was a tool of Olapangi, a dupe who went among the people telling them one thing, while Olapangi did another. The Deceiver was our most colourful, and often most dangerous god.
‘He could be gentle or vicious, compassionate or ruthless, often at whim, but always with a purpose. We have an old saying, though few among the Dasati would recognize it as originating with the stories of Olapangi: "by whatever means necessary.’"
‘The ends justify the means,’ said Magnus.
‘Ah, you have similar wisdom,’ she acknowledged..
‘I don’t know how much wisdom there is in absolutes, but it is often the case that if the ends are vital enough, means that would otherwise be unthinkable…’Pug’s eyes widened. ‘I am such a fool,’ he said softly.
‘Father?’ said Magnus.
‘I… we, have all been used.’
‘By Ban-ath?’
‘Yes,’ answered Pug. He went over to Macros, leaned down and looked him in the eyes, as if trying to see something within. ‘You have been most ill-used of all, for whoever you were in this world, your time came prematurely and you were not even granted the dignity of being found at the roadside and given the rites of your people.’
Macros said, ‘Now I remember.’
‘What?’ asked Pug.
The Dasati with Macros’s features look up and smiled. ‘I have a memory of you, Pug. When you and Tomas and the dragon Ryath came for me in the Garden…’ He laughed. ‘The Gardener! Kalkin’s an evil bastard at times, but he does have a sense of humour.’ He paused and Pug could see he was now in pain. With shining eyes, Macros said, ‘We stood in the Garden that hovers at the edge of the City Forever and spoke of the dangers we thought we faced, the return of the Dragon Lords to Midkemia. You asked, "Then, why haven’t the gods acted?" Do you remember how I answered?’