The Archmage Unbound

by Michael G. Manning

  She was trying to mend her appearance by dabbing at her cheeks with a small cloth she had produced from a drawer in her desk. “Let’s hear your story Mordecai,” she reminded me but before I could start she crossed over to the door and opened it. “You can come back in Walter, thank you.”

  I explained our near disastrous exploration of the caves near Lancaster and described our encounter with the creature that now inhabited Timothy’s small body. She listened carefully and let me finish before she spoke again.

  “Have you spoken with Marcus since you returned to the city?”

  I coughed, “He was drunk so we didn’t talk much but he should be waking up soon. I put him to sleep to get him to stop drinking so he’d sober up.”

  She frowned, “He’s been sober the last few times I talked to him. Did something happen?”

  “Apparently the high priest of the iron god caught him rifling through his papers and after he escaped they figured out his real identity. They’ve given him a new name,” I told her and then went on to describe his encounter.

  Rose had her hand in front of her mouth by the time I finished, “That’s terrible.”

  “I rather thought it was funny, though I didn’t want to admit it in front of him while he was drunk. I was a bit peeved about that.”

  “No, Mordecai. I swear sometimes I think you’re as dense as Dorian. I’m talking about Marissa,” she said the name as if it alone would explain everything.

  I stared blankly at her, “What about Marissa?”

  She sighed, “He was very taken with her. I think they might have developed some serious feelings.”

  I couldn’t help but laugh, “Are you sure we’re talking about the same man? He bedded half the noblewomen near his age and none of them were able to capture his attention for more than a day or two.”

  Now it was her turn to stare; except her stare was of a much more serious nature.

  “Look Rose,” I began, “I love him like a brother, but he’s an absolute plague on women. I doubt he’s even given her a second thought since they chased him out.”

  “We have too many more important things to talk about right now Mordecai,” she said at last. “Let’s just leave it at, ‘you’re an idiot’, and move on. And do promise me to treat the subject carefully when you see Marcus later. Can you do that at least?”

  Walter started snickering quietly behind his hand at her comment. I gave him a hard look before answering her, “Fine, we’ll just leave it at that. Why don’t we retire to my house so we can continue this conversation with Marc when he wakes up?”

  ***

  The return trip was equally uneventful though Rose didn’t enjoy it much. Since she didn’t have the benefit of mage-sight she was completely blind while we were invisible. For her the experience was essentially identical to being blindfolded and led across the city by hand.

  When we reached my door we simply opened it and went inside. To appease the men watching the house I had Harold come back and look out, to give the impression that he had opened the door. After I talked to him though I quickly discovered it didn’t matter anymore.

  “Is Marc awake?” I asked him as soon as we had gotten inside.

  He nodded his head, “Yes, but he’s got a hell of a hangover. He’s in the kitchen trying to get some food inside him.”

  I started walking in that direction, “Good, now we can finally get everyone together and see if we can figure something out.”

  Harold put his hand on my shoulder, “Wait, you might want to read this letter. I think it’s urgent.”

  I frowned at him, “What letter?”

  He held up a sealed envelope. Even in the poor light of the entry hallway I could recognize the official seal of the king of Lothion. “How’d you get that?” I asked him with a sinking feeling in my stomach.

  “A messenger delivered it after you left,” he replied.

  “A messenger? Why did you answer the door? What did he say? What did you say!?” I could feel a panic rising quickly from the depths of my stomach.

  Harold looked at me oddly and I realized I hadn’t given him any explanation regarding my plan to avoid letting the King know of my current location. “He asked if you were present and I told him that you weren’t,” he answered finally.

  I let out a sigh of relief, “Oh thank the gods!” It was a remark of habit but I corrected myself anyway. “Actually damn the gods, but thank goodness you told him that.”

  Harold smiled, “Don’t worry; I told him you would be back and that I would make certain you got the letter today.”

  I startled Harold by spending the next several minutes practicing my nautical language. In spite of the fact that he was around soldiers most of the time he seemed quite impressed with my extensive vocabulary. When I finally wound down he commented, “I get the feeling that you didn’t want me to take mail for you.”

  That was an understatement but I let it go. “You didn’t know. Here, let me read this and I’ll explain after.” I opened the envelope, fearing the worst. As usual I wasn’t disappointed. The letter was addressed to, ‘His Excellency the Count di’Cameron’ and it didn’t waste any verbiage beating around the bush.

  His Majesty, King Edward the First requires your presence to discuss matters of great import. Failure to appear will result in grave consequences. As a sign of the nature of these matters we do enclose this token…

  The rest of the letter went on to detail the time and place, which happened to be three o’clock tomorrow afternoon. What really got my attention however was the ‘token’ he had included. It was a small lock of hair, and judging by the color I was sure it was Penny’s.

  I held it in my hand for long minutes, just staring, until my vision grew blurry and I had trouble seeing. When I could no longer see for tears I brought it to my face in a vain attempt to catch her scent but by then I could hardly breathe through my nose either. Eventually I looked up again, aware at last that I was surrounded. Everyone in the house stood around me now, in a tight circle and by their faces I could see that I wasn’t alone. Marc in particular looked as if he were having almost as bad a time of it as I was. Rose managed to keep her composure this time but there was a look of smoldering anger in her eyes.

