“It’s a shame that they were fooled so easily into trapping more of their number in the cellar.”
The man in black was flanked by more of his warlocks. He gestured for a few of them to go inspect the cellar and see what Maldus had caught for him. His eyes returned to the wizard as he asked, “And what were the others after or did they not say?”
Frowning with worry, the wizard managed to still will the words from his mouth though he feared that Devolus would not be happy with his information. “They seek after the giant that brought you to my door last time, my lord. They called him Grimnal, I think it was.”
A calmness remained over the lord as he heard the words. “Then they pose a threat to the emperor’s interests. This lot had no idea of what the others pursued?”
“Not that I could tell. They asked me what they had found and wanted as well.”
Maldus thought that he saw the slightest nod, though it could have been anything from the minimal gesture. A black gauntlet pointed at the wizard before Lord Devolus ordered, “If you have nothing more useful, then go back to your room, wizard. Once I have dealt with these Southwall wizards, I will consider returning to free you. Your sentence was eternity, but perhaps a couple hundred years has served to teach you a lesson. Go now before I change my mind.”
Scurrying away, the wizard disappeared back into his three walled room waiting for the lord’s judgment.
A moment later, his men returned dragging four men behind them. “We found these, my lord,” his lieutenant said with a raspy voice. A scar on his neck revealed that damage had once been done to his throat causing the warlock’s current sound.
“A Southwall fire wizard and Kardorians if I had to guess,” Devolus stated more than asked. He had dealt with both countries enough to know the look of their people. “Have your two countries joined forces against us again?”
Romonus smiled and tried to use what charm he had as he refuted carefully, “I hired these wizards to join me in Kardor, yes, but we were simply exploring when we came upon this fortress. We didn’t know anyone lived here or that it was his prison. If you let us go, we’ll get out of your hair immediately.”
“A man with no power leads a team of wizards. Men without power can not truly understand what it is to live with magic or to understand those who use it. With no creativity leading you, it is no wonder that you all live on the brink of defeat,” the warlock stated with contempt.
Dorgred bristled despite having his hands bound behind his back with magic. His energy was also low after trying to break free of their trap. “Southwall is closer to defeating you than the other way around, norther,” the wizard used the insult held for men that had gone over to the emperor to live north of the wall. “We’ve defeated you in battle after battle for more than a century. You’re the ones with no creativity serving some demon master.”
The lord moved like a mage using a reflex spell. His speed made him blur as he struck the fire wizard in the stomach with his armored fist before back handing him across the face with his left hand. Blood started to drip from a cut on the wizard’s cheek almost immediately as he sagged to his knees before the warlock. “I didn’t ask your opinion, fire dog. Your masters are weak and they make you weak. Your end is near and your people don’t even see it.”
Gesturing to his men, he added, “Take them all to the ship. We might find one or two of them useful with the right training. I’ll deal with them after we catch this other group. They have real promise, unlike these wizards.”
Knowing that disputing the man further at this time could prove fatal, the others remained silent as they were led away.
Devolus looked at the broken guardians that had once guarded the castle and began to cast a new spell. Two golems made from the bones of men and wolves soon stood before the warlock. The curse in their bones restored, he sent them to the side room. Anyone else careless enough to enter the castle would find them waiting and, after he joined his strength with four of his men, the traps were reset including the barrier across Maldus’s cell.
The prison and its traps restored, the warlocks in their armor returned to their ships ready to find their next prey.
Sebastian looked on the city of Trillian surprised at the unimpressive look of the island’s only major city. Calling it a city felt inaccurate to the mage who had been to a few large cities of stone in Southwall. Hala’s inner city would have dwarfed the collection of single story homes beyond a small collection of warehouses that served the two large piers extending into the island’s only major harbor.
Once a hub for pirates; Trillian had reformed after many had moved to the countries that had made up Southwall in an agreement between their ancestors and the man who would become the Grimnal. It was still rumored to harbor a few pirates and privateers, though none were known to the island’s allies on the mainland. The main city was now known for shipping fish and diamonds from a mine developed near the center of the island. Thanks to the major changes to the land during the Cataclysm, Trillian had become a rare exporter for the diamonds suddenly risen up in the stone making up the expanded island. Trillian and many of the islands were larger or completely new. The people had weathered the storms and shifting land to make cities like these where they could.
Gulls, peregions and other sea birds with the range to reach the island swarmed fishing boats as the fishermen guarded new hauls from the sea. Only two other large merchant vessels were in port when the Sea Dragon arrived. Birds could be seen perched on rails, masts and anywhere else that they could find a place that wouldn’t cause the men working on the ships to disturb them. Seeing the birds and people working around the warehouses from the ship, gave the mage a feeling of being returned to normalcy even if it wasn’t a city on the mainland. Even so, he knew that there was something to find on the island aside from getting supplies.
Joined by just Collin, Mecklin and Yara; Sebastian hoped by moving in a smaller group that they would attract less attention. Yara even avoided her normal yellow wearing a light blue sundress. A healer’s yellow was important when finding a healer on a battle field, but trying to fit in wearing the bright color was a much harder thing to accomplish.
