“They’d be . . .” Farrell opened his eyes wider.
“Exactly. They’d be babies in adult bodies, or burned-out men and women one step from the grave.”
By the Six! He’d approached it from the wrong perspective. “A large mass of feeble humans barely able to swing a sword.”
“Still think finding the spell to undo them is worthless?”
“Yes.” He smiled that he didn’t give his grandfather the answer he expected. “You don’t need a new spell for that.”
Kel tilted his head to the right. “Explain.”
“Don’t attack it with a new spell, just unravel the old one.”
“Have you done this before?”
“You know I have. You were . . . not there.” Farrell shook his head and noted the confused look on Kel’s face. “In the room where I met your image, I turned off the spell that guarded the Eye and the Arm.”
“Ah, but your suggestion presumes the magic used to create the Chamdon is active.”
“Isn’t it?” How else could it work? “If I increase my strength or enhance my eyesight, they only work so long as I feed them power. Isn’t this the same?”
“Think it through and you’ll see it is not. A Chamdon’s strength and power comes from burning its life energy.”
“Agreed, but the body isn’t made to do that, so the spell needs to be active.”
Kel didn’t answer immediately, and Farrell used the silence to consider the enormity of what Pfellcuk tried to do. If he found a way to undo that spell, it would put an end to Meglar’s threat. Or much of it, at least.
“You may be correct,” Kel said. “Pfellcuk has been unable to find the right combination to unravel the magic. If, as you suggest, our premise is wrong and the spell is still active, that means we need a new approach.”
“Or you could seek out the end of the spell and have your magic dissolve it.”
Kel smiled. “That is a talent I do not possess, nor anyone else I know.”
“Assuming I’m right, I’m sure I can teach you or Pfellcuk.”
“The confidence of youth.” Kel put his hands on his legs and pushed himself to his feet. “We can discuss this with Pfellcuk tomorrow.”
“What about Gorfin?”
“We’ll talk to him tomorrow as well. Between the two of us, we can talk him off his chariot before he leads an all-out assault on one of our strongest allies.”
Farrell woke with a start and immediately summoned his staff. The momentary disorientation passed, and he searched for what had roused him from his sleep.
“I’m sorry to wake you, little one, but you need to get up.”
“Nerti!” He relaxed enough for his heart rate to slow. The reprieve didn’t last more than a second before it shot back up. She’d never woken him before. “What’s wrong?”
“Take a deep breath and calm yourself. You need to focus to be able to help.” Beneath the calming effect of her voice, Farrell heard the concern. “Flemin and I felt something a moment ago. I did not recognize it, but my son did.”
“The last time I felt something like this, Kel and I were riding into Krendrew’s castle in Dragash,” Flemin said.
Farrell scanned as much of the city as he could but couldn’t find a trace of dark magic. “Did you wake Kel?”
“No,” Flemin said. “He needs to rest tonight and whatever it was, it is gone now.”
“I didn’t find anything, either.” Farrell swung his legs over the side of the bed and got up. Despite Flemin’s assertion that whatever it was had left, it was too coincidental. “Were you able to determine anything more? Where it happened? Who did it? Anything?”
“Not with any precision,” Flemin said. “It was gone before we could investigate, but it was inside the city.”
“I can find the source.” He shivered when a cool breeze from the open window played across his naked body.
“I knew you could,” Nerti said.
He found his pants at the end of the bed and retrieved the Eye from his endless pocket. “Do you both want to see what it shows me?”
“I am still connected to you,” Nerti said. “And will share it with my son.”
Farrell didn’t respond. Instead he focused his attention on the Eye and asked it to show him the source of the dark magic. For several minutes he refined his request until he found what they were looking for.
After he returned the blue gem to his pocket, Farrell walked to the window and stared outside. He rubbed his temples as he considered what he had seen.
“Do you think we should wake Kel, or is he that tired?”
“Unless you feel the danger is imminent, I suggest we wait until morning,” Flemin said. “Though he is especially good at concealing his state from others, linked as we are, he can’t fool me. He requires a good night’s rest to maintain his strength.”
