“Tomorrow,” I answered, “As soon as Nicholas is on his way and out of our hair.”
Dorian’s hands were clenching and unclenching unconsciously, a sign of his agitation. “It isn’t right to let the man go without a warning.”
“I’ve already saved his kingdom and his life, on two separate occasions. We send men to protect his people twice yearly. I’ll be damned if I let you saddle me with more guilt!” I said, raising my voice harshly. I hadn’t realized how tightly wound the tension inside me had become. Taking a deep breath, I tried to calm down before continuing, “Forgive me Dorian, you deserve better than that. We disagree, but you’ll have to accept my decision. Nicholas would refuse to leave if I tell him, and I already have enough people here to protect without adding a head of state.”
“What will you tell James,” Dorian asked calmly, “and when?”
“I will tell him everything, as soon as I can see him privately. Hopefully that will be in just an hour or two, before I return here with King Nicholas,” I answered.
“Very well, I’ll return to getting the men ready for his visit,” said Dorian stiffly. I could tell he was still angry with me. “If I may take my leave?” he added formally.
That was a sure sign I had upset him. He’d just have to deal with it though. “You’re excused,” I told him. The words left a cold feeling in the pit of my stomach.
* * *
Later, in Albamarl I found Adam, who was now the chamberlain for King James. Given my familiarity with the various staff, and the allowances that James had made for me over the years, I could have easily gotten in to see him without seeing Adam for a formal audience, but then a formal audience wasn’t what I needed. Adam was well aware of that fact too, and his eyebrow twitched, hinting at well-disguised curiosity. “How may I assist you, Your Excellency?”
I didn’t bother to hide my smirk. “I’m sure you’re aware that I’m here to transport the King of Gododdin and his entourage to Cameron. What I need to know is whether James is alone at the moment. I need to see him privately before you announce me.”
Adam gave a polite bow. “I’m sure you have your reasons. I will check and return presently.” As he left I found myself missing the days when my rank and station had been less certain. Adam had been much cheekier then. These days he was so respectful it was hardly any fun.
A good ten minutes later he returned. “If you will follow me,” he said, and proceeded to lead me toward one of the inner palace courtyards. Once there, he left me at a bench near a bush that was furiously in bloom. I was at a loss to remember the name of it, but I didn’t have long to wonder. Within a moment I sensed James approaching along the small garden path.
He smiled as he walked into view. “You must have something serious to talk about. It’s been a while since you wanted an impromptu and private meeting.”
I responded with a rather tense smile, “I would that I had different news James. I hope Adam wasn’t forced to give any strange excuses to pardon your sudden leave.”
“You picked a lucky moment,” James chuckled, “I was alone when Adam found me. So what do you want to inform me of?”
There wasn’t much point in beating around the bush, so I got right to the point, “The gods have crossed into our world.”
The King of Lothion’s face grew a shade paler, “Gods? Which gods?”
“All of the remaining shining gods, as well as the dark god, Mal’goroth,” I said with little enthusiasm.
His face grew puzzled, “Are they working together?”
I shook my head, “I am unsure, but I believe the three shining gods are. Mal’goroth may have simply taken advantage of the opportunity when they managed to create a path to our world.”
“Any idea what their purpose may be, vengeance, rescue, or war with each other?”
“I truly have no way of knowing yet, nor do I know when to expect them. All I know with any degree of certainty is that we have at least a week before anything happens,” I responded.
“Another of Penelope’s visions?”
I nodded, “I don’t intend to alarm Nicholas, for I fear he will insist on staying if I do. I’d rather he return home quietly. I think he’ll be safer there.”
James frowned. “That’s a large gamble you’re making on his behalf, and without giving him any choice in the matter.”
I met his eyes evenly. “Do you disagree?”
“No, you’re probably right. In fact, faced with a problem of this size, I find myself wondering if there’s anything any of us can do,” he admitted.