Having to use the compass, made Sebastian feel wary as well, but it was a necessity for finding what had drawn them there. He received a few glances from workmen that weren’t as busy and continued trying to ignore the looks. Working around buildings as he navigated the haphazardly winding streets, the mage eventually found a building that drew the point no matter how they circled it.
The town hall, as they discovered, was one of the few two story buildings beyond the taller warehouses near the dock. Unlocked, the hub of the city was open to those who had business with their mayor or one of his assistants. White walls inside the building mirrored the outer paint and a series of desks in a great hall size room were laden with paper and scrolls.
As they entered a breeze followed them inside stirring the papers on the nearest desk causing an older woman to look their way with a frown. With her hair pulled back into a bun and wearing a plain brown dress with a high collar of white, she raised an eyebrow in query before asking the question, “Can I help you people with something?”
Four other men were in the room and paused in their work. Dressed similarly in basic brown pants and white shirts, some wore brown vests as well. Whether it was uniform or not, the mage couldn’t be sure, but their fashion seemed archaic or perhaps just rural compared to the government workers and officials that he had come across in Southwall. Uniform or not, the men looked less like administrators and more like dock workers including squared jaws and strong looking shoulders and arms.
Unsure of exactly how to answer that question, but knowing that saying he was there to find artifacts of the Grimnal was unlikely the right reply, Sebastian tried a different tact, “I am from Southwall on business. Is the mayor available?”
It was vague, but official sounding, the young mage thought. The eyes that squinted at him appearing less im
pressed led him to think otherwise. “The mayor, Lord Sumpterhall, is a very busy man. Just because you come from Southwall as you say, doesn’t mean that it gives you a right to bother the man without an appointment,” the woman stated seeming to pinch her face tight in some way that Sebastian couldn’t decipher.
“Could you see if he would be willing to give us a few minutes of his time? We are here on business for the king,” he held up a sealed note, one of a half dozen given to him to deal with any of the island rulers he might come into contact with on his journey. King Alain and his council had tried to prepare him for any eventuality that he would run into at sea and this was just one more tool he had.
The woman apparently had enough knowledge of seals to know that it was likely to be real. Not looking too happy about giving in to his request, she walked across the room to a door in the center of the wall. Two doors along each side wall were ignored and the woman disappeared barely opening one of the dual doors there to slip inside after a quick knock.
Feeling the eyes of the men surreptitiously looking at them while they pretended to read their documents, Sebastian and the others waited quietly where they had been left. It only took a few moments for the woman to return, staring at them sternly, she stated, “If you are the leader, then you and one other may see him now. The mayor’s office isn’t large enough for a big group, but he is willing to see you to find out your reason for being here.”
Checking the others with his eyes, Collin shrugged and Mecklin seemed indifferent. Sebastian decided just to bring Yara. She was less threatening for a meeting and most men enjoyed seeing a pretty lady, plus he knew that she could be more persuasive than he. She had the ability to make not just him do as she wanted, he knew from his time watching the healer during her work.
The two walked the gauntlet between the desks following the woman back to the far doorway. She pulled aside the right and Sebastian quickly moved to hold the left. The gentlemanly maneuver finally gained the faintest hint of a smile from the woman’s eyes and twitch of one from her lips. After Yara passed through, the woman proceeded to close both doors behind them.
Looking at an office twenty feet deep by about thirty wide, the mage considered the woman’s belief that there was very little room inside and concluded that three or four of his room at White Hall could have fit in the office. With its ceiling vaulted high above them, stained glass windows lifting to an arch, and a wall of bookcases on the far wall, even the lord’s large wood desk and a few stuffed chairs left the space feeling empty.
Three large, richly patterned rugs sat parallel to one another breaking up a dark stained wood floor buffed to reflect the light of the windows. A suit of armor stood on either side of his desk as if to guard the older man. Lord Sumpterhall was a little less impressive than his office, which may have been why the room tried to overcompensate. Shorter than Sebastian, as the man stood up behind his desk, he was an older man with thinning brown hair peppered with gray. Once an athletic man, he appeared to have let the comfortable life of being mayor of Trillian soften his middle. For all that the older man dressed in unassuming brown and black clothing, there was still a certain grace to his movement and a look to his eyes that let the mage know that Lord Sumpterhall wasn’t quite as soft as he looked from first glance.
He smiled and gestured for the two to take a seat in front of his desk. “Welcome to Trillian. I can see that you are new here. I am Marcinius Sumpterhall, mayor of Trillian and lord of its people. My secretary tells me that you come from Southwall on a mission from your king. I don’t sense that you are mere nameless messengers come to drop off a letter to me.
“Perhaps you should introduce yourselves and why you are here,” the lord finished still smiling, but Sebastian could feel an underlayment of steel that demanded an answer.
