Do the Gods Give Us Hope?

by Jeff Henrikson

  After the geas took hold, the guards shoved them into a cell and a forcefield was set in place. Then the guards went back to their posts, leaving the dead man and elf to contemplate their last days in the mortal world.

  Mestel took his first good look around the cell and said in a calm manner that was totally out of place for an imprisoned follower of Martel, “So, now that we are here, and we seem to have a little time on our hands, why don’t you tell me what happened between you and Rafa?”

  Austen sat down utterly dejected on the one bench in the cell. “What is the point? We are both going to be turned into toads before morning.”

  “Humor me. I’m a dead elf who wants to know. I gathered from what Rafa said that you used to be a Sorcerer?”

  Rather than answer, Austen rested his head back against the wall with his eyes closed.

  “Come on, Austen, you must tell me. If I’m going to be turned into a toad and fed to the dogs, I at least want to hear one more good story before it happens.”

  Austen turned his head toward Mestel and opened his eyes. “Fine. You want to hear the story? Rafa and I joined the Academy during the same turn of the moon and became fast friends. Is that what you want to hear?”

  Mestel smiled infectiously and said, “It’s a start. Then what happened?”

  Austen smiled back despite himself, and continued, “I was the serious one. He was smart, funny, likeable, and everyone’s friend. Everyone knew I had a great magical talent, but Rafa was even more blessed in that regard. Rafa’s arcane ability was second only to Vanderhoff and Delinor, who were second in command and High Wizard of the Sorcerers at the time.”

  Mestel put his hand up to test the strength of the forcefield as Austen continued. “Rafa and I both rose through the ranks quickly under Vanderhoff’s personal tutelage. You would not have thought we would become the best of friends, but that is exactly what happened. Despite our differences in personality, we each saw in the other something that was missing from ourselves. We became inseparable. We went everywhere together and even made sure we were on the same assignments.”

  “Sounds like the two of you were a fun pair – almost like brothers, similar to Evisar and me.” Mestel felt a moment of sadness at what he and Evisar had lost. “Or at least similar to the way Evisar and I used to be.”

  “Yes, exactly so. However, all good things must eventually come to an end. On one such assignment we were working in Locus to expose a Talon Guild plot.”

  At the mention of the Talon Guild, Mestel stopped pacing and paid particular attention to what Austen was saying. “Thanks to Xander, we have had many run-ins with the Talon Thieves Guild. Tell me what happened.”

  “The Talon Guild was making moves on several fronts to try and take Locus away from Kentar. Several Sorcerers were sent in to investigate. Ours was a long assignment where we had to unravel a large plot in which the Talon Guild had infiltrated or bought off every officer of the Kentarian Army stationed in Locus. We were particularly concerned about the Captain of the Locus Garrison.

  “We gathered evidence against the officers in question and held onto it for half a year. Finally, with help from Jewlian, we moved against the corrupt soldiers, and they all fell like dominos.”

  Mestel said, “Why do I feel a ‘but’ coming on?”

  “But the Talon Guild found out what happened, just as we knew they would, and sought revenge against those primarily responsible. That very night, a half-orc named Keth and a number of his fellow warriors stormed the inn where we were staying. We fled from the first floor to the second, and then from room to room. We eventually became so desperate that we climbed out of a third story window and jumped down to the street below. Luckily, we both landed unharmed. We bolted through the streets going from alley to alley. We did this for what seemed like half the night before we dared believe we were safe. Just as we dared relax and pat ourselves on the back for escaping death yet again, a man in fine clothes moved up behind us as quick as lightning and knocked us unconscious.”

  Mestel said, “I recently had a run-in with the man you are describing.”

  Austen continued with a touch of awe in his voice as he remembered the power of the supernatural. “I found out later that the man who took us unaware in the alleyway was a vampire named Daniel. We woke up in a Talon Guild prison where we were held and tortured for several days.”

  “Why did they keep you alive at all? I thought Daniel would have killed you on the spot.”

  “They wanted to make an example out of us. They wanted to torture Rafa and me so horribly that no one in the King’s court or the Sorcerers Academy would dare tread on the Guild’s turf ever again.”

  Austen stood up and began pacing around the cell. “The Talon Guild’s plan would have worked perfectly if it had not been for the dragon.”

  Mestel’s face went blank. “The dragon?”

  “Yes, an ancient green dragon known as Malachite transported us to his lair and said he would free us if we agreed to answer his call at some time in the future.”

  Mestel felt his face go flush with anger. “Are you telling me you sent Valihorn and Tristan off to the dragon, knowing what they would be asked to do in exchange for the dragon’s help?”

  “I am afraid so.”

  Mestel took a menacing step toward the wizard. “Are you telling me you exposed us to this creature in order to save your precious town?”

  Austen stood his ground. “Do not be so smug! I have my reasons and I always act for the greater good. I told all of you about the existence of the dragon, but only Valihorn and Tristan set out to find it. They made their choice knowing it would likely mean their lives. The rest of you stayed behind to defend Wessex while they chose to go forward and make the ultimate sacrifice. It was their choice!”

  “But you didn’t warn them! You didn’t tell them what to expect. You kept silent in order to save your precious town.”

