“How will you find her?” asked Danny. “You can’t sense her ka the way I can.”

“But I don’t find her the way you do,” said Wad. “I find her because she’s a gatemage and I have her gates. Only a few, but I found them in the hearthoard you gave to me. So whenever she comes to Westil, those gates reach for her, and I know where she is.”

“She knows where you are, too,” said Danny, “and not through her gates.”

“Come back and teach me to do what you do,” said Wad.

“Let’s see,” said Danny. “You have all my gates, and even though you know Set can’t get anything from me, you haven’t returned them to me.”

“I like having so many billions of gates in my hoard,” said Wad. “Why should you have all the glory?”

“I’m only wondering why I should teach you anything, when you still hold my gates as hostages.”

“If I give them back,” said Wad, “you’ll make a Great Gate again.”

“I might,” said Danny, “but so what? I’d do it to help the mages of Westil strike some kind of balance with the augmented mages of Mittlegard. To restore balance.”

“There’s never any balance,” said Wad.

“Set is already on Westil,” said Danny, “and I have the Sutahites. One of the things you were trying to prevent has happened. The other can’t happen while I’m alive. But go ahead, Gate Thief, keep my gates. You can’t possibly trust me to use my own gates wisely.”

Wad hated it when his opponent had logic and fairness on his side, and all Wad had was a deep reluctance to comply. “Don’t be snippy with me, boy,” said Wad. “I’m probably your ancestor.”

“Statistically speaking, after fifteen hundred years you’re probably everybody’s ancestor.”

Then Danny was gone. Back on Mittlegard.

What if he’s right? Is there really any point in keeping the worlds separate now? Why not break down all the barriers?

Would that make Westil a colony of Mittlegard, with its huge business empires and amazing machines? Or would Mittlegard be divided into the fiefdoms of a thousand godlike Mithermages, passing back and forth through Great Gates?

Probably both, thought Wad. Whatever happened, it would destroy whatever they now were. There were plenty of evils among the drowthers and mages of both worlds. But also much good, especially in the lives of the drowthers—good that would never survive easy passage between the worlds. Nobody would really gain anything worth having, while the drowthers everywhere would lose.

That’s why I put myself into a tree, thought Wad. The war isn’t over, just because we lost. Because Danny North ate the Sutahites somehow. And maybe we can find a way to extinguish the Belgod Set.

Chapter 19

19