Farrell weighed the options. Dealing with it now would give them the added element of surprise by acting in the middle of the night. He decided they didn’t need the extra advantage, especially if Kel was at risk. “We can wait until morning. My sense is they are waiting to speak to the king before they act. I will send word that I have detected a possible threat to Othasus and need to speak to the king as soon as possible. That will give Kel a chance to wake up, eat, and hear what the Eye showed us.”
“I suggest you go back to sleep, little one,” Nerti said. “You need your energy as well.”
He thought about reminding her that she was the one who woke him, but he yawned and didn’t want to argue. “I will, after I send one of the guards to deliver the message to the king.”
“You warned him, didn’t you?” Gorfin shouted before Farrell could speak.
Greigel and the other guards tried to move in front of Farrell and Nerti, but he held them back with a gesture. “I don’t know who or what you’re speaking of.”
He lied. When Kel woke, he felt it best if he and Pfellcuk left and returned to Velchuck’s ancestral home. Flemin carried both until they reached a place Pfellcuk could open a Door.
“Don’t play games with me!” Gorfin glanced at his wizards and gained more confidence. “Last night I told you we had plans to contain Pfellcuk. This morning he and Kel rode out of the city on their unicorn.”
He’d hoped to speak to the king first, but the court wizards had arrived before him. They’d obviously been watching Pfellcuk. “Have a care, Your Majesty. Prince Flemin does not belong to Kel. Like Queen Nerti, he is an ally in this war, not a servant.”
As Farrell had hoped, his admonishment threw Gorfin off his angry pedestal. “My apologies, Queen Nerti. I didn’t mean to offend you or your son.”
“You would do well to remember we are not horses with horns,” Nerti said. Her anger was real, and Farrell planned to use it to their advantage.
“Your Majesty, as my message stated, I have information I need to pass along. It is for your ears only.” He made a point of staring at the wizards. “If you do not wish to hear it, we can leave.”
“He lies, Your Majesty,” said a wizard behind the king. Her position hid her so that Farrell couldn’t get a clear read on her power. “He only seeks to get you away from us so he can do you harm.”
“How dare you insult—” Greigel stepped forward, but again Farrell held him back.
“I’ll handle it.” Farrell stepped forward into the well of the room. “You have insulted me and by extension Trellham. I demand you come forward and face me that I can prove you the liar!”
Again he had deflected Gorfin from his plan. The wizard behind him kept her place, but the others around her moved away. The king’s guards inched closer, and Farrell saw the indecision in Gorfin’s face.
“King Gorfin, either you direct the coward behind you to come forward and face me or I will take it as an act of war on Trellham and all the dwarf nations.”
“Farrell . . . King Farrell.” Gorfin held up his hands. “Othasus wishes no ill will with you or Trellham.”
“Then have she who has insu
lted me and sullied the honor of all dwarves step forward and prove her claim in battle.” He wasn’t sure how far to press it, but the wizard who had spoken was one of his targets.
To his right he saw Othella and her son, Barett, move toward the king. Of the king’s wizards, Barett was the strongest. He wasn’t one of the traitors. But if Farrell understood what the Eye had shown him, Barett was unwittingly caught up in the traitors’ plans.
Farrell slammed his staff onto the stone and a powerful shield emerged. The king and the offending wizard were inside, as were Nerti, his guards, and Rojas. Shields flared to life as the court wizards on the outside prepared to attack.
“I’d stand down if I were you,” Kel said. Pfellcuk stood next to him, and both radiated power.
Othella looked to the wizard inside Farrell’s shield. “I saw you ride off.”
“Though you are a talented wizard, Granddaughter, your stealth skills need much work.” Pfellcuk sounded nothing like the bumbling old wizard he’d portrayed the day before. “You are also quite foolish, and you will drag your son down with you into this lunacy you have signed on to.”
