The Air Element followed us through the shop into the back room and sat down at the table Devon had set up the dungeon on.
“Hey, Ryan,” I said. “Has your master mentioned he visited me today?”
“He did,” they said. “He also said you turned him down.”
“There’s been a change of plans.” I glanced at Devon, then back at the Air Element. “If I said I’d accept your boss’s offer if he promises to help me save my ex-boyfriend from execution at the hands of the vampires, is he likely to say yes?”
Their eyebrows shot up. “The fire mage is going on trial in front of the vampire council?”
“According to the Order.” I picked up a stack of character sheets and began dispensing them around the table. “I know he betrayed us all, but I’d rather he spend years languishing in a cell than face public execution. Those vampires don’t play nice.”
“Yes, and my master prefers to stay on their good side,” said Ryan. “It’s vital to maintain the peace in the Parallel. Interfering in one of their trials might upset that balance.”
“I thought so,” I said. “It’s got to be worth trying, right?”
“You might as well ask,” they said. “He seems to really want you to help at the contest. It’s quite… unconventional.”
“Guess I’m a rare commodity,” I said dryly. “The Order isn’t giving me any work either, but they’ve stopped fighting me on working with the Death King, for a wonder. That’s why I figured I might get away with taking the job.”
“Talk to him,” they said. “In person, I think he’d prefer.”
“I have the weekend to decide, so I’ll head up there tomorrow.” I took my own character sheet in hand and sat down. “I don’t know why he’s set on me acting as his security guard. When I worked for the Order, I was usually the person breaking into places, not guarding them.”
“I gathered,” Ryan said. “That said, I might not understand my master’s decision to add you to the team, but we’d be grateful for your help.”
That brought me up short. The Order had never, not once, expressed the slightest bit of gratitude towards me. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t risky for me to agree to guard the Death King’s castle from a contingent of potential rogue fire mages. What if someone did take advantage of him opening his doors? There were only three Elemental Soldiers working for him, and the contestants might well outnumber his own forces. And that’s if someone else didn’t sneak into the castle while everyone’s attention was on the contest. A hundred possible things might go wrong… but that was the point, wasn’t it? That was precisely why the Death King wanted his security to be as tight as possible, and despite the mistakes I’d made, he trusted me to do it.
And to save Brant’s life, I’d accept his offer. If it wasn’t already too late.
The door rattled with another knock. I walked into the shop and opened it to welcome the rest of our team. Craig walked in, accompanied by Red, while Trix the elf brought up the rear.
“Hey,” said Craig. “Carla can’t come today. She’s on the night shift at the Order. Did you hear about their new shift schedule?”
“Nope.” Great. Craig and Carla both worked for the same department in the Order as I did, on the admin side. If they were reshuffling things, it never worked out in my favour. “I’m sure they’ll let me know at some point. Like five minutes before my shift.”
“You aren’t wrong.” He joined the others and picked up his wizard gunslinger gnome miniature. While we missed Carla, we still had Trix, who played a dwarf fighter whose speciality was walking headfirst into traps to spare the rest of us. We also had Red, who played an elven cleric who served as our group’s healer, while Ryan was our most recent member who played an angry half-orc monk with antisocial tendencies. And there was Dex, of course, who took on the role of various NPCs, occasionally assisted by Aria.
I picked up my dice and got on with guiding my tiefling rogue through the dungeon in pursuit of an evil lich lord. Though the spectre of Brant’s upcoming trial hung over me, it didn’t stop me from bringing out the slimy troll monster I’d based on his character. Nor did it stop Devon from coming up with an elaborately graphic description of his demise after a lucky roll.
If reality went to hell, I could always count on gaming to make everything right.
3
The node’s current of blazing energy came to life inside me, and I stepped across the gap separating the ordinary world from the Parallel, landing in the swampland outside the castle gates.
I’d done my best to put my upcoming meeting with the Death King out of mind for the duration of our D&D game and got an early night before getting up early to pay a visit to His Deathly Highness in person, but now all my worries had come screaming back. I’d opted to use the node in the middle of our house to cross into the Parallel despite my misgivings about the Order finding out I’d done so without a permit. Never mind that any other Order employee in my place would have done the same. Why waste such a convenient mode of transport into the Parallel?
Two liches stood on guard outside the gates, as usual—identical cloaked shadowy forms with masked faces—while the fence extended from each side of the gates and circled the castle from behind. The guards parted without a word, allowing me to enter.
Behind the gates, Cal, the Death King’s Earth Element, walked around the expanse of swampland in front of the castle, his hands outstretched. The ground bubbled and rose, reforming into earthen walls which surrounded a wide area in front of the steps leading to the castle doors. Felicity, the Water Element, stood opposite him, using some complicated water magic to move the swampy water around and leave the ground behind the earthen walls dry. I’d never seen mages use magic with such precision before, but they’d got the job working for the Death King for a reason.
The Water Element, a curvy black woman wearing a vibrant blue-lined cape over her armour, gave me a wave. “Hey, Olivia. Or do you prefer Liv?”
“Liv is fine,” I said. “Is this where the contest will take place?”
