by Jason Kenyon
They caught sight of the queue winding up a long stairway as they made their way up a less-crowded one, and Archimegadon shook his head.
‘Of all the crimes committed by Salestis’s regime, that must have been the greatest,’ he said to Obdo.
They followed the fancy corridors further upwards, and Archimegadon admired the gilded furnishings. His initial reaction was to snort at the vanity of Salestis, but then he recalled that this palace had been around for a lot long than Salestis had been in command. On further thought, though, he decided he’d blame her for it anyway.
As they passed a long series of curtains, Obdo grabbed Archimegadon’s sleeve until he stopped walking.
‘Whatever is it, Obdo?’
‘Look at all these curtains, Sir Mage,’ Obdo replied. ‘Must be stuff hidden in here.’
‘I hardly imagine that the Shield have stored their secret plans out in the open,’ Archimegadon said.
‘Come on, Sir Mage, nobody’s looking!’
And Obdo snuck behind one of the curtains.
‘You are an absolute imbecile,’ Archimegadon said. After Obdo didn’t come back out for a few seconds, he gave up and followed him behind the curtain.
He blinked as he found himself in a large display room, where a variety of art pieces had been set out for observation. There were paintings of battles on grand fields, with lightning piercing the skies and hordes of undead monstrosities fighting against holy knights and noble soldiers. It seemed very strange that this had been hidden away behind the sombre curtains, and Archimegadon wondered to himself exactly why that had been done.
Obdo had stopped in front of three statues, and he was staring up at the middle one with a strange look on his face. Archimegadon joined him and folded his arms, regarding this marble warrior with his wavy hair and noble chin.
‘Has this fellow insulted you?’ he asked.
‘You bet he has,’ Obdo replied, looking uncommonly grim. ‘Both of us, in fact.’
Archimegadon frowned and looked down at the statue’s pedestal, where he finally saw the statue’s name: Auber Bartell. He checked the statue of the woman to the left, and the taller man to the right, and his suspicions were confirmed – they were of Akarith Kellason and Sen Delarian respectively. This room had to be dedicated to the three heroes of the Tarmunath War, and presumably the other art pieces were of different battles from that conflict.
‘Think they closed this off because these guys all turned traitor?’ Obdo asked.
‘I suppose that would make sense,’ Archimegadon replied. ‘A rather unfortunate state of affairs. Throwing away their heroics to become enemies of the kingdom, and for what?’
‘We’re enemies of the kingdom too, now,’ Obdo said. ‘Maybe we’re not so different, huh?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Archimegadon replied. ‘They were nothing like us – what we are doing is for the best of the kingdom.’
‘Only hope you’re right, Sir Mage!’ Obdo said. ‘Would be a shame if we were getting tricked into causing trouble for everyone again.’
Archimegadon glared at Obdo, painfully aware of how many things could potentially go wrong, but unwilling to admit to any of them. He decided to leave this dour room behind instead, and swept back past the curtain, straight into a group of people.
‘What the…’ said a woman at their head.
‘Ah, pardon me, madam,’ Archimegadon said. ‘I appear to have taken a wrong turning.’
Some of the assorted people in the group raised objections, but the lady raised a hand and they fell quiet. Archimegadon took a moment to inspect her appearance, noting with approval the care she’d taken to maintain her ceremonial armour and tunic, though he was less pleased by the fact that this marked her out as a paladin. Her chestnut hair had been braided and tied short round the back of her head, so that she almost appeared to be wearing a laurel wreath. He was so busy in rating her appearance against his own (when he was in his favoured robes) that he almost missed her next questions.
‘Excuse me, but are you supposed to be up here?’ the woman asked. ‘Who are you?’
‘Ah, I am but a simple craftsman from the city proper, madam,’ Archimegadon replied. ‘I was directed up here by a guard, as I had heard that, er, Valia Relsis was seen at the marketplace in… the Old Town.’ He hoped that there actually was an ‘Old Town’ in Arenfel, but since the paladin’s expression didn’t change much, he supposed that what he’d said hadn’t been too inaccurate.
