and what their goals are. It is the only way we are going to be able to stop them.’
‘Let us hope we can.’
‘Do you have any recommendations?’ Finubar asked. ‘Is there anything we can do?’
He clearly wanted to know if there was some place where he could order his troops or fleets to go. He was a warrior and he saw things like a warrior.
‘We need to know what the daemon wants, sire, before we can prevent it from achieving its goals.’ Belthania said.
‘Then we had better work that out, hadn’t we,’ said the Phoenix King. ‘And quickly before more lives are lost.’
Urian helped himself to some wine. It was going to be a long night, and he had better make sure he missed nothing. Malekith would want a full report on this.
‘It seems my rebellious subjects are in something of a panic, Urian,’ said Malekith. His gaze burned coldly out of the great mirror beneath the Silvermount Palace. There was a certain chill satisfaction in his voice. He had listened intently to Urian’s report without interrupting once, which was unusual for him.
‘Indeed, sire. They are. Apparently Ulthuan is under attack by a legion of greater daemons. They have returned from the time of legends and are hellbent on destroying the entire island and sending us all beneath the sea.’
‘I sense that you are not in agreement with this, Urian.’
‘As ever, sire, you are correct.’
‘Your simple faith in me is touching, Urian,’ said Malekith, with a trace of his acid humour. ‘What has been the response from the False King’s court?’
‘They are mustering their armies and fleets. They have sorcerers working on divinations. Scholars such as my humble self are scouring through ancient texts. They seek to ascertain the daemons’ purpose.’
‘Do you think they will do so?’
‘Not yet, master, but it is merely a matter of time before they do. They are not without competent wizards here in Ulthuan.’
Malekith nodded. ‘I do not think it is an uprising or a group of invading armies. My spies would have informed me of such a thing and I am sure that in this matter at least the False King is at least as well informed as I.’
‘You think it is the daemon, sire? This N’Kari of legend?’
‘It is possible, Urian. Such creatures do not age any more than I do. If it is N’Kari he will be terrible.’ Urian needed to exert all his self-control to keep from shuddering. He gazed on his ruler with a feeling of something like awe. Malekith had been alive when Aenarion had defeated and banished the Keeper of Secrets. He had walked the world in that time of legend. And if he saw fit to remark that its return would be a terrible event, Urian had every reason to believe it would be so.
‘This daemon, if daemon it be, is moving very quickly around Ulthuan with a very large force. Much faster than it should be able to by ship or road.’ The Witch King sounded even more coldly thoughtful than usual. What was he thinking?
‘Magic, sire?’
‘Magic indeed, Urian and of no usual kind. If a Keeper of Secrets were simply moving itself we could assume it was being summoned by worshippers although this would speak of a level of Slaanesh worship in Ulthuan far greater than any we were aware of.’
Urian was of the opinion that Morathi was fully aware of the extent of the Lord of Pleasure’s worship in Ulthuan, but whether she would share this knowledge with her son was a different matter entirely. ‘You think this contingency unlikely, sire?’
‘We do, Urian. Even if he were being summoned, there is no way he could bring a large force of mortals with him. There is some other form of magic at work here, one that interests me greatly.’
Urian could understand why. Anything that might allow the movement of large bodies of troops around Ulthuan so swiftly would be of great interest to the Witch King. His eventual goal was nothing less than the unification of the two elven realms under his own legitimate rule.
‘You wish me to investigate this matter, sire?’ Urian said, risking much. It was always dangerous to assume you knew what Malekith wanted and always dangerous to speak to him when he had not asked you a direct question.
‘Precisely so, Urian. I want you to keep your ears open for even the tiniest scraps of information about this thing. Nothing is too unimportant to report as far as the daemon N’Kari