Still standing as he held the chair for Yara to sit, Sebastian answered, “I am Falcon Sebastian Trillon and this is Wizard Yara Bram. Our ship has come for two reasons. One is to get supplies to continue our mission. The second should be explained in this note from King Alain, but I will say it anyway.
“With help from High Wizard Darius of Eirdhen, I and my team have been seeking clues to the lost king Gerid Aramathea, better known as the Grimnal. He is of course known to be a friend of the islands and the device given me has pointed to this building as a possible site for an artifact of his.
“Understanding that he may have left something with your ancestors, we were just hoping to clear it up while we are here, my lord,” he finished trying to sound as contrite as possible.
Looking unimpressed, the lord’s demeanor changed a bit with the new information. “Well, of course he left a trinket or two here with my ancestors, but no one has seen him since shortly after the Cataclysm that shook the world. I hope that you didn’t come thinking that you would find him here.”
Sebastian shook his head and smiled, “We have been chasing a trail left behind using a device given us by the high wizard. There is still another sign farther to the south, but since we needed supplies it made sense to stop in Trillian and check it out. I am sorry to have bothered you, Lord Sumpterhall,” he finished starting to rise.
The lord patted the air and leaned back in his chair, “Now, now, no need to go just yet. You say that you have followed a trail. Has he left some bread crumbs not eaten by time that you can still follow?”
Nodding, the mage answered truthfully figuring that what they had found would be of little worth to the lord and of no real concern if he knew of them, “We have found three islands that he visited. The story we have gathered from a few written words was that he may have come to check on his allies as well as trying to find the culprit who caused the chaos that killed so many and altered the north.
“A diary left by one of his researchers told a little of what happened to one of three ships that sailed with the Grimnal. A small message left on another proved that he and his men had visited that, while the last one still had a cursed wizard living there with more information.
“None of the clues tell me that he still lives, but I feel that he does. Unfortunately, the wizard said that he believed the Grimnal was captured by the Dark Emperor. What defenses guard him and what condition he will be in is still unknown.”
“Well, if he has been locked away by this Dark Emperor as you call him, then that would be a shame. I would wonder if even an immortal could survive a couple centuries locked away. Have his captors tried to kill him or is there another reason for his capture?
“Anyway,” the lord continued putting on a slight smile, “you said that a device brought you here. Where is it and what has it brought you to find?”
Producing the compass, Sebastian used his magic to focus the device. The bright red dot pointed directly at the lord bringing a slight frown to the mage’s forehead. He pointed and said, “It seems to be near you, my lord.”
Instead of being confused, Lord Sumpterhall stood with a smile and gestured to a wood podium. It was made of dark stained wood and intricately tooled. The swirling, flowery column rose up to support a top about four inches thick near the front and raising more than an inch towards the back creating an angle. Glass shown over a document protected by the well constructed top.
Sebastian brought the device closer and rounded the desk. It did indeed focus on the aged paper sitting under the glass and the mage looked close enough to read the writing. It was written in the common language of the north and Taltan to their south, the original colonizers of North continent. The paper was a short proclamation absolving the pirates of Trillian of wrong doing against Marshalla and Rhearden from Taltan. Marshalla was the original name of the country once ruled from Hala, Sebastian knew. If he was guessing correctly, this document was almost as old as the Grimnal himself and predated the Cataclysm by hundreds of years.
Letting out a low whistle, the mage was both impressed by the history in the document and the fact that the compass could still find the signs of Gerid on it after so much time. At the top of the p
aper, a knife with an intricate handle sat just under the raised glass. “So both the paper and the knife were given to your ancestors then?”
Moving to stand beside him, the lord nodded. Yara came around to stand on Sebastian’s other side to look at the small monument to the relationship between their two countries. Sumpterhall said appreciatively, “It was given to the pirate captains ruling Trillian at the time. The story is they helped your Grimnal defeat a conqueror, who was working to take over all the countries of the continent. Adding the strength of the island pirates to his in exchange for the pardon and land in what used to be called Marshalla, they succeeded in freeing those lands and destroying that king.
“Exactly how much of a part they played and all the specifics of the war are lost to time. If you find the Grimnal, he would probably be the only way to get any of that information back. Still it is a piece of our history that survived the Cataclysm and the rise and fall of islands.”
Stepping back from the historical document, the three looked at one another trying to decide if there were more things to discuss. Sebastian decided to ask someone local to the area for his opinion, “Our next leg of the journey takes us outside of the islands that are known to us. Would your sailors have any knowledge of what we will face?”
Lord Sumpterhall straightened to his full height and bragged, “Lad, I was once a captain and sailed to all of the islands of the North Sea, well the larger ones anyway. I was a merchant and traveled to Rhearden and many other countries of Taltan in my day. If you have a map or the position that you plan to sail to, I should be able to help guide you!”
Smiling appreciatively back at the older man, Sebastian nodded saying, “My men outside have a map marked by our captain that I can show you, my lord.”
Battle Mage: The Lost King (Tales of Alus) Page 31