Farrell used the distraction to enact the next step in their plan. Time slowed as he surrounded the king in a bubble of energy and pulled Gorfin away from the wizard who sought to use him as a shield. When he grasped the king by his upper arms, time resumed.
“You are not my prisoner, Gorfin, but she is who I came to warn you about.” He nodded toward the now-exposed wizard. “Nerti and Flemin detected someone using dark magic in the city. We traced it to her and Othella. Our information is that Othella believes she is acting on your behalf. Despite her better judgment, she agreed to help your chief wizard.”
“He lies!” the wizard yelled. Her shields bristled, and she scanned the dome Farrell had created around them. “He is the danger, not I!”
“How can you know this?” Gorfin asked.
“Kel possesses the Eye of Honorus. Nothing that happens or has happened in the past can hide from the Sky Father’s Gift to the world.” They’d decided he should lie about who possessed the Eye in case Meglar had someone watching.
“The Eye of Honorus?” Gorfin said. “That’s a myth.”
“It is very real, Gorfin,” Kel said. “I’ve used it on behalf of the Six for three thousand years. I give you my word, what Farrell said is the truth.”
Gorfin searched the room, his gaze falling on everyone involved. Finally he settled on Nerti. “Do you say this is true as well, Your Majesty?”
“Though it angers me you would doubt the word of King Farrell or Kel, I will answer you nevertheless. All that they have told you is true. Flemin and I saw what the Eye revealed. It was that danger we came to warn you of.”
Farrell felt Kel’s touch and stepped forward, drawing the end of his dome with him. A new shield enveloped Gorfin and the others. That left only Farrell and Othasus’s chief wizard inside his barrier.
“Have you transferred their marker?” he asked Kel.
“It took longer than we anticipated, but we did.” Kel’s mental voice bubbled with glee. “Meglar will have to find a way to be angry with himself when this is over.”
Farrell ignored his grandfather gloating at his cleverness and prepared to fight.
“Granddaughter,” Pfellcuk said. “You have been tricked. Grand Master Ufila has made a pact with Meglar to deliver Othasus to Zargon—with her as its queen, of course. It saddens me you thought I would use foul magic for any purpose. But I am more troubled you believed the king would ever sanction the use of dark magic. That should have been all the warning you needed to oppose Ufila with all that you are.”
Ufila turned toward the other wizards. “Othella, Barett, don’t listen to him. The traitor lies. You saw him doing just what he said he would never do. How can you deny what you witnessed for yourself?”
Othella and the others ignored Ufila and kept their attention on Kel and the king.
“Othella, listen to me!” Ufila’s voice rose several octaves. “You know I’m telling the truth!”
“They can’t hear you.” Farrell waited for her to look his way. “I’ve made the dome soundproof—well, proof against them hearing your voice.”
He felt her probe the dome and when she finished, she smiled. “You’re as much a fool as that idiot Pfellcuk. Who do you think supplied him with the basics to the Chamdon spell? Did you think he figured it out for himself?”
“Why do you think he wanted it?” He raised an eyebrow. “Did you ever think you played into his hands and not the other way around?”
She laughed. “Oh, you are stupid. That tired old wizard will never be able to undo King Meglar’s spell, especially not with the partial spell I provided him.”
“You’re wrong, but you won’t live long enough to realize it.”
She snorted and tapped her staff hard on the floor. “Perhaps. But I thank you for helping in destroying one of His Majesty’s enemies.”
Farrell rested the end of his staff on the floor and stared at her as she waited. The silence continued for several heartbeats. Ufila grew more anxious and shifted her gaze around the ceiling.
“If you’re waiting for Meglar’s attack to level the city, Kel diverted that. I hope you didn’t give Meglar anyone you cared about as a hostage.”
“What?” she asked frantically. “You lie! Not even Kel could divert King Meglar’s attack.”
“So you say, but I have it on good authority, the giant ball of energy you called for just sailed overhead. It crossed the Delmun Ocean and destroyed most of Kentrish.” The fear on her face was proof she believed him. “Kel used the Eye to find your marker and transferred it to one of his hidden inside Kentrish. And because it’s Meglar’s energy, it will sail right through Kentrish’s shields.”
