Kaspar turned to see Tomas standing in the doorway.
“And he’d have thrown the death-dancers and the Black Slayers at us together, completely overwhelming us.”
Pug nodded. “Varen will be back. Until we find the vessel housing his soul, he will keep coming back.”
Kaspar said, “Then that’s what we must do.”
Pug smiled. “We?”
Kaspar shrugged. “I was left with the impression, when last we spoke, that my options around here are limited.”
Pug nodded. “They are. Come, let’s take a walk.”
As Miranda and Tomas moved aside to let them exit the hut, Pug said, “I’ll be back shortly.” He paused and said to Miranda, “Have Magnus prepare to take the Talnoy to Kelewan. We’ll have the Assembly turn their best minds to the problem.”
She nodded. “After what’s happened here, we’ll need the help.”
Pug smiled and touched her arm. “And send for Caleb. I want him to work with Kaspar on tracking Varen down.”
She said, “I’ll take care of it.”
To Tomas, Pug said, “Why don’t you return to your family for a while? I think Varen depleted his resources in these two attacks.”
“I agree, but when the time comes to deal with that monster, I will be there.”
“Yes,” said Pug. “Nakor will see you back to Elvandar, unless you want to summon a dragon?”
Tomas grinned. “I could, but they tend to get irritated when the trip doesn’t involve something dangerous. I’ll find Nakor.” To Kaspar he said, “Fare well, Kaspar. I’m certain we shall meet again.”
They shook hands. “It has been an honor, Tomas,” Kaspar said.
Pug indicated that Kaspar should walk with him, and when they were alone he said, “It is good that you’ve decided to join us.”
Kaspar laughed. “I assumed there wasn’t much choice!”
“There’s always a choice, but in this case, your alternative was not particularly attractive. You’re a man of guile, wit, and perception, and you possess a certain ruthlessness that we shall most certainly need before all this is done; and know that it is far from done. This new struggle has only just begun. We have learned a bitter lesson; we have grown complacent in the defense of our home. We will never make that mistake again.”
Kaspar said, “When do we begin?”
Pug said, “Now. Come, let us make plans.”
The former duke, now an agent of the Conclave of Shadows, and the former kitchen boy, now the most powerful magician in Midkemia, walked down the hill toward the meadow and began to make plans.
EPILOGUE
MISSIONS
Magnus bowed.
A group of five magicians wearing black robes returned the greeting. One of them stepped forward and said, “Greetings, son of Milamber. You are a welcome sight to these old eyes.”
Magnus smiled. “You’re generous, Joshanu.” He looked to the other four Great Ones of the Assembly of Magicians. “It is good to see you all.”
He stepped off the dais upon which the rift machine rested, the twin of the one kept in Stardock on Midkemia. The room was large, but relatively empty save for the rift machine and the five men who waited around it. They had been warned of Magnus’s arrival by a signal system initiated years before. The room was all of stone, and cold for this hot planet, but it was well lit by oil lamps set in sconces on the wall.
“What is this thing that follows you?” asked one of the other magicians.
Speaking perfect Tsurani, Magnus answered, “It is the reason for my visit. It’s a man-made construction, yet it contains a living spirit. It belongs to the Second Circle,” he said, using the Tsurani terminology for the second level of reality.
This piqued their interest. “Really?” said a tall, reed-thin magician.
“Yes, Shumaka,” said Magnus. “I knew you would be especially interested.” To the entire group, he said, “My father begs the Assembly for their wisdom. If I may prevail upon you to gather as many of your brethren as you can, I would like to address them all.”
A short, stout magician smiled. “I shall spread the word. I am certain that when the news of this thing has spread, every member will be in attendance. Come, let us find you some quarters and let you rest. How soon would you wish to speak?”
Magnus slipped the ring on his finger and instantly felt the tingle of alien magic. “Follow,” he instructed the Talnoy, touching it lightly.
One thing the magician had discovered since being charged with transporting the Talnoy to Kelewan was that it responded to any language. Therefore, it was Magnus’s opinion that it could read the thoughts of the ring-wearer, and the vocalization was only really necessary for clarity of the command.
They led Magnus and the Talnoy through the heart of the city of magicians. The vast building covered an entire island, much as Stardock dominated the island upon which it stood. This one, however, dwarfed its imitator and was truly ancient, while Stardock was less than a century old.
No one knew more about rift-magic than Pug, and Magnus carried a set of messages from his father to various members of the assembly detailing what he knew, what he surmised, what he suspected and what he feared. Magnus had read the communiqués; they were not designed to reassure.
Still, the Talnoy was away from his home and Varen was, if not stopped, then at least slowed considerably.
But the last thing his father had said to him before he departed troubled him deeply.
Pug had embraced his son and whispered in his ear, “I fear the time of subtle conflict is behind us, and that now we once again face open war.”
Magnus hoped his father was wrong, but suspected that he was right.
Nakor swore as he bumped his head against the ceiling of the cave. It had taken him nearly a week to find it, using the information Kaspar had provided him. He ducked under the low overhang, torch in one hand, walking staff in the other.
He had used one of Pug’s Tsurani spheres to magically transport himself near to where Kaspar thought the Talnoy had been discovered: Shingazi’s Landing. He had left Sorcerer’s Isle in the middle of the afternoon, and had landed in Novindus during the dead of night.
Nakor left his rooms in Shingazi’s Landing, and walked until he was out of sight of the town. Then he used one of Pug’s tricks, and used the sphere to transport himself by line-of-sight. It was slow compared to the instantaneous jumps made from point to known point, but it was dangerous to attempt traveling in this way to unknown destinations, as the sphere could easily land the user inside solid rock.
He had found the village the Kingdom traders had used as their base of operations in the northern regions of the Eastlands, and after spending some gold and asking the right questions, he had located the cave.
