At the Gates of Darkness. Raymond E. Feist

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СКАЧАТЬ the chronicle of one Varis Logondis, a Quegan trader who lived about four hundred years ago. He was a compulsive journal keeper who believed every detail of his life deserved to be recorded.

      ‘In fact, most of his life was unremarkable, unless you happen to be an aficionado of travelogues, long discourse on mercantile trends, or the state of Varis’s digestive health on any given day during his life. But, he does remark in passing on many contemporaneous issues, which are useful in providing corroboration or refutation of other histories and accounts of the same period.

      ‘But one of his remarks has stuck with me over the years.’ He scanned the page. ‘Ah, there it is. Let me read it out loud, the dialect is somewhat antiquated and his spelling is atrocious. “In the evening, we came upon a village, by name, Hamtas on Jaguard, whereupon we were welcomed at an inn by name, The Restful Station. There did we encounter soldiers of the Empire, at their ease after a battle.

      ‘“I remark upon this for two counts,”—I am certain he means reasons here—‘“the first, that they were not of the militia, but were legionaries from Queg that had been haste posted to this region, and the last, that they had struggled mightily against the Demon Brothers and their living dead.”’

      ‘Four hundred years ago, most of the Bitter Sea was still under control of the Empire of Great Kesh,’ Pug remarked.

      ‘What is truly interesting about this passage, Pug, is that its timeline supports two other sources that we are aware of, one of which is in our possession.’ He looked at the magician and his two companions with a satisfied smile. ‘Varis wrote sixty five volumes over his lifetime, so I had to skim a couple before I could locate this passage.’ He pointed to the page and said, ‘The other source we possess on that struggle is a fairly standard tally of captured goods returned to Queg by the expedition Varis encountered. We know that he was surprised to find Imperial Legionaries in that town instead of local soldiers, and both accounts imply that something significant was being undertaken. Legionaries were only stationed in three garrisons around the Bitter Sea at that time: Durbin, Queg City, and Port Natal. They were not used elsewhere unless there was an uprising or some other menace of equal weight.

      ‘If we look at what that expedition brought back with them, we discover an unusual list: besides a remarkably short inventory of precious metals, livestock and slaves, we also see a very long list of idols, books, and scrolls.’

      Pug looked interested, but unsure of what Brother Victor was implying. ‘It sounds as if they raided a library.’

      The monk smiled. ‘There were no libraries nearby, neither imperial, nor any maintained by the religious orders known to us at that time; no libraries existed west of Malac’s Cross or north of Queg! Oh, there were perhaps some rooms full of books here and there, but nothing on a scale that would have required a detailed catalogue that the Empire was so famous for at that time.’ There was a merry glint in his eyes as Brother Victor’s smile broadened.

      ‘What is it?’ Pug said, unable to resist returning the man’s smile.

      ‘It’s your Demon Brothers!’

      ‘According to this inventory of booty, over a score of the volumes seized came from the “frateri demonicus”, which is a very bad Quegan spelling for Demon Brothers.’

      ‘The necromancers?’ asked Pug.

      ‘Not a common name by any measure,’ said Brother Victor. ‘And there’s more.’

      ‘More?’ asked Magnus a moment before Jim echoed him.

      ‘The title of one of the volumes…At that time, legionaries were not much better educated than the common Keshian Dog Soldiers of today. Their officers could read and were literate—a necessity for the giving and receiving of orders—but the common soldiers were not. This list must have been complied by a relatively uneducated officer, or possibly the task was given to a lower ranking soldier who was barely educated. In any event, the title they have recorded is Libri Demonicus Amplus Tantus and translated as “Really Big Demon Book.”’

      Amirantha laughed. ‘I speak Quegan, and that’s not a phrase I recognize.’

      ‘It’s four-hundred years old. I originally assumed that the scribe didn’t understand that amplus and tantus have similar meanings—ample and large—but it now occurs to me that our less-than-scholarly-scribe was simply trying to describe two of the book’s aspects: that it’s a large volume, but also that it’s important. “Tantus” can mean “of such great size”, but “amplus” can be read as “of great importance”, as well as meaning “ample”. So, what you may wish to consult next is this very large, very important book concerning demons, which was written by a necromancer four-hundred years ago.’

      ‘I don’t suppose you have that volume here?’ asked Amirantha.

      ‘No,’ said Brother Victor with a regretful expression. ‘I wish we did. It sounds fascinating.’

      ‘But you know where we might find it?’ suggested Magnus.

      The monk nodded. ‘Indeed, if it still exists.’

      ‘The Imperial library in Queg, perhaps?’ suggested Magnus.

      Pug said, ‘If the book remained among the property seized by the legionaries, and if they didn’t loot the library when recalled to Kesh during the abandonment of the north…’ He tapped his chin in thought. ‘It’s possible. They might have taken the gold and other valuables south with them, but books and scrolls? Not as likely. It’s as Brother Victor said, ‘I must leave you now, as evening prayer is about to begin. I assume you do not need me to show you out?’ His merry expression revealed that he already knew the answer.

      ‘No,’ said Pug. ‘Thank you my old friend.’

      ‘No, thank you for all you have given us. Too few people realize how much they owe you, Pug.

      ‘Until we meet again,’ he finished, turned and left the four visitors alone in the library office.

      Magnus said, ‘We have a new problem, Father.’

      ‘I know,’ said Pug. He turned to Jim and said, ‘Queg is the one court in which we have no friends.’

      Jim sighed as he anticipated what was coming next. ‘I thought you had agents, or at least friends, everywhere?’

      Pug gave him a tight smile. ‘Queg is strategically unimportant. We manipulated some information during the invasion of the Emerald Queen, so they believed they were attacking a foreign treasure fleet; instead they ran into her armada, half the Imperial Keshian Fleet, and the Kingdom Navy. Not wishing to attack nations they were at peace with, they did their best to loot a few ships which instead of treasure held angry soldiers. It made them distrustful of information that doesn’t come from reliable sources.

      ‘To the point, they resisted all attempts to infiltrate their intelligence.’

      Jim smiled ruefully. ‘I know. I have had the same problem.’

      ‘What about Kesh?’ asked Magnus. ‘Have they placed anyone within the Quegan Court who might prove useful?’

      Jim slowly shook his head. ‘No, they’re just as frustrated by their small neighbour as the Kingdom is. If Queg didn’t possess such a formidable navy, they’d have been reabsorbed by the Empire, or conquered СКАЧАТЬ