At the Gates of Darkness

Three priests prayed before the statue, while on one side several petitioners seeking the goddess’s mercy for a recently departed loved-one lit candles and offered prayers. As the three men approached, one of the priests turned and rose to greet them.

‘Pug,’ he said, in a neutral tone. ‘What brings you here?’

‘I need to speak with High Priest Marluke,’ said Pug. ‘The matter is most urgent.’

‘It always is, isn’t it?’ said the Priest, dryly. ‘Yet I am certain the Holy Father will consider it urgent as well. Please, follow me.’

He led them past the statue to a small door between the base of the edifice and the first row of burning candles. He opened it and motioned for them to go through, then followed, closing the door behind.

The priest led them down a long hall and into a large room devoid of decoration. The only items in the room were four chairs and a simple wooden table. ‘I’ll inform the High Priest that you are here,’ he said.

At that moment, a door opposite the one through which they had entered opened, and an elderly man in a simple black cowled robe, entered the room. ‘He already knows,’ he said. ‘You may leave us,’ he instructed the priest.

He was tall, but starting to stoop a little with age, and he was slender to the point of gauntness; his hair was light grey, almost white, but his dark eyes were alert and keen and he had an engaging smile.

As the younger priest departed, the old prelate held out his hand to Pug and they shook. ‘As if you could pop into my temple without me knowing it,’ he said. Then he added, ‘Ah, Jim Dasher, or is it Baron James today?’

Jim shook his hand as well and said, ‘Today it’s Jim.’

‘And who is this?’ asked the old man, waving at the three of them to sit.

‘Amirantha, Warlock of the Satumbria,’ said Pug.

The High Priest’s eyebrows rose. ‘A warlock!’ He sat as soon as the others had taken their seats. ‘I’ve sent for wine and food, if you’re hungry.’

Jim nodded his approval.

Looking at Amirantha, the High Priest said, ‘Leave the serious discussion until my servant has left us. Until then, let us become more acquainted. I thought the Satumbria were obliterated.’

‘All but me,’ said Amirantha without emotion. ‘We were always a small nation. Just a loose confederation of villages, really, scattered around the northern grasslands of Novindus. The Emerald Queen’s army ended our existence.’

‘Ah,’ said the High Priest as his servant entered. All four men sat silently as food and wine was served; then the servant withdrew.

The High Priest looked at Pug and said, ‘No matter how many years pass, you look no different.’ He turned to Amirantha and said, ‘When I first met our friend here, I was a young priest, just ordained, and working in the temple at Krondor. While I was there, this fellow had several encounters with the High Priestess.’ He looked regretful. ‘A wonderful woman, really, when you got to know her; she was my mentor. It’s because of her that I had this impossible office thrust upon me.’

He looked again at Amirantha. ‘I suspect he will look the same years after I’ve gone to meet our Lady.’

Amirantha only nodded politely in response to the High Priest’s musing.

Then the old man’s manner changed. ‘Enough reminiscing. What brings you here at this late hour?’

Pug said, ‘I am not sure, myself. Amirantha, Jim?’

The Warlock turned to Jim, ‘You begin.’

Jim had just bitten off a large hunk of bread and cheese, and was forced to wash it down with red wine; after almost choking a little, he said, ‘Very well.’ Again he shared his experiences in the Jal-Pur desert, describing the scene of slaughter and self-sacrifice as best he could. Given his years of training in observing detail, the narrative lasted almost half an hour.

None of the others spoke until he was finished. Pug said, ‘That is horrible, indeed.’ He looked at Amirantha, ‘You demanded that we have an expert in death present. Now, what other than the obvious sickening detail, troubles you? What are we missing?’

Amirantha had been preparing for this question since he had first heard Jim’s account. ‘Nothing that Jim observed really makes sense. I will explain, but first let me ask the Holy Father, how much demon lore he understands?’

‘Little, truth to tell,’ answered the old man. ‘Here our concerns lie in preparing the faithful for their eventual journey to our Lady. We are put upon this world to help a fragile humanity understand that this life is but a part of a more profound journey; to let them know that if they live a just and honourable existence our mistress will place them upon a proper path towards ultimate enlightenment. Beyond that, our knowledge is gathered piecemeal; we share what we know with others,’ he acknowledged Pug with an inclination of his head, ‘and have in turn been given the benefit of their wisdom.’ He laughed. ‘Besides, I was told to work with Pug.’