Nakor looked at the devastation the grave-robbers had left behind them and balanced the torch between a pair of large rocks to light the cavern. Porcelain jars with unreadable writing upon them were now tiny shards, and clay tablets had also been smashed. Nakor sighed. “Such a mess.”
He felt Pug’s arrival before he heard him call out his name. “In here!” he shouted, and a light appeared in the tunnel a few moments later.
Pug came to stand beside his friend. “What have you found?”
“This,” said Nakor. He knelt and picked up a clay shard. “Perhaps if we took these back with us, the students could piece them together, and we might learn something?”
“This has all the hallmarks of a Pantathian burial vault,” said Pug. “Look.” He pointed to some armor. “That’s Pantathian.”
“What’s back here?” said Nakor.
Pug held up his hand and light sprang forth, bathing the rear of the cavern. “Looks like rock.”
“You, of all people, should look beyond the obvious, Pug.” Nakor walked to the rear of the cave and examined the wall. Then he began to bang on the stones with his walking stick.
Pug knelt and examined something in the corner. “Did you look at these ward-mar
kers?”
“Yes,” said Nakor. “Macros put them there.”
Pug stood up. “So, Macros the Black stumbled across a Pantathian burial chamber in which the Talnoy rested, and instead of ridding the world of it, he put some wards around it and left it here for us to find.”
“Well,” said Nakor, “if you couldn’t destroy it, what makes you think Macros could?” He glanced back and saw that Pug wore a wry smile. “You still think of him as more powerful than you, but that’s not so, at least it hasn’t been true for some time.” Nakor went back to examining the wall. “Besides, he was very busy for a few years.”
Pug said, “You could say that. But he never made any mention of it in his papers, to me, or to his daughter.”
“He didn’t spend a lot of time with your wife, Pug.”
“But this is important. It’s as dangerous as anything I’ve seen so far.”
With a rumble, the rear wall began to move and Nakor let out a satisfied grunt. “Found it!”
Pug hurried to stand next to the Isalani. “What do you think?”
“I think that if the Talnoy was out there, whatever is hiding in here must be very important indeed.”
“And perhaps dangerous,” said Pug.
Nakor retrieved his torch and they headed down into the tunnel. They had walked about a mile when the floor began to level off. Nakor said, “There’s a cavern ahead. Can’t see much with this light, though.”
Pug raised his hand and a light as bright as day streamed from his palm.
“Gods,” Nakor whispered. “We have a problem, Pug.”
The walls of the chamber rose a hundred feet or more, but the floor was less than ten feet below them. The cavern floor stretched out in a huge circle, and on it, lined up neatly as if in waiting, stood line after line, row after row of Talnoy.
“There must be hundreds,” Pug whispered.
“Thousands. We have a problem,” Nakor repeated.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
As always, I am indebted to those who created Midkemia and allowed me to use it. Without their generosity I might be flipping burgers. So, Steve A., Jon, Anita, Conan, Steve B., Bob, Rich, April, Ethan, and everyone else who contributed, my thanks.
Thanks to Ralph Askren for the fine map work.
Special thanks this time around to a group of people who have provided me with seemingly endless support and friendship through personal craziness: Andy Abramson, Richard Spahl, and Kim and Ray McKewon.
My deepest affections and appreciations to The Ladies: Annah Brealey, Jennifer Evins, Heather Haney, Candace Serbian, Jennifer Sheetz, Tami Sullivan, Rebecca Thornhill, Amaliya Weisler, Elyssa Xavier, and a special thank you to Roseanna Necochia. In many different ways you have all made life resonant and interesting. Your friendships have made me a far richer man than I deserve.
I also, once again, thank Jonathan Matson.
Thanks to my mother, for being there.
Lastly, and most deeply, to my children for their love and beauty; they drive me crazy while keeping me alive.
About the Author
RAYMOND E. FEIST’s previous novels include the first two books of Conclave of Shadows, Talon of the Silver Hawk and King of Foxes; Magician; Silverthorn; Faerie Tale; Prince of the Blood; and The King’s Buccaneer; as well as the four books of his New York Times bestselling Serpentwar Saga: Shadow of a Dark Queen, Rise of a Merchant Prince, Rage of a Demon King, and Shards of a Broken Crown; and the three books of his Riftwar Legacy: Krondor: The Betrayal, Krondor: The Assassins, and Krondor: Tear of the Gods. Feist lives in Southern California.
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Also by Raymond E. Feist
KING OF FOXES
TALON OF THE SILVER HAWK
MAGICIAN
SILVERTHORN
A DARKNESS AT SETHANON
FAERIE TALE
PRINCE OF THE BLOOD
THE KING’S BUCCANEER
SHADOW OF A DARK QUEEN
RISE OF A MERCHANT PRINCE
RAGE OF A DEMON KING
SHARDS OF A BROKEN CROWN
KRONDOR: TEAR OF THE GODS
KRONDOR: THE BETRAYAL
KRONDOR: THE ASSASSINS
With Janny Wurts
DAUGHTER OF EMPIRE
SERVANT OF EMPIRE
MISTRESS OF EMPIRE
Credits
Helmet illustration by Paul Robinson
“Novindus” frontispiece map by Ralph Askren, D.V.M., with grateful acknowledgment to Claire Naylon Vaccaro
Jacket design by Richard L. Aquan
Jacket illustration by Paul S. Robinson
Copyright
This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
EXILE’S RETURN. Copyright © 2005 by Raymond E. Feist. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
ePub edition March 2005 ISBN 9780061742033
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Feist, Raymond E.
Exile’s return / Raymond E. Feist.—1st ed.
p. cm.—(Conclave of shadows; bk. 3)
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Exile's Return: Conclave of Shadows: Book Three Page 30