by Eric Vall
“They’re meeting to go over the new tariffs,” I muttered to Haragh. “They want to up the ante for the dwarves and decrease the tax they’ve placed on all fine fabrics from Cedis. This could take a while.”
Before the half-ogre could respond, a guard had already moved to open the door, and I furrowed my brow.
“We don’t need to interrupt,” I informed the guard.
“King’s orders, Defender Flynt, sir,” the guard said, and he motioned for us to enter.
I nodded reluctantly, and as I wove Deya’s fingers into my own, I turned to send her a reassuring smile.
“Ready?” I asked.
The beautiful elf nodded as her eyes widened in alarm, but when we stepped over the threshold of the chamber, Deya suddenly squeaked and vanished.
I could feel her hand clutching mine, and I sighed as I looked over my shoulder at Aurora.
The half-elf was snickering to herself, and Shoshanne shrugged.
So, with Deya terrified and invisible, we continued into the massive chamber, and the lords’ argument echoed off every marble column to resonate across the painted ceiling.
King Temin was in a throne mounted above a large court of nobility, and some thirty subjects had come before him to discuss the matter of the tariffs for the railway.
We slowed to a stop midway into the hall and listened for a moment, but then King Temin’s gaze shot to me.
The man was up in a flash, and he raised a hand to silence the urging of the lord who stood at the forefront of the gathering.
“That is all for today,” the king announced, and with that, he descended from his throne without another glance at the court.
Several angry rebuttals rose up, and a few lords even stepped forward to try and persuade the king to remain and understand the importance of reaching a deliberation that day.
King Temin waved them off as a grin came to his face, though, and he opened his arms wide to me while he approached.
“Defender Flynt!” he boomed, and the words rebounded off every piece of marble in the massive hall.
The lords abruptly fell silent as they all turned around to look at us.
Then they fucking bowed.
Chapter 6
King Temin took me roughly by the hand to give me a thorough handshake, and whether he noticed or not, he let out a heavy sigh of relief as he greeted me.
“Your arrival could not have been better timed,” he whispered as he leaned in closely. Then he turned to address the lords at his back. “We will continue this discussion tomorrow morning at nine o’clock sharp, gentlemen.”
This time, the lords politely accepted the king’s decision and began to vacate the hall, but several of them began muttering amongst themselves as they passed.
Ruela let out a deep growl when one too many of them made direct eye contact with her, and King Temin abruptly stepped back.
“You’ve brought a beast home, I see.” His voice cracked slightly when he said the word “beast,” but I pretended I hadn’t noticed.
“Her name’s Ruela,” I told him. “She’s a good dog, don’t worry.”
“Dog?” he clarified.
“That’s what I’ve been told, anyway,” I chuckled.
“Well … as always, any friend of yours is welcome in my kingdom,” King Temin announced ceremoniously. “And I see you’ve graced us once again with nothing but angels.”
Aurora sent the king a glowing smile as he took her hand and placed a kiss on it, and then he bowed deeply and did the same with Cayla.
“Princess Balmier,” the king preened graciously, “I will send word to King Balmier immediately and alert him of your return if you so wish it.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty,” Cayla said with a regal tip of her head. “I would appreciate that.”
“What is this ‘Your Majesty’?” King Temin scoffed with mock insult. “Don’t tell me the jungle has broken all of you. It’s Temin, if you don’t recall.”
I grinned and gave a small bow, and the king beckoned for Shoshanne to come to him.
“The beautiful Shoshanne,” he murmured and placed a kiss on both of her cheeks. The healer blushed prettily and sent the king a warm smile. “We have been sorely in need of talented healers, my lady. The infirmary at the Oculus is in terrible disrepair since the loss of our three primary healers.”
“What’s happened?” Shoshanne asked with concern. “Not Heres?”
“Yes, Heres left us two weeks ago,” the king told her solemnly, “and the rest will surely follow. I don’t suppose I could impose upon you to stop by the infirmary once you’re all comfortably settled? Perhaps you can sort out whatever plague seems to be driving all of my healers away.”
