A Prince's Errand

by Dan Zangari

  After nightfall, the princes arrived. Malvonican was first, followed by Negaris. Jeridi was next—his opposition to their plan was visible on his face. How can you still doubt us? Raedina wondered, studying her cousin. Jeridi had undoubtedly been informed of the news from Soroth.

  Finally, Laedar arrived. “What took you so long?” Malvonican asked, with his typical smug expression. Her brother sat with one leg over the arm of his chair and an arm thrown across the chair’s back.

  “I was waiting for Xalutir’s response,” Laedar said. “He’s returning from wherever he’s been hiding.”

  Jeridi sighed and rolled his eyes. The other princes looked dubiously at their eldest brother and cousin.

  “You still don’t believe me, Jeridi?” Raedina asked, her voice shaky. “Even after the news we received from Soroth?”

  “No, I don’t,” the fat prince replied. “Have any of you stopped to consider that Alacor might be lying?”

  Malvonican laughed.

  “What’s his motive to do so?” Laedar asked. Raedina couldn’t tell if Laedar’s tone was genuine or not.

  “Don’t you remember how Iltar acted when you asked him if he knew Alacor?” Jeridi asked. “Those two obviously don’t get along.”

  Malvonican snorted with incredulity.

  “Or he never met the man,” Laedar retorted tersely.

  “I’m sorry to disappoint you, brother,” Negaris said, “but Ambassador Dumar confirmed the deaths of both Count Coralis Scurn and his wife. The woman we shared food with was not Elsia Scurn.”

  Jeridi looked shocked. His jaw dropped and his lips twisted with abhorrence. That dismal expression faded, and Jeridi regained his composure. “And did they find Iltar?” he asked, his tone indicating that he still clung to his erroneous beliefs.

  “They received proof enough from the servants at the mountain villa where Iltar is staying,” Negaris said.

  Jeridi looked defeated. He sat back in his chair, averting his gaze from the other princes. Negaris went into greater detail concerning the evidence he had against this Alathian posing as Iltar of Soroth.

  I knew it, Raedina thought, closing her eyes to calm herself. She recalled her encounters with this imposter, remembering his stern expressions. Those sapphire eyes of his burned with hatred. Then, Raedina thought of Alanya. Was she even Alanya? Or was she an Alathian pretending to be the high duchess? After all, those who had infiltrated the Feast of Sorrows flawlessly assumed the identities of palace servants.

  “… we can bring in another battalion to replace the palace garrison, perhaps from the northern wall,” Laedar suggested.

  “If we replace the garrison, we reveal our hand,” Malvonican retorted. “We can bring in troops, but not replace them. And the garrison must not know that more troops are being deployed. We mustn’t change anything at the palace.”

  The princes continued debating strategy while Raedina focused on the ruse they must enact. In order for Malvonican to be a convincing target his disguise must be perfect. A simple illusion would not do the trick—that could be dispelled. We need a tevisral, she thought.

  Raedina recalled reading about rings that could alter the shape of whoever wore them, though she couldn’t recall their names. They were ancient, created before the fall of the great Cheserithean Empire. Those rings used illusionary and transmutative magics to create a perfect guise that was totally undetectable. The ring would adhere to the wearer, and only they could remove it.

  I think I can duplicate that, Raedina thought, pacing to the window. She gazed at the moons; their light calmed her nerves. Moonlight always had that effect on her. Raedina was a creature of the night. I have the proper materials. We could make it in a day.

  There was, however, one problem. Those rings had to be worn first by whatever they were duplicating. She needed Uncle Marden.

  At that moment, the debate became heated. Malvonican began shouting, and Negaris’s tone turned petulant. Raedina spun, seeing Jeridi leaving the office. The other princes were no longer seated. They stood facing each other and argued heatedly.

  “Silence, all of you!” Raedina commanded sternly. The princes, however, didn’t listen.

  “Silence!” This time the princes stopped their bickering.

  “We all have problems to overcome with this plan,” Raedina said. “But in order to pull this off, we need to make Malvonican look like Uncle Marden. Otherwise, this is all for naught.”

