by Zack Finley
Twenty mages orchestrated the entire assassination plot. We now had nine in custody. One of the missing 11 had 'ported back to brief the chief earlier today before the king went missing. The black geas guarded the location and details about the chief. The mages were afraid to notify him that the king was missing. The believed there was still time to find the king and complete their mission. They thought a loyalist group, possibly including one mage, had initiated a rescue operation from within the keep.
We were lucky to learn this much as unconscious minds were slippery to question. Once these villains were conscious, we felt Inoa would be able to glean more detailed information from them.
The other 10 mages had set out to search the whole keep to find the king. They knew their main hope was to have him back in custody quickly, to avoid sending bad news back to headquarters. They were very worried about what the chief was going to say if that became necessary. Apparently, the chief did not respond well to failure.
We manacled the five men together and I 'ported them to Tobron's location. I briefed him on Arbos being the ringleader and that he reported to a mysterious chief.
Not wanting to leave Argon for long, I was back in a flash.
Argon had searched the inner sanctum for clues to the conspiracy. She found several unusual magical artifacts she tucked away in her pack for later study, but nothing that got us closer to either the chief or his location.
She had retrieved the building plans the mages were looking at when we broke in and handed them to me as I arrived. I scanned the plans, which confirmed the layout I surmised. I located the ballroom in the southwest corner of the keep where the secret police were bringing everyone. We noticed a group was already there and the secret police we hadn't met had spread out in that direction.
We suspected the other mages were conducting their own hunt.
We sprinted toward the ballroom, hoping to prevent a massacre. I stunned the stragglers as we sped down the hallway. I plugged the main corridor with stone at key locations to make it tougher for those conducting the searches to reach the ballroom. We were no longer in stealth mode.
Argon used her air magic to throw gale force winds ahead of us, knocking down secret police and victims alike. As we sped by, I conjured stone walls to keep them from interfering in the fight to come, saving our mind magic against future need.
As I crashed through the doors into the ballroom, a blast of fire magic slammed me against the wall behind me. The blast singed me, but my wards held, barely. I mentally kicked myself for going in through the door.
Argon didn't make my mistake, banishing a section of wall and targeting the mage who shot me with a series of lava bullets to the head. By the time, the second mage turned to target her, I paralyzed, then stunned, and cuffed him. The first mage needed no cuffs.
The secret police in the crowd at first surged towards us, but when the second mage went down, they threw their hands up and surrendered.
I made them kneel in a group near the center of the room with their hands on their heads. I asked members of the king's guard to step forward. Uncertainty about whether they would be harmed made them hesitate until I began pointing to former guardsmen and motioning them forward.
My scan showed most were good men and none were murderers. I directed them to disarm their former secret police allies and give the arms to anyone else willing to help.
Argon explained the head of the secret police had orchestrated the assassination and murdered many innocents in an attempted coup. Shame washed over the secret police and anger began to build in the others. I told them the king was in bad shape, but he was now in the hands of healers.
The ballroom was in the southwest corner of the keep. I cut a large door through the western wall of the keep and told the king's guard to get the civilians to safety. The wards preventing tampering with the wall were now weak, and I had little trouble banishing a section.
I asked the surviving king's guard to leave a group of armed warriors behind to disarm any secret police stragglers and to rescue civilians. If the mages came, I suggested they retreat quickly.
We continued east along the southern corridor to look for the rest of the mages.
A water blast knocked me to the floor just before a stone slab pinned us there. The slab would have crushed me flat if it weren't for my wards and they were draining rapidly. Without hesitation, I banished the floor under Argon and me, leaving the slab resting on the floor above us. I tunneled through the floor and into the adjacent room to give us time to spot our assailants, hoping they thought either the slab had trapped us or we had 'ported to safety.
To reinforce the idea we had teleported out, I conjured stone to fill the holes I made in the floor and wall to hide our escape.
We guessed the attacking mages were stationed at the intersection of two large corridors. We moved away from the intersection by cutting holes in the walls of the adjacent rooms. Hoping we were far enough away from the threat, I banished a spy hole in a wall and then a small doorway. Using our air invisibility spell for cover, we crossed the intersecting corridor, banished a hole in the wall, and entered the next set of rooms.
We were trying to flank our assailants and catch them by surprise. As I led us through wall after wall, Argon attempted to locate them. This time we weren't looking for prisoners.
Hoping we had outflanked them, but not willing to risk our lives on it, Argon set two invisibility curtains in the corridor. I conjured two stone walls about 4 feet high and stretching halfway across the corridor to provide cover.
We still couldn't spot our assailants. Obviously relying on mind magic had its limits. Wishing I had infrared goggles, made me reach out with my fire magic to sense heat sources. Bingo. There were three warm bodies still guarding the intersection where the ambush came from. Two more were in place at the next intersection.
We split them up. I claimed the three who attacked us; Argon took the next two.
