“Tell me how it is,” Wolfric demanded, “that you’re here when your barony has fallen under the control of an enemy nation? Why are you not back in your castle plotting how best to wrest control of the portion of our southern province seized by Rolan? Why did I find out a chunk of my kingdom had been usurped by Rolan not by the baron responsible for ruling it, but by my chief councilor who was traveling around cleaning up messes left by my nobles instead of being here to advise me? And lastly, my lord, why did my guards have to drag you out of a cheap whorehouse to face this inquisition instead of you showing up on your own as is your duty?”
Wolfric’s voice had been rising with each question until the last one was shouted at full volume. The nobles in front of Otto were muttering in low, nervous voices. Perhaps this was the first time they’d heard about the loss of territory in the south.
“Your Majesty, I often spend my time in the capital so I can be close to court. My seneschal has always managed my territory with skill and wisdom. I trusted him to handle any problems that might arise in my absence. It seems I erred in my judgement. Please forgive me and let me prove that I deserve my position.”
“Very well,” Wolfric said. “When the time comes to reclaim your territory, you shall lead the charge against the invaders.”
“Lead the charge?” The question came out as a squeak.
“Absolutely. Think how inspired our soldiers will be to see such a brave noble leading the way. In the meantime, you’ll be my guest here at the palace.”
The nobleman lowered his head. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
Wolfric finally looked up to see what effect his words had on the crowd. His gaze landed on Otto and he waved him forward.
“Welcome back, my friend.”
Otto bowed when he reached the throne. “Majesty. It is good to be back.”
“Please, give our fellow nobles the latest news from the front.”
Otto knew better than to give them all the news. “The Northern Army has reclaimed all the territory taken by Straken and delivered a heavy blow to their forces. There can be no fear of them returning next year to try and take back what they’ve lost. Unfortunately, the snows have begun and we were unable to take Marduke. The army is on its way home. When spring arrives, we will return and finish what we started.”
The assembled nobles gave a great cheer.
When they quieted, Wolfric said, “Spread word of our victory far and wide. Court is finished for today and I’m ordering three days of celebrations.”
There was another cheer and the nobles began filing out.
When they’d all gone and the doors were sealed Wolfric asked, “How are things truly?”
“Everything I said just now is true. However, it wasn’t snow that kept us from taking Marduke. Rolan and Tharanault sent help through the portal, including nearly a hundred wizards. There was no way we could defeat them with what we had so I encouraged the general to retreat. He wasn’t pleased, but there was only a week or two at most before winter arrived in earnest, so it wasn’t worth the risk.”
Wolfric’s scowl was deep and went all the way to his eyebrows. “I thought you told me the wizards would rise up and help us, not fight for their masters.”
“Every wizard had a soldier beside him with a drawn blade and I assume they have families back in their home countries. Even so there was no way they attacked with their full strength. Anyway, the wizards aren’t the real problem. Once our team is complete, we’ll be able to defeat them in battle. The real problem is the portals. As long as they can bring in food and soldiers instantly from all their allies, we can’t wear them down enough to win.”
“The portals are beyond our control.”
“Not necessarily. I’ve been studying how they work and I believe there’s a way to seize control of them. I’ll be spending the winter researching my theories, but if I’m right, we’ll be able to swoop in and take control of all the nations’ capitals in one shot. Whether I can do it or not is the big question. Time will tell. In the meantime, we have a prisoner that needs interrogating.”
Wolfric brightened. “I’ve been so busy with foolish nobles I’d forgotten about Kelten. Questioning him will do me good.”
“Perhaps after lunch? I’m starving.”
Wolfric laughed. “Of course, my friend. It’s not like he’s going anywhere.”
Stuffed with delicious food, Otto, Wolfric, and Commander Borden descended to the palace dungeon. There weren’t actually that many prisoners. Aside from Kelten, there was a butler that was caught stealing and a guard accused of rape who was due to go on trial in a few weeks. Those two were kept well away from the star prisoner, mostly so he couldn’t poison them against the king, not that anyone really cared about a pair of criminals’ opinions. It was easier to keep them apart than risk them hearing too much and having to kill them.
