a choice.’
‘I don’t understand,’ said Magnus.
‘I know you don’t. I do not know what your father has told you about what is coming, but I have no debt to you or your family, just an understanding which I struck with Pug years ago. Your brother stands with no exemption from fate; he lies at the entrance to my realm and I am under no obligation to refuse him. It is his time.’
‘No,’ said a voice from behind Magnus.
He turned and saw a thin, frail old woman with skin like translucent bleached parchment stretched over ancient bones. Her hair was white and she wore a robe the colour of the snow on the distant peaks. Her robe and hair were arranged with ivory clasps and rings, and her feet were hidden by the hem of her robes. ‘You may do as you wish, daughter, for you are ruler of your domain, but that is just the point: you may do as you wish.’
‘I have an obligation to keep order, and don’t call me “daughter”, old woman. You do not belong here.’
‘I belong nowhere, it seems.’ She glanced at Magnus and smiled.
Magnus studied the old woman and said, ‘You’re the witch from the village.’
‘No,’ said the old woman. ‘But I know her, as I know many others.’
Magnus revealed confusion, for the two women were identical, save that the witch had iron-grey hair and her skin was like leather. ‘Then who are you?’
‘I am one who once was and one who will be, but now …’
‘She is no one,’ said Lims-Kragma.
‘Yes,’ said the old woman, and suddenly she was gone. But her next words hung in the air. ‘You may do as you wish.’
For a moment, neither Magnus or the Goddess spoke, then the Goddess of Death said, ‘Very well. I refuse your brother entrance to my realm. His judgment shall await another time; take him to your island.’
‘Who was that?’ asked Magnus.
‘One who was,’ said the Goddess, then with a flicker of expression that suggested turbulent emotions, she added, ‘and perhaps, as she says, one who will be again one day,’ and with a wave of her hand she took the two of them back to the temple. Everyone stood frozen in time, likes flies caught in amber, and the Goddess said, ‘Ask Nakor or your father about echoes.’ Then suddenly she was gone, and everyone around Magnus began moving.
With a groan, Caleb opened his eyes. He blinked, then said weakly, ‘Brother?’
‘The Goddess answered your prayer,’ said the high priest, bowing his head. The other priests followed his example and also bowed.
‘Come,’ said Magnus to the boys as he picked his brother up from the floor. Caleb’s eyes closed and he fell unconscious again, his head resting against his brother’s shoulder. The boys stood close to Magnus and again felt a sensation of darkness followed by a moment of disorientation.
They stood near the ocean. Tad and Zane could smell the tang of sea salt in the night air. Tad pointed to the two moons in the sky and the boys knew that they were some miles northwest of McGrudder’s inn. Magnus said nothing as he walked towards a large, square building.
The structure ran in a straight line across a grassy field. Paving stone marred its lush texture and led to a large open door, lit by torches set in sconces on either side, To the left of the path, by the house another building rested, from which smoke and the smell of baking bread issued. Magnus stepped inside the building and turned left. The boys followed, pausing a moment to stare through the opposite door which revealed a large inner courtyard that had been turned into a garden.
They hurried after Magnus who now turned right and moved rapidly down another corridor to a suite of private rooms. A short man with a dark beard, a woman in a royal blue dress of simple cut and a man in a faded orange robe tattered at the hem, were waiting for him.
The group ignored the two boys as Magnus entered a generously-sized, but sparsely appointed bedroom. He laid his brother down on the low bed and stepped away. The man in the tattered orange robe inspected Caleb and after a minute said, ‘He needs rest, and when he awakes, some light food and drink.’ He turned to Magnus. ‘Tell us what happened?’
Magnus said, ‘You’ll have to start with these two,’ and he pointed to the boys.
The bearded man approached Tad and Zane and said, ‘I am Caleb’s father, Pug. What happened?’
Tad spoke first and told them of the ambush and Zane inserted a comment from time to time. When they reached the part about McGrudder at the Sleeping Rooster, Magnus said, ‘Let me continue.’ He turned to Pug and said, ‘The old witch in the village slowed his death.’
The short man in orange interrupted. ‘Old witch?’
‘I’ll get to that in a minute,’ said Magnus. He described his journey into the Hall of Lims-Kragma, and as he spoke Tad noticed Zane take a step closer to him, as if seeking comfort.
When Magnus had finished the story, he said, ‘The white-haired woman looked exactly as I remembered the village witch. She said you two—’ he gestured at his father and the other man, ‘—would know who she was. Lims-Kragma said she was an echo.’
Pug turned to the other and said, ‘Nakor?’
Nakor shrugged. ‘Do you remember Zaltais, whom we battled when the Emerald Queen invaded the Kingdom? I told you he was a dream.’
Magnus said, ‘I have not heard of this.’
‘There are many things you have not heard of.’ Pug frowned as he looked at his son. ‘What were you thinking, risking a visit to the Death Goddess’s Hall?’
‘I knew Caleb had no more than minutes, Father. And I knew you had been to see the Goddess twice, and had lived.’
‘The second time was not of my choosing,’ reminded Pug. Magnus knew the story; his father had been almost killed by the demon who led the Emerald Queen’s army during the Serpentwar.
‘But the first time you went seeking Grandfather and returned,’ countered Magnus.
‘Tomas and I were nearly dead when we revived from our first visit to Lims-Kragma’s Hall. You could have been trapped there.’
‘Her hall is an illusion, Father.’
Nakor shook his head. ‘The gods’ illusions can kill as easily as steel or stone, Magnus. They are real enough when they need to be.’
Miranda said, ‘It was madness! I could have lost both sons.’
Magnus’ blue eyes narrowed. ‘You’ve taught me well. I did not become ensnarled in the illusion; in fact I forced a change and met her in the Pavilion of the Gods.’ Pug and Miranda exchanged glances at that.
‘I would risk my own life for my brother’s,’ Magnus continued. When his mother said nothing, but let her expression show her displeasure, he added, ‘Mother, I know you fear for us both, but you lost neither.’
‘That is something for us to discuss in a moment,’ said Pug. ‘Nakor?’
‘I will tell you what I know, Pug,’ he said with a grin. ‘But first,’ he pointed one finger at the boys.
Pug turned and despite having just spoken to them moments before, it was as if he was noticing the boys for the first time. ‘Who are you?’
Tad pointed at himself and inclined his head, as if asking if he was whom he meant. Pug’s scowl made it clear. ‘I’m Tad. He’s Zane. We’re from Stardock.’
‘Why were you with my son?’ asked Miranda.
Tad launched into the story of the festival and how they woke up in the wagon, and while it was a disjointed and somewhat rambling version, they got the story in one telling. At the end, Magnus said, ‘You mean to say that you’re