The woman’s eyes sparkled with amusement, and she smiled indulgently. ‘That’s Valia Relassis, master craftsman,’ she said. ‘Thank you for the information, but don’t worry – we already know she’s here, and we are taking measures to handle her as we speak. You can tell your family and friends they have nothing to fear with the Order in charge.’
‘Ah, yes, madam,’ Archimegadon said, wondering who exactly he’d bumped into. He also felt a slight shock pass through him as he thought of Valia lurking somewhere in the city already, and hoped that she wasn’t preparing some demonic assault on the Paladin Order.
‘Was there anything more you had to say?’ the woman asked.
‘No, madam, I believe that was all,’ Archimegadon replied, feeling sweat beading on his forehead.
‘I see,’ the woman said. ‘In that case, you may leave, now you’ve delivered your little message.’
Archimegadon gave a quick bow and turned to flee in the nearest convenient direction, but managed only two paces before the woman cleared her throat, bringing him to a halt. He turned around, a bad feeling developing in his stomach.
‘Sir, were you planning on visiting our Grand Tournament?’ the woman asked.
‘Erm, yes, madam – I am looking forward to it.’
The woman smiled. ‘I am glad to hear it. That’s all – I wish you a pleasant time.’
Thankfully, she walked on with her crowd of hangers-on, and Archimegadon stayed frozen in place for a few minutes, wondering whether it was safe to move again. While he suffered this consternation, Obdo emerged from the display room, and he grinned at Archimegadon’s obvious discomfort.
‘Well, Sir Mage, wasn’t that fun?’ Obdo asked.
‘Of course, I would have to run into some bloody captain of the guard,’ Archimegadon said.
Obdo squinted at him. ‘Captain of the guard? Sir Mage, that was the Supreme Arse herself. Missy Salestis!’
‘She… what?’ Archimegadon looked round to see if Salestis was still in sight, but she’d long disappeared round one of the endless corners of this infernal palace.
‘Didn’t you recognise her from the paintings?’ Obdo asked. ‘That was her alright - short, braided hair, fancy armour, blue eyes, the lot.’
‘That woman is the reason we lost Ferrina,’ Archimegadon said, feeling a sudden surge of cold anger run through him.
‘Yup, strange, isn’t it?’ Obdo asked. ‘Still, we’d better get moving – she’ll get suspicious if we hang around.’
‘Indeed, I’d rather not have another chat with her,’ Archimegadon said. He half-hoped that he would meet her again, but this time, so he could greet her with a flamebolt.
It wasn’t the time for assassinations, though – it was long past the point where he needed to locate the slain King’s chambers, since Ithalna would probably have been waiting there for quite a long time by this stage. Ithalna had given Archimegadon some tips on how to find the chambers, and he attempted to follow them where possible. It did not go without mistakes, however, and it was a considerable amount of time before he located the stairs that brought him up to the top floor of the palace.
At the end of the stairs, he saw that there was no wall to his left – only an opening, with the ceiling held up by pillars, and a decorative fence to prevent idle tumbles from the palace. It afforded an impressive view of the city of Arenfel, and the river from which it had taken its name. While Archimegadon was distracted by that, Obdo busied himself with checking the nearby paintings. After a few moments he grab
bed Archimegadon’s sleeve.
‘Sir Mage, here!’ he said, tugging Archimegadon over to a picture of two oxen standing proud in front of a field. ‘This must be the one she meant.’
‘Right, here goes,’ Archimegadon said.
He checked to see that they were alone again, and then cast the Sigil of Zhrrakash once more, causing the wall and the painting to become translucent. Once the wall had returned to its former solid self behind them, Archimegadon lit an orb of flame and let out a sigh.
Then he nearly jumped back through the wall as Ithalna loomed out of the shadows.
‘Good grief, you look absolutely terrifying in the dark,’ Archimegadon said.
‘I have heard better compliments,’ Ithalna said. ‘You both took some time getting here. Did you have a productive wander around my old home?’
‘Erm, no,’ Archimegadon replied. ‘We might as well have followed you.’
‘That’s not entirely true,’ Obdo said. ‘Sir Mage here only went and had a chat with Missy Salestis herself.’