“O-of course, Your Majesty,” Shoshanne stammered, but as she tipped her chin obligingly, the king clicked his tongue in reparation.
“Temin,” he corrected with a chuckle.
Shoshanne bit her lip and smiled, but I could tell she wasn’t about to address the king so informally.
“Now!” King Temin boomed, and he turned back to me. “Defender Flynt, I have so much to discuss I don’t know where to begin, but let’s start with this friend of yours.”
He gestured to Haragh, and the half-ogre straightened up a bit taller.
“He tells me Orebane is entirely reconciled, is this true?” the king continued. “I haven’t seen you since you left for the mountains, it seems, but I cannot accept just anyone’s word where the dwarves are concerned.”
“Yes,” I replied, “I’m told the tracks through Orebane have reached their capital by now, and I believe all trade is welcome.”
“Good.” The king nodded. “I have no less than ten lords crawling down my neck over their rubies, and they’re intent on instilling a tariff against the dwarves that would impoverish even the richest among them.”
I furrowed my brow. “You’re going to go through with that?”
“Absolutely not,” the king drawled with exhaustion. “I need you to meet with the lords of Illaria and clear up their concerns, if you wouldn’t mind. It doesn’t matter what I say, but you’ve met with the Elders of Aurum yourself. Perhaps you can ease their minds about the arrangement.”
“If you think it’ll help,” I said with a shrug.
“Excellent,” the king sighed. “Then we can move on. Now … ”
King Temin lowered his voice and pulled me to his side by the shoulder, and I felt Deya lean far out of the way.
“Actually, before we get started,” I interrupted the king, and I shifted to leave more room for the invisible elf. There was no way she was getting away with pretending she didn’t exist during this whole meeting.
When I cleared my throat and gave Deya’s hand a light squeeze, there was a long pause while Temin looked at me expectantly.
Then Deya abruptly flickered into sight with one hand in mine and the other clutched around my forearm, and the king gave a yelp of shock.
“I’m sorry!” Deya said breathlessly. “I’m sorry, I did not mean to frighten you, Your Highness. I mean, Your Majesty!”
I smirked. “King Temin, this is Deya Naera of House Quyn. She’ll be staying with us here in Illaria. She’s a little nervous, as you can see, but I trust you’ll do what you can to help her feel welcome here.”
The beautiful elf’s cheeks were a deep pink while her arms trembled lightly, and she sent the king an awkward smile that was pretty adorable on her pixie-like face.
I tried not to laugh at the look on Temin’s face, though.
Shortly after he’d gotten over the shock, his jaw had ticked open a ways, and he stared in complete bewilderment at Deya’s serpentine eyes and her long, pointed ears peeking out between the soft pink strands of her hair.
“Gods,” he finally muttered. “An elf. Here in Serin.”
I nodded, and as the king met my gaze, he abruptly gave a small shake of his head to correct his manners. Then he offered his hand to Deya and sent her a warm smile of welcome.
�
��Miss Deya Naera,” he said gently. “Please, allow me to welcome you personally to the kingdom of Illaria. It’s been … well I truly don’t know how long it’s been since we had a guest from Nalnora, but if you require anything at all, do not hesitate to ask. Any beautiful friend of Defender Flynt’s should always feel at ease in Serin.”
I raised my brows at the impressive speech, and when I smiled over at Deya, she looked floored by the gesture.
The beautiful elf stammered incoherently a couple times, but eventually she just took the hand of the king that was offered to her and stared wide eyed as he placed a kiss there for her.
Then she giggled timidly and tucked herself slightly behind my arm.
I couldn’t help but notice a faint blush come to the king’s cheeks as well.
“Charming,” he mused in half a daze.
I cleared my throat. “Ruela belongs to Deya,” I explained and gestured to the wolfish beast on my other side. “So, if you see Ruela wandering around it’s likely she’s just looking after her.”