  Everyone watched me expectantly and the weight of it was almost more than I could bear. I made my way to the kitchen and we all took seats around the table. I handed the letter to Rose first and waited for her to read it. When she was done she passed it to Marc and eventually it made its way completely around the table.

  Walter broke the silence first, “So what are you going to do now?”

  The question reminded me of another time, another day, when I had been at a similar table with friends and family waiting on me to give them some direction. As I recalled Penny and I had not been on the best of terms then and they’d had to lock us in a room till we reconciled before we could decide anything. Thinking of it now it seemed like a fond memory, though I knew that at the time I had been just as desperate.

  I reached into my pouch and drew out the letter Penny had left for me, and studied the words she had written. One part in particular stood out in my mind and I found myself rereading it several times:

  Do not let this break your spirit. I have seen what will happen if you pay heed to your darker impulses. It is a bleak and empty path, and you will no longer be the man I have loved. There is still hope if you do not despair.

  I folded her note and carefully put it away again before I addressed my friends, “First we carefully assess our resources. In this case those would be primarily information, so let’s put everything we know on the table.” I made a slow and careful description of the recent events Harold, Walter and I had been through. When I finished I nodded at Rose.

  “I haven’t very much to add I’m afraid,” she said with a graceful tone. “You only left here two days ago and since then I’ve only had one interesting bit of information come to my attention.” She repeated what she had told me regarding the gu
ards at the palace the evening before. Marc paid close attention as she spoke and after she finished I could tell he was ready to begin.

  He leaned in toward the table, “As most of you already know I had to leave the temple of the Iron God rather suddenly yesterday.” Marcus carefully relayed his tale but when he reached the end of it he caught my eye. “What I haven’t had a chance to tell yet… is what I found amidst the high priest’s paperwork,” he paused dramatically.

  “What, damnitt?!” I said impatiently.

  “One of the documents on top of his stack detailed a payment received from the royal exchequer. It was for the amount of five hundred gold, but the thing that caught my eye was the fact that no reason for the payment was detailed on the paperwork.” He stopped there.

  “Is there anything else?” I asked.

  He shook his head, “No, but the timing seems… highly congruent.”

  “The obvious conclusion is that he is paying the Iron Brothers to keep his hostages at that secret compound you mentioned before,” said Rose at last.

  Marc nodded, “Yes, but it is still a guess. We can’t be sure from the little we know.”

  Walter was fidgeting with anxiety. “Do you think he might be keeping my family there as well?” he asked me suddenly.

  “I don’t know,” I told him, and I didn’t. In fact I knew very little beyond guesswork and suspicion. Glancing around the table I could see everyone waiting on me to announce the next step. The pressure built upon me until it felt like a physical force, bearing down upon my shoulders. Taking a deep breath I stood quickly. “I’m going upstairs. I need to think and I can’t do it with everyone staring at me. I’ll be back down in a little while,” and so saying I left the table.

  Chapter 41

  In the relative silence of my bedroom I stared at the wall where the picture of my mother Elena had been placed. Studying her features I wondered what she would have thought of the situation I was in now. Even more I wondered how she might have judged my actions up until now. She saved her child while mine has yet to be born and is already in danger, I thought. I had never known her in life, so even her features were strange to me. I couldn’t possibly guess what sort of advice she might have given.

  “Think,” I said aloud. I had always taken my mind for granted, but now that I needed a truly inspired plan it was coming up empty of solutions. “I have two intelligent and gifted friends,” I said to myself, referring to Marc and Rose. “I have a wizard with strong reasons to want me to succeed in liberating the King’s hostages and a nearly invincible warrior armed with magical arms and armor. On top of all that I have a strong ally back in Lancaster willing to assist with men and support.” I finished listing my assets and considered the goal.

  More than anything I wanted Penny and Dorian back, safely and unharmed. Once that was accomplished I could easily dispatch my largest current problem, the King himself. And civil war be damned, I thought. Edward had elevated himself to a level of threat that I no longer considered him to be the lesser of two evils. Another thought occurred to me then, what about Illeniel’s Doom? That was the true motivator behind the shiggreth making a deal with the King to begin with and I still hadn’t begun making a search for it. Hell, I had no idea what it looked like or if it was even a physical object.

  “I’ll set that aside for now. My only concern at the moment is Penny and Dorian, and once that’s taken care of, the King. I can worry about the rest afterward,” I said to myself. Pacing the room I enumerated the obstacles to rescuing them. Most importantly I couldn’t be entirely sure where they were located. Our best guess lay in the secret compound that the Doronites had. Yet even if we could be sure they were there we didn’t know have precise directions to find it. Marc’s information regarding its location was good but he had never been there.

  To make matters worse I had less than twenty four hours. Roughly twenty one hours now, I estimated mentally. It was past six o’clock now and my meeting with the King was set for three tomorrow afternoon.

