The Warded Box

by Guy Antibes

  “Guards!” called the leader. Jack backed up and let guards rush in. The more people who saw the imposter, the higher the chances word would get out.

  Jack uttered the trigger that made him invisible as he slipped out the wide door in all the confusion. He padded toward the servant’s door and slipped inside, pausing on the landing to catch his breath and recover from the shock. He thought the king would be cleansed from the Black Finger conversion spell. He hadn’t expected a Black Finger to take the place of the king. Where was King Kaleen?

  His next thought was to hurry to tell Ran Maltwill. He fled down the stairs. The whole castle might burst into chaos at any minute. Jack surprised Alky by reappearing when he reached the bottom of the stairs.

  “You succeeded?” the surprised man managed to say.

  Jack shuddered. “When I touched the king to remove the curse, I did something much worse. I uncovered an imposter. We have to leave the castle before they lock everyone in. I can only hope they don’t kill all the dressers and the guards who saw the man.”

  “Follow me and look calm. We will not run. Running is admitting guilt.” The man said as he led Jack to the tunnel and down the stairs. “Now run. I’ll be right behind you.”

  Jack took off not waiting to see if Alky was close. When he reached the Chancellery, Alky was only a few seconds behind him. The man urged Jack on, and soon they entered Ran Maltwill’s office.

  “Close the door, Alky,” Ran Maltwill said.

  “What happened?” the chancellor said to Jack.

  He related the entire dressing experience and took a deep breath before he described putting the Star of Tesoria around the king’s neck.

  “What? Black hair, dark complexion? Did he have a thick beard?”

  “I didn’t notice,” Jack said. “At that point, I realized I needed to disappear.” And he did, literally, Jack said to himself.

  “Bachan Darkwaist has assumed the throne. He is a usurper. If I was on the fence before, I am thoroughly on your side now,” Maltwill said.

  “Can you spread the word?”

  Maltwill nodded. “I know whom I can trust and whom I can’t. One thing I can’t do is go to the Corandian embassy.”

  “The healer. He is still here?”

  Alky nodded. “I have every reason to believe he is.”

  “He can communicate directly with Jorey Balcon, so everyone can be kept informed about what is happening in Gameton.”

  “I will use him,” Maltwill said. “You need to leave as soon as you can. My Chancellery won’t escape the investigation. Bachan Darkwaist and I don’t get along, and now I have no idea where that puts me.” Ran Maltwill looked very worried.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  ~

  J ack, veiled again, slid in and out of the market-goers on his way across the square to the Corandian embassy. He was much more comfortable confined by his armor with his weapons strapped on his body than he was dressed as a servant, he thought, as the way cleared for him. He finally noticed that six castle guards stood in front of the embassy.

  Had they found out it was him?

  Jack found a little alley between the stalls and invoked invisibility from his knife and dodged men and women until he emerged facing the embassy. He looked up into the sky, waiting for a cloud to cover the sun. Invisibility did nothing the stop shadows.

  The time finally came. He spotted a man and a woman walking past the guards. Jack raised his wand and shot a weak wizard bolt at the woman’s posterior. She screamed and slapped her escort.

  A few of the guards sauntered over, and that gave Jack the opening he needed to slip through the gate. He walked around to the back of the embassy and knocked on a garden door.

  A servant came to the door and looked outside but shrugged. Jack groaned as he ended the spell and tapped on the door again. The man opened the door. “How did you get out here?”

  “I am with the grand wizard. Let me in, it is important,” he said pounding on the door, rattling the diamond-shaped panes.

  Jack ran through the doorway and down the stairs to their quarters. He found Lark talking to Helen in a rather intimate way.

  “Come with me. I have important news.”

  “Jack, where have you been?”

  “Gather everyone.” Jack entered Jorey’s suite without asking.

  In a few moments, Jack looked at everyone in the group. He began by telling them where he was taken after losing consciousness and about his learning to be a servant.

  “You are a helper,” Tanner said, “You learned a different kind of helping. What happened next?”

  When Jack came to the spot where he seized on the opportunity to touch the king’s neck, Ralinn put her hands to her mouth. “Something awful happened, didn’t it?

  Jack nodded. “Bachan Darkwaist’s illusion disappeared. He had taken your father’s place as king.”

  “Where is my father?” Ralinn asked, her eyes watering.

  “I don’t know. All I know is that he wasn’t in his quarters, Darkwaist was.”

  Lark looked even more shocked than his sister. “He might be dead. Oh, sweet Eldora,” he said. “That can’t be. I don’t want to be king!”

  Jorey put his hand on Lark’s shoulder. “The country will need you, Larkin. We don’t know what has truly gone on in the castle.”

  “Nothing good,” Jack said. “The Black Finger Society is capable of anything.”

