the Forests of I’alyala, which lie beside the Crest of the World.
“Allow me to introduce you, Harold,” said the king, indicating the elfess. “This is Lady Miralissa from the House of the Black Moon.”
I bowed with restraint. A name with the ending ssa indicated that the elfess was from the Supreme Family of the house. In simple worlds, a personage of the royal blood. Well now, this was beginning to add up. Harold has a sharp eye.
“Pleased to make your acquaintance, milady.”
“Likewise.”
“The pleasantries can wait,” the king declared. “We have very little time and you, Harold, will have to help us.”
“To stop the Nameless One?” I asked skeptically.
If that’s it, then the king or his advisers really have lost their grip.
“Yes,” said the archmagician.
Then everybody in this room is definitely deranged!
Alistan was observing me closely, trying to discover any sign of mockery of his king. I refrained. It was hard, certainly, but I refrained. The jester didn’t, though. The goblin burst into laughter and fell on the carpet, clutching at his stomach.
“The life of the kingdom is in the hands of a thief! Watch out that he doesn’t filch it!”
I personally didn’t find that at all funny.
“Quiet, Kli-Kli,” Alistan said sternly, keeping his eyes fixed intently on me.
“All right, I hold my tongue, I repent, I die.” The goblin flung his arms out in a tragic gesture.
“Of course, I am flattered by such an honor,” I began cautiously, trying not to provoke the lunatics. “But does it not seem to you that I have rather less power and experience than the Order and the Wild Hearts, and it will be rather difficult to stop this wizard single-handedly?”
The goblin tittered and collapsed onto the carpet again. “Oh, Harold!” said the jester, wiping away genuine tears. “Not only are you clever and bold, you are cocksure, too.”
“Then what does my task consist of, Your Majesty?” I carried on playing the fool, waiting for the moment when they might let me go.
And then I’ll run for it. I don’t give a damn where, anywhere will do, even the Sultanate, just as long as it’s as far away as possible. To lands where there are no insane kings, crazy jesters, and senile geriatric wizards.
“We need the Rainbow Horn,” the elfess said. “It is the only thing that can halt the Nameless One. I fear that even the army will not be able to stand against the full battle host of the Desolate Lands.”
“The Rainbow Horn?” I echoed stupidly. “What has it got to do with this?”
“I have already explained,” Artsivus said with a frown of annoyance. “Is your fear beginning to affect your hearing?”
“Understand this, Harold. The magic of the ogres is not ideal and in many ways it is crude, even though it is very powerful, but the law of equilibrium . . .” The elfess pursed her black lips ironically, exposing her fangs even more. And still she possessed an exotic beauty. “As time passes, the Horn loses its magical properties. It has to be . . .”
“Reactivated,” the archmagician prompted, staring into the flames that were merrily consuming the wood in the hearth.
“Yes, magically charged after a certain period of time. Otherwise nothing will remain of its special properties. The Horn is weakening at this moment, that is why the Nameless One has begun to stir beyond the Needles of Ice. We need you to get the artifact for the Order.”
“You mean you don’t have it?” I asked, astounded.
“That is precisely the point. We don’t,” the Rat exclaimed furiously. “And all thanks to the stupidity of the Order.”
“The Order acted out of the very best of motives!” the archmagician retorted sharply.
“Well, we’re certainly paying for them now!”
“Your job, milord Alistan, is to protect the king’s life and brandish that piece of ironmongery you carry, not to interfere in the business of the Order!” The old man was simply seething with indignation and his beard wagged in a way that reminded me of a Doralissian whose favorite horse has been stolen.
“That’s enough!” the king roared furiously. He didn’t seem anything like a good-natured innkeeper now. “Explain the thief’s task to him.”
“About three hundred years ago,” Artsivus began, speaking in a dull voice and casting a hostile glance at the captain of the guard from under his thick gray eyebrows, “the Council of the Order decided to use the Horn to annihilate the Kronk-a-Mor that binds the Nameless One to this world. We . . . we did not quite manage it. .