Demon King Read Online Free PDF Page A

curled over the tray, and moved them back and forth in a pattern he’d taught me.
    Nothing happened.
    I repeated the motions. There was still nothing but shimmering gray mercury. I muttered an oath, not surprised that magic wasn’t for me, but still a bit angry at making a fool of myself. Of course it didn’t work. It couldn’t work. Damastes á Cimabue was a soldier, not a damned wizard!
    I started to bundle the pieces up, then remembered a final suggestion. “If it does not work at first,” the emperor had said, “try at night. Try within an hour or two of midnight. The skies will be clear, and for some reason the night favors magic.
    “I shall not be sleeping,” he said. “I find it hard to sleep these days,” and for just an instant I heard self-pity in his tones, then he grinned. “If I’m not alone, of course, I’ll be too busy to even know you were trying to contact me.”
    Once again I thought, What could I lose by trying? I came back after the castle was quiet and settling down for sleep. Again I lit the candles, found fresh incense for the braziers, said the words, and moved my hands in that certain pattern. Once, twice — it wasn’t working — and then the mirror became silver, and I was looking at the emperor himself!
    He was sitting at his desk, buried in papers, as I’d seen him all too often in the depths of the night. He must have felt my presence, if that is the correct way to describe it, for he looked up, then jumped to his feet, grinning.
    “Damastes! It works!”
    His voice came hollowly, then as clearly as if we were in the same room.
    “Yes, sir.”
    “I assume,” Tenedos said, “this is not an experimental use of the Seeing Bowl. You have problems?”
    “Sir, it’s a mess. From top to bottom.”
    “My brother?”
    “He’s doing the best he can.”
    “But it’s not good enough?”
    I didn’t answer. Tenedos frowned. “So the situation is as chaotic as others reported. Can it be fixed?”
    “I assume so.
Nothing
is a complete wreck.”
    Tenedos half-smiled. “One of your many virtues is your constant optimism, Damastes. Very well. I’ll assume the problem can be resolved. My next question — can it be resolved with my brother still in charge?”
    “Yes, sir. I think so, sir. But I need some help.”
    There was relief on Tenedos’s face.
    “Thank Saionji,” he said. “Kallio
must
be pacified, and quickly. Now, what do I provide to make your task easier?”
    I told him what I needed: a section of skilled police agents who could provide the answers we needed to strike to the center of the madness.
    “I’ll do better than that,” Tenedos said grimly. “I’ll send you Kutulu, and he’ll bring his team with him.”
    He noted my surprise.
    “I said Kallio must be brought to heel,” he said. “The hour draws close.”
    “What is going on?” I asked, worried that something had transpired since I’d left Nicias.
    “I cannot answer that directly,” he said. “Magicians can hear other magicians. But I will give you a clue: Beyond the Disputed Lands lies the fate of Numantia. We must be ready to confront it.”
    I began to say something, and he held up a hand.
    “No more. Kutulu will leave as soon as he can ready himself. I’ll order a fast packet to take him upriver to Entotto. He’ll go on fast from there, by horse, with no supply train.”
    “I’ll have two squadrons of the Ureyan Lancers waiting at the Kallian border as escort.”
    “No,” Tenedos said. “Post them along the main road, as a screening force. Kutulu will have his own troops. I’ll send a heliograph at dawn to Renan, and have the Tenth Hussars come south to meet him at Entotto. They’ll join your command as reinforcements.”
    I blinked. Like the Lancers, the Tenth was an elite border regiment. For the emperor to strip them from Urey, where their normal duties were keeping the rapacious Men of the Hills from raiding the province, reaffirmed what he said was the seriousness of the