Falan glanced silently at Hill. Long Saddle Town really had angered his grandson. Hill had even said something like that.
But Hill had always judged people and events by their results, not the process. No matter how innocent someone seemed, if the outcome harmed him, he generally considered them hostile.
Falan sighed inwardly. Hill's eyes always went straight to what mattered most... What a promising mage he would have made! Why had he awakened as a Sorcerer instead? Otherwise, Hill would surely have been even better suited to spell research than Adrian.
Falan had always thought Hill's lack of interest in alchemical potions came from that useless bloodline of his... What good was all that strength?
Selûne cut in curiously. "So what did they keep?"
"A Demon Lord," Hill answered stiffly. "At least a Mid-Rank Demon Lord."
"How is that possible?" Selûne exclaimed. "A bunch of ordinary mages who haven't even reached level thirty kept a Mid-Rank Demon Lord obedient for all these years? Even Sigil couldn't do that!"
Hill sat down beside Falan. He thought of Thay's Necromancy School, which had long taken a keen interest in this region, and its leader, the Lich Szass Tam. Thay's necromancers had been wandering around Luskan for years... Then, after Szass Tam's fall in Neverwinter, he had suddenly acquired two Divine Artifacts: the Seat of Sakorsil, which could summon and control a Demon Lord, and the Dead Moon Orb.
Those two famous Divine Artifacts, made by Larok, lord of the War Mage Fortress, had last become known throughout the world when the Witch-Queen borrowed them to summon Six-Fingered Graz'zt and hold him captive for a very long time.
Even a being as powerful as the Dark Prince had been forced to stay put and have children with the Witch-Queen. Only after exhausting