Do the Gods Give Us Hope?

by Jeff Henrikson

  “In truth, I do not know, but I will get to the bottom of the mystery. I will start by questioning everyone in your group, and then I will question the Sorcerers as I see fit. Standing next to me are two high-ranking Sorcerers I trust. Each of them will cast two spells on your group. The first spell will cancel any magical protections you currently possess. The second spell will be a truth spell. If you tell a lie under this spell, the Sorcerers will be able to tell instantly.”

  Valihorn said, “Why are two wizards required for this task? One should be more than sufficient.”

  The Prince looked at the wizards standing next to him with a scowl. “They will both serve as a witness for the other. As you have already pointed out, the Sorcerers are not entirely trusted at the moment.” He raised his hands and said, “Let’s get started, shall we?” At the new King’s command, every soldier in the room drew his sword, nocked an arrow to a bowstring, or placed a quarrel on a loaded crossbow. “If you refuse in any way, you will be killed. Do you understand?”

  Evisar looked furiously at the force arrayed against them and said, “Yes, we understand.”

  The King nodded at the Sorcerers and they both cast their spells. Afterward, the King said, “Evisar, when did you learn of my father’s death?”

  “A short time ago, when we were being led into the throne room.”

  The Prince looked at the Sorcerers and each of them nodded in turn. The Prince continued. “Evisar, did you participate in my father’s murder in any way?”

  Evisar did not bat an eye. “No, I did not.”

  The Sorcerers nodded again to indicate Evisar was telling the truth. The Prince seemed to accept this and moved on to Valihorn and Xander, who each testified substantially as Evisar had just done.

  The Prince then questioned Mestel. “Mestel, I am led to understand that you and Austen saved my father’s life last night. Is this true?”

  “We saved his life once last night. We arrived too late to save him the second time.”

  “I see. And how did you know my father was in danger the first time?”

  “I worship the elven god known as Martel. He sometimes blesses me with visions of what will happen if I do not act.”

  “And what vision did your god impart upon you?”

  “I won’t say.”

  The Prince became more upset. “You won’t what?”

  Mestel stood as tall as his five-foot frame would allow. “My god’s relationship with me is not anyone else’s business. It is enough for you to know that this is how I found out your father was in danger.”

  The Prince lifted his right hand and no fewer than four crossbows were aimed at Mestel. Mestel stood firm and said nothing. Eventually the Prince realized his scare tactic was not going to work and said, “No, put your weapons down.”

  It seemed to Nero that the Prince would have killed Mestel at that moment if he did not have vital information he needed. Nero remembered the King being more patient and measured than the son who now sat on the throne. Perhaps the Prince had lived a leisurely childhood and been visited by Lidea one too many times.

  “So, what did you do when you discovered my father was in danger?” the Prince asked.

  “I had Austen teleport us inside the castle. We came through the large doors behind us just in time to stop Rafa, three other Sorcerers, and two Knights of the Order from assassinating your father. There is no doubt he would have been killed without our involvement. Neither of us killed your King.”

  “And yet you were present when my father was killed! Maybe you even did the deed yourself!”

  Mestel was calm. “We did not.”

  “My guards tell me you were in my parents’ room for quite some time before they arrived! A feat made possible by you attacking my guards and Austen using his wizardry powers to disable several of them. How do I know you didn’t kill my parents?”

  Mestel stood stone still for some time. Nero was fascinated by Mestel’s testimony, as he was answering many of the questions Nero had from last night. Nero smiled on the inside at the thought of Mestel and his righteousness taking the fall for his actions.

  Mestel eventually said, “There are two ways you know Austen and I didn’t kill your parents. First, your parents were killed by a knife. Your guards searched me and the room after they arrived and I’m guessing no dagger was found. Second, the sheets on your parents’ bed were covered in blood when your guards arrived. If I had just murdered the King, then the blood would not have had time to soak into the sheets. Now please believe me when I say that neither I nor Austen had anything to do with your parent’s untimely death. In fact, we would have prevented it if we could have.”

  Nero was disappointed when the Prince calmed down somewhat. “You raise some interesting points, elf. My last question to you is: why did you try to bypass the security checkpoints rather than telling the guards the King was in danger?”

  Rather than answer, Nero watched as Mestel looked around the room. His gaze settled on whatever he was looking for and he said, “I told the three guards outside our rooms that the King was in danger.” Mestel raised his arm and pointed at one guard in particular. “This one said he would check on the King, but he returned long before he could possibly have done so. If you put him under a truth spell I’m certain he will tell you he simply walked down the hallway, waited for a short time, and then walked back, not having checked on the King or even told anyone about the possible threat.”

  The Prince turned to the guard in question and said, “Is this true, soldier?”

  The soldier denied the accusation and acted like his honor was wounded, but even Nero could tell he was shamming. The Prince continued, “If the Sorcerers standing next to me find out that you are lying then you will be put to death. Would you like to change what you just said?”

  The soldier looked down and nodded his head. The Prince said, “Speak up, man!”

  The soldier said, “What the elf said is true.”