  All eyes were on Raedina. “I think I can make a tevisral to duplicate Uncle’s appearance,” she continued, “but I need to put it on him in order—”

  Footsteps echoed into the office, drawing everyone’s attention.

  Laedar cursed. “Why didn’t Jeridi close the damned door?”

  “Because he’s a mindless coward,” Negaris growled.

  The footsteps grew louder, then Jeridi returned, accompanied by none other than the emperor of the Mindolarn Empire. Uncle Marden slouched in the doorway for a moment, and then nonchalantly entered the office.

  “I hear you found my brothers’ murderer,” the emperor said, eyeing his niece and nephews inquisitively. “I do hope you weren’t planning to kill him without me.”

  “For several years, the Chosen attacked those dragons who opposed Cheserith’s reign. They hunted various breeds of dragonkind, making it a sport. One breed they eradicated completely: the Cel’sha or the Silver Dragons.”

  - From The Thousand Years War, Part I, page 42

  Cornar and the others hadn’t slept long once they returned from scouting the western wing. According to his timepiece tevisral, Cornar slept only five and a half hours. Instead of having their morning meal in the Mindolarn war camp, Cornar’s men took their food and ate in the secluded council chamber they had discovered the previous night.

  Each of the men gave their reports as Midar and Cordel prepared their breakfast. Ordreth was the last to report.

  “… that was fifty-two stories,” Ordreth said. “I guess that makes it fifty-eight floors, all in all.” The young warrior scooped up a spoonful of his porridge.

  Cornar nodded at Ordreth’s report. His nephew said they had seen the crater’s top while exploring the mountaintop. The crater was seven stories below a balcony overhanging the western side of the peaks.

  “That puts the crater’s center around the twenty-eight floor,” Nordal said, stroking his chin.

  Igan nodded. “Although... the point of impact might be on one of the others. I say we search from the twenty-fifth to the thirty-first floors.”

  “Agreed,” Kalder said.

  Cornar looked about, eyeing each of the groups. There were eighteen teams total. “Let’s make it six floors,” Cornar said. “This way we can have three groups searching each floor. Kalder, make the assignments.”

  Kalder nodded, then fetched each of the group leaders.

  “You take the twenty-ninth, Nordal,” Kalder said. “The three of us,” he gestured to himself, Ordreth, and Cornar, “will take the twenty-eighth.”

  “I see how this is,” Nordal said, dropping his spoon into his empty plate. “You want the find all to yourself.”

  Kalder raised an eyebrow at Nordal.

  “You still have a chance,” Ordreth grinned wryly.

  Cornar sat back, listening as the warriors bantered.

  “So what are we going to tell the prince?” Aron asked, arms folded.

  Cornar rubbed his chin thoughtfully. His beard had since grown long and thick. “I think we can use the crater as an excuse to search the higher floors,” he said. “The crater is enough of a phenomenon to warrant investigation.”

  “So… when are we going to kill him?” Ordreth asked hesitantly.

  “Hopefully today,” Cornar said grimly. “We’ll meet after we find the impact point.”

  “Well,” Igan said, standing, “we’re going to need to hurry if we want to make this so-called discovery before it grows too late in the day.”

  * * * * *

  Kaescis awoke fr
om pleasant dreams, breathing deeply. He turned in his bed, seeing Laeyit lying face down. Kaescis couldn’t help but muse on the last two nights. He had never thought Laeyit would be enjoyable as a lover. His mind raced ahead, to the time when they would return home to Mindolarn. To what end could they continue this newfound aspect of their relationship?

  A grunt left Laeyit’s lips and she stirred. She turned her head toward Kaescis, looking at him with waking eyes. “Good morning.” She grinned sensually, ran her hand along the sheets, and then stroked her fingers Kaescis’s bare chest.

  “Good morning,” he grinned. Kaescis leaned toward Laeyit, kissing her passionately.

  Laeyit held tight to Kaescis’s blonde hair even after their embrace. “Today your vengeance will be complete,” she said in a breathy voice, her face nearly touching his.

  Death… the voices whispered in Kaescis’s mind.

  “I wish I could be there,” Laeyit groaned, her grip still firm.

  “You know I cannot allow that, Laeyit,” Kaescis said. “You must take the reports from the scouts.”