“That’s the plan,” said Felicity. “Are you here to see the Death King?”
“Yeah, if he isn’t too busy.” The walls of what I guessed must be the arena for the contenders stood just high enough for me to be able to see over them, while the area covered enough ground for fifty or so people to comfortably stand inside. If he’d had so many applicants for his contest, I grudgingly understood why he’d ‘forgotten’ about giving me lessons in spirit magic, but it would be nice if he remembered I existed when he didn’t need a favour from me.
“He’s inside the castle with Ryan,” she said.
“Thanks.” I glanced at the Earth Element, but he kept his attention on the arena. Cal hadn’t said more than four words to me before, but Felicity seemed friendly enough, and Ryan and I had gone from adversaries to allies in the last few months. Considering I could count the number of allies I had within the Order on one hand, perhaps this wouldn’t be too bad.
I climbed the stone steps and rapped my knuckles on the oak doors. Ryan answered a moment later.
“Liv,” they said. “You came.”
“I did.” I entered the main hall of the castle. Polished wooden floors stretched out before me, bordered by pillars made of human skulls and other assorted bones, a representation of the Death King’s commitment to maintaining an aesthetic. My footsteps echoed as I walked up to the dais near the back upon which the Death King stood. This time he didn’t have his human face on, and his mask was as inscrutable as ever.
“Olivia,” he said. “I thought I’d be seeing you soon.”
He didn’t have to rub it in. “Because Ryan told you?”
“They didn’t need to,” he said. “I assumed you’d have brought a list of conditions, but I have to admit, I didn’t expect the man who betrayed you to be one of them.”
A familiar cold, hard fist clenched around my heart. Maybe throwing myself on the mercy of someone who’d viewed Brant with contempt even befo
re his betrayal was a bad idea, but how else could I possibly save Brant’s neck from the vampire council?
“Then you probably know Brant is going on trial in front of Lord Blackbourne any day now,” I said. “I imagine you also know the average survival rate for someone who betrays the vampires, too.”
“Close to zero,” he confirmed. “So you wish for me to stride into Lord Blackbourne’s home to plead on your behalf?”
I’d be willing to do the pleading in person if it got Brant out in one piece, but the Death King had some nerve mocking me when someone’s life was at stake, even if it was someone who’d betrayed the both of us.
“I want you to ask them to lower his sentence,” I said. “No pleading necessary, unless you want to. Might be entertaining for the rest of us.”
If he’d had his human face on, I imagined he’d have raised an eyebrow at me for that comment. “The vampires are unlikely to take my opinion into consideration.”
“Yours holds more sway than mine does,” I said. “You’re an equal authority to them. I’m the troublemaker who blew up one of their houses—and I might add that the Order are getting suspicious about that as well. Their head interrogator gave me a grilling yesterday.”
“So you wish for me to plead with the Order, too?” he said. “I already spoke to them about the situation with your friend’s business.”
You don’t need to remind me everything in my life depends on staying on your good side. “Yes, I’m aware you did. I’m not asking you to speak to the Order, I’m just reminding you that I’m not responsible if they decide I’d be better off in a cell than serving as your guard.”
“But you are offering to take the job?” he said.
“Yes, with conditions,” I said. “The ones Ryan outlined to you.”
“You wish for me to save your friend’s life from the vampires,” he said. “And I will endeavour to do so, provided you keep up your end of the bargain.”
“Which is…?”
“You will work as my security guard in the castle from the beginning of the contest until the end,” he said. “Regardless of what the Order says, or anyone else. Do this, and I will do my level best to save your friend.”
Translation: if I backed out of the job for any reason, Brant was a goner. What else had I expected of the King of the Dead, though, really?
“Fine,” I said. “I’ll do it.”
“Was there anything else you wanted?” he enquired.
A goading note to his voice piled more fuel on my anger. “You didn’t mention whether you’d decided to give me lessons in spirit magic or not.”
“I told you it was part of our deal,” he said. “But it would help if you specified what you wanted to learn.”
I had no memory of my lessons from Dirk Alban and what I’d learned in the last couple of months had massive gaps in it. It had taken me far longer than it should have to find out that the Death King had become head of the liches due to his former status as a spirit mage, back when he’d still been alive. As a result, he was the only person, living or dead, who might teach me what I needed to know. I couldn’t waste this opportunity.
“I thought I was clear enough,” I said. “I want to be able to hide my spirit mage nature. I want to be able to look the Order in the eyes and have them conclude I’m not a threat to them, and I think it would be a lot easier to stop them from kicking up a fuss about me working for you if they didn’t think I was a loose cannon.”
“I cannot erase their judgement of you,” he said. “Nor can I control how they perceive you, no more than I can stop the vampires from enacting a death sentence on someone.”
Unfortunately, I suspected he was right. “Then I want to learn more spirit mage tricks. I’m sure you can think of one or two. It’s your area of expertise, after all.”
“In that case,” he said, “I will give you a lesson or two in exchange for your cooperation.”
“Deal,” I said. “So, when do I start?”
“Now,” he said. “Ryan will introduce you to the castle and show you around. We’ll start on our first lesson afterwards.”