The dungeon itself was far nicer than the one under Castle Shenk. There was no mold on the walls, or water running along the smooth stone floor. At the end of a short hall was the torture chamber. Two guards had strapped Kelten to an X-shaped vertical rack and removed his tunic. Kelten had lost weight during his stay and his ribs were clearly visible. His hair was ragged and filthy. Only his eyes showed signs of life as they stared holes through Otto and Wolfric.
“I don’t care what you do,” Kelten said. “You’ll not get a word out of me.”
“Shall I heat the pokers?” Borden asked.
Otto looked from Kelten to Borden and back. “I’m not sure what you two think is going to happen here. Torture is such a crude means of extracting information. Mental manipulation through magic is much more effective.”
He bound Kelten’s eyelids open and conjured thin but dense threads of ether. Unlike when he hypnotized Lothair, Otto wasn’t trying to program Kelten, he just wanted to unlock his memories. Opening his mind wasn’t all that different than picking a lock. You just inserted ether into the correct part of his brain and twist at the right moment.
“How did you find out about Wolfric’s involvement in his father’s assassination?” Otto asked.
In his magical vision a tiny point in Kelten’s brain lit up. That was the memory he needed. Two needles of ether acted like pry bars and pulled the information out through Kelten’s mouth.
“During my interrogation of the tavern keeper Allen, he mentioned the name Hans. I knew Hans was one of Wolfric’s most trusted soldiers. There was no way he was involved without his master’s permission.”
It seemed Otto was going to have to have a chat with Allen later about being more careful with his words.
“Who else knows about this?” Otto asked.
“Commander Trask of the city watch. He helped me find Allen so I could question him again and he also found the witness that detailed the battle in the slums where you and Hans captured Lothair.”
“I ordered Trask to drop the investigation,” Wolfric muttered. “I’ll have to replace him.”
“He is quite old,” Otto said. “Old people die all the time. Tomorrow morning someone will be getting a promotion, hopefully someone more loyal.”
“I know the perfect person,” Borden said.
Wolfric nodded. “See to it.”
“Leave him alone!” Kelten shouted. “Trask is a good man just doing his duty.”
Wolfric lashed out, punching Kelten in the jaw. “His duty is the same as yours was, obey your king. How hard is that? I’m not asking you to bring about world peace or swim across the bloody ocean, just do as you’re told.”
“There is no honor in obeying an illegitimate king,” Kelten said.
Wolfric punched him a second time.
Before the king could scramble their prisoner’s brains any more than he had Otto asked, “Do you have any other questions? If you want to beat him to death it’s okay with me but getting information out of a damaged brain is harder.”
Wolfric glanced at Borden who shook his head. “I think we’re good.” He turned to Otto. “You’ll take care o
f Commander Trask?”
“Of course. I’ll make it look like he died in his sleep. No one will know otherwise. If you’ll excuse me, I have a few other matters that require my attention.” Otto bowed and withdrew. While he was no longer sickened by it, he still didn’t have a taste for torture and was just as happy to leave before matters got too unpleasant.
Besides, a ton of work required his attention before he could go consult with his master about the portal issue. The sooner he got started on that the better the odds that he’d figure it out by spring.
Chapter 52
Afull day later than he’d hoped, Otto appeared in the large chamber at the top of his master’s hidden tower. The room was an unchanging sanctuary, a place where the many problems of the world could be forgotten, or at least ignored for a while. He’d spoken to Allen and was convinced that he’d had no intention to betray them to Captain Kelten. He just spouted one word too many. When someone had a sword to the throat of your friend, things like that happened.
His punishment had been to order Allen to write down everything that happened while Otto was out of the city. It should make for interesting reading. Killing Trask had been a simple matter. A single thread of lightning directly into his heart had killed the man in his sleep without a sound. Right now, Borden should be installing his chosen replacement into the vacant position. With any luck, this purge should be the move that fully secured Wolfric’s rule. It would be nice to have the homeland under control so Otto could focus on external foes.