Amirantha looked surprised. ‘Told to? By whom?’

‘By Our Lady herself,’ said the old priest. ‘It is rare to have a visitation, but it does occur. Usually it’s a revelation for the faithful and is proclaimed throughout the land, but in this case I was simply told to help Pug in whatever way I could and to keep my mouth shut about it.’ He laughed. ‘I may be the only leader in the history of the temple to have had a personal revelation and be unable to boast of it.’

Amirantha said, ‘Then to understand what I must tell you, I shall have to tell you a story I have already shared with Pug and Jim.’

Amirantha detailed his childhood, describing his existence on the fringes of Satumbria society, his mother’s role as witch and her being tolerated by the villagers because of her skill with potions and unguents. ‘She was also very beautiful, and as a result, she bore three children by three fathers, none of whom would claim us.’

He went on to compare his brothers, explaining how the eldest, Sidi, had murdered their mother for pleasure. He painted the next eldest, Belasco, as a man obsessed with surpassing his brothers in any endeavour, spurred into rage by the mere thought of being bested, and as someone who had, for reasons Amirantha only vaguely understood, been trying to kill his younger brother for the last fifty years.

‘I can’t even begin to guess which slight, real or imagined, set Belasco on his quest for my death, but it hardly matters.’ He paused to sip some wine to ease his dry throat.

‘You possess a most interesting family, certainly,’ the High Priest observed. ‘But I’m failing to see how any of it is connected to Jim’s report.’

‘I’m getting there, Holy Father,’ said Amirantha. ‘I recount my history so that you’ll understand fully what it is that I believe to be behind that murderous exercise in Jal-Pur.’ He paused, gathering his thoughts. ‘My eldest brother Sidi, whom you may also know by the name Leso Varen, was mad even as a child, and only got more insane as he grew. By the time he killed our mother he had become a remorseless monster with no sense of humanity. His obsession was death magic.’

The old priest nodded. ‘I recognize the name Leso Varen; he was a necromancer of prodigious art and from all reports, a font of evil.’

‘Whatever you have read would not have done the man justice,’ said Amirantha as Pug nodded his agreement. ‘If there ever existed a shred of humanity in his being, it was extinguished long before he became a player in this monstrous game we find ourselves in.

‘But Belasco was different; he was consumed by envy and rage, jealous of any feat completed or skill attained by my brother or I. But unlike either of us, he had real talents, although he often neglected them in order to best our achievements. I can well imagine him dabbling in necromancy or demon lore, but the murderous scene that Jim described is…It’s not something he would normally be party to. Nor is playing servant to a demon, no matter how powerful it is.’

‘Why?’ asked Pug.

Sipping his wine again, Amirantha said, ‘Because Belasco would choose death before he would willingly serve anyone or anything.’

‘There’s more,’ said the High Priest, and it wasn’t a question.

‘Belasco would also refrain from using this sort of death magic. Here’s the conundrum: death magic is not used by those who consort with demons.’

Pug suddenly became very interested, and looked as if he wished to say something or ask a question, but instead he said, ‘Go on.’

‘Holy Father,’ asked Amirantha, ‘what use has death magic?’

Pug realized Amirantha had asked the question in order to clarify a point he was about to make.

‘It’s an abomination,’ said the prelate. ‘Death magic and necromancy are misnomers, for the foulest form of life magic. At the moment of death, when life leaves the empty shell of our bodies, an energy is released. That energy, called theanima by some, and soul by others, is the fundamental core of being. Our bodies are transitory and will fail eventually, but the life force is eternal.’ He held up a finger for emphasis, ‘Unless…something prevents that energy from translating to Our Mistress’s hall.’

Amirantha appeared impatient. ‘I’m sorry to interrupt, Holy Father, but the heart of my question is what can be done with that energy if it’s trapped, bound, or intercepted somehow?’

The High Priest was silent for a moment, then he said, ‘An excellent question, but one beyond my knowledge.

‘What little information we have on necromancy had been gathered during our extensive efforts to stamp it out; preventing a soul from returning for judgment is an abomination against our Mistress.’ He turned in his chair and shouted, ‘Gregori!’

