“I’m just glad to be rid of this,” Pantros pulled the gem out and set it in the Archmage’s hand. “How will you keep it safe from the Vulak, Your Grace?”
The Archmage looked Pantros in the eye, almost challenging his station to ask such a question. His face then relaxed and he said. “I will place it in a vault that is enchanted to prevent detection.” Still grasping the gem in one hand, he threw his other hand up as if he were reaching for the sun. When his arm reached full extension, he vanished.
“He was lying,” Thomas said.
“What?” The King asked.
“Something in the way he paused set off my intuition,” Thomas said. “I don’t know what he plans to do, but it doesn’t involve a non-detectable vault.”
“Are you sure he was lying?” The King asked. “He’s never been particularly polite, but I’ve never had reason not to trust him.”
“I know he was lying,” Thomas said. “I’m not sure, but I know, if that makes sense.”
“Not really,” Mirica said.
The King stepped over to the battlements and looked out over the walls. “Hopefully, now we can stop preparing for battle.”
“Marc will be disappointed,” Thomas said, pointing down to the palace gardens. Bryan and Marc were sparring.
“Disappointed?” Mirica asked. “No one is disappointed to avoid a battle. That man he’s fighting might be an exception. At least with a Vulak he’d probably win. He hasn’t landed a hit on Marc since lunch.”
The king agreed, “I watched them for a while, Marc never lets the same trick work on him twice. Bryan knew a lot of sneaky tricks. I had my champion out there with them this morning, but he quit after an hour saying there was nothing he could teach Marc and Bryan was besting my champion three out of four bouts.”
Pantros saw a familiar grey robe walking among the Vulak near the Statues. “I wouldn’t send the archers home just yet,” he said. “It seems the Archmage has business among the Vulak.
The king looked out and let out a staggered sigh. “Mirica, I know you’re not as powerful as Robirt, but is there anything you can do from here?”
Mirica raised an eyebrow. “Comparing Mages and Sorcerers is like comparing water to milk,” she said. “Still if we were both milk, I would be the cream and he would be the comparative chaff.” She spread her hands wide and brought them together in a loud clap. A shockwave bent the air before her and shot out across the walls, across the open field and hit Robirt, throwing him several yards through the air. He landed on the ground in a crumpled heap and didn’t move.
“If he’s alive, he’s going to be in a lot of pain,” Pantros said.
“I can’t do that all day,” Mirica said. “It’s very draining I will need a short while to regain my strength.”
“And you’re not in charge of the Sorcery School?” the King asked.
“Power is not the same as experience,” Mirica said. “I’m a senior instructor, but I am not even on the council and won’t be until I’ve been part of the school for a century or more.”
“The Nightstone Key is still out there,” The King said. “We need a plan to get it back. Gather the Generals,” he added. After looking at the people he’d been talking to, he then said, “I’ll get the Generals, you should all meet me in the planning room. I assume your presence means the Sorcerers have decided to help us?”
“The Council had not reached a conclusive vote,” Mirica said. “Several were hoping for a peaceful solution. Now that Robirt seems to have been about to open the portal to hell, I suspect we’ll be a little more decisive.”
“I am appointing you as the Sorcerer’s Council’s Representative to my court,” The King said. “I can’t put you on the council, but I can make sure they know you should be there. I fear we haven’t time to talk more now. Learn what you can and come to the planning room.” He turned away and headed down the stairs into the palace.
Mirica shrugged and said, “Um…”
“Um?” Thomas asked.
“I’m a little giddy, a little confused, and I feel like I want to vomit,” she said. “The king now not only knows who I am but seems impressed by me, that makes me giddy. I don’t know if I should be giddy with an impending invasion from hell, so I’m confused. And I think I just killed a man, which makes my stomach uneasy.”
“You just killed the most powerful Mage in the world,” Pantros said. “Uneasy or not, that was an accomplishment. If he hadn’t turned out to be evil, it might not be, but he was. I think you can feel proud as well.”
“I feel even more confused, and more queasy, and I know I’m about to fly back to the Sorcerer’s College and that doesn’t help the queasy.” She took a deep breath then said, “See you in a few.” She then leapt into the air and glided off towards the center of the city.
“You’re staring,” Thomas said.
Pantros blinked and looked away from where Mirica had disappeared among the city’s spires. Thomas nodded towards the stairwell. “We should go meet the King.”
“Right,” Pantros said.
“Mirica will be there, eventually.” Thomas said.
“What?” Pantros asked.
“You barely take your eyes off her when she’s around,” Thomas said. “You do realize she’s six times your age.”
“I’m not interested in her like that,” Pantros said. “That would be foolish, her being an Abvi and all. “She is very pretty, though.”
“She’s a Sorcerer, it might all be an illusion,” Thomas said.
“Is it?” Pantros asked.
“No,” Thomas said. “Now, let’s get to the planning chamber.”
Pantros hopped down the stairs ahead of Thomas. Abvi, for all their grace, were terribly patient, which meant they were slow walkers. It was torturous to be behind one on a narrow stairwell.
Prince Reginald stood at the map table and scrolled through views of the surrounding army. Pantros had tried to use the table, but being King of Thieves wasn’t quite as qualifying as being King of Melnith or de-facto King of Relarch. The prince had been particularly edgy since the rapidly gathering Vulak had impeded his plans to return to his kingdom.
“The Vulak will sooner or later decide to use that stone.” General Shera said.
“Are they smart enough to, or stupid enough to?” Prince Reginald asked.
Pantros said, “I don’t know much about Vulak but I know they don’t act in large armies like what we have out there. Something is controlling or coercing them to act together and the purpose seems to be that key. Whoever that is will, most likely, convince them to use the key.”
“You don’t think it was Robirt in control all along?” King Allaind asked.
“If it were him, the Vulak would be heading away now,” Sheillene said. “But someone is still commanding that entire force. There are red-cheeks and split-ears camped side by side and they are not even skirmishing. Something is commanding them. I suspect something infernal.”
“Have you seen anyone that looks like a leader?” King Allaind asked.
“That’s what I’m looking for,” Prince Reginald said.
“We haven’t spotted anyone from the walls,” Sheillene said. “There are too many Vulak out there to put scouts in the forest.”
“We know where they will take the key,” Pantros said, “We just have to take it from them when they do. Their army is thin on this side of the monuments. Archers and a fast assault could get in and take the gem.”
“We’d have to know when they are taking the gem to the portal,” Bryan said. “And that’s still a tenth of a league from the city gates to run across, and potentially fight off thousands of Vulak. They can run just as fast as we can. There’s the potential to have to fight there and then turn around and fight our way back again.”
“I found him,” Prince Reginald said. “Here, about a league north, but we can’t get to him.” The map showed a crowded encampment hundreds of Vulak knelt prostrate around a stone carving of a Vulak with outspread bat-like wings. A Vulak in a red robe stood by the statue, clearly preaching, though the map conveyed no sound. A Vulak wearing red and gold armor walked into the clearing then knelt and held out his hands offering the key to the red-robed Vulak.