  She sighed and slumped back against her pillow. Kaescis eyed her momentarily. Why didn’t I consider her sooner? he wondered. After a moment, Kaescis threw aside his sheets and dressed quickly. There were still more tasks for him to finish before confronting Mister Dol’shir. He adjusted his shirt while gazing at his armor, standing at the far side of the room. At no time was I able to change into my armor, he recounted the vision in Vabenack. If he were to kill Mister Dol’shir at the final moment of the vision, it would be without his armor.

  That was not acceptable.

  He recounted each of the events that must play out today, noting all the participants.

  Amid his accounting, Laeyit rose from the bed and grabbed her clothing, which was strewn across the floor. Her nakedness was distracting, and Kaescis let his gaze linger upon her as she dressed. Laeyit caught him staring and gave him a flirtatious smile. Kaescis suddenly felt youthful again, as when he first met Helgara—but the memory of his deceased wife spurred the voices.

  Kill Dol’shir! they chanted in his mind. Death! Bring us death…

  Kaescis continued dressing but focused on Laeyit. Being with her these past two nights had brought an unreal serenity. He didn’t know how, but Laeyit could calm the bloodlust. Staring at her caused the voices to subside.

  “I’ve yearned for decades for you to look at me that way,” she said, slipping on her boots.

  “You are a determined one, Laeyit,” Kaescis admitted. “If all the women of the empire were like you, we would have conquered the world years ago.”

  She blushed at the compliment—a reaction Kaescis had never seen from her.

  After giving Laeyit a final quick embrace, Kaescis exited his private room and strode into the common area of his chambers. He opened the tent door, finding two Crimson Praetorians standing guard.

  “I need you to find Practil,” Kaescis said to the Praetorians. “I have an important task for him that must be discussed at once.”

  * * * * *

  The rooms of the twenty-eight floor weren’t all that different from elsewhere in the Hall of the Guardians.

  Cornar and his group split off from the others—Kalder and his band went to the north while Ordreth and his group searched to the south. It was Cornar’s plan to fan out and search all along the crater. He supposed many rooms were exposed to the elements. Each would be worth searching.

  It wasn’t long before they reached the first demolished room. Like the hallway they first encountered, the western wall was missing. The entire room was in ruin and lacked any indentifying features to indicate its original purpose.

  “These all look more like caves than anything else,” Kamdir remarked.

  “I wonder how long these rooms have been exposed,” Igan said, squinting thoughtfully.

  Cautious, Cornar stepped into the room. The gaping hole allowed a view to other parts of the crater. He could see other rooms open to the elements. Each looked the same. From what Cornar could tell, they seemed close to the impact point.

  “Let’s leave a marker,” Cornar said, striding to the room’s entrance. He drew his serrated dagger and carved a mark in the doorframe, adorning it with his initials.

  They wound their way southward. Though the rooms were beside each other, not many were close to adjoining hallways. They found hardly anything besides rubble. After a couple of hours, Cornar and his trio caught up to the mark left behind by Ordreth and his group.

  “Well, that was a bust,” Kamdir said, and slumped against the doorframe.

  Cornar, however, strode into the room, stopping at the edge of the gaping opening. If you want me to find this thing so badly, why don’t you tell me exactly where to look? Cornar thought, gazing across the horizon.

  He waited for a moment. But why was he waiting for a reply? This creature from his dreams wasn’t some deity, was he…?

  A light hand rested on Cornar’s shoulder, and he turned, seeing Igan. “We should get back,” he suggested. “This obviously wasn’t the floor we needed.”

  Cornar nodded with a smile. Igan’s levelheaded nature always kept expeditions on track. The wizard could easily set aside his emotions, even in the most perilous circumstances.

  So Cornar led his group back through the twenty-eight floor.

  * * * * *

  The wooded cove was exactly as Solidin had envisioned. He stood at the bow of the Vigilance with Gladis and Kaldarin, each clad in their white armor.

  “The first wave is ready,” Kaldarin said.

  “Good,” Solidin nodded, watching as the sailors readied the longboats.

  The small craft were lowered, filled with members of the Sapphire Guard. Sailors rowed the boats to the surf not fifty phineals away from the Vigilance. Dozens of members of the Sapphire Guard hurried out of the longboats, emptying the boats within seconds.