  I became still and felt my mind grow calm, filled by a clear silence that brought everything into focus. An idea took shape and I carefully pruned and shaped it until I thought it gave me at least a chance of accomplishing my goal. I can’t be certain of anything, so lacking surety I must simply act decisively, I thought. Taking a deep breath I went back downstairs.

  The others were deep in discussion when I found them. They had moved into the parlor and I could tell by their voices that there was nothing approaching a consensus among them. In fact they seemed on the verge of an outright argument.

  “Well if you have a better damned idea why don’t you spit it out Lady Rose!” Marc declared, raising his voice and putting an ugly emphasis on her title.

  Rose was glaring daggers at him. “It isn’t that I mind regicide, you bloodthirsty sot, but it won’t solve anything. Even if we managed to kill him the hostages will still die. Edward isn’t a fool and I’m certain he has contingencies set up to ensure his revenge in the event of something drastic happening to him.” Her voice was level but the words left little doubt she thought Marc was reasoning poorly.

  “We could just cooperate,” said Walter quietly.

  “That’s worked out rather well for you all these years hasn’t it?” Marcus interjected sarcastically.

  I coughed loudly from the doorway to get their attention. None of them heard me. “At least he’s thinking of his family’s well-being instead of seeking blind vengeance,” sniped Rose.

  “That’s enough!” I barked and this time I got their attention. Walking into the middle of the room I looked around me. “We don’t have a lot of time. Marc, you did say you aren’t certain of the location of the Doronites secret compound, correct?”

  He nodded, “Yes.”

  “Do you know who would know?”

  “The high priest surely, along with the supply master and some of the clergy responsible for rotating there for duty,” he responded.

  “And which do you think would be easiest for us to lay hands upon?” I asked.

  He put a hand to his chin. “None of them really, but the only two I know on sight would be the supply master and the high priest and of the two of them the supply master might be easier. Plus he might not be missed as quickly.”

  “How long is the trip to reach this place? Or have you heard?”

  He frowned, “I’m not certain but based on the few comments I’ve overheard I would guess about a half a day’s travel on horseback.”

  “Rose, I need a place outside of the city. Something close by where we can move people without being too obvious,” I said shifting my attention.

  “None of my properties outside of the city are that close,” she answered.

  “It doesn’t have to belong to you,” I explained. “I just need something where no one will be watching and we can count on some privacy for a day or so.”

  She wrinkled her nose. “Would something like a barn be sufficient?”

  “That would be perfect. Can you show me where it is?” I asked.

  She shook her head, “Not yet, I need to talk to someone first, but I’m sure I can set something up within an hour or two.”

  I thought for a moment. “That will work. Go now. Don’t worry about being seen leaving, just don’t let them follow you.” I turned back to the others. “I want the rest of you to acquire this supply master from the Doronite temple.”

  Marc looked concerned, “If we go in there and kidnap him from the midst of their temple it will cause a huge ruckus.”

  “You know the layout of the temple,” I reminded him. “With Walter you can find him without anyone seeing you. Find him and remove him from his bed tonight. If he merely vanishes they won’t know enough to suspect what we’re doing.”

  “What will you be doing?” asked Harold suddenly.

  I smiled, “I’m going to Lancaster but I’ll be back in less than an hour. Once Rose returns I’ll go to her house and wait for the rest of you there. After that we�
��ll be moving to this barn or whatever she can find for us.”

  ***

  I was back long before Rose was so I started work on another piece of my plan. James had readily agreed to my requests but he had been somewhat surprised when I asked him for two small boxes. I had thought that two small matching boxes would be fairly easy to find but they turned out to be extraordinarily difficult. Genevieve had solved the problem by emptying two of her ring boxes.

  I had taken them begrudgingly, since I knew she treasured the boxes, but even after I had told her I would ruin them she insisted. The two boxes were actually smaller than I had planned but they met my most important criteria, they were nearly identical in size and shape, each being three inches square and one inch deep.

  Since I wasn’t sure how much longer Rose would be I began by using some paper to do calculations and plan out my runes before attempting to do anything to the boxes. I had learned from my prior work that it didn’t do to start inscribing runes before I had them exactly planned out.

  Rose returned before I had quite finished working out the details, so I had her wait for a few minutes. It would have taken me longer to regain my train of thought if I had tried to stop and start again later. Once I had the runes diagrammed I double checked my notes and put them in my pouch along with the boxes and my stylus.

  “Alright, I’m ready to go now,” I told her. She had been watching patiently while I worked at the kitchen table.

  “I don’t suppose you’d like to share the significance of your arcane scribbling?” she said with an anxious tone.

  I winked at her. “You’ll see,” I said with more confidence than I really felt. Picking up my staff I headed for the door.

  “Are you worried about being seen leaving?” she asked as I set my hand on the door.

  “Not this time,” I replied. “In fact it may be beneficial to have them follow us to your house.”

  She gave me another of her raised eyebrow looks, “I don’t suppose you plan on explaining any of this beforehand do you?”