A moment later his servant appeared, and he said, ‘Ask Sister Makela to join us, please.’

Gregori bowed and left, and the High Priest said, ‘Makela is our Archive Keeper. If she doesn’t know something, she always knows where to find out about it.’

‘I have already searched the archives of the Ishapian abbey at That Which Was Sarth.’ Amirantha insisted.

The old prelate smiled and shook his head. ‘The Ishapians are a noble order, and we venerate them, but despite their authority and knowledge, they tend to vanity from time to time. Their library is prodigious, but hardly exhaustive. Not every tome finds its way into their library.’

‘But they have into yours?’ observed Jim.

Smiling even more broadly, the High Priest said, ‘We all exercise our prerogatives. Our discoveries remain ours unless we choose to share them.’ Then his mood turned sombre. ‘And much of the knowledge we choose not to share surrounds the area of which we now discuss; some matters are best kept secret or at least closely guarded by those who understand it best.’ He turned to Amirantha. ‘While we wait, why don’t you continue with the other points you wished to make?’

‘You’re perceptive, Holy Father. Discounting my ignorance of the nature and purpose of death magic, or as you called it, the stealing of life force, I have never found any connection with it and the demon realm in my studies.’

Pug said, ‘There is something about my past that should be mentioned now.’ He looked at the three other men and said, ‘When the Emerald Queen’s host sailed across the ocean from Novindus to invade the Kingdom of the Isles and sack Krondor many years ago, their regent had been replaced. A demon named Jakan was wearing their queen’s guise.’

Amirantha tilted his head slightly, pondering Pug’s words.

‘What remains unknown to all but the few of us who were there, is—’ He hesitated for a moment as he realized that his late wife, Miranda, had been among those present during the events he was about to describe, and he felt a pang. ‘I was about to say, it was not simply about conquest, but rather a massive assault designed to reach the city of Sethanon.’

Jim’s brow furrowed. ‘Why? Sethanon had been abandoned since the end of the Great Uprising. There was nothing there.’

Pug said, ‘Even your Kingdom annals were not privy to what took place at that time, below the old city, after the Battle of Nightmare Ridge.

‘During the Chaos Wars, the Dragon Lords fashioned a mighty artifact, called the Lifestone. I never had the opportunity to study it properly, it was deemed too dangerous, so we left it—’ He considered the wisdom of revealing the exact whereabouts of the Oracle of Aal, and decided to not burden his companions with the information, ‘—hidden, in a deep cavern below the city.’ He looked at the High Father and said, ‘But, I believe the Lifestone was constructed from captured life force, as you have described.’

The High Priest snorted. ‘Ishapians! I knew they were keeping something from us. Long have we been curious about what happened at Sethanon, at the end of the Great Uprising, and why King Lyam never attempted to rebuild that city. The official reason only stated that it was no longer an important trade route stop, and rumour said it was cursed.’ He shook his head and sighed.

‘The Ishapians knew only what we told them,’ confessed Pug. ‘And we only knew the Lifestone to be a vessel of great power, one that the demon Jakan was determined to reach.’

‘But why?’ asked Amirantha. ‘What use would a demon have for such an artifact, no matter how powerful it is?’

‘If we could deduce that,’ said High Priest Marluke, ‘then we might understand why your mad brother is so interested in slaughter and death magic, and what that has to do with this demon he seems to serve.’

Amirantha sat back and sighed. ‘Perhaps, but I don’t think so.’

‘Why?’ asked Pug.

‘Let me ponder it a while longer before I offer any more speculation,’ answered the Warlock.

‘Can’t we—I mean, you—study the Lifestone now?’ asked Jim.

Pug shook his head in the negative. ‘It was destroyed before the demon could reach it.’

The High Priest’s face took on an expression of distress. ‘Destroyed?’

Pug raised his hand in a placating gesture. ‘Perhaps that’s the wrong word. The elf queen’s son, Calis, managed to unbind the confining magic and the trapped life energy within was set free.’

The High Priest appeared delighted at that news. ‘A blessing! The souls were freed to resume their journey to Our Mistress!’ He looked eagerly at Pug. ‘What was it like?’

‘It was difficult to describe, Holy Father. The Lifestone looked like a crystal, one that pulsed with green energies, but when it was…unravelled…a flurry of tiny green flames floated away, in all directions.’

