Read Online A Crown Imperiled by Raymond E. Feist - Free Book Online Page A

difficult.’
    ‘You want to just leap up there?’ asked the short gambler.
    Miranda looked dubious. ‘I might be able to, but could you?’
    ‘I’m more nimble than I look,’ said Nakor, his grin fading as if she had hurt his feelings. Then the smile returned. ‘Besides, it would terrify the boy.’
    Looking up at the downturned face above them, Miranda shouted, ‘When will the commander order the gates open to travellers?’
    ‘I don’t know,’ answered the boy. He kept glancing over his shoulder as if expecting someone to arrive and tell him what to do.
    ‘Why don’t you run off and find someone to ask?’ said Miranda, and the boy nodded and vanished from sight.
    ‘I was about to say that,’ said Nakor with a relieved expression.
    Glancing around, Miranda wrapped her arms around her as if chilled, though the air was balmy. ‘It’s so difficult at times.’
    Nakor nodded. ‘I think the longer we abide in this realm, the more these memories will begin to feel like our true ones, and the memories we have of our home realm will fade to nothing.’
    Miranda nodded. ‘I sometimes struggle to remember being Child.’ She looked for a moment at Nakor, once Belog the Archivist of King Dahun, Demon Lord of one of the five most powerful realms in the Fifth Plane of existence. ‘My earliest recollections of my mother, and even those of meeting you, are fading and becoming dream-like.’
    Nakor grinned. ‘One thing remains constant: no matter the realm in which we find ourselves, or what manner of being we become, life will be a struggle.’ He shrugged. ‘That, in its own way at least, is reassuring.’
    ‘What you told me—’ She shook her head as if struggling to find the correct context. ‘What Nakor’s memories . . .’ She sighed in resignation. ‘What you told me in the Dasati realm about Miranda’s father, do you think that will happen to us?’
    Nakor cocked his head slightly as if pondering the thought for a moment, then said, ‘If you mean do I think we shall die once our purpose here is over . . . ?’ Again he shrugged. ‘I can only speculate. There are differences. From what Pug and I surmised, Macros’s memories were overlaid on a dying Dasati, and his life extended through the Trickster God’s intercession, but the Dasati was verging on death already. We on the other hand, despite our appearances, are still demons in the prime of our power, thanks to your generosity in our home realm.’
    ‘You mean in not devouring you?’
    ‘Among other things,’ said Nakor with a widening grin. ‘It is the nature of our race to view most things as a struggle, combat or a transaction, but now that we have all these human memories and emotions . . . I remember . . . The last thing Nakor thought was how interesting his life was.’ The grin broadened. ‘And that, I must say, was an understatement.’ For an instant the grin faded. ‘If only all of these humans understood how wondrous their lives could be . . . This being that I’m becoming, this Nakor, had amazing travels and experiences. The people he knew and . . . loved.’ He was silent for a moment, then said, ‘What a powerful thing that is: love. I think Dahun attempted to engender that in our people; I think that is why your mother gladly gave her life for yours.’
    Miranda’s head tilted to one side slightly, the one remaining gesture that was purely Child’s.
    ‘From my – Belog’s – point of view, I have been given the gift of another’s lifetime, the feelings, experiences, knowledge . . . From Nakor’s point of view, his life just got more interesting. I’m sure we have a purpose.’ He narrowed his gaze and said, ‘Kalkin may be many things, but even the gods have their limits, and for him to take the trouble to “cheat”, as he called it, and play hob with what is and is not permitted across the realms . . .’ He nodded once emphatically. ‘No, we are not here because of a whim. We are here to do