  “Which was for the greater good! I chose to put two good men in harm’s way in order to save an entire town from certain destruction. There was no other way to save Wessex from the hill giants. You know it is true. They would have kept attacking the town until it was destroyed.”

  “You let them walk into the dragon’s lair like cows to the slaughter!”

  “You killed my Lord Shetley in cold blood!”

  “He had lost his mind and was abusing his power! You know I did the right thing by putting him in his grave.”

  “Perhaps you did, but by what right do you judge me now? We both act for the greater good, each of us in his own way.”

  Mestel stopped to think. He supposed Austen was right. Just because he was a chosen of Martel didn’t give him the right to act as judge and jury for what Austen had done. He had not abused his power or made scapegoats of anyone else – and he did have justifiable reasons for what he had done.

  Mestel sat down on the bench. “Very well, I apologize for my anger. What happened after Malachite transported you to his lair?”

  Austen let the argument go and continued his story. “As I said, he promised to set us free if we both agreed to answer his call and do whatever was asked at a future time. Maybe we should have said no, but you have to remember that we were being tortured to death with no foreseeable way to escape. We knew it was wrong, but we just could not take it anymore. A dreaded future assignment seemed far preferable to a tortuous death. So both Rafa and I agreed to Malachite’s demands, expecting to be called on by the dragon several decades in the future.”

  Austen looked down in shame as he explained the next part of his story. “But he tricked us. Once we agreed to answer his call in exchange for our freedom, he tricked us by calling in the debt immediately.”

  Mestel said, “And what was the cost of your freedom?”

  “He ordered Rafa and me to assassinate our High Wizard, Delinor. He was a great wizard and a great man. I still miss him.”

  Mestel spoke without judgment. “So you carried out the assignment and killed the High Wizar
d?”

  Austen continued as though Mestel had not spoken. “I told Malachite straight away that I would not do it. That I would rather die. And then Malachite told me that I would go back to my cell where I would be tortured to death over the next several days.” A single tear rolled down Austen’s cheek. “I could not take being tortured any longer. I could not do it. You have to understand.” Mestel nodded his head. “So I agreed to kill my own High Wizard. Malachite transported Rafa and me back to Jewlian, and we walked into the Academy in much the same way you did earlier today.

  “Once we arrived back at the Academy, life returned to normal in a certain sense. Rafa and I attended classes just as we had before. We continued to learn arcane magic from our masters, just as we had before. The only difference was that every night Rafa and I met to discuss plans to murder our High Wizard. It did not take us long to devise a plan that seemed plausible. We reluctantly decided that during one of our tutoring sessions with Delinor, we would stab him in the back with one of the many Talon Guild daggers we had collected during our most recent mission. Once the Guild’s flying dragon symbol was seen next to Delinor’s dead body, the shadow of suspicion would quickly fall away from us and land squarely on the Talon Guild’s wide shoulders.”

  Mestel spoke again without judgment. “It sounds like a valid plan. I’m surprised you and Rafa managed to be so devious. I thought one of the many strengths of the Sorcerers Academy is that the wizards here are above reproach. The Sorcerers are the backbone of Kentar. They are what keeps your nation strong. Once you lose your infallibility, won’t you simply become another fallen organization with a great mission statement?”

  Austen nodded in complete agreement. “Everything you said is correct. The Sorcerers have been an incorruptible force for more than a thousand years, until Malachite forced us into his service. I suppose that, more than anything, is why I chose not to go through with our plan.”

  Mestel cocked his head in surprise. “What?”

  Austen looked at him proudly. “I did not kill Delinor. I did not have anything to do with his murder. On the day Rafa and I were supposed to carry out the assassination, I went to Rafa and told him I wanted no part in it – that I did not care what happened to me – that I would not sacrifice an innocent man in order to save myself. I argued that it was beneath us and I begged my best friend to reconsider.

  “At first Rafa would not be persuaded. He insisted the dragon would seek some terrible revenge against us if we did not carry out his order. Finally, after reasoning with him further and even threatening to expose our plan if he insisted on carrying it out, Rafa was convinced. He said I was right, that murdering Delinor was beneath us, no matter the cost.

  “I left Rafa’s room with a good feeling in my heart, thinking that friendship and loyalty had prevailed over threats and debts. However, I heard what I wanted to hear and did not see the truth lying in front of me.”

  Mestel said, “Rafa carried out the assassination without you.”

  Austen’s voice lowered to a whisper. “Yes. Rafa murdered our High Wizard and set me up to take the fall. He killed Delinor with my dagger and left a few other clues that led directly back to me. I managed to deduce what had happened, and when the Knights of the Order came looking to arrest me, I managed to narrowly elude them.

  “I even managed to confront Rafa in his quarters. You should have seen the change. In the place where my best friend should have been standing, there was only a wizard consumed by evil, in love with his own power. I asked him why he framed me, and he said it was the only way to prevent me from telling the Administrators the truth. I could not take the betrayal of my best friend, especially when my High Wizard was dead. I lashed out at Rafa with an attack, determined to end his evil then and there. I won the battle but was not able to finish the job. Our attacks were so loud that eventually the guards converged on Rafa’s quarters. They burst in just as I was about to end it. Rather than fight my fellow Sorcerers, I ran away.

