“No,” said Pug, looking amused at the suggestion. “You’re going to use your rank to get the Prince of Krondor to send you, with three advisors”—he indicated the three of them—“on a scholarly project, to correct some distortions of the truth in our own history. This will play to the Quegan vanity as you will explain that their place of glory will be forever enshrined in the annals of the Kingdom, and you would like permission to let your three scholars spend a few leisurely days browsing the shelves of the Imperial Quegan Library.”

Jim’s face went through a spectrum of emotions, from surprise, to doubt, to agreement, and then to delight. “Play to their vanity!”

“Yes,” said Pug. “Then when we find out if the book is there, you can sneak into the library and steal it.”

Jim rolled his eyes. “Can’t we just glance at it for a while?”

“No,” said Amirantha. “We will need to study it, and that may take weeks. If it’s some ancient variant of the Keshian language, we’ll need to find a scholar who can help us understand it.”

“And the Quegans would love to know why we’re spending all our time studying one ancient, obscure text on demons when we’re supposed to be looking at their own histories,” finished Magnus.

Amirantha said, “It would be helpful if you could convince those Star Elves to let their Demon Master come back once we get the book.” Shaking his head slightly as if he hated making the admission, he added, “There’s a lot he knows that I don’t. I taught him a few tricks when he was on the island, but I think if Gulamendis was with us, we’d work faster.”

Pug looked at Magnus. “Have we heard anything from the Taredhel?”

Magnus shook his head in the negative. “Only through Tomas. He and his Queen still are in contact with the Lord Regent, but you know how elves are about taking their time.”

“All too well,” conceded Pug. “Well, first things first. Let’s get the book.” He looked at Jim. “Can you do it?”

“Of course I can. The Duke of Krondor is another eastern caretaker who doesn’t really have any sense of what’s going on in the Western Realm. He’s content to hunt, drink, chase serving girls, and let me tell him all is well in the west. Then he reports back to the King that all is well in the west.

“I’ll have my personal scribe draw up the messages to the Emperor of Queg and he’ll just sign them when I put them in front of him. If you think it would help, I can put the royal seal on it and make it look as if the document comes from the King, himself.”

“Forgery?” said Pug with newfound respect. “Is there no end to your larcenous skills?”