One of mine was crouched in the hallway, looking at the slab they'd dropped on us. The other two were in the corridor on either side, blocked by the stone walls of the corner. I set up my lava gun spell, with bowling ball sized bullets, layered with stone banishment spells. I just hoped this wouldn't bring down this section of the building.
I then prepared to change rounds to pure fire, figuring we had earth and water mages. The third one was likely responsible for their invisible mind shields, so fire and air were likely to be the most effective.
I prepared a spell to flood the corridor with lava if my first salvo didn't take them down.
Argon was working her own plan, leaving the corridor and moving through the adjacent rooms, banishing hole after hole to get into position. When she signaled she was ready, I blasted my targets.
The banishing lava blobs exceeded my expectations. By a lot. The splatting lava also blew out my views of the mages' heat signatures. I saw the mage in the corridor go down with the first shot, but hadn't seen what happened to the two mages behind cover when the ceiling above them came down. Nor when the lava flooded their former positions.
They may have teleported away or escaped through stone the way we did. I just didn’t know.
Argon knocked out her two mages. She built air curtains and banished the oxygen between them. The mages hadn't noticed the change in air composition and passed out. She strolled in and manacled them.
My area looked like a war zone, and we didn't know whether the tangos were dead or alive. Argons area was unchanged, and she had two more prisoners we knew weren't going to hit us again.
Besides the lava, the fire blasts, collapsed ceiling and riddled stone walls, the furnishings were now on fire. While that seemed a minor point, the heavy smoke made it tough to breathe and harder to see through.
Argon joined me as I stared at the mess. She didn't have to say anything. I'd screwed up. If the mages survived this, they could be anywhere, even now targeting us for a counter attack.
"It's not so bad," Argon sent. "If they surv
ived this, they can't think you have a drop of magic left, so won't be expecting much of a defense."
Damn me with faint praise.
Not wanting to add water and steam into the mix, I pulled heat from the lava. The lava chilled and hardened. The furniture was still smoky but with little active flame. Argon doused the smoldering ruins.
Argon brought in fresh air as I searched the scene for the bodies of the mages. She 'ported her prisoners to Tobron and returned, with replacement manacles. She didn't expect to need them, but it was better to have them than not.
The unusual nature of the attack and overwhelming force could easily have crushed the enemies’ wards and killed them before they could 'port away. Even a dead man's switch on their emergency teleport might not have saved them from mortal injuries unless there was a major healer at the 'port site.
She was more worried one of the mages had sensed something and 'ported out just as the first salvo hit. That mage would still be combat ready and out for payback.
We found the body of one mage in the corridor after I banished the cold lava encasing him. The collapsed roof complicated our search as I put in supports to make sure it didn't come down on us. We found a second body in the corridor to our right, but there was no third body.
We still had more missing mages to find.
They weren't on the ground floor. It was possible the mages were on the top floors behind mind shields. During our sweep, we told the castle staff to leave via the makeshift ballroom exit. We ran down each heat signature and by the end of two hours, there was nobody left loose in the castle showing on any scan.
We turned all of the hardcore secret police we had stunned or trapped over to the former king's guard.
At the suggestion of some of the king's guard, we went to the keep's prison. The prison guards had abandoned their posts by the time we arrived. We located three imprisoned king’s guard officers and recruited them to take charge of the situation on the grounds.
"We still have some rogue mages unaccounted for," I said. "Your king is alive, and he is safe with his daughter. We will make sure he gets back here as soon as he is well enough. Until you can talk with your king, I suggest you keep everyone within the keep walls. No need for even more panic in the streets of Augun."
We had no answers for the host of questions they posed. We suggested they take charge of the keep perimeter wall and avoid the damaged area in the keep. We provided a charged mundane com-card for the top officer but asked he only use it if someone spotted the missing mages or for some other serious dire emergency. We promised to contact him as soon as we had word on the king's condition.
The three lieutenants we released seemed like good leaders. We watched as they soon sorted through the chaos and began restoring order and purpose.
We 'ported back to Klee to join Tobron and Inoa.
◆◆◆
Chapter 23
Tobron was waiting for us as we arrived at the Klee prison yard. He wanted to hear all about our battles, but that would have to wait. Our prisoners had revealed important details that caused the Klee King’s Guard to launch a major operation.
The king had ordered us to join a meeting due to start about five minutes ago.
"I'm glad you are back, things here are getting a little crazy," Tobron said. "I was getting ready to ask you to come back when you signaled. King Ruton is insisting you be at this summit. Inoa isn't allowed to tell me what she has learned, so it must be important."
Tobron opened a door and began jogging along a corridor toward the meeting room. I was surprised at how easily he ran. He was in better shape than I imagined.
Tobron continued to brief us as we followed.
"About an hour ago, all hell broke loose as the kings' guard started pouring into the keep. I hear everyone has been called in whether on duty or not. They even sent mages to outlying villages to bring back several squads stationed there. So, it must be big."
A squad of fully armed king’s guard stood in front of the doorway where Tobron stopped.
The guards clearly expected us; opening the door, and gesturing us inside.