“Fantastic!” he said with forced enthusiasm. “As I said, any dear friend of Defender Flynt’s … ”
The king trailed off as his smile wavered on Ruela’s piercing gaze.
“Anyways,” I led, “you wanted to discuss a few things.”
“Yes!” the king laughed nervously.
He motioned for us all to follow, and his expression softened once more as he glanced back at Deya. We all joined him in the vacated seats of the court, and Temin pulled one of the chairs out for Cayla before he adjusted another seat for himself among us.
“Now, I assume Defender Haragh has given you some idea of my concerns,” the king began.
“Haragh mentioned you suspect some of your mages have been possessed by the Master’s rune,” I replied.
“I would like to imagine I’m mistaken,” Temin admitted, “but recent events seem to suggest no hope of this.”
“What recent events?” I asked.
“Disappearances at the Oculus, strange storms brewing to the east … ”
The king began listing off every odd occurrence that had been noticed by either his guards or the concerned citizens of Serin, and as he carried on, I realized there was a light sheen of sweat on his brow.
“I haven’t heard from Mage Wyresus in over a week,” the king added. “Can’t seem to get a letter to him. I even stormed that infernal library myself, but there was no sign of him anywhere. Mason, I don’t wish to be alarmist, but I fear the worst this time.”
I nodded. “You might have good reason. I encountered a Flumen Mage while I was in Nalnora, and she told me she had met the Master while still living here at the Oculus. She was a close ally of his, and she wasn’t even branded with his personal rune.”
The king stared. “Then we’re done for.”
“Don’t worry,” Cayla interjected, and she placed a reassuring hand on the king’s arm. “We will get to the bottom of this, I’m sure it’s not so bad as it seems.”
“I appreciate that,” Temin allowed, “but I don’t think I can agree with you. We were fortunate enough that Mason was able to defeat Abrus before he was able to recruit more mages to his side. If the new head of the Order of Elementa has gone over to the Master’s side, all of the mages in the Oculus will follow. Serin will be destroyed. My army cannot fend off an attack of that magnitude.”
“When did you first notice the mages acting strangely?” I asked as I furrowed my brow.
“Perhaps three weeks ago.”
“That’s around the time we headed for Nalnora,” Aurora pointed out and turned to me. “The Master’s paying close attention to you.”
I nodded. “But Wyresus has only been missing for a week?”
“As far as I am aware,” the king admitted. “I can’t stand the man, to tell you the truth. I should have been meeting weekly with him as I had been when Mage Abrus was head of the Order, but what can I say? His voice alone makes me want to behead him.”
“Fair enough,” I snorted. “I’ll look into Wyresus first, but I wouldn’t assume the mages will follow his lead based on his position alone. He may be the head of the Order, but I’m pretty sure the majority of the mages at the Oculus dislike his approaches.”
“That has been my only scrap of hope in all of this,” the king said with a harried sigh. “I sent Defender Haragh the moment I realized what we were dealing with. You’re the only mage I can trust to lead the others.”
“Lead them?” I asked in confusion.
“Of course,” Temin scoffed. “Only an army of mages could counter an attack if the Master is using his rune on them. I need you to begin recruiting immediately.”
I stared, and beside me, Shoshanne and Aurora looked as shocked as I was.
“But … ” the half-elf muttered, “the citizens. I thought you wanted to ease their concerns about the mages. The non-magic folk have distrusted us more than ever since the incident with Mage Abrus. If we build an army of mages in Serin--”
“The citizens will fall in gratitude at your feet,” the king assured me. “The railway has completely changed everyone’s tune about the mages. Your invention has opened trade between the kingdoms like never before.”
“Yeah, but gold doesn’t change the balance of power here,” I pointed out. “The mages are still fully capable of destroying Serin, possessed or not. The citizens won’t forget that just because we’re filling their pockets.”
“Let me worry about the concerns of the non-magic folk,” Temin insisted. “Once they understand the threat we’re facing, and that our own army won’t do against the Master, they’ll be more than happy--”
“Speaking of your army,” I cut in, “where are the weapons I supplied them with?”