I put my hand on his shoulder. “Survive. These are powers beyond any of us, but you can survive. If they come here, they must not find you. There is nothing you can do to stop them, but so long as you survive to rally our people, we can rebuild.”
“It doesn’t feel right, Mordecai, that I should hide while my people face the wrath of the gods. Is that what a true king should do?” His face registered an honest doubt that I had never seen on Edward’s face while he was king.
My chest felt tight, seeing my friend’s father, always so sure in the past, wavering with uncertainty. I answered with a certainty that I myself did not truly feel, “You know the answer to that. The stories tell of kings and their glories, but the truth is darker. A king makes choices no man should bear and must constantly question his own motives. In this you must trust me, James, this nation needs you. Do not fault yourself for hiding from a foe you cannot possibly face. Folly is not bravery.”
“Your logic only holds true if we assume that you find victory against not one, but four deities,” he observed.
“It may not come to that,” I replied. “You remember where the entrance is?” I was referring to the hidden bolt hole we had created for the King of Lothion some five years past. Using enchantments, similar to the ones that hid Moira’s stone and the enchanting room in the Illeniel house, I had crafted a hidden room within the palace. With just a moment’s warning James could hide himself within, it and even the gods would be unable to find him.
“Of course,” he replied a bit snappishly, “I’m not in my dotage yet.”
“That secret is but one of many. I have not been idle these seven years, and the World Road has not been my only work. We still have hope, though I cannot guarantee safety to any but a few, and you are one of them.”
“What of my family? What of Genevieve and my children?” he asked suddenly.
“Keep them close at hand until this is over, so that they can hide with you,” I told him simply, though I feared his next question.
“What of Marcus?”
My stomach felt as though it held a lead weight, but I kept my features calm. “He lives his own life, James. If it helps any, he told me that he plans to move to Agraden with his wife. If his preparations are still on schedule, he may have already left the city. He may be safer than any of us,” I told him. Except that he is leaving to die in another city, I reminded myself. It tore at my heart to keep the knowledge from James, but I had promised Marc. How many secrets can one heart hold, before it destroys itself?
Chapter 13
I brought King Nicholas and his bodyguard, Sir Barnabas, to Castle Cameron after first transporting the rest of his entourage. It was actually a relief to be done with the good-byes. The parting of ways between the two kings had taken an exorbitant amount of time. As usual the excessive and lengthy ceremonies reminded me of one of the main reasons I had set James in place as king, rather than take the throne for myself; aside from the fact that I thought he was the best man for the job.
“It should be fascinating seeing the home of the great wizard of Lothion,” commented King Nicholas as we stepped away from the teleportation circle. For a moment I suspected him of sarcasm, but after a second’s pause, I realized he was speaking in sincerity. He must have seen the pensive look on my face though, for he followed his remark with a preemptive apology, “Please, do not look for hidden meanings in my words. I feel terrible for my foolish words at the feast. Yet again I
am in debt to you and your valiant wife.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle at his words, “She really is something isn’t she?”
He smiled, “I have never met her equal.”
I laughed, “You may well be correct, but then you’ve never seen our Queen Genevieve when she gets really cross either.”
“If all of the women of Lothion are as frightful in battle, your nation will never need fear another invader,” he added.
My lady wife, the Countess di’Cameron, made her appearance at that moment, greeting us as we stepped out of the building that housed my teleportation circles. “You honor us with your presence, Your Majesty,” she said with a formal curtsey.
“Raise your head Countess!” he responded immediately, while stepping forward to take her hand and lift her. He held onto her hand long enough to lean forward and kiss the back of it. Meanwhile, Sir Barnabas went to one knee beside him, facing her.
“I owe you my life Countess,” said Nicholas. “It is I who should be showing deference.”
I could tell Penny was profoundly uncomfortable receiving such attention from a king, but she covered her surprise well. “Please, Your Majesty, you do me too much honor. Call me Penelope; there is no need to address me with titles here.”