The conference room was similar to the one we were in before. It was also packed with much of the same group, minus the queen mother. One difference was all the king’s guards standing around the walls were armed to the teeth, and there was a definite sense of anger emanating from them.
King Ruton welcomed us and waited for us to sit down, before looking at Klee King’s Guard Commander Flexon.
"We have evidence a foreign group is planning to assassinate King Ruton and take down the Klee government," said Flexon. "We believe it is associated with the group that took over Augun three weeks ago. We believe Klee was to be targeted based on the relationship between the kings."
Most in the room were unprepared for this revelation, but it was perceptibly old news to those in uniform.
"The attack on Augun was so successful because they had an inside man," Flexon said.
This seemed a surprise even to those in uniform. The murmur this revelation started ended abruptly with a glare from Flexon.
"This seems to be their main strategy, so it is likely we have a traitor among us. We may even have a traitor in this room." Flexon paused as this information took hold, sending a definite sense of unease through the room.
"In Augun the traitor was the head of the secret police. He expanded the secret police in advance of the assassination and used them to consolidate his power afterward. We still don't know whether he was part of the conspiracy from the beginning or whether he was recruited in place."
"The main conspirators in Augun were all mages." Flexon glanced at the head of the Klee Mage Guild. "We don't think they were even from Augun nor were they members of the Augun Mage Guild. But, we don't know where they came from."
I suspected this was the information the death geas was hiding.
"They emptied the Augun treasury and attempted to capture, kill, or intimidate anyone who could rally the city. They aimed to destroy Augun as a kingdom, take all its riches, and leave its economy in ruins." Flexon added, "They may have accomplished their goal even though the perpetrators were interrupted a few weeks sooner than they had planned to leave."
Flexon turned to Argon and me, "We have these two to thank for giving us an early warning."
A smattering of clapping dried up nearly as soon as it started when Flexon continued.
"We believe a different group was assigned to Klee, but we have learned nothing about the plot on our kingdom."
I wondered why they hadn't mentioned the Augun king. "I don't think they want anyone here to know he is still alive, they are likely worried about another attempt on his life," Argon sent back.
"I told the new Augun commander the king was with his daughter," I reminded Argon. "We'd better let Inoa know we may have put him at risk." Inoa was out of our reach, likely in some well-shielded area, so we let Tobron know to alert Cleon.
Flexon continued while we were sidetracked. Thankfully, we were good at multi-tasking.
"We do not have secret police, so they must have planned a different method to overthrow our kingdom. I assure you we will get to the bottom of this," Flexon said, shooting a fierce look around the table. "This information is not to be shared with anyone outside this room without the permission of King Ruton. The panic it might cause could help create the very chaos this plot intends. Being forewarned is forearmed. Our actions may force the assassins to speed up their timetable, or cause them to abort this mission. While I personally want to wring their necks, it would be better if we were so prepared they walk away."
I had no doubt he hoped to get his hands on the perpetrators. For a brief moment, his iron control slipped, and Flexon radiated a sense of fury.
"Some of you have already received orders. The rest of you will have a role to play in taking down this coup. Stand by for your instructions." Flexon turned to the king for the last word.
"We do not know why these murderers have co
me or how they expect to carry out the destruction of Klee," King Ruton said. "We are armed and prepared to repel these and any others who aim for the destruction of our kingdom. I expect you to do your duty."
The king rose and left through the door behind him as the rest of us sat in stunned silence.
"Now what?" I sent Tobron and Argon. I assumed someone wanted to debrief us and I really wanted to know what our prisoners had revealed. The condition of Augun's King Rufix was another mystery. If he was getting better, perhaps we could help pull Augun out of its current tailspin.
Somewhere along the way, I developed a sense of responsibility for the people in Augun's keep. They were vulnerable, and I didn't like leaving them to fend for themselves. They had a government to rebuild.
Tobron dragged us out of the room, acting a bit mysteriously. As we ducked into a side room a few doors down, we learned why.
King Ruton and Queen Mother Jenia were waiting in the sitting room. Cleon greeted us and suggested we all sit. No one missed the fully armed mage standing guard inside the room.
"How is King Rufix?" I asked. "He was in pretty bad shape the last time we saw him."
"Alba says he will recover," Jenia said, "Though his injuries are grievous. He wants to talk to you as soon as possible. Alba says she could use your healing skills, too."
I turned to Ruton, "Do we know where the assassins came from? Inoa won't tell us what she has learned from interrogating them."
"I have told Commander Flexon these are your prisoners and he is to share anything learned from them," Ruton responded. "The Augun group of assassins intended to join up with another group already established in Klee. Timing is a bit loose, but the schedule for the Klee first strike is in about a week. Several of your assassins were on similar teams in Kavil and Ylee. We will need to send investigators to these cities as soon as we have a handle on our own situation. As best we can tell, they aimed to rob the treasuries and create chaos throughout these kingdoms, and possibly throughout the continent. Profit seems to have been an afterthought. What benefit they gain from sending the continent into chaos eludes us."