humans and dwarves crossed with them. Perhaps,’ posed the old dwarf, ‘the Lost Elves built their own bridge to escape their masters?’ And without waiting for an answer, Malachi left the hall.
Dolgan and the others remained silent for a long while, then Dolgan said, ‘What if the Lost Elves built their own bridge to escape their masters, indeed.’
‘But now one returns,’ said Alystan.
‘Apparently,’ said Dolgan.
‘Know this, wielder of Tholin’s hammer,’ said a voice behind them. Dolgan and the others turned to see Malachi standing in the hallway. ‘One last thing,’ he added, pointing a frail finger at the Dwarf King. ‘It was your ancestor who led our people here, making these mountains our home. His brothers led other bands to Stone Mountain and Dorgin. Our people were once as numerous as the leaves on trees, but where one dwarf crossed the bridge from our home world, five remained to fight the madness that came to destroy our home. No one knows what that madness was, save that it shattered the world.’ The old dwarf seemed fatigued from telling his story. Then, catching his breath, he began again. ‘If the Lost Elves are coming to this world, you must call The Moot and prepare for the possibility of war! Since we’ve come to this world we’ve found enemies, Dolgan, and if these are the Lost Elves, and kin to our friends in Elvandar, they are also kin to the dark elves.’ Dolgan nodded to Toddy to take him back to his quarters.
As the boy led Malachi away, several of the dwarves in the room nodded at his words. Hogni, Dolgan’s grandson, said, ‘When the Tsurani first came, when we first heard of them that night in the cave when you, Father and uncle Udell found Lord Borric hiding from the goblins, Father told me he felt an icy cold in the pit of his stomach.’
Dolgan nodded. ‘I, as well; and I feel it again.’
The Ranger said, ‘I can only tell you what I saw. I could put no name to that creature until this very hour. I had not heard of the Lost Elves until today.’
Dolgan said, ‘It could be a coincidence. The creature might have been some other kind of being that merely looks like our own elves. After all, don’t the Tsurani look like other humans? Or perhaps it was a human you saw, and he was simply putting on a magical guise for a mission on the other side of the rift.’ He puffed on his pipe and was silent for a moment. ‘Still, if it is the return of an ancient race of elves …’
‘Caution urges you to prepare as if they are coming,’ said the Ranger. ‘I’m for Elvandar and the Queen and Lord Tomas.’
Dolgan fixed the Ranger with a stare, then said, ‘And I’m with you. If anyone remembers those days, it will be Tomas. He often can’t recall his distant past until prodded by events, and if there was ever a time for prodding a Dragon Lord, it’s now.’ ‘You’ll ride?’ asked the Ranger.
Dolgan grinned. ‘No. I’m old, but I’m not dead. Thick woodlands lie between here and the River Crydee, and I’ve yet to see a horse I couldn’t run down. I’ll keep up, have no fear.’
Hogni fidgeted and cleared his throat.
His grandfather fixed him with a barely hidden amused expression and said, ‘What is it, boy?’
‘You said that when next you went to Elvandar, I could come as well, Grandfather.’ Dolgan feigned a scowl and then said, ‘That I did. Get ready. And tell your father he gets to play king for a while, until I return. We leave in an hour.’
Hogni grinned and hurried to gather his travelling gear. Dolgan sighed. To Alystan, he said, ‘He’s very young; not quite forty years old yet.’
The Ranger, who was only a few years older, suppressed a chuckle. Then the moment of mirth passed, and the grim prospect of what they were facing returned. The room seemed colder, despite the brisk fire.
LAROMENDIS BEGAN HIS SPELL.
Across the vast courtyard sat a huge iron cage in which his brother rested as best he could in the blistering afternoon heat. The soldier who guarded the cage hadn’t yet noticed the Conjurer’s presence, so when Laromendis finished his spell and approached, the man saw not one, but two figures: the Conjurer accompanied by a guard captain.
The sentry looked quizzically at the pair, unaware that one of them was a phantom of his own imagination, and when they stopped before him, he heard the officer instruct him to draw away and give the brothers a moment of privacy. The guard nodded once, and followed the order.
Gulamendis looked up at his brother and smiled, though it obviously pained him to do so: his lips were cracked and bleeding from the heat. ‘How fare you, brother?’
Laromendis shook his head as he thrust a small water skin through the bars of the cage. ‘Drink slowly,’ he warned. ‘I’m faring better than you, by all appearances. What happened?’
‘Our master, the Regent Lord, became most vexed by the news that we had lost the outpost at Starwell and turned his wrath upon me. He already held me in the dungeon, and since he couldn’t kill me and keep your service, he decided a little torment might serve to show his wrath,’ Gulamendis said. He glanced at the sun, which was now lowering towards the keep. ‘In an hour the shadows will cover me and I’ll be all right.’
Pointing to the skin, Laromendis said, ‘Hide that; it should last for a few days.’ He glanced over his shoulder at the distant guard. ‘I don’t think they’ll completely forget to give you food and water, but they may decide to let you suffer for a while. It’s the mood of the times.’
‘Not a lot of joy to be found,’ agreed the Demon Master. Gulamendis moved the stale straw that was his bedding and hid the remaining water. ‘I’m better than I look. I send Choyal into the kitchen at night to fetch me extra food and drink.’ He chuckled but it came out dry and rasping. ‘But imps are so stupid. One night he delivers me a delicacy from the Regent Lord’s own larder, another night it will be rotten vegetables.’
‘I’ll do what I can to get you out.’ He paused, looked his brother in the eyes and said, ‘I found Home.’
His brother’s expression stilled. The resemblance between them was staggering, but Gulamendis was slightly shorter, a little thinner, and had lighter, almost orange, red hair.
‘What?’ asked Laromendis.
‘If you have found Home, what need has the Regent Lord for us?’
‘There are problems,’ said Laromendis, standing. ‘I must leave as the guard is returning and I can’t be here if a true officer arrives. The Regent Lord needs me for a while longer, and because of that you will be safe, if not comfortable.
‘And I have a plan.’
The younger brother smiled. ‘You always do.’
‘We need to get you to Home, because not only will you be safer there, the People will also have need of your knowledge.’
‘Demons?’
‘Perhaps,