The High Priest sat back and said, ‘Throughout our temple’s history, no such manifestation of the actual act of translation has been documented. The best we have are occasional reports that one of our priests, priestesses, or lay brothers and sisters might have glimpsed a tiny green flash.’ He sighed in resignation. ‘There are so few overt signs of what we do. Those of us who have been blessed by a visitation from our goddess…’ He looked into his wine cup and took a sip. ‘At times, it is difficult to convince the faithful. So few actually have experienced the divine.’

Pug resisted the urge to remark that he had experienced more than his fill of the divine. Several encounters with both the death goddess, Lims-Kragma, and Banath, the God of Thieves, Liars, and a host of other malfeasances had made it clear to him that the gods were as real as the chair upon which he sat; his faith was never an issue, but he certainly felt like their creature at times, and that thought left a sour taste in his mouth if he dwelled upon it too long.

The door opened and an elderly woman dressed in the garb of a priestess entered, followed by a younger woman in similar attire. ‘You called for me, Holy Father?’

‘Sister Makela, we have need of your knowledge.’

‘I am at your disposal,’ she said as Jim rose to offer the old woman his chair. She smiled, nodded her thanks and took the seat. She was as old as the High Priest, and frail in appearance, but she also shared the same lively gaze.

The High Priest outlined what had already been discussed. When he had finished, he asked, ‘Have there been any exhaus-tive studies on the exact nature of necromancy, specifically what use the stolen life force might have to a necromancer?’

Without a moment’s hesitation, the old woman said, ‘Exhaustive, no. Several volumes of opinion exist, and I can have them brought up from the archives if you wish, Holy Father. The evidence suggests that necromancers usually have one of two goals. The first is to control the dead, harbouring enough life energy to animate corpses and direct them.’

‘Why?’ asked Jim.

‘A dead servant holds several advantages,’ suggested the librarian. ‘It is impervious to death, obviously, and so can only be stopped by the utter destruction of the body. These “undead” can make prodigious bodyguards or assassins, and can be sent to places where the living can not long survive; for example, they can stay under water for a few hours, or in a cursed room, protected by poisonous vapour, or some other trap harmful to the living. Moreover, they can kill with plague or infection as well as weapons.

‘The difficulty they present is that they decay, as do all the dead, though life magic can be employed to slow their deterioration for quite some time.’

‘What’s the other reason to use life magic?’ asked Pug.

She sighed, as if she found the subject distasteful. ‘They may also use it to extend their own life, even after death; they could preserve their consciousness in their mortal shell, rather than journey on to our mistress to be judged.’

‘A lich,’ said Amirantha.

‘Yes,’ agreed Makela. ‘It is the ultimate act of defiance against our mistress and the natural order. But the toll is great, for the mind of the magic user who extends his life this way is always the first casualty of such evil; liches are mad from all our reports.’

‘Madness does not exclude cunning and purpose,’ observed Pug.

‘True,’ said the High Priest.

Amirantha looked at the librarian and said, ‘Is there any mention in the annals about ties between such magic and the summoning or controlling of demons?’

The woman regarded the Warlock in silence for a moment, then said, ‘Demons are creatures of the other realms; they are not answerable to the natural laws of our own world. We have had little experience of such practices, they are the province of other orders who serve Sung the Pure, or Dala Shield of the Weak.

‘They may possess such knowledge, but I do not.’ She looked at the High Priest. ‘Is there anything else, Holy Father?’

‘I think not, Makela. Thank you for your help.’

She rose, bowed slightly before the High Priest, then moved towards the doorway where her aide waited. As she reached it, she turned and said, ‘I have thought of one other thing.’

‘What?’ asked the High Priest.

‘A passing reference, nothing more: In ancient times a war was fought against a cabal of necromancers—which was a strange enough occurrence in itself since they tend to be solitary types—but it was their name that was most odd. They called themselves the Demon Brothers.’

Amirantha said, ‘Is there more explanation?’

‘No, only their name.’ She tilted her head slightly as she thought. ‘It was something I have always found strange.’ She looked from face to face as she said, ‘We always assumed it was simple propa-ganda, a name used to describe the cabal as evil. But the more I think on it, the more I believe it may have been more than this, for the accurate translation of their ancient name would be Brothers to Demons.