  As the longboats returned, Teviz sauntered across the main deck. “I suppose I owe you an apology,” the captain said with a grunt. Solidin had heard of Teviz’s surprise when the storm in the Anomalous Corridor suddenly parted and gave them safe passage. Solidin had missed the elf’s shock, having slept through the entire ordeal.

  “You’re fine,” Solidin said in Common, returning his gaze back to the longboats. Another wave of the Sapphire Guard was boarding the boats. “You had no way of knowing I spoke the truth.”

  Solidin returned his gaze to the beach, watching as Fingas led a group of twenty to the east. They vanished beneath a veil of invisibility as they entered the trees.

  Prior to Fingas’s departure, Solidin had received word from his scouts. The Mindolarnians had arrived on the island before the Sapphire Guard. They had moored three of their ships along the island’s piers, but one warship now sailed to the east—undoubtedly meant to enact a pincer strategy against the Vigilance. The moored ships were mostly empty, with only their crew and a handful of soldiers and mages. Fingas was to engage them.

  The main body of Mindolarnians, however, was nowhere to be found. Several scouts searched the area around the towering buildings, but found no trace of them.

  Another group on the beach—led by Silrian—marched to the west. Silrian’s forces were to eliminate any Mindolarnians keeping watch from the mountains or the towering buildings. A few of Silrian’s mages wielded long channeling staffs, which would enable swift execution of anyone watching from Dalgilur’s rooftops.

  With the spies and lookouts eliminated, Solidin and the rest of his forces could search Dalgilur for the rest of the Mindolarnians. Today, you die, half-breed prince, Solidin vowed, then turned to Teviz.

  “Once we are away, cloak the ship,” Solidin said. “If all goes well, we’ll be back sometime tonight.”

  * * * * *

  Cornar and his group were near the stairs leading to the lower floors when an excited shout reached their ears. “Cor!” Nordal exclaimed, “Cor, we found it!”

  Kamdir, his interest piqued, quickened his pac
e. He hurried past Igan and Cornar to join Nordal and Midar, eagerly asking questions about the find. Nordal answered the questions, but turned to his mentor once Cornar was near. “Tinal had to blast a hole in the wall, but we found it.”

  Igan frowned at Tinal. “You… what…?” he demanded. The younger wizard shied away, ashamed.

  “Don’t worry, it wasn’t a support wall,” Nordal said, waving his hand in a placating manner. “And the opening is barely the size of a door. Besides, the walls are thick!” The warrior spread his arms wide.

  Igan cocked his head, staring at Nordal with a furrowed brow. The wizard wasn’t amused.

  “We didn’t discover it until our second pass,” Nordal continued, “but I knew we were missing something. There was just too much space between those two rooms. There had to be something else there—I mean, why would the architects of this place deliberately leave out a room?”

  That intrigued Cornar. A vault? he wondered.

  “Anyway,” Nordal continued, “the room is massive, and only part of its wall was destroyed.”

  “What was in it?” Igan asked, his tone nearly incredulous.

  “Just a plain pillar with a crack,” Nordal said. Then his demeanor changed. His eyes widened with exhilaration. “We can make it seem like something grand… Surely, Kaescis will come investigate it. This will be the perfect trap, Cor!”

  Cornar grinned. “Go find Kalder,” he told Nordal. “Midar, take us to this room. Tinal, wait for Ordreth and any others assigned to the upper floors.” Cornar then turned to Nordal. “Once you’ve directed Kalder, go fetch the others.”

  “Yes, Cor,” Nordal said with a nod, then hurried off.

  It didn’t take long for Midar to guide Cornar and the others to the impact point.

  They came to a pair of double doors leading into an anteroom. Midar said he and the others speculated that this was a usually large dwelling for one of the Keepers. It was that speculation that led Nordal to his decision.

  The men passed through the anteroom and into a large sitting room. Beautiful furniture with golden trim and green velvet cushions was arranged in square configurations throughout the space. A few hallways branched off from this room, on the right and left sides. Midar mentioned that the other rooms of this dwelling were exposed to the elements—on either side of the secret room.