“Then you too must address me as Nicholas, for otherwise I will feel ill at ease with your hospitality,” he answered. I noted he still held her hand. He was perhaps a bit too forward with Penny for my comfort.
She withdrew her hand carefully, without making a show of it, though to my eyes it seemed that the King of Gododdin let his fingers linger too long upon hers. Surely the man isn’t trying to woo my wife right in front of me? I supposed I shouldn’t underestimate the boldness of royalty. If the man were a womanizer, he might be used to husbands turning a blind eye to his indiscretions. Perhaps I was overthinking it though… it was impossible to guess.
“I will gladly call you thus, Nicholas, but only if you tell me what mention you just made of invaders in Lothion, but a moment past,” Penny replied.
With that the conversation returned to lighter banter and I found myself admiring Penny’s skillful handling of the overly friendly king. My thoughts were interrupted before we reached the entrance to the main keep. A man in grey wool stood before the door. His stance was unremarkable, but his positioning was not, for he blocked our path. Every man, woman and child in the keep knew better than to interrupt me with our royal visitor, yet this man… a stranger I noted quickly, stood plainly in our way.
We stopped and the two guards flanking us moved forward to stand between us and the bold outsider. At the same time the two door guards came toward us and took positions behind the man, warily encircling him. Dorian had been very thorough in his security preparations. I also noted that two of the four guards were actually Knights of Stone, Sir Daniel and Sir Jeffery.
The stranger was the first to speak, throwing back his hood and staring at us with wild eyes. “I come bearing a warning for the dark wizard, Mordecai Illeniel.”
I had already extended my shield to cover Penelope and King Nicholas when the latter spoke in return, “Cheeky devil! How dare you address the rightful lord of this place in such a tone?!”
It was rather amusing, considering I had the King of Gododdin addressing the challenger as though he were my chamberlain. Setting my hand upon his arm I spoke quickly, “Please, Nicholas let me deal with this.”
He nodded quickly, “Very well, this is your house,” and then stepped back.
“You do well to listen to your master, puppet-king of Gododdin,” the stranger taunted him. Nicholas’ face turned a new shade of red, while Sir Barnabas surged forward, intent on punishing the man for the affront to his king. I kept the boundary of my shield fixed, and he fell back when he struck it, surprised at finding an invisible wall in front of him.
“Offend my guests again, and your god will need to send a new messenger,” I said to the stranger, while ignoring Barnabas as he rose from where he had fallen.
The messenger smirked before replying, “What makes you think I need messengers, Mordecai?”
The words, combined with a flare of power around the man, signaled his complete possession by whichever of the gods he served. I nodded to Sir Daniel, and he and Sir Jeffery moved with lightning speed and precision. Their swords came out more quickly than eyes could follow, and I saw little more than a flash of light from the enchanted steel before the stranger’s body fell apart in a shocking display of violence. His head tumbled away in one direction, while his torso and two dismembered legs collapsed where he had been standing. Blood was everywhere.
The suddenness of his death appeared to unnerve even the already enraged Sir Barnabas, but his eyes grew wider still, when the disembodied head’s eyes focused on me again and words issued from its lips, “That was rather rude.” The eyes then moved to gaze at King Nicholas, “Perhaps you see now why I referred to him as the ‘dark’ wizard.”
I glared at the impudent face, “Finish your message before we discover whether you can function with nothing more than ash to carry out your will.” I illustrated my point by waving a hand at the rest of the now dismembered body while softly vocalizing, “Pyrren.” Flames rapidly consumed the flesh in a flash of intense heat that left nothing behind but a foul smoke and white ash.
“It matters not to me what you do with this vessel. As you are aware, we no longer need your kind to serve as our conduits here. This is merely a courtesy call,” the bodiless head told me.
