Роберт Асприн - Forever After

She glanced at the wet, brown declivity and shook her head.

“That is not what I mean,” she said, jerking a quick gesture in that direction, a glowing silver ring flashing upon her hand. “I refer to this morning’s meeting, to which I was not invited.

Rango winced and drew back.

“It was fairly technical,” he responded. “I didn’t think it would hold any interest for you at all.”

“And I wouldn’t even have heard about it if Jancy hadn’t been involved,” she said. “She just came by to say that you’re taking away Sombrisio and. sending it back to the ghouls.”

As if in response to her latest angry gesture, there came a deep, throat-clearing gurgle at the pit’s center. They both turned in that direction as a large circle of muck was sucked downward. A moment later, there came a brief rumble from underground. Then a streaming plume of liquid shot upward out of the hole, thirty, forty feet into the air.

The smell that followed was sulfurous.

“That is a part of the reason,” he said. “Or, rather, a part of the effect — the reason for the meeting, and the effect we were discussing.”

“She told me that you’d ordered her to take the ring back to Anthurus and secrete it there as best she might where we had found it.”

“That is correct.”

“And you’re sending Gar Quithnick off to look for lost Gelfait to return the amulet, Anachron?”

‘That, too.“

“… and Spotty north into the Penduggens, to dispose of Mothganger?”

“Right.”

“And Domino Blaid is going to take the scroll of Gwy-kander back to the cursed lake that serves as its library?”

He nodded.

“Yes, that summarizes it. They’re all tough, competent people — and probably more than a little bored now that peace has broken out. They’re ideal choices for putting the instruments to rest in safe places, against any future need.”

“I wasn’t questioning their competence, Rango,” she said, as a yellow cloud smelling of rotten eggs blew by them. “I’m wondering about the whole idea of putting the instruments out of reach at this point. I don’t see how you could bear to be parted with Mothganger, the sword that saved our lives so many times. I find the idea of giving up Sombrisio and the power she wields extremely painful. Sombrisio saved us, too.”

“I feel the same way you do,” he said. “However, the situation is suddenly altered. Though they were a priceless benefit in the past, they have now become a grave peril.”

“Are you sure that’s true?” she asked, as the ground shook again and the geyser shot even higher.

They were forced to retreat suddenly to the right as a shift in the wind threw a shower of hot droplets over them.

“Reasonably sure,” he said, offering her his handkerchief. “I had to rely on expert opinions, and the consensus among the best sorcerers we could consult was that having all four of the magical instruments in one place was rather too much of a good thing. That is to say, their combined forces have been building, and all of the strange and dangerous events which have begun to occur here are a direct result. They are damaging the fabric of reality and things can only get worse. The sorcerers say that this is the real reason such potent devices are normally hidden in out-of-the-way places. Also, you’ll not ordinarily find more than one stowed in the same spot. This is not just to make life difficult for people on quests. The things are so terribly potent that if you leave them in each other’s vicinity for too long their combined forces place unnatural stresses on the area they occupy. We’ve got four of them here in Caltus, and the consensus is that their presence is the cause of all the magical disturbances we’ve been experiencing. And things will only get worse so long as they remain together.”

“I don’t know,” she said, as the geyser belched at her back. “Supposing a few of Kalaran’s nasties who survived the war were to show up, looking for trouble. For some of them, it would be very useful to have Mothganger or Sombrisio or Anachron handy. What I’m asking is, can we get a second opinion on this?”

Rango shook his head.

“I got the best I could find,” he said, “and I told you there was a consensus. To delay longer while we hunted out a few more sages would be to court a real danger to no likely end. It’s probable they’d all agree with their brothers and sisters in the Art. No, the sooner we ship the artifacts off to their resting places the sooner things will get back to normal here.”

“You could probably keep one,” she said. “Say, Mothganger or Sombrisio. There wouldn’t be the same combination of powers then. None of them, off by itself, had worked the same sort of effects they’re producing locally. Let’s just send off two or three of the four and see if the situation stabilizes.”

“This, too, was discussed,” Rango said. “The reasoning is good and would probably work if we were just bringing a pair, say, of the instruments into a clear area. Unfortunately, some damage has already been done here. When the magical stresses have already occurred any object or operation of the Art may be likely to worsen things, or at least cause manifestations. So, yes, having one about would produce less stress than having all four. But it would still be taking a chance.”

“In that case,” she said, “couldn’t you just move them out of town in four different directions until their effects are diminished to zero?”

Rango sighed and turned away, the fountain gurgling again at his back. One by one, a passing flock of birds began to fall, senseless, about them.

“Physically, what you are describing should work fine,” he said at last. “However, there is the matter of security to be considered. If we stow them in too easily accessible places they may fall into the hands of enemies who could use them against us. This was doubtless the thinking of the ancients, as well, when they in their time secreted them. Their first consideration would have been to separate them to a great distance; their second, to make it risky for anyone who wanted to go after them. That’s why there always have to be quests, and why they’re always so damned difficult.”

She moved nearer.

“It seems your experts did give it a lot of thought….” she said slowly.

“I think that each generation has to rediscover these basic truths,” he responded. “Once they’ve been realized, though, it explains the similarities in so much of high heroic literature. Moralists and literary critics have always been quick to point out that having heroes and heroines climb mountains, trudge through deserts, swim raging torrents, and face ferocious beasts or supernatural menaces has been a symbolic, external analogue of an inner, spiritual experience, intended to show a land of initiation trial and ritual cleansing, making them worthy of the great boon they are about to bear back to their people. Now we see that this is just another example of the patriotic balderdash cultures use to glorify their values at the expense of the individual — not to mention other cultures. The real reason is a purely physical matter: It’s dangerous to leave magical tools too close together for too long.”

She stared at him through the yellow vapors. Then, “I never heard you talk so — so philosophically — before,” she said, “back when we were on the road, and in war camps.”

He smiled bleakly.

“I’ve had a lot of time for reflection since the conflict ended,” he said, “time to examine my recent affairs and determine where I made my most serious mistakes. Time to think about all sorts of matters I hadn’t the opportunity to dwell upon before.“

She moved nearer yet to him.

“Perhaps you’ve been spending too much time thinking,” she told him, placing her hand upon his arm. “All thought and no action is just as unbalanced a state of affairs as its opposite, dear.”