King Temin blinked. “Pardon?”
“The thirty-five rifles and fifteen revolvers I created for you,” I clarified as my anger mounted. “Not to mention the ones you commissioned me to teach your blacksmiths how to build. Where are they?”
I could tell he knew exactly what I was talking about, and something about his innocent expression made me worry I wasn’t going to like the answer.
“Those weapons,” he muttered. “Yes, Captain Torganet informed me his men preferred their swords. We halted production ages ago.”
I nodded. “Yeah, and then what did he do with the weapons?”
“I’m not entirely sure at the moment,” the king said with an awkward grimace. “I can have some of my guards seek Torganet out, though, and--”
“They’re missing,” I guessed.
“Not missing, surely not,” the king chuckled nervously.
“Is that why I came up against my own bullets the last time I fought the Master’s army?” I asked flatly.
King Temin’s jaw dropped. “The Master’s what?”
I sighed and rifled my hair. “Weapons like that should never be left just lying around. If the Master’s gotten a hold of any one of those guns, how the hell do you expect me to counter him? Possessed mages with firearms. Are you serious?”
“Did you say the Master’s army?” Temin clarified as he ignored my words.
“Yes,” I snapped. “In less than a week, he possessed and rallied two separate armies of elves. Hundreds of them. We destroyed them all before we left, but he’ll do it again. And again, and again. He’s gaining power, Temin, and you just let who knows how many guns slip through your fingers like nothing.”
The king paled as I laid this all out to him, and by the time I’d finished, he was nodding along in terror.
“Yes, so you see why you must form your own army,” he insisted at last. “Gather the mages, protect the Kingdom. Mason, you are the only mage I can turn to for this, and I promise the citizens will be brought to understand. Why, in the last month alone, the income for the tradesmen of Serin has fully doubled. Do you realize what this means? The nobility are scrambling to instill their places. With Orebane joining the route, we’ll all be swimming in gold, and everyone knows it’s the mag
es’ doing.”
“That explains the buildings,” I muttered half to myself.
“Buildings?” Temin asked.
“I saw they were rebuilding in the tradesmen’s quarters when we arrived,” I mentioned. “It looks like they’re moving up.”
“Precisely!” the king said grandly. “Wealth, Defender Flynt! You’ve changed the lands entirely with your contraption. Which reminds me … ”
King Temin rose and offered an arm to Cayla, and then he motioned for all of us to follow him with a hopeful glint in his eye. I could tell he was trying to make up for the weapon issue, and I knew there was little more I could say to make him understand the weight of the problem. So, I sighed and followed at his back, and the king took us from the great hall and down a corridor whose ceiling stretched forty feet above our heads.
The heels of my women clicked and echoed all the way down the hall, and the king spoke with Cayla about the arrangements he and King Balmier had been making between their two kingdoms in her absence.
It sounded like the train had nearly dispelled all of King Balmier’s financial troubles already.
Deya squeezed my hand, and when I looked over, she wore a glittering smile on her face.
“You’re an adviser to the King of Illaria?” she whispered excitedly. “Why did you never tell me this?”
“Because I’m not,” I whispered back.
“You might be, actually,” Aurora muttered from my other side, and Shoshanne leaned around the half-elf to send me a smile glowing with pride.
King Temin had always been respectful and open with me, but there was a curious amount of “sirs” and salutes flying around, and as I considered the dismissal of his entire court a few minutes before, I began to wonder if I’d been promoted in my absence.
We turned at the end of the lofty hall, and the king led us into a marble laden room occupied by nothing but one giant metal chest.
It was almost taller than Ruela, and the wolfish beast raised her hackles as she prowled around the chest with a warning growl.
The king forced a smile.
“Don’t worry,” he said to Ruela. “There’s a good dog.”
Ruela ignored him completely and began to test the metal of the chest with her massive fangs instead.