“You haven’t the faintest idea what courtesy is. For your kind, it is nothing more than another empty word to be used in manipulating your cattle. You’ll also have to pardon me, for since you didn’t bother introducing yourself, I have not the faintest idea which of the remaining petty gods you are,” I responded acridly.
The eyes narrowed as the still animated head stared upward at me. “Mellicenth was right; there is no bargaining with you. I am Karenth, called the Just, and I am here to offer you one chance: release Celior, and we will ignore your past insults. Otherwise, we will wipe the earth clean of you and all your kith and kin. Nothing will remain when we are done, and not one soul will be left that remembers your name, even if we must purge all of Lothion to accomplish the task.”
I laughed, “You are the worst beggar I have ever met. You’re desperate or you’d never deign to make such an offer. I will be happy to show you my brand of courtesy if you decide to come here personally and make good upon your threat. You would make an excellent addition to my collection, Karenth.” I was goading him deliberately, for I couldn’t afford to show any weakness. The only thing that might give them pause was the fear that I might be able to do the same to them that I had done to Celior.
Rage lit his eyes. “I will not come alone. I do not understand how you defeated my brother, but I will not make his mistake. When we come, there will be no place for you to hide and no hope for anything but a slow death… after you have watched us torture your worthless spawn.”
In my younger days such a threat might have overwhelmed my better sense, but I knew the game Karenth was playing. I could also tell he had not the faintest clue about the subtleties of the human mind. I paused for a moment before answering thoughtfully, “You may have a point, but I am not yet ready to concede. I will consider your offer. How long will you give me to think before you make good upon your threat?”
Now it was Karenth’s turn to pause. Clearly he had not expected such a rational response from me. A few seconds passed, and then the head’s mouth opened, “I will give you two weeks. Be prepared to answer us, or suffer the consequences fourteen days hence.”
I smiled. “Excellent, I’ll look forward to seeing you then. Now if you will excuse me I need to tidy up a bit.” With another word and a gesture, I incinerated the head, just as I had the rest of the body. With my magesight I could see a flash as the energy that represented Karenth dissipated, and then we were alone.
Looking around, I noticed everyone’s eyes
were on me; in particular, King Nicholas seemed both shocked and appalled by my actions. “Was that truly Karenth?” he asked.
“We only have his word on it, but it was one of them,” I answered. “Most likely he was telling the truth.” I wondered how Nicholas would react to the knowledge, that the man who had just insulted him was actually the god that he had worshipped for most of his life… and a very desperate and angry god at that.
Dorian appeared then, his nose wrinkling in disgust at the lingering smell of burnt flesh. “What happened?”
Sir Jeffery gently escorted Nicholas and Sir Barnabas into the main hall, while I stayed behind to describe to my friend, what had occurred. As quickly as things had happened, it still took several minutes to explain it all to him. When I had finished, Dorian looked at me questioningly, “Why did you tell him you would consider it?” He knew very well I had no intention of attempting to barter with the gods.
“Time,” I answered. “It’s a lot easier to plan for something when you know ‘when’ as well as ‘where’. Now I have the answer to both of those questions, whereas before I couldn’t be sure of either.”
Dorian rubbed his freshly shaved cheek, “Only you would think to take advantage of an angry god. Do you think they intend to make good on their threat?”
“Of course,” I said, “the real question is, why now? They’ve had seven years to plot their revenge but done nothing. Now they appear suddenly and seem to be acting hastily. If they truly cared to punish me for Celior’s imprisonment, they would have done something long before now. That they didn’t, tells me that they are more afraid of me than they care about their lost brother.”
“Then what forced their hand?”
I was worried that I might already know the answer. “I think there’s someone they fear more than me.”
* * *
The dinner and other festivities were a bit more somber than Penny had planned, mostly because of our unfortunate encounter with Karenth. Nicholas seemed deep in thought, responding to most questions with short answers and barely laughing at my occasional jokes. We wound up calling it a night a bit earlier than anticipated, much to everyone’s relief I think.
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