  The Prince turned to the Captain of the guards and said, “Take him to the dungeon. I will decide what to do with him later.” The Captain bowed his head and motioned for two of his men to carry out the order. The Prince turned back to Mestel and said, “I accept your explanation, Mestel. Thank you for saving my father from the Sorcerers assassination attempt.”

  Mestel nodded his head and said nothing more. The Prince turned his attention to Austen, but the questioning was brief, with Austen telling the same story as Mestel.

  Finally, the Prince turned his eye on Nero. “And you, sir. What is your place with these elves?”

  Nero had been lying his entire life. Fooling an ordinary person was not terribly difficult. Defeating a truth spell was somewhat more problematic, but not for a person of Nero’s skill. Not for a person who had been trained on how to do it.

  “I am a special Agent for the Crown of Armena. I serve the King of Armena, and I was sent to find this group of elves and help them in their current mission.”

  “And what mission is that?”

  Nero had managed to move the Prince off the topic of his father’s death. Now if he could deflect the issue completely. “I am not at liberty to say. You would have to ask Evisar if he wants to divulge our mission.”

  The Prince looked at Evisar expectantly. Evisar hemmed and hawed before finally speaking. “The Crown Prince of Armena was recently abducted and taken into the Underworld by the Krone. My brother and I were tasked with locating and returning him to Armena. Nero was sent by the Crown to help us with that task, but I’m afraid we have all failed in our mission thus far. We have been unable to free the Prince of Armena.”

  The King continued, “Up until a moon’s turn ago, we thought elves were mythical. I suppose if you are real, it is possible the banished demons that live in the Underworld are also real.”

  Evisar nodded. “They are, your Majesty.”

  The Prince shifted his questioning back to Nero. “What will you do now, Agent of the Crown? Will you continue to travel with these ot
her elves?”

  Nero was irritated that his first effort to distract the Prince had not succeeded. “These elves have been excellent companions. They have taught me quite a bit, which is saying something about their quality. Now that war is imminent between our peoples, my proper course of action is to return to the Armenien capital and request instructions.”

  Now Nero had to walk a fine line. He needed to turn the questioning away from himself, but he also needed the war between the elves and the humans to proceed as the Guildmaster intended.

  He continued talking with the Prince. “Unless you would like to cease hostilities between our peoples as your father promised he would do last night? Then I could continue to travel with these exceptional elves.”

  The Prince rose to his feet, fuming mad. “You dare tell me what my father promised you on the night of his murder! Either the Sorcerers or someone in your group murdered him! That is the only explanation.” Nero smiled to himself as the Prince went off topic once again. “As for the war between our peoples – it will move forward the same as before. My father came to me the night he learned about the elven attack on the logging town of Endwood. He was determined to bring the elves to their knees for what they had done, and I will do no less.”

  Evisar took a step forward and said, “My Prince, if you would allow …”

  “I am not your Prince, elf! Anyone else in your group who speaks without first having been spoken to, will die here and now.” It was clear Evisar was nearly as mad as the Prince, but he took a step back and remained silent.

  The Prince turned back to Nero for the third time. “I have one last question for you, Nero. Were you in any way responsible for my father’s death last night?”

  Damn! Nero had to give the Prince credit for his perseverance. Perhaps he would make a better ruler than he appeared. Nero looked the Prince in the eye and unflinchingly said, “No. I had nothing to do with your father’s death last night.”

  The Prince looked at the two Sorcerers to his right. The Sorcerers both nodded their heads, indicating Nero was telling the truth. The Prince sat down on the throne in a huff. He put his hand up to his chin in thought. The throne room was massive, and nearly filled to capacity; nevertheless, you could have heard a pin drop at that moment. The silence continued for a long time, while the Prince mulled over the situation.

  “I am not satisfied with the testimony I have heard here this morning. Until yesterday the Sorcerers had been entirely faithful to the Crown of Kentar since its founding a thousand years ago. Until yesterday no elf had been seen in the capital city for over three hundred years. Both of those pillars were shattered on the same day my father was killed. The inescapable conclusion is that one of these two groups assassinated my father, the King. Therefore, Evisar, your group will go back to your rooms and be questioned at length, one at a time. If any of you give trouble in any way, you will all be killed. Captain! Escort the prisoners back to their rooms.”

  The Captain took a step forward and said, “Yes, my Prince. Lieutenant Capstone.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  “Use every guard and Sorcerer present to escort the prisoners back to their rooms.”

  The guards came forward in pairs to forcibly escort each companion out of the throne room. In addition, encircling the companions were two rings of guards, with multiple Sorcerers placed around the edges.

  Nero had been able to defeat the Sorcerers’ truth spells when a single question was directed at him. However, he knew as surely as Venal hated the Krone, that he would never be able to stand up to the assault of questions he was sure to get if they interrogated each of the companions in turn. Lidea might be able to free him eventually, but he doubted it. And even if he could defeat the extended questioning he was sure to face, the Prince of Kentar would never let the companions go since he was so certain war was the only answer.

