Dougal’s eyebrows shot up. “Is that so? Had a falling out, have you?”
Lugh was still scowling. “He tried his best to cover it up, but I found out what the two of you were doing in your labs.”
“Ah,” Dougal said, and I had a feeling Lugh had just made a very convincing argument. “You do love riding on that moral high horse of yours, don’t you?”
“If I couldn’t convince Raphael that what he did was wrong, I certainly don’t expect to convince you. But what the two of you were doing was unconscionable.”
Dougal pinched the bridge of his nose, like the conversation was giving him a headache. “You see, that’s the thing about you, Lugh. You see the world in black and white, and you have no concept of compromise.”
“Oh, and compromise is your middle name? I think your worldview is just as black and white as mine.”
Dougal shrugged. “Maybe. But you’re wrong about one thing—I would have been willing to consider a middle ground, had I any reason to hope you could be reasonable.”
“I’m being unreasonable? I’m not the one who’s killing and torturing his own people in fits of pique!”
Dougal sneered. “Ah, yes. You’re the saintly brother who has never lost his temper. One would think to listen to you that you are the pinnacle of perfection—the ideal to which all of us lesser beings must aspire.”
I think Dougal scored a point with that potshot, though Lugh tried not to let it show on his face. He crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back in his chair. “If we’re going to catalog one another’s faults, we’ll be here till closing time. Let’s talk about terms for a duel.”
Dougal stared at him intently. “You really mean to do this? To risk everything on the chance that you can defeat me in a fair fight?”
“Yes, I do. I’m sure I don’t know half of what you’ve been up to in the Demon Realm since I’ve been gone, but I know enough to see that you must be stopped.”
“And why would you expect me to risk fighting you? I’m confident that you’ll slip up eventually and my people will get to you and eliminate my problems for me. Since you’ve made William into your toadie, you must know my resources on the Mortal Plain are not inconsiderable these days. Why should I not just sit back and wait until they succeed?”
One corner of Lugh’s mouth tipped up. “If you thought you had that luxury, you wouldn’t be here right now. I hear tell you’ve made a lot of promises and you’ve had trouble keeping them. Your future in the Demon Realm is looking less than bright. And all I have to do to turn all of humanity against us is to tell them about the experiments you and Raphael conducted with your human subjects, which would mean you couldn’t escape your troubles in the Demon Realm by coming here.”
A muscle ticked in Dougal’s jaw, but otherwise his poker face remained steady. “You would really risk every demon on the Mortal Plain just to spite me?”
“To spite you? No. But to stop you? Absolutely. I’ve already put them at considerable risk by allowing Adam to announce the truth about exorcism. I believe humans have a right to decide whether to host demons or not. I will not sit idly by and watch you take that choice away from them.”
Dougal shook his head in amazement. “You would side with humans over your own people?” The lines of his face hardened, and his eyes glowed with his anger. “This is the greatest proof ever that you are not fit for the demon throne. Your loyalties should be to your own kind, not to them.” Grimacing as if disgusted, Dougal made a sweeping hand gesture to encompass the crowd that milled around the food court.
“You’ve made your point of view on the subject quite clear,” Lugh said, and his voice sounded calm and unruffled. Score one for the good guys! “Now, are we going to discuss terms or not?”
Dougal visibly tamped down his temper. “Fine. Have it your way. We’ll discuss terms. Where shall the grand event take place?”
Lugh shrugged. “I don’t have a location picked out yet. I’m sure we can find someplace sufficiently secluded for what we need, given a little time. I can have Adam find a suitable location and then contact you—or your lieutenant—to let you know where it is.”
Dougal laughed. “So that you can booby-trap it?”
Lugh rolled his eyes. “Let’s establish from the start that neither one of us is stupid. I won’t suggest anything that will insult your intelligence, and I hope you’ll do me the same courtesy.”
“But—”
“Obviously I would have to allow your people to examine the location once it’s been selected so that you need not fear a booby trap.”
From the look of him, Dougal was thinking furiously, trying to find the flaw in Lugh’s logic. He must have decided it was sound, for he nodded. “All right. I will not formally agree to a location until my people have had a chance to examine it, but I will … provisionally agree, as it were. What weapons shall we use?”
Lugh sat back and thought about it a minute. “It seems to me weapons won’t be of much use, since the point of this endeavor is for one of us to kill the other, not for one of us to kill the other’s host.” His eyes narrowed in a shrewd frown. “You wouldn’t be entertaining thoughts of trying to kill my host, now, would you?”
It would be a lot easier to kill Lugh’s host than to kill Lugh himself. And, of course, if Dougal killed Lugh’s host and Lugh was sent back to the Demon Realm, Dougal’s minions would summon him back into a host who was already subdued and ready for roasting.
“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t a tempting possibility,” Dougal said. “But I presume you mean to give me some motivation not to?”
Lugh nodded. “You are fighting this duel to stop my supporters from revealing your special projects to the human public. The only way you can do that is by killing me in a fair and honest fight. If you cheat by killing my host, or if your followers interfere in any way, the agreement will be null and void.”
Dougal frowned. “And what would prevent them from doing so if you lost fair and square?”
“You can’t believe I or any of my supporters actually want to do this, can you?” Dougal shook his head, but still looked suspicious. “I told you I would not endanger our people like that out of spite, and I meant it.”
Dougal gave a little grunt that might have been a laugh. “And yet you would have your supporters tell all if I do not fight a fair fight. That sounds like spite to me.”
Lugh shrugged. “Call it what you will. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a deterrent, and a deterrent has no power unless I am willing to see it through. Make no mistake, Dougaclass="underline" If you cheat, the truth will come out.”
Dougal thought about that a while, then nodded. “I believe you. Now tell me what’s to prevent you from cheating.”
“Firstly, it’s not as easy for me to cheat. Killing your host would do me no good, unless you’re planning to tell me your True Name so I can do to you what you plan to do to me.”
“Granted. But you can still let your supporters interfere with the fight.”
“Since I feel confident you won’t risk having our secrets exposed by cheating, I would feel comfortable limiting the number of my supporters who are present for the duel. You can bring as many as you like, and they can ensure that my own supporters do not interfere.”
Dougal smiled ruefully. “Nice move, brother. You make it sound like it’s a concession, when actually you need to have most of your supporters safely away from the duel so they can carry out your revenge if I cheat.”
“What does it matter, as long as I’ve set the conditions so I can’t cheat?”
I could almost picture the wheels in Dougal’s head turning as he tried to find a hole in Lugh’s proposal. I was beginning to think Lugh had already put a lot of thought into his plans for the duel—without ever discussing it with me or with his council.
Dougal sat up straighter, and I could tell he’d thought of something.