“You don’t like me,” said Bane, crying a little. “No one likes me, except Grandfather. No one ever did like me.”
Haplo grunted, straightened. “Just so we understand each other. And another thing. I’m in charge. What I say goes. Got that?”
“I like you, Haplo,” said Bane, with a snivel.
The dog, feeling tenderhearted, came over and licked the child’s face. Bane threw his arm around the animal’s neck.
I’ll keep you, he promised the dog silently. When Haplo’s dead, you’ll be my dog. It will be fun.
“At least he likes me,” Bane said aloud, pouting. “Don’t you, boy?”
The dog wagged its tail.
“The damn dog likes everyone,” Haplo muttered. “Even Sartan. Now go to your room, pack up your things. I’ll wait here until you’re ready.”
“Can the dog come with me?”
“If it wants. Go on, now. Hurry up. The sooner we get there, the sooner I’ll be back.”
Bane left the room with a show of quiet obedience. It was fun, playacting; fun to fool Haplo. Fun to pretend to obey a man whose life you hold in your small hands. Bane hugged to himself a conversation—almost the last conversation—he’d had with Xar.
When your task is completed, Bane, when the Kicksey-winsey is in operation and you have taken control of Ananus, Haplo will then become expendable. You will see to it that he is failed I believe you knew an assassin on Arianus
Hugh the Hand, Grandfather. But he’s not alive anymore. My father killed him.
There will be other assassins for hire. One thing is most important. One thing you must promise me to do. You must keep Haplo’s corpse preserved until my arrival.
You ‘re going to resurrect Haplo, Grandfather? Make him serve you after he’s dead, like they do with the dead men on Abarrach?
Yes, child. Only then will I be able to trust him…. Love breaks the heart.
“Come on, boy!” Bane cried, suddenly. “Race you!”
He and the dog dashed madly for the child’s bedroom.
CHAPTER 8
WOMBE, DREVLIN LOW REALM
THE TRIP THROUGH DEATH’S GATE WAS UNEVENTFUL. HAPLO CHARMED Bane to sleep almost immediately after they departed the Nexus. It had occurred to Haplo that the passage into Death’s Gate had become so simple a skilled mensch wizard might attempt it. Bane was observant, intelligent, and the son of a skilled wizard. Haplo had a sudden vision of Bane flitting from one world to another…. Nope. Nap time.
They had no difficulty reaching Arianus, World of Air. The images of the various worlds flashed past Haplo; he found the floating isles of Arianus with ease. But before he concentrated on it, he spent a few moments watching the other worlds drift before him, shining in rainbow hues like soap bubbles, before bursting and being replaced by the next. All of them were places he recognized except one. And that one—the most beautiful, the most intriguing.
Haplo stared at the vision as long as he could, which was only a matter of fleeting seconds. He had intended to ask Xar about it, but the lord had left before Haplo had a chance to discuss it.
Was there a fifth world?
Haplo rejected that notion. No mention of a fifth world had ever been made in any of the ancient Sartan writings.
The old world.
Haplo thought this much more probable. The flashing image he saw of it accorded with descriptions of the old world. But the old world no longer existed; a world torn apart by magic. Perhaps this was nothing more than a poignant memory, kept around to remind the Sartan of what had once been.
But, if that were so, why should it be presented as an option? Haplo watched the possibilities sparkle before his eyes again and again. Always in the same order: the strange world of blue sky and bright sun, moon, and stars, boundless ocean and broad vistas; then the Labyrinth, dark and tangled; then the twilight Nexus, then the four elemental worlds.
If Haplo had not had Bane with him, he would have been tempted to explore, to select the image in his mind and see what happened. He glanced down at the child, slumbering peacefully, his arm around the dog; both of them sharing a cot Haplo had dragged onto the bridge in order to keep an eye on the kid.