  “But one cannot simply transport in and out of the Sorcerers Academy. There are magical barriers set up to prevent such a thing. So I ran toward the city. I ran as fast and as hard as I could, with the guards only a few steps behind. I managed to make it into the streets. I ducked into an alleyway and teleported away just in time.”

  Mestel said, “That’s a fascinating story. And you have been on the run ever since?”

  “No, not entirely. Those events took place twenty years ago. Although telling the story now, it seems like it happened with the last turn of the moon. I did run from place to place for the first few years. I eventually learned the secret of magically concealing myself from the scrying of the Sorcerers.”

  Mestel nodded, finally understanding what had happened. “Is that the necklace that I own that you put around Xander’s neck?”

  “Yes, I constructed the necklace to keep myself safe from the Sorcerers. I do not blame my fellow Sorcerers for trying to hunt me down. They thought I was guilty of killing their High Wizard and wanted to hunt down the man responsible. I kept running from place to place because I refused to fight my fellow Sorcerers. I refused to spill innocent blood.

  “After I built the necklace, and was hidden from view, the Sorcerers gradually lost track of me. After a few more years, I happened to be passing through the town of Wessex when I fell in love with the place. I also found out about the existence of the portal. I stayed in Wessex for a few turns of the moon, and when no one came to find me, I stayed for a year. When no one came to find me after that, I built my tower in Wessex around the portal and vowed that I would never leave.”

  There was something Mestel didn’t understand. “So why did you send us to Jewlian when Valihorn came to you with the ring on his finger? You had to know there was a chance your name would come up?”

  Austen shrugged his shoulders and continued. “First off, I did not think my name would come up. Second of all, there did not seem to be another option. I could not take off the ring. There are only three places you could go to in all of Tellus that would have been able to remove the ring – Bethel in Armena, the Sorcerers of Kentar, and the Talon Thieves Guild. I assumed no one in your group wanted to go to the Talon Guild, and you and Evisar could not return to Armena without being killed.”

  Mestel said, “So you decided to nobly risk your own life by sending us to the Sorcerers of Kentar, is that it?”

  “Nothing is that simple, but you are essentially correct. I sent you here to take care of the problem and my name accidently came up. It is not anyone’s fault. These things happen; it was just my time.”

  Austen sat back down on the bench and rested his head against the stone wall. “But now we are doomed – both of us.” He closed his eyes and looked utterly hopeless. “There is no way Rafa will ever let us leave this dungeon alive. No matter what he said upstairs in the Administrator Building, we will both be turned into toads, or something worse, before morning. My best friend is going to put me to death for a crime he committed. I never thought my life would end this way. I always thought I would either die in my bed from old age or be killed defending my town or the portal. I did not think I would be sent meekly off into the night in this way.”

  Mestel had heard enough of Austen’s belly aching. He tapped his palms against the bench and stood up with a confidence that was out of place. “Well, Austen, I want to thank you for sharing your story with me. I really can’t thank you enough. I think it is past time we got out of here, don’t you?”

  Austen did not even open his eyes. “Do not even bother. There is no way out of here. Better to just accept your fate and relax. Use the time to make peace with your god. You worship the elven god Martel, do you not?”

  Mestel stood directly in front of Austen, smiling. “I do indeed. Would you like to discuss his philosophy and the purpose of his kingdom?”

  Austen still looked dejected. “No need. I have studied all of the gods during my travels. Martel hates the Krone almost as much as Venal. Martel and Evona used to b
e lovers, until Evona yanked out his heart and stomped it into the ground. Martel brings down those who abuse their power and frees those who are wrongly imprisoned …”

  Suddenly Austen stopped talking and opened his eyes. Mestel could see the wheels turning in his mind. He pulled his head away from the wall and awareness came back into his eyes.

  “Followers of Martel are supposed to abhor imprisonment. In fact, you should be going stark raving mad about now.”

  “Normally I would be.”

  “So why are you so calm right now? You even have an idiotic smile on your face.”

  “Because it was my choice to be imprisoned with you this time around. I also don’t feel like a prisoner because I can leave this dungeon anytime I want.”

  Austen shot up off the bench, fully alive for the first time since coming into the cell. “Do you mean to tell me that you imprisoned yourself with me on purpose?”

  Mestel pointed a finger at the wizard’s chest. “That is exactly so.”

  “So the fit you threw upstairs in front of the Administrators was all theatre, the only intent of which was to get you locked up in here with me?” Mestel nodded. “Why?”

  “So that I can set you free, of course. Do you have any idea how much harder it would be to break into this dungeon and get you out than it is to be imprisoned with you in the first place and break out from within?” Mestel chucked as he drew in close and whispered, “You don’t really think I’m some out-of-control lunatic that goes around ranting and raving about the unfairness of life, when there is nothing I can do about it. Do you?”

  Chapter 108: Sorcerers Prison

  Austen was speechless. “I … I cannot believe it. You planned this whole thing. You came down here with me in order to save my life?”