Being non-telepathic, Maamo did not discern the demon’s thoughts as something foreign, at this or any earlier time, even though the demon had entered his mind. He felt impulses to remember and to think, but considered them part of himself and his own mental processes. They weren’t at all like the emperor stroking his mind. That was something to luxuriate to, and he knew it was the emperor doing it.
Sometimes this newer feeling brought to mind things he’d forgotten; often things from when he was his old self, before he’d been—changed, before he’d become like someone new. Sometimes it had brought to mind things it seemed he’d never known before, things that others of his people had experienced in the past. And sometimes it had caused him to have a knowingness about his body, its parts and functions that, when it was over, had left him more aware of them, more in control of them than before.
This time it brought to mind the meeting between the emperor and the man who had changed him. Much of their talk Maamo hadn’t understood, but unavoidably their words were recorded in his secondary memory.
There was more information than that: there was the meeting between the emperor and his adjutant, with Maamo present. From this the demon learned specifically what the adjutant’s mission was: He was being sent to fetch a man named Jampa, a wizard more powerful than either the emperor or Tenzin.
A wizard who might conceivably be a threat.
Also, Maamo had learned, someone else was with this Jampa, someone the emperor hadn’t expected to be there, someone who excited him. He’d referred to him as “the barbarian giant.” Nothing was said of why this
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excited the emperor, but it seemed to be something apart from the wizard or anything else. The emperor seemed to value the barbarian highly. Therefore it seemed to the demon that, in a pinch, both Jampa and the barbarian might provide him with leverage.
Thus the demon decided to continue with the adjutant’s company, even though they’d travel long hours from the palace. If nothing else, the trip might effect a further expansion of its readily accessible range, and provide a sense of the physical region. And it felt—somenow it felt that there was an opportunity there, though it couldn’t quite see what it was.
It considered the risks, too: They were going to fetch a wizard, who might discern him if he got near enough to the interface to preceive physical reality in a useful way. But the wizard would not be intimately acquainted with the mind of Maamo. Suppose I meld with Maamo, hide within him, suppressing my thoughts, simply watching the ogre’s. Would the wizard detect me then? The demon examined the idea. It would mean not using his own telepathy, or tapping power or information from the field in which he normally dwelt. It would mean perceiving little except what Maamo perceived, feeling little except what Maamo felt.
It was a challenge and a risk. Not a risk to himself; he considered himself safe from anything but the Great God, as long as he didn’t open his mind to intrusion and control. And he had no intention of doing that. The principal risk was to Maamo. Of course there was also a risk that discovery would teach the emperor and his wizards more about his own abilities.
But he would take those risks.
With the decision came a glow. It was the right thing to do, he felt sure.
FORTY-FOUR
The adjutant’s party traveled steadily, mostly at a trot, but slowing to a brisk walk at times to rest both horses and yetis. The demon mainly observed, and Maamo never knew it was there, resting in his mind. Some kilometers from their destination was a military post, to which a courier had been sent ahead of them. They stopped there for fresh horses—even with remounts, theirs were worn by then—and horses to bring their captives on. And a platoon of dragoons, to ensure that nothing went wrong.
The adjutant was determined to take Jampa Lodro and the barbarian into custody before dusk. Thus they didn’t stop to eat at the post or along the road; they ate saddle rations.