Good. At least if I was working with the Elemental Soldiers and not directly with him, there was less chance of me losing my temper and punching him in the nose. Not that it made me resent him any less now my ex-boyfriend’s life and my own safety depended on me doing the Death King’s bidding.
Ryan cleared their throat behind me. “If you’d like to come with me…”
I turned away from the dais. “Sure. Lead the way.”
One unexpected perk of taking the job: I’d finally get the chance to have a proper look around the castle. So far, I’d only seen the hall of souls and the corridor where the Elemental Soldiers lived. I’d also seen the jail, though that lay outside of the castle in a separate block enhanced with magic that made it almost impossible to escape.
Yet I’d managed to do exactly that, with Dex’s help. Maybe the Death King had a point when he thought I was suited to work in security, if just because I’d managed to evade said security myself. More than once.
Ryan took me through a door into a large hall filled with weaponry. Suits of armour hung from the walls, along with an array of swords, shields, and other paraphernalia.
“No wonder you always dress so smartly,” I remarked. “This stuff must cost a fortune.”
They gave a rare smile. “The Death King does like us to look the part. You can pick anything you like to wear for the duration of the contest. Feel free to choose any weapons, too.”
Each Elemental Soldier wore the same gear, including a cloak lined with the colour of their Element and embossed with the Death King’s seal—a skull surrounded by the symbols of the other four elements. I didn’t particularly care about that part, but the armoured clothing would be more than welcome, given how many pairs of jeans and shoes I’d ruined when traipsing through the swamp.
“How often does he recruit new liches for his army?” I walked down the row, examining each outfit. “I mean, I’m assuming not all of them are trespassers punished for breaking into the castle grounds. There’d be more mutinies if they were.”
They hesitated. “My master alone has access to information on the liches who serve him. I can tell you anything you need to know about the rules governing the Elemental Soldiers, but as for matters involving the liches…”
“They’re his business alone. Got it.” When Ryan’s brows rose at the evident bitterness in my voice, I added, “I know he used to be a spirit mage, like me, so I’m a little concerned that there might be an ulterior motive at play here. I mean, he did offer me a job as his Spirit Element, which I turned down.”
They frowned. “My master has no intention of turning you into a lich, as far as I’m aware. Is that really a concern of yours?”
“I think he wants me to work for him whether I’m dead or alive,” I admitted. “He also promised to teach me magic and then backtracked. It’s kind of a sore point, since Brant told me he could get my memories back and teach me how to use my magic and then turned out to be working with the Crow.”
And why was I telling the Air Element this? The two of us had been adversaries not long ago, and yet they were one of the few people who might understand the precarious position I was in.
They shook their head. “My master might not be easy to understand, but he keeps his word. Restoring your memories is beyond even him, but I’m sure if you asked, he would teach you what you want to know.”
Then I hoped His Deathly Highness would stop intentionally ticking me off before I got myself fired.
“I’ll check back with him on that later,” I said. “So… can I really pick whatever I like from this room? Even a full suit of armour.”
“Sure,” they said. “My master has a wide selection of sizes, so you should find something that fits. And when you’re ready, I’ll take you to get some cantrips.”
Nice. I’d never had proper battle gear before, like the snazzy uniform for the upper Order memb
ers who took part in major conflicts in the Parallel. The rest of us had to supply our own gear, which in my case consisted of a semi-waterproof coat and boots which didn’t quite keep out the muddy water of the swampland.
I opted to go without the full suit of armour. The heavy layers would weigh me down, and wouldn’t do much against a spirit mage, besides. Instead, I picked out a durable pair of trousers and a belt for my cantrips and changed in the back room. I also chose some waterproof boots and a padded coat which was immune to the elements. It was surprisingly warm, too. I wouldn’t freeze to death during the trials… though I was more likely to be in danger of catching on fire. We were trialling new fire mages, after all.
“They’re fireproof, don’t worry,” said Ryan, when I mentioned this after meeting them outside the changing room. “Standard part of the design. That’s why none of us were worried about picking fights with Davies.”
“Hope you have better luck with the next Fire Element,” I said. “How is the Death King finding people to take part in his trials, anyway? Is he putting out an ad in the newspaper?”
“In a way,” Ryan said. “He’s been travelling around the Parallel for the last few weeks, putting out word among all the local magical communities in Arcadia and beyond. He wants the widest possible choice of mages. He won’t pick just anyone.”
“Hmm.” It seemed he didn’t mind everyone knowing he was one Element short, but then again, if he put out word far enough, maybe someone would track down the former Fire Element and hand him straight back to the Death King. “Where are these cantrips, then?”
Ryan led me through to the adjoining room, which was almost as impressive as the armoury. I scanned the shelves of gleaming cantrips, admiring the array of spells on offer. “Whereabouts do you get your cantrips from? Not the market?”
The only place I’d seen so many cantrips was at the COS’s stall at the back of the warehouse in Arcadia, but the Death King was loaded. No way would he settle for mass-produced cantrips rather than fancy homemade ones designed especially for his army.
Trial of Shadows (Order of the Elements Book 3) Page 3