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.I need to hear their words to finish the equation."Jak tried to dart past the priests, but they stepped before him and blocked his way.They started to draw their maces and Jak backed off, palms raised.Cale stared into the eyes of the priest.He could not control the shadows that sweated from his pores.The priest's eyes widened behind his scarlet mask but to his credit, he did not back down."He needs our words," Cale said, his voice low."You heard him.""You heard him," Jak echoed, nodding."What did they just say?" Sephris shouted from above."What did they just say? I know their sums.Let them come, now! It is important."The priests trying to manhandle Sephris up the stairs had not managed to get the loremaster very far along.Both of their masks sat askew on their faces.Both were huffing.A crowd started to gather at the base of the stairway, looking on.Cale could feel dozens of eyes on his back.The priests looked twitchy but did not stand aside."I will summon the Scepters," the priest said."He wants to see us," Cale answered, and nodded up at Sephris."That is not his decision," the priest said, his mouth a hard line.The other three priests shifted their stances nervously."Not his decision?" Jak exclaimed."We are his friends.He's not your slave."Before the priest could reply, another priest appeared at the top of the stairs, above Sephris and the priests wrestling with him.He wore an elaborate black vest embroidered with gold thread.A neatly trimmed dark beard housed a severe mouth.He called to the priests below."Enough! Veen, let them come up! Now.Enough, lore- master," he said to Sephris."They are allowed to pass."Veen, the priest in front of Cale, looked relieved.He and his fellows stepped out of the way and the three companions hurried up the steps, two at a time.Behind them, Veen ordered the crowd to move along and the four Oghmanytes fell in behind Cale and his comrades.The two priests who had tried to restrain Sephris released him.The loremaster stood between the sweating priests, gasping and still calculating as he waited for Cale, Jak, and Magadon to approach.He appeared to be counting their steps as they climbed.When they stood before him, he said, "Three of you, on the ninth day of the ninth month during the fifth hour after noon." His gaze looked not at Cale but through him.To Cale's surprise, Sephris's voice lacked its typical mania-fed intensity."The variables are.complex.""Loremaster," Cale said."We are surprised to see you.""I am not surprised to see you," Sephris said, and gave a mirthless smile.Cale saw an unexpected hardness in the loremaster's expression.He remembered Sephris's words to them when they had called to his spirit after his death-Release me, Erevis Cale.My time on Toril is complete.It has not summed to zero.The loremaster had seemed at peace then, for the first and only time since Cale had made his acquaintance."What have they done to you?" Jak softly asked, and stared accusingly at the two priests to either side of Sephris.They did not meet the little man's gaze.Sephris ignored the question, looked Cale up and down, and said, "The darkness has found you, First of Five.Soaked you.And you think it is done.But it has only begun.There is more, much more, yet to come.To all of us.Did you know that? Did you know what you were doing? What you were causing?"Cale felt Jak's and Magadon's eyes on him.The priests, too, stared holes into him.He swallowed and managed to say, "I've done what I've had to.I can't always see the consequences.""Come inside, Sephris," called the bearded priest at the top of the stairs."You can speak with them inside.Come.""You do not see them because you do not want to see them, First of Five," Sephris said.He spun and stalked up the stairs.The six Ogmanytes fell in behind him, along with Jak, Cale, and Magadon.Cale's legs felt heavier with each step.Riven sat for more than an hour in the late afternoon shadows across the street from the scribe's shop.His old garret, adjacent to the shop, stood dark and closed
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