  “It is time to get everyone to act. I will communicate with my wizards, thanks to Jack, Tanner, and Helen. We will spread the news. I was going to say rumors, but it is a fact that Darkwaist impersonated the king.”

  “What can the rest of us do?” Corina said.

  “You can plan whatever you are going to do in the temple, I would imagine. Jack, Ralinn, and you,” Jorey said. “Tanner, Helen, and Lark will stay here and help me make sense of all the pieces. I set everything up, but I don’t know what to do with it all.First I need to inform the ambassador of the latest developments.”

  Ralinn led Corina and Jack to her room across the corridor. Jack sat down. He was very tired and closed his eyes.

  “Time to wake up, sleepy head,” Ralinn said.

  Jack shook his head to rid the cobwebs out of his mind. “How long did I sleep?”

  “An hour,” Corina said. “We have been busy using the same technique we used when you went over the prison layout.”

  “It ends up that Corina knows a lot more about that part of the temple than I do,” Ralinn said.

  “One of my tasks in the temple was to find decorative objects to use in Yellowbird. There are many storage rooms below, but I was shown a corridor that I was told not to take. That is where the sanctuary is.”

  “There are no rooms in the upper floors that have sanctuaries in them,” Ralinn said.

  “I guess there aren’t any signs?” Jack asked.

  Both women laughed softly.

  “I don’t feel it is the right time to go,” Jack said.

  “Do you expect to be told by Eldora?” Corina asked.

  “Maybe. I got the impression that there needs to be a crisis.”

  “There isn’t a crisis right now?”

  Jack looked at the two women. “Not yet, but anything can happen, and the right time could be an hour from now.”

  There was a knock on the door, and Jorey walked in with the ambassador.

  “I just received notice that there might be a fugitive wizard stalking the streets of Gameton. His description matches you.”

  Jack sighed. “Sit down, and I’ll tell you my story again.”

  After Jack finished, the ambassador shook his head. “That took a lot of courage, lad. Weren’t you scared?”

  “I have two friends that needed to know what happened to their father. Unfortunately, I didn’t return with the information they needed.”

  “I found out what I came down here for. They have to be looking for someone else. I will let Dorkansee know what happened in the castle, but not who was respo
nsible for finding out. I’ll be leaving you now.” The ambassador left them.

  Jack sat back and took a deep breath. “Where were we?”

  “You need to memorize the layout. If we go from the top, I can take you to the forbidden area, but if we have to use the passage that Ralinn talked about, it may take a bit longer to find out where I am.”

  “I don’t know if I can help us once we reach the bottom level,” Ralinn said.

  “That is why Eldora wanted Corina to guide us,” Jack said.

  “I really have a use after all? All along I thought I was extra once I learned who you are,” Corina said to Ralinn.

  “You are Eldora-kissed,” Ralinn said. “That should be good enough for a sister.”

  “Former sister,” Corina said.

  “Once Eldora’s, you are always Eldora’s,” Ralinn said.

  “Does that mean me too?” Jack said with a smile.

  “I don’t know what the goddess sees in you,” Ralinn said playfully.

  Jack noticed she didn’t answer his question.

  “So the first attempt is to get in the temple from the front door, and our backup is the passage,” he said.

  “That is the way I see it,” Corina said, rising to her feet and stretching. “When it is time.”

  Jorey walked in the room after a soft knock. “I have news of developments around the city, if you are through. I told the others. Baron Overvale has moved his forces close to the city’s North Gate. A unit of the Panderites has joined with the Jakalan household guards to secure the West Gate, so the royal army can enter the city. The Sparrows are under the direction of the Black Fingers, but they haven’t declared allegiance to the king. They are setting up barriers around the city, but Norris Everlight’s people are tearing them down as soon as they are set up. The Sparrows do not have enough soldiers to man them all.”

  “Is that all?” Jack said facetiously.

  “No. The Kadellians have been trying to infiltrate the castle, but Ran Maltwill is in charge of the royal guard and has proven to be an ally, thwarting them at every turn. Whoever is acting as King Kaleen’s agent hasn’t yet stopped Ran from protecting the castle from foreign troops.”

  “What do we do now?” Ralinn said.

  Jorey looked at Jack. “I want to borrow Jack for a bit if your errand isn’t imminent.”

  “Will it take long?” Jack asked.

  “I need help in escorting Lark to Lady Maltwill’s mansion. My communicators can’t replace Lark announcing that he has assumed the role of pretender to the throne of Tesoria after the exposing of a Black Finger imposter. Rumors have already surfaced of someone seeing King Kaleen at Bachan Darkwaist’s side.”

  “But that just means someone else has disguised themselves,” Ralinn said.

  “Are you sure?” Jorey said.

