Craugh harrumphed at that, but Juhg ignored him. Despite his displeasure, Juhg knew the wizard recognized the truth as well.
“Lord Kharrion was the greatest evil the world has ever known,” Juhg went on. “But misassumptions, lies, and cover-ups cast as great an evil as evil itself. For a thousand years, evil has lived on in the shadow of itself, in all the fears and whispered gossip of what took place at the Battle of Fell's Keep. It has kept good people from each other's sides during their time of need.” He looked at Sokadir. “It kept you from your people for a thousand years.”
Sokadir nodded.
“You can't replace that time,” Juhg stated quietly.
“No,” the elf prince agreed. “But your Grandmagister's efforts to get at the truth have given me back my son in ways that I had thought forever lost to me.” He held his hand out to Juhg, a rare honor among elves because they didn't like touching other races. “I give you my word, Grandmagister Juhg, that this truth you have
uncoveredâeven though it is hurtfulâwill be told throughout the Forest of Fangs and Shadows. To every trade caravan that comes nearby, and to all the surrounding towns and villages.”
“The truth is everything in the end,” Juhg said. “It is the greatest power in the world to make all people equal. If everyone knows what the truth is, no one can use lies to separate those people and turn them against one another.”
And he believed that, because he was only repeating the last thing Grandmagister Lamplighter had written to him in the final journal before asking him to find Sokadir and tell him the truth.
Sokadir took his leave, vanishing once more into the forest with his warriors at his heels.
Looking out at the sun setting ahead of them, turning the sky red and purple, Juhg thought about Grandmagister Lamplighter and all that his master had risked to come this far. A sense of completion filled Juhg, knowing he'd had a hand in one of Grandmagister Lamplighter's greatest works.
But still, it wasn't the same. Grandmagister Lamplighter's absence gave a hollowness to the victory.
“I miss him, too,” Craugh said. “But I know he's out there somewhere, having the adventure of his life.”
“I know,” Juhg said. He looked at the wizard. “I was afraid there for a while, though, that I had lost you.”
Craugh laughed. “Over that little amount of blood you found on the cabin floor with the word BEWARE written in it?”
“Yes.”
“Trust me,” Craugh said, “the day I am killed, you'll be able to paint this ship in blood. Not all of it mine.”
Juhg frowned. “That's not exactly a restful thought.”
“Perhaps not, Grandmagister, but it is the truth.”
“I suppose it is. Perhaps more restful thinking requires wine. I know Raisho keeps a stash of it aboard.”
They went together, wizard and Librarian, as Raisho and his men got
Moonsdreamer
once more underway. For a while, Juhg swapped stories of Grandmagister Lamplighter with Craugh as the wizard drank the wine. But, eventually as he'd known it would, his work called him.
He pulled out his journal, a quill, and a bottle of ink, and quietly in the ship's galley, Juhg set to work with the love that he'd been taught by his mentor.
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this novel are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.
Â
Â
THE QUEST FOR THE TRILOGY: A ROVER NOVEL OF THREE ADVENTURES
Copyright © 2007 by Mel Odom
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.
Â
Â
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
Tor
®
is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
Â
Â
eISBN 9781429965835
First eBook Edition : July 2011
Â
Â
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Odom, Mel.
The quest for the trilogy : a rover novel of three adventures / Mel
Odom.â1st ed. p. cm.
“A Tom Doherty Associates book.”
ISBN-13: 978-0-765-31517-5 (acid-free paper)
ISBN-10: 0-765-31517-3 (acid-free paper)
1. HistoriansâFiction. 2. LibrariansâFiction. I. Title.
PS3565.D53Q47 2007
813'. 54âdc22 2006039658
First Edition: March 2007