Page 3711

‘Go on, then,’ Worwal told him.

“What exactly do you need this Kag for again?” said Abbas. “I don’t recall what you told us before.”

‘That is because they didn’t tell us anything,’ said Worwal, no longer with the echo of privacy. ‘They just asked if we could make one for some monolith back in Atreya.’

Abbas gave the reaper a look.

‘Alright, fine,’ said Garovel. ‘I’ll admit: we were being a little cagey with the details. It’s a personal project that I’ve been working on for a very long time, so I’m a bit reluctant to go into it too much.’ He spared a glance at Hector. ‘But I suppose if the two of you deem it important, we could reveal a few things. Not that there’s that much to be revealed. I’m not trying to hype it up that much.’

‘A long-term project, you say?’ said Worwal. ‘How long, precisely?’

Garovel bobbed his reptilian head a little. ‘Oh, you know... a couple thousand years or so.’

‘And yet you also say you’ve not made much progress on it?’

‘What can I say? I’m easily distracted.’

Worwal snickered.

Well, that was a good sign, at least, Abbas felt. He decided to jump in again before Worwal’s mood had the opportunity worsen. “Tell us about this project then, if you please.”

‘Okay. Uh. I’m guessing you’re familiar with the name Rathmore, yes?’

Abbas’ head reared back. “Certainly.”

‘Well, one of his Tools is in Atreya. Rathmore’s Gate, to be exact. We were investigating it, and we think a Kag might be able to reveal some of its long-held secrets.’

Holy oasis. “A Kag for one of Rathmore’s Tools... If you’d told me that before, I would’ve made it more of a priority.”

‘Well, you had a lot going on. Still do, in fact. As do we. And I consider this more of a side project, at the moment. While I do want your help, I also don’t want to take up too much of your time. I imagine you’ll at least need to make a trip to the Gate itself for this, yes?’

“Atreya is quite close,” said Abbas, already thinking of putting his armor on right away. “I could knock that out in an hour. Or less, perhaps. And the examination wouldn’t take--” Abruptly, Abbas decided to cut himself off and stop wasting time altogether. He started for the exit of the tent. “In fact, I’ll go right now.”