He turned and found his master’s green-tinged face filling her magical mirror. Otto bowed to her with a great deal more sincerity than he did to Wolfric.
“You have that look in your eye, Apprentice,” she said.
“What look is that, Master?”
“The hungry one that tells me you have many questions.”
Otto smiled. Was he really that obvious? “I won’t deny it. We’ve made great progress, but our final victory in the north was cut off by reinforcements that arrived by portal. I have a theory about the portals, but I don’t understand them well enough to know for sure if I’m right.”
“Tell me.”
“I thought that there should be some way to transfer control of the portals from the one in Markane to the one in Garen while at the same time reactivating our own portal. If we could do that, it would be easy to swoop in and seize control of the other nations’ capitals and at the same time prevent anyone from sending reinforcements.”
“Given what you’ve told me about how Valtan has altered the portals’ functions, I believe you are correct.” Otto’s heart leapt. “However, the process will be a long and difficult one. And once you’ve secured control, there’s nothing preventing your enemies from taking it back through the same process.”
“I never believed it would be easy,” Otto said. “But if it can be done, the work doesn’t deter me.”
“Excellent answer. Shall I begin explaining what needs to happen to turn the pig Valtan’s greatest accomplishment against him?”
“One more quick question if I may. When I was in Straken, I found a hidden workshop, something far different from the armory. It had pits and shackles. I’d never seen anything similar.”
“You found my fleshpits. I never imagined you’d stumble on them. That workshop was used for shaping flesh and creating monsters. I never had great talent for the process despite Lord Azteca’s personal training. Those skills are still far too advanced for you. Best if you focus on bringing the continent under your control then completing your transition to Arcane Lord. Once that’s done, you’ll have all the time in the world to master any magic you desire.”
Otto grinned. He liked the sound of that.
He took an empty notebook out of his satchel along with a writing kit. “I’m ready when you are, Master.”
“Then let us begin.”
Author Note
Hello everyone and thanks for reading The Great Northern War. I hope you’re enjoying Otto’s story. Things only get worse in the next book when he’s forced to give up the thing he values most, control.
The Portal Thieves follows some of Garenland’s top spies as they try to infiltrate the other nations and complete a dangerous mission.
I hope you’ll check it out.
James
Also by James E Wisher
The Portal Wars Saga
The Hidden Tower
The Great Northern War
The Portal Thieves
The Master of Magic
The Dragonspire Chronicles
The Black Egg
The Mysterious Coin
The Dragons’ Graveyard
The Slave War
The Sunken Tower
The Dragon Empress
The Dragonspire Chronicles Omnibus Vol. 1
The Dragonspire Chronicles Omnibus Vol. 2
The Complete Dragonspire Chronicles Omnibus
Soul Force Saga
Disciples of the Horned One Trilogy:
Darkness Rising
Raging Sea and Trembling Earth
Harvest of Souls
Disciples of the Horned One Omnibus
Chains of the Fallen Arc:
Dreaming in the Dark
On Blackened Wings
Chains of the Fallen Omnibus
The Aegis of Merlin:
The Impossible Wizard
The Awakening
The Chimera Jar
The Raven’s Shadow
Escape From the Dragon Czar
Wrath of the Dragon Czar
The Four Nations Tournament
Death Incarnate
Aegis of Merlin Omnibus Vol 1.
Aegis of Merlin Omnibus Vol 2.
Other Fantasy Novels:
The Squire
Death and Honor Omnibus
The Rogue Star Series:
Children of Darkness
Children of the Void
Children of Junk
Rogue Star Omnibus Vol. 1
Children of the Black Ship
About the Author
James E. Wisher is a writer of science fiction and fantasy novels. He’s been writing since high school and reading everything he could get his hands on for as long as he can remember.
To learn more:
www.jamesewisher.com
[email protected]
The Great Northern War (The Portal Wars Saga Book 2) Page 24