  Nero bowed his head in mock defeat as two guards moved forward to take him into custody. As the first one grabbed his arm, Nero lashed out with an elbow to the man’s windpipe. Nero heard a crunch and felt the windpipe give way. He took the sword right out of the man’s hand and ducked as the second guard swung his sword through the air over his head. Nero rose out of his crouch and impaled the second guard directly through the chest. He had no time to think as the magical energy of a Sorcerer’s spell closed in around him. As he fought off the spell, he was vaguely aware through sight and sound that the other companions had followed his lead and taken the attack to the enemy. Nero felt a crossbow bolt whiz by his ear and another pass through his tunic. He saw lightning fly out of Austen’s hands as he rushed a few steps to his right and impaled one of Valihorn’s guards through the back. Valihorn turned away from the dying guard just in time to get stabbed through the abdomen by his second guard. Nero cut down the second guard and picked Valihorn up with his free hand.

  He forced the young wizard toward the right-hand door that exited the throne room and led to the hallway, relative safety, and their weapons. As he moved slowly along he yelled out into the chaos. “Follow me!”

  Nero continued toward the right, knowing he was drawing closer to the double envelopment of soldiers and Sorcerers that had them pinned, not having a clue as to how he was going to get past them. Just as he was about to cross swords with the closest trooper, two things happened: first, perfect replicas of the wizard Austen appeared throughout the room. The duplicates of the wizard were so dense, Nero could not really see what was in front of him. He plowed into the replica next to him and realized they were all illusions. Second, Valihorn spoke an arcane word, and a cone of pure fire spewed out of his fingertips.

  The soldiers were obviously confused by all of the illusions. Those who were brave enough to stand their ground instinctively moved out of the way of the intense heat. Nero swung his sword as the crowd parted before him. He felt steel slash into his arms and clothes; hands grabbed at his body as he continually pushed toward the door on his right. Chaos reigned as the Prince and Captain shouted orders, the Lieutenant and soldiers yelled at each other, and the nobles lining the edge of the throne room screamed for their lives.

  In the confusion, Nero made it to the side door while propping Valihorn up. He pulled open the door and poked his sword around the corner to the right. He was satisfied to feel his sword pierce a soldier’s flesh. Then he walked through the door, propelled by the weight of his companions pressing on him from behind. As he went through the door he looked to his left and saw two guards running toward them. Nero reacted by letting go of Valihorn and somersaulting ahead of the oncoming guards. He came up to his knees in time to impale one of the guards through the stomach. He turned his attention to the second guard in time to see Evisar nearly take his head off at the neck.

  Nero looked back and watched the rest of his friends come through the door. Nearly all of them were moderately wounded in some way or another, but none of them mortally. Mestel limped as he picked Valihorn up off the ground. Evisar had taken a quarrel in the shoulder as well as the side. Xander and Evisar guarded the door as soldiers piled out into the hallway. Soldier after soldier pressed his way through the doorway, only to be stabbed or slashed by Xander and Evisar.

  The sheer weight of the soldiers would eventually overpower the two elves. Austen limped over and stood behind the pair of elves.

  “Move behind me, now!”

  Without waiting to see what Xander and Evisar would do, the wizard began casting a spell. The elves each made one more slash at the guard directly in front of them and took a few steps back, their swords still extended in front of them. Suddenly, a wall of force appeared directly above where the elves had been only a moment before and crashed down to the floor. Nero was stunned by the sudden appearance of the shield, but given the rate at which soldiers were pouring through the doorway and their proximity to the companions, Austen had not really had a choice. In fact, Xander lingered a little too long, and his outstretched sword was cut neatly in half by the power of the shield.

  Th
e companions turned toward each other and finally had a moment to think. Austen said, “The Wall of Force will not hold them for long. Eventually, they will bring up a Sorcerer to neutralize it.”

  Knowing they didn’t have much time, Nero seized the initiative and said, “Follow me. I know where our weapons are.” He turned to leave as though the discussion were over.

  Evisar said, “How in the name of Invictus could you possibly know that?”

  Rather than answer, Nero pointed down the hallway leading toward the King’s residence and broke out into a run. The other companions followed as best they could. Another guard appeared from around the corner up ahead, but Nero dispatched him quickly. After ten more steps, Nero stopped and opened the door to his right. Inside the room he could see all of their weapons haphazardly stacked in the corner. Nero threw down the inferior Kentarian sword in his hand and rushed into the room. He grabbed all of his gear and was only too happy to have his own dagger and rapier once again.

  The rest of the companions hobbled into the room and grabbed their respective equipment. Austen was the last one into the room, and he closed the door behind him. He grabbed his spell book and meager belongings.

  “If everyone will gather around – I should be able to teleport all of us to relative safety.”

  The companions did as they were asked. Xander said, “In a few moments, anyplace else will be preferable to here.”

  The ex-Sorcerer spoke three arcane words and then it was over. Nero felt the magical energies of the spell surround him, then felt his body come apart and become one with the cosmos.

  Chapter 118: Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow

  Maybe it was the blink of an eye, maybe it was an eternity – either way, Mestel felt himself vanish and then reappear on an open plain with blue skies overhead. He looked around to see if anyone was missing and found all to be well. Everyone was injured in some way, but they would live.