“Truly, Lord, your reputation has not been exaggerated. No wonder Haplo admires you, even as he betrays you. I am not a Patryn, as you have surmised. I appear in this guise in your world in order to maintain secrecy. I can appear in my true form, if such is your pleasure, my lord Xar, but my true form is somewhat daunting. I deemed it best for you to decide if you wanted to reveal my presence to your people.”
“And what is your true form, then?” Xar demanded, ignoring, for the moment, the accusation regarding Haplo.
“Among the mensch, we are known as ‘dragon,’ my lord.” Xar’s eyes narrowed. “I have dealt with your species before and I see no reason why I should let you live any longer than I let them. Particularly as you stand in my homeland.”
The false Patryn smiled, shook his head. “Those whom you refer to by that appellation are not true dragons, merely distant cousins.[9] Much as the ape is said to be a distant cousin of the human. We are far more intelligent, far more powerful in magic.”
“All the more reason you should die...”
“All the more reason we should live, especially since we live only to serve you, Lord of the Patryns, Lord of the Nexus, and, shortly, Lord of the Four Worlds.”
“You would serve me, eh? You say ‘we’? How many of you are there?”
“Our numbers are enormous. They’ve never been counted.”
“Who created you?”
“You did, Patryn, long ago,” said the serpent, softly hissing.
“I see. And where have you been all this time?”
“I will tell you our story, Lord,” answered the serpent coolly, ignoring the sarcastic tone. “The Sartan feared us, feared our power, just as they feared you Patryns. The Sartan cast your people into prison, but—since we are of a different species—they determined to exterminate us. The Sartan lulled us into a false sense of security by pretending to make peace with our kind. When the Sundering came, we were caught completely off guard, defenseless. We barely escaped with our lives. To our grief, we were powerless to save your people, who had always been our friends and allies. We fled to one of the newly created worlds and hid there to nurse our wounds and regain our strength.
“It was our intent to seek out the Labyrinth and attempt to free your people. Together, we could rally the mensch, who were left dazed and helpless by their terrible ordeal, and we could defeat the Sartan. Unfortunately, the world in which we chose to live—Chelestra—was also the choice of the Sartan Council. The mighty Samah himself established his city, Surunan, populated it with thousands of enslaved mensch.
“He soon discovered us and our plans to overthrow his tyrannical rule. Samah vowed that we would never leave Chelestra alive. He closed and sealed Death’s Gate, dooming himself and the rest of the Sartan on other worlds to isolation—only for a short time, or so he thought. He meant to make quick work of us. But we proved stronger than he’d anticipated. We fought back, and, though many of our kind gave up their lives, we forced him to free the mensch and at length drove him to seek the safety of the Sartan stasis chamber.
“Before the Sartan abandoned their world, they had their revenge on us. Samah cut adrift the seasun that warms the water of Chelestra. We could not escape; the bitter chill of the ice surrounding this world of water overtook us Our body temperatures dropped, our blood grew cold and sluggish. It was all we could do to manage to return to our seamoon and take refuge inside its caverns. Ice locked us in, sent us into an enforced hibernation that lasted centuries.[10]
“At length, the seasun returned and brought with it warmth and renewed life for us. With it came a Sartan, one who is known as Serpent Mage, a powerful wizard who has been traveling Death’s Gate. He awoke the Sartan and freed them from their long sleep. But by now, you, Lord, and some of your people had also attained your freedom. We sensed it, far away as we were. We felt your hope shine on us and it was warmer than the sun. And then Haplo came to us and we bowed to him and pledged him our help to defeat the Sartan. Defeat Samah, the ancient enemy.”
The serpent’s voice dropped low. “We admired Haplo, trusted him. Victory over Samah was within our grasp. We intended to bring the Sartan leader to you, Lord, as proof of our devotion to your cause. Alas, Haplo betrayed us, betrayed you. Samah fled, as did the Serpent Mage—the Sartan responsible for poisoning Haplo’s mind. The two Sartan escaped, but not before Samah had been driven by his fear of us and his fear of you, great Xar, to open Death’s Gate!
“The Sartan can no longer stop us from returning to assist you. We entered Death’s Gate and we present ourselves to you, Xar. We would call you ‘Lord.’” The serpent bowed.
“And what is the name of this ‘powerful’ Sartan to whom you keep referring?” Xar asked.
“He calls himself by the mensch name ‘Alfred,’ Lord.”
“Alfred!” Xar forgot himself, lost his composure. His hand beneath the black robe clenched into a fist. “Alfred!” he repeated beneath his breath. He glanced up, saw the eyes of the serpent glint red. Xar quickly regained his calm.
“Haplo was with this Alfred?”
“Yes, Lord.”
“Then Haplo will bring him to me. You need not fear. You have obviously misunderstood Haplo’s motives. He is cunning, is Haplo. Intelligent and clever. He may not be a match for Samah—if this is truly the same Samah, which I much doubt—but Haplo is more than a match for this Sartan with the mensch name. Haplo will be here shortly. You will see. And he will have Alfred with him. And then all will be explained.
“In the meantime,” Xar added, cutting short the serpent, who would have spoken, “I am very tired. I am an old man and old men need their rest. I would invite you to my house, but I have a child staying with me. A very sharp child, quite intelligent for a mensch. He would ask questions that I would prefer not to answer. Keep hidden in the forest. Avoid going around my people, for they will react to you as I have.” The Lord of the Nexus held forth his hand, exhibited the runes that glowed a vibrant blue. “And they might not be as patient as I have been.”
“I am honored by your concern, my lord. I will do as you command.” The serpent bowed again. Xar turned to take his leave. The serpent’s words followed him.
“I hope mat this Haplo, in whom my lord has placed such faith, will be found worthy of it.” But I most sincerely doubt it!
Unspoken words whispered from the twilight shadows. Xar heard them plainly, or perhaps he was the one who gave them utterance in thought, if not aloud. He glanced back over his shoulder, irritated at the serpent, but the serpent was gone. It had apparently slunk into the woods without a sound, without the rustle of a leaf, the cracking of a twig. Xar was further irritated, then angered at himself for having let the serpent upset him.
“A lack of confidence in Haplo is a lack of confidence in myself. I saved his life. I brought him out of the Labyrinth. I raised him up, trained him, assigned him this most important task, to travel Death’s Gate. When he first had doubts, I chastised him, cleansed him of the poison inflicted by the Sartan, Alfred. Haplo is dear to me. To discover that he has failed me is to discover that I have failed!”
The glow of the sigla on Xar’s skin was beginning to fade, though it still gleamed brightly enough to light the lord’s path through the fringes of the forest. He irritably forbore the temptation to look backward again. He didn’t trust the serpent, but then he trusted very few. He would have liked to have said “none.” He trusted no one. But that would have been wrong. Feeling older and wearier than usual, the lord spoke the runes and summoned out of the magical possibilities an oaken staff, strong and sturdy, to aid his tired steps.
“My son,” he whispered sadly, leaning heavily on the staff. “Haplo, my son!”
9
The serpent is, of course, lying to Xar. Since this evil has no true form of its own, it borrows any form that suits its needs.
10
Again, the serpent is relating its own version of the truth, which is considerably different from the story told by the Sartan, found in