‘You spoke with the Supreme Commander?’ Ithalna asked Archimegadon.
‘More she questioned why I was here after I nearly bumped into her, and I satisfied her interrogation enough that she left me alive,’ Archimegadon replied. ‘However, Obdo raises a good point – I did at least find out that Valia is in town. Salestis said that the paladins are aware of her being around, and that they are about to deal with her. Whatever that means.’
‘Interesting,’ Ithalna said. ‘Perhaps Valia will provide enough of a distraction for us to continue our little activities unhindered. Now, shall we head over to my chambers? It has been quite a while since I last enjoyed staying there.’
They headed off together, and Archimegadon went through the usual stages of disgust and acceptance as he was assailed by webs and their creators in the dismal passageway. Eventually they reached the end of one of the routes, and Ithalna stopped and placed her hands on her hips.
‘Hmm,’ she said. ‘This explains a lot. Look here. It has been blocked up.’
Archimegadon looked at where Ithalna pointed, and saw that this end of the passageway had been covered in boards which bore the emblem of the Paladin Order. He gave her a querying look, and she smiled darkly.
‘This was my planned escape route when the paladins came for me that night,’ Ithalna said. ‘However, the passageway did not open when I intoned the Sigil of Zhrrakash. It seems that someone blocked the passage off with blessed emblems. Paladins, no less. That is strange indeed… ah, though it does make sense. As they wished to frame me, of course.’
Archimegadon had stopped paying attention to her droning, and instead peered at the boards, wondering if they’d need to tug them loose. Ithalna gave it a try herself moments later, and he took that as his cue to help out. Where Ithalna gripped ineffectually at the boards, though, Archimegadon, as a former handyman, knew very well where the best areas to loosen were, and he added a little fire magic to help him tug the boards free. Once that was done, he cast the Sigil of Zhrrakash without further prompting, and the passageway opened out into some chambers that were the very essence of decadence.
Before he could distract himself too much with admiring the room he found himself in, Ithalna spoke behind him.
‘That was very well performed, Master Forseld,’ she said. ‘I am glad to see you using your magic for purposes other than brute explosions.’
‘I have done plenty of spells that were gentle and subtle,’ Archimegadon said.
‘Only ‘cos you failed at casting them properly,’ Obdo said.
‘Obdo, look…’
Ithalna, meanwhile, swept past them, and paused in the centre of the room, staring down at a patch of carpet. Archimegadon turned his attention from Obdo to the chamber, and admired the glory of this place. Clearly, the King had been a fan of red, as that was the hue of everything that was not gold. Drapes, curtains and tapestries all followed the same colour scheme, even down to the paintings on the walls, which all displayed hellish realms where flames and lava held sway. The only real variation was the wide balcony, which faced south across the city, and also provided ample light for them to see by.
Archimegadon joined Ithalna’s side, and looked down to see the King’s last addition to the crimson furnishings – an unpleasant blood stain in the carpet, which almost seemed to Archimegadon’s eyes to form the shape of Valanthas’s borders.
‘So… this is it,’ Archimegadon said. ‘This is where all our troubles started.’
‘Yours, perhaps,’ Ithalna said. ‘Mine had their origin a while before then.’
‘How do you feel?’ Archimegadon asked.
‘I am fine,’ Ithalna replied, smiling at him. ‘I appreciate you asking.’
Archimegadon wasn’t sure if he was supposed to inquire further, but decided that he lacked the delicate touch for such matters, so he returned to business instead. ‘Now, what was it that you hoped to find here?’
‘There are a couple of things,’ Ithalna replied. ‘For one part, since as you know Salestis had my husband murdered, I was hoping to find some trace of their guilt. You were listening when Lyssina said that they had shut this area off and not touched it since, yes?
‘Of course,’ Archimegadon lied.
‘I have a great idea,’ Obdo said.
‘I somehow doubt that,’ Archimegadon said.
‘No, no, hear me out,’ Obdo said. ‘What if… we find a necromancer? Then we could get him to raise the King from the dead, or summon his ghost, to testify against Salestis!’
‘Obdo, you absolute imbecile, don’t be so insensitive!’ Archimegadon said, glancing over to see Ithalna’s reaction.
