would be transported to a place called ‘the Assembly’ and from there to his wife. I was nearly caught in the rift with the message.’
Pug stepped forward. Without thinking, he blurted, ‘Then those hands might have been his friends trying to find him.’
Kulgan looked at his apprentice and nodded. ‘A possibility. In any event, we can derive much from this episode. These Tsurani have the ability to control magic that we can only hint at in our speculation. We know a little about the occurrences of rifts, and nothing of their nature.’
The Duke looked surprised. ‘Please explain.’
Kulgan drew deep on his pipe, then said, ‘Magic, by its nature, is unstable. Occasionally a spell will become warped – why, we don’t know – to such a degree, it . . . tears at the very fabric of the world. For a brief time a rift occurs, and a passage is formed, going . . . somewhere. Little else is known about such occurrences, except that they involve tremendous releases of energy.’
Tully said, ‘There are theories, but no one understands why every so often a spell, or magic device, suddenly explodes in this fashion and why this instability in reality is created. There have been several occurrences like this, but we have only secondhand observations to go on. Those who witnessed the creation of these rifts died or vanished.’
Kulgan picked up the narrative again. ‘It’s considered axiomatic that they were destroyed along with anything within several feet of the rift.’ He looked thoughtful for a moment. ‘By rights I should have been killed when that rift appeared in my study.’
The Duke interrupted. ‘From your description, these rifts, as you call them, are dangerous.’
Kulgan nodded. ‘Unpredictable, as well. They are one of the most uncontrollable forces ever discovered. If these people know how to manufacture them and control them as well, to act as a gate between worlds, and can pass through them safely, then they have arts of the most powerful sort.’
Tully said, ‘We’ve suspected something of the nature of rifts before, but this is the first time we’ve had anything remotely like hard evidence.’
Kulgan said, ‘Bah! Strange people and unknown objects have appeared suddenly from time to time over the years, Tully. This would certainly explain where they came from.’
Tully appeared unwilling to concede the point. ‘Theory only, Kulgan; not proof. The people have all been dead, and the devices . . . no one understands the two or three that were not burned and twisted beyond recognition.’
Kulgan smiled. ‘Really? What about the man who appeared twenty years ago in Salador?’ To the Duke he said, ‘This man spoke no language known and was dressed in the strangest fashion.’
Tully looked down his nose at Kulgan. ‘He was also hopelessly mad and never could speak a word that could be understood. The temples invested much time on him—’
Borric paled. ‘Gods! A nation of warriors, with armies many times the size of our own, who have access to our world at will. Let us hope they have not turned their eyes toward the Kingdom.’
Kulgan nodded and blew a puff of smoke. ‘As yet, we have not heard of any other appearances of these people, and we may not have to fear them, but I have a feeling . . .’ He left the thought unfinished for a moment. He turned a little to one side, easing some minor discomfort, then said, ‘It may be nothing, but a reference to a bridge in the message troubles me. It smacks of a permanent way between the worlds already in existence. I hope I’m wrong.’ The sound of feet pounding up the stairs made them turn. A guard hurried in and came to attention before the Duke, handing him a small paper.
The Duke dismissed the man and opened the folded paper. He read it quickly, then handed it to Tully. ‘I sent fast riders to the elves and the dwarves, with pigeons to carry replies. The Elf Queen sends word that she is already riding to Crydee and will be here in two days’ time.’
Tully shook his head. ‘As long as I have lived, I have never heard of the Lady Aglaranna leaving Elvandar. This sets my bones cold.’
Kulgan said, ‘Things must be approaching a serious turn for her to come here. I hope I am wrong, but think that we are not the only ones to have news of these Tsurani.’
Silence descended over the room, and Pug was struck by a feeling of hopelessness. He shook it off, but its echoes followed him for days.
• CHAPTER SIX •
Elfcounsel
PUG LEANED OUT THE WINDOW.
Despite the driving rain that had come in early morning, the courtyard was in an uproar. Besides the necessary preparations for any important visit, there was the added novelty of these visitors being elves. Even the infrequent elf messenger from Queen Aglaranna was the object of much curiosity when one appeared at the castle, for rarely did the elves venture south of the river Crydee. The elves lived apart from the society of men, and their ways were thought strange and magical. They had lived in these lands long before the coming of men to the West, and there was an unvoiced agreement that, in spite of any claims made by the Kingdom, they were a free people.
A cough caused Pug to turn and see Kulgan sitting over a large tome. The magician indicated with a glance that the boy should return to his studies. Pug closed the window shutters and sat on his pallet. Kulgan said, ‘There will be ample time for you to gawk at elves, boy, in a few hours. Then there will be little time for studies. You must learn to make the best use of what time you have.’
Fantus scrambled over to place his head in the boy’s lap. Pug scratched absently behind an eye ridge as he picked up a book and started to read. Kulgan had given Pug the task of formulating shared qualities of spells as described by different magicians, in the hope it would deepen his understanding of the nature of magic.
Kulgan was of the opinion that Pug’s spells with the trolls had been the result of the tremendous stress of the moment. He hoped the study of other magicians’ research might help the boy break through the barriers that held him back in his studies. The book work also proved fascinating to Pug, and his reading had improved greatly.
Pug glanced at his master, who was reading while puffing great clouds of smoke from his long pipe. Kulgan showed no signs of the weakness of the day before and had insisted the boy use these hours to study, rather than sit idly by waiting for the arrival of the Elf Queen and her court.
A few minutes later, Pug’s eyes began to sting from the pungent smoke, and he turned back to the window and pushed open the shutters. ‘Kulgan?’
‘Yes, Pug?’
‘It would be much nicer working with you if we could somehow keep the fire going for warmth but move the smoke outside.’ Between the smoking fire pot and the magician’s pipe, the room was thick with a blue-white haze.
The magician laughed loudly. ‘Right you are.’ He closed his eyes for a moment, his hands flew in a furious motion, and he softly mouthed a series of incantations. Soon he was holding a large sphere of white and grey smoke, which he took to the window and tossed outside, leaving the room fresh and clear.
Pug shook his head, laughing. ‘Thank you, Kulgan. But I had a more mundane solution in mind. What do you think of making a chimney for the fire pot?’
‘Not possible, Pug,’ Kulgan said, sitting down. He pointed to the wall. ‘If one had been installed when the tower was built, fine. But to try to remove the stones from the tower, from here past my room, and up to the roof would be difficult, not to mention costly.’
‘I wasn’t thinking of a chimney in the wall, Kulgan. You know how the forge in the smithy has a stone hood taking the heat and smoke through the roof?’ The magician nodded. ‘Well, if I could have a metal one fashioned by the smith, and a metal chimney coming from the hood to carry the smoke away, it would work the same way, wouldn’t it?’
Kulgan pondered this for a moment. ‘I don’t see why it wouldn’t. But where