He raised his fingers in an arch and brought them down. At the end he flared his fingers out. “Boom!” She flinched when he yelled.
“That’s . . . that’s—”
“Ingenious, I know.” Despite his flippant attitude, Farrell strengthened his shield in anticipation of an attack. “I wish I could claim credit for the idea, but it was Pfellcuk’s. Not bad for a doddering old fool, wouldn’t you say?”
Ufila glanced in Pfellcuk’s direction. Outside the dome, Kel and Pfellcuk kept the king safeguarded. At the other end of the room, Othella and the others watched. No one tried to breach Farrell’s shield. When she focused on the other court wizards, they avoided her gaze, all except Othella. Farrell speculated that if he hadn’t kept her out, she would have killed Ufila already.
“Stand down, Ufila,” he said. “It’s over.”
She stared at him with a vacant expression. After a few seconds, she shook her head. “Gone,” she whispered.
He wasn’t sure if she meant her plans or family members. Meglar always required someone of value before he gave a wizard such powerful magic. And for nothing. Meglar would never have allowed Ufila to rule a kingdom in his name. Once she served her purpose, he’d have killed her to eliminate a potential rival.
The attack came without warning, but Farrell had been prepared. Once reality set in and she knew her loved ones were gone, Ufila snapped. The attack was stronger than he expected but unfocused. He tossed the energy back at her, and she staggered for a moment. When she recovered, she launched another furious strike at him but left herself open. Farrell used the mistake to end the fight.
His carefully timed attack penetrated a weak spot in her shield. Ufila staggered as she ran toward him. She lost control of her spell, and the feedback left her disoriented. Farrell fired a powerful ball of energy that consumed her when it struck. In her place, only a small pile of ashes remained.
The room was still and quiet when he released the outer shield. He locked eyes with Kel and nodded because he had no words.
“Another fool Meglar preyed upon with promises he never intended to keep.” Kel motioned to the king to head toward the door. “Let’s sort all this out before Farrell and I need to leave.”<
br />
The betrayal of his chief wizard shook Gorfin’s faith in his wizards. Nerti agreed to truth-test everyone to calm his fears. Farrell had already used the Eye to determine who they could trust, but Nerti’s validation carried more weight with the king.
Although Othella hadn’t knowingly betrayed Gorfin, he banished her for using dark magic. She accepted her fate and agreed to retire to the family estate.
Her departure coupled with Ufila’s death left Othasus without a chief wizard. Gorfin tried to convince Pfellcuk to accept the post, but he declined in favor of his grandson.
“A new age is dawning on Nendor,” Pfellcuk told the king. “Old wizards such as Kel and myself are handing over the stewardship of the world to the next generation. Barett is new to his power and will serve Othasus for centuries.”
No longer under scrutiny, Pfellcuk opened a Door to his home and led them to his workshop. Farrell wished he could capture the image to show his masters. Disorganized didn’t describe what Farrell saw. Used dishes and cups on ever surface, and clothes strewn over chairs; it appeared Pfellcuk lived in this room. Compared to this, Farrell’s workshop was neat and tidy. Not that someone else’s mess excused his.
Nerti, Flemin, and Rojas asked to go outside. After Pfellcuk obliged them, he and Kel pored over a pair of books with food-stained pages.
While the two older men conferred, Farrell and his guards stood to the side with Barett. As Pfellcuk had suggested, Farrell connected with Barett right away—once he got over his hero-worship phase.
“You took a big risk entering the throne room alone,” Barett said. “Ufila planned for all of us to attack you.”
“I wasn’t in danger. Kel and Pfellcuk arrived with me, only they were hidden.” He watched Barett process the news. “They doubled back almost immediately after they left Thyian. Flemin had them in the city before Gorfin sent his summons.”
“Still. Locking yourself inside the sphere could have ended badly for you. Ufila was a skilled spellcaster, and this is her arena. If she had kept her wits, she would have been a formidable opponent.”
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