‘I hope this helps.’ She nodded, as her assistant opened the door for her, and they departed.

The High Priest said, ‘Perhaps this is of some use to you?’

Pug said, ‘A great deal, perhaps, thank you.’ He rose and Amirantha followed.

Gregori appeared and ushered them from the room, and then left them to their own devices in the large main hall of the temple. Jim asked, ‘What next?’

‘We go to Sarth,’ said Pug. ‘The Ishapians are usually accommodating, but not particularly helpful regarding this area, but now we have something specific to investigate.’

‘The Brothers to Demons,’ said Amirantha. ‘A very odd name for a group of necromancers.’ To Pug he said, ‘Do we need to advise those waiting for us at the island that we’re not returning immediately?’

Pug said, ‘I’ll see to it after we reach Sarth.’

‘Good,’ said the Warlock. ‘Samantha becomes very cross with me when I fail to show up for meals on time.’

For the first time in recent memory, Pug laughed loudly. Everyone in the temple turned to stare at the sound, and several of those before the votive candles glared, for laughter was not frequently heard in the temple hall.

Jim said, ‘Now would be a good time to depart, I think.’

‘Stand close,’ said Pug and he held out his hands. Each man gripped Pug’s forearm, one to each side, and suddenly they were in another place.

• CHAPTER FIVE • Legacy

AMIRANTHA GAWKED AT THEIR SURROUNDINGS.

Jim also was astonished by the room but managed to retain a shred of decorum. Pug motioned for them to follow and led them deep into the vault.

‘Vault’ was the only word Jim could think of to describe the room in which they stood, for the ceiling receded into a gloom that prevented the naked eye from perceiving its exact height. Around them, massive columns rose to support the invisible ceiling, and row upon row of shelves joined them in an orderly fashion. The aisles they formed, and the intersecting rows between them, produced a layout like a chess board. At each junction a slender stand had been erected, graceful ironwork that bent, swan-necked, and ended in a hook from which a small crystal hung from a metal chain. The crystal provided just enough illumination to allow those in the room to see to the next lamp.

‘Amazing,’ said Amirantha, as he regarded the row upon row of books.

Jim echoed his tone when he said, ‘I’ve been to the Royal Archives in Rillanon, but this library dwarfs them in scope. How many volumes are here, Pug?’

‘I’m sure I have no idea,’ said the magician as they moved between the shelves; some vanished into the gloom above, and most held ladders set on rails along the wall. ‘Perhaps the librarian can tell you.’

‘This is Sarth?’ asked Amirantha.

‘That Which Was Sarth,’ corrected Pug.

‘I don’t follow,’ said the Warlock.

Turning with a wry smile, Pug said, ‘Before the invasion of the Emerald Queen’s army, the Ishapians abandoned their abbey near the town of Sarth.’

‘I still am not clear,’ said Amirantha following Pug down a long narrow passage between vaults.

Pug stopped and said, ‘The Ishapians have a prophecy, or perhaps had is a better choice of words. It said that a great upheaval would come upon the land, and after the destruction of the west, only That Which Was Sarth would remain.’

Amirantha looked at Jim, then Pug, and said, ‘Was Sarth destroyed during the Emerald Queen’s invasion?’

‘Essentially,’ said Pug, ‘though the old abbey itself survived relatively intact; how it would have fared had the brothers still occupied it…?’ He shrugged.

‘So, they made the prophecy come true,’ said Amirantha, as Pug resumed walking.

As the Warlock and Jim caught up, Pug said, ‘Perhaps. Or perhaps there is more destruction headed our way, and only this place, That Which Was Sarth, is destined to survive it.’

‘Exactly where are we?’ asked Amirantha. ‘I assume somewhere underground, as I did not notice anything resembling a window in the last two vaults we passed through.’

‘We are very deep underground,’ said Pug. ‘As to where, I promised the monks I would never reveal their location unless I have their leave. You were transported here by magic outside your understanding, so I can safely assume that you have no way of returning here after our visit.’

Amirantha chuckled. ‘Indeed.’

They reached a large door and Pug pulled it open. The room behind it was small, a table occupied half its area, over which stood a white-haired magician in black robes. ‘Father,’ said Magnus to Pug as they entered. Then he greeted Amirantha and Jim.