“I can’t believe I’m seeing this. All my life I’ve read about these creatures — their role in the cycle of magic, theories on their extinction — but I never, ever thought I’d see one, let alone three. There is such… such power here. Any sorcerer would give their right arm to be where I am right now. The possibilities these creatures open up are almost boundless. In fact…”
So lost in his reverie did Kelos become, that it was only when the eunuch shook his shoulder that he realised he was trying to talk to him.
“…I said, where did you come from? Are the others here?”
“What? Oh… yes, yes. The others. Yes, sorry, Emuel, you’re right. We must get back to them, though I’m afraid to say that Ignacio and his new friends are now amongst their number. No matter. It may be that I can use the power of the dragons myself to perform a sorcery that will send us all back home. Just imagine it! The most audacious spell ever performed, breaking down the boundaries of time and space!”
“Old man, you’re babbling.”
“Sorry, sorry. Quite right, Emuel. Quite right.” Kelos looked up at the stars above him. “Right, I must return and inform the others.”
“In that case, hop up beside me.” Emuel said, mounting Calabash.
“Hop up?”
“Yes. It will be far quicker to fly.”
“Oh, I know that you’re going to fly,” Kelos said, and Emuel noticed that the mage had begun to make strange gestures with his hands, a faraway look in his eyes. “But with the magic flowing from your friend here, I can simply weave a spell to send myself back. I must, after all, prepare our companions for what they are to witness. Be the herald of the good news, as it were.”
And Kelos began to fade from before them, until he disappeared completely.
Dunsany stood beside the empty sack, looking at the faces of the expectant audience and wondering what to do.
When they had performed this trick in the past, Kelos had usually re-emerged well before this point, hungry to reap the applause. However, five minutes had now passed with no sign of the mage, and people were beginning to mutter amongst themselves. Dunsany sighed and opened up the sack.
His gut clenched as he saw that the sub-dimensional pocket had collapsed. Had the artefact taken Kelos with it, perhaps trapping him forever on some other plane of reality?
There was a pop of air being displaced, followed by a gasp from the audience. Dunsany looked up, wondering what could have elicited such a response. At first he couldn’t see anything other than the bemused expressions of the people sitting before him, but then there was a tap on his shoulder and he turned around.
“Ta da!” Kelos said, his arms wide, a smug grin on his face.
Dunsany embraced him, relieved to see his friend safe and well. But then, remembering that they were supposed to be performing a trick, he took his partner’s hand and turned to the audience before leading him in a bow.
The applause was thunderous, and once it died down there were many happy faces drifting back through the camp, to tents and bedrolls; the settlers filled with the wonder that the mage and his impromptu show had brought.
When they were alone, Dunsany turned back to Kelos.
“What the hells happened? That certainly was never part of the original trick.”
“You know the magic that made this little show possible? Well, I’ve found the source!”
“And that made you disappear?”
“Yes. Well… no. It’s complicated. But… Dunsany, here’s the thing. We can use that magic to go home. I can perform the spell to send us back; reverse the magic that brought us here. We don’t even need Kerberos. This…” Kelos swallowed, his words starting to run away from him. “This will be the greatest act of sorcery ever performed by a human being. And if I can bring one of the creatures back with us… You have no idea of the possibilities such power presents!”
“No, you’re right. I really don’t. Look, I think we should speak to Silus about this.”
“I agree. Where would we find him at this hour?”
“The last time I saw him he was with Bestion. I think that the priest was preparing him for communion with Kerberos. It may be that he won’t want to be disturbed.”
“Oh, trust me, Dunsany. When he hears what I have to say, he won’t mind at all.”
Silus had hoped for compassion, leniency. After all, didn’t the Final Faith preach that Kerberos forgave those who truly repented? Admittedly, that repentance was often attainted through the use of torture, or posthumously attributed to the heretics who had died in the flames of the naphtha gibbets; but the possibility of forgiveness was still there. A deity could have a change of heart.
Kerberos had not had a change of heart. Instead, Silus was told to gather everybody together to prepare for the final journey. This night he would lead them further into the desert, there to bring Illiun and the settlers into the presence of the creature who would administer the wrath of a wronged god. As to the nature of this creature, Silus had no idea. He only hoped that whatever death the settlers faced, it would be quick and painless.
When they were gathered before him, Silus tried to take reassurance in how few of them there actually were. What are the deaths of tens of people, compared to millions? he had said to Katya. But though he repeated this to himself as he prepared to speak, he didn’t truly believe it. These were people, not monsters, and they trusted him.
“Kerberos has spoken. We are near our journey’s end and your new home awaits. Just a few hours from here, we will come to a place where you can settle. Here, there will be water, land you can farm — everything you will need to survive. Gather up your belongings, and be ready to leave in an hour.”
As he turned to make his own preparations for departure, he saw Kelos and Dunsany hurrying towards him.
“Good news!” the mage said, as he came to a halt.
“Well, I could certainly do with some of that right now.”
“Why, what’s the matter?” Dunsany said.
“Nothing that you need to worry about. I’ll tell you later.”
“This is going to sound crazy…” Kelos began.
“Crazy, you?” Silus said.
“…but I think that I can send us home myself. I can manipulate the threads to reverse the magic that brought us here, sending us all back to Twilight. We can even bring Illiun and his folk with us; they won’t have to live on this harsh world.”
“And what about Ignacio and the Swords? As soon as we get back home, they’ll simply want to bring them to ‘justice.’ They’ll be escaping from one prison and into another.”
“I’m sure that we’ll think of something. Isn’t getting back the most important thing right now?”
“But Kerberos has promised to send us back.”
“Yes, yes I know that. But… look. It’s not every day that a mage of my standing gets the chance to perform such a spell, and I know that I can do it. Hells, with the access to the power available to me I can do virtually anything! Just give me this chance, Silus, please. You don’t know how important this is to me. You do trust me, don’t you?”
He did. They had fought together on more than one occasion; the mage had risked his life in the fight against the Chadassa and had understood and nurtured Silus’s preternatural powers. More than this, Kelos was a friend. Not only did Silus trust him but, he realised with a start, he trusted him more than his god. If they could return to Twilight with the settlers, then they wouldn’t have to worry about them affecting the past history of this world. Far from being responsible for their deaths, he could actually rescue them.
“What do we have to do?” he said.
“Out there is something that will change everything,” the mage said, pointing into the darkness. “For now, you don’t need to alter your plans at all. Just trust me when the time comes, okay?”
“And just what is out there?”
“Please, Silus. Just give me this one, okay?”
He looked at the anticipation and excitement on Kelos’s face and realised that he couldn’t disappoint him. If there was a chance they could avoid the destruction that Kerberos was planning, then he would take it.