She smiled, though, and shook her head. ‘Ah, Obdo, necromancy does not quite work like that, unless you have prepared it ahead of your demise. If we were to summon anything from my husband’s remains, it would merely be a ravening ghoul, or a senseless spirit of rage, neither of which would have the ability to communicate in any real way. Beyond howling, of course.’
‘Not to mention that the Paladin Order might have some issue with witnesses summoned by dark magic,’ Archimegadon said.
‘Indeed,’ Ithalna said. ‘Now, let us forget this sordid spot – I also left something behind in my bed chambers.’
She slipped away with surprising speed, and Archimegadon and Obdo followed her into an adjoining chamber, by the side of a bed that was larger than most inn rooms. Ithalna opened a towering wardrobe and stepped inside, disappearing behind the array of clothes that had been deserted there, and Archimegadon exchanged looks with Obdo as a series of strange clunking sounds came from within. Shortly after, Ithalna re-emerged, carrying an impressive mage staff, and a dark blue robe. On seeing the latter, Archimegadon found himself glaring at Ithalna.
‘That is a most fearsome look,’ Ithalna said. ‘Have I offended you somehow?’
‘That’s a Cleric robe,’ Archimegadon said. ‘The others all wore those, at Arranoth and Ferrina.’
‘You are correct,’ Ithalna said. ‘I am, as you may have forgotten, a Cleric.’
‘Get rid of it,’ Archimegadon said.
‘The simple answer to that is no,’ Ithalna said. ‘I wish to take this with me and wear it when we put a stop to the Shield. For my fallen sisters and brothers.’
‘I… I…’
‘Let’s not start a fuss,’ Obdo said.
‘Obdo, she…’ Archimegadon couldn’t find the words.
‘We have all lost things in this conflict,’ Ithalna said. ‘I cared for Kasai and even the rest of the Six, much as you care for your companions. Will you deny me this?’
Archimegadon threw his hands up in the air. ‘Go ahead and have your damn moment. But don’t blame me if this provokes the others into booting you into the Aren – and well deserved it will be too!’
‘Pardon me, miss, but what did you say happened to the Six?’ Obdo asked.
‘I do not know for certain,’ Ithalna replied. ‘As the secret route w
as boarded, I suspect they must have been forced to flee from their hideout.’
‘What was the actual sequence of events anyway?’ Obdo asked. ‘On the night it all happened.’
‘I awoke to find assailants in my chambers,’ Ithalna replied. ‘It was not long after my husband had argued with Salestis over his plans for Tarmuna again, and I was concerned that some form of uprising was taking place. When I found my husband in the central room, it was too late – Salestis and her Shield cronies had killed him. I attempted to flee through the passageway, but it did not respond to my spell, so I ran for the balcony instead – and used wind magic to slow my descent. From there, I snuck into the city and hid out for a short period.’
‘So then she pinned it all on you, and you ran away to Ferrina?’ Obdo asked.
‘Yes, that is correct,’ Ithalna replied. ‘I knew after the trouble with my father that I would find few allies in Arenfel, so I chose to stay in Ferrina instead.’
‘I don’t like Clerics, but I most certainly detest Salestis,’ Archimegadon said. ‘I look forward to trouncing her and her knavish plans after all this hassle, and perhaps things will settle down again.’
‘Soon, I hope,’ Ithalna said with a bright smile. ‘Then we may go our separate ways.’
‘Indeed,’ Archimegadon said. ‘And don’t forget that you owe me rather a lot of relorans.’
‘As though I could,’ Ithalna said. ‘Do not worry, Master Forseld – I expect there to be a bonus in it for you as well. Now, I have got everything that I wanted, so I suggest we conclude our investigations and leave before anyone drops by.’
Chapter Twenty-Nine: Consequences
As it turned out, between the group’s delays in getting out of the inn to visit the palace, and the queue time at the entrance, they only left with an hour to go until Archimegadon’s meeting. Since they were in such a rush, Ithalna and Obdo decided to tag along with Archimegadon, as using one of Ithalna’s tunnel shortcuts was the easiest way to reach the meeting point in time anyway.