  “How can I be, but if they didn’t want my father to show his face, why would they do it now?”

  “That is the question, so we will keep pushing. It is my opinion, Ralinn, that if Kaleen were able to show himself, all the maneuverings would not be happening. The royal guard would quell any uprising in the city, and your father would appear to everyone and show them that he is in charge. A disguise can change a person’s features, but not their voice.” Jorey looked at Jack. “Did the king utter a word?”

  “No,” Jack said. “Yes, he did. A single sentence… ‘what have you done?’ One of the servants said it didn’t sound like the king’s voice.”

  “Do you see? That is why the king remains in seclusion.”

  Jack thought that the king might well be dead, but he didn’t mention it to Ralinn.

  “When do we go?”

  “Now,” Jorey said. “Tanner, Helen, you, and I will escort Lark on the trip.”

  Jack nodded to both women. He wished he could do more than nod to Ralinn, but Jorey didn’t pause.

  They left by a posterior gate that dumped them into a maze of alleys. A Corandian showed them the way out. They wouldn’t traverse the square. It seemed that everyone was scurrying about, their arms full of produce and supplies from the market. Jack felt that the citizens of Gameton had finally emulated the fear-laden streets of Yellowbird.

  “We will have to dodge the barricades where we find them,” Jorey said, “so the journey may take longer than expected.”

  Jorey’s comment was an understatement. The end of the street was in the process of being filled with carts and furniture. Men were advancing behind them.

  “Everlight’s men, from the look of them,” Tanner said. “Let’s stop and join them. When the barricade is breached, we can slip through and continue on.”

  Jack pulled out his sword and his wand. He touched Eldora’s box for good luck as the men behind caught up with them.

  “Are you Everlight’s men?” Jorey asked.

  “We fight for Gameton, not for the Black Fingers and their vermin allies, the Sparrows.”

  Jack nearly made a comment that sparrows were tiny birds, not vermin, but the man didn’t look he would be amused by his joking around, so he kept silent.

  “Who are you?” The same man asked.

  “We also fight for Gameton, Tesoria, and we are against anyone who would take away the rights and freedoms of our citizens. That includes the Sparrows on the other side of the barricade,” Lark said. He whipped out his wand and waved it in the air. “For Tesoria!” he shouted.

  The men behind raised their weapons while the four men and Helen attacked the Sparrows. There weren’t nearly as many as those around and behind Jack. He used wizard bolts exclusively until a contingent of five glove-wearing wizards came from their left and began to indiscriminately attack Everlight’s minions.

  Jack and Lark pushed men aside. “Grab something to use as a shield!” Jack urged the men in front to seek out protection before they attacked the Black Fingers. Jack had his cuirass, and Lark wore a leather breastplate courtesy of the ambassador.

  There was only one magician with a truly potent bolt, so Jack moved toward that man. Jack shielded himself from attacks with his sword until there was a clear shot. He dropped the wizard. Another wizard’s bolt bit into Jack’s upper arm, causing him to drop his wand. The wizard moved to finish Jack off, but he raised his sword and shot a bolt from that weapon. The wizard’s mouth was frozen in astonishment as he went down, after which a criminal fighter finished him off.

  Everlight’s men began to clear away the debris. The man who had talked to them before thanked them. “I don’t know your names, but I’ve never seen wizards fight for Norris so well before.

  “We didn’t fight for Norris Everlight,” Lark said. “We fought for Tesoria. The Black Finger Society thinks they have taken over our city, but I won’t let that happen.”

  The man smiled. “You won’t, will you?” The man shook his head and looked at Jack. “You would think he was the pretender, himself.”

  “He is. You’ve been talking to Larkin Waterford. If you will excuse us, we have a meeting to get to.”

  They left the man bowing his head to Lark as Jorey pulled them forward toward their destination. They skirted a few more groups, always on the lookout for belligerents, foe or friend, as they made their way to the now-familiar mansion of Lady Harida Maltwill.

  More guards stood in front of the gates, and Jack saw that as a good thing, considering the instability in the streets. Jorey spoke to the guards, and they went into the courtyard. Three carriages were lined up as they entered the house.

  Harida welcomed Lark in, leaving the rest of them standing on the doorstep. Even Jorey was surprised by the snub, by the look on his face. A servant finally came and let them in. Jorey was summoned to the meeting, leaving Jack, Tanner, and Helen following a servant to the dining room.

  “Feel free to get a start on the refreshments,” the butler said. “The others won’t be too long, according to Lady Maltwill.”

  Jack wandered over to the buffet. “This looks pretty good,” he said.

  Soon all three sat at one
end of the table enjoying food, which was even better than what they were served at the embassy.

  “The time is coming soon, I think,” Tanner said.

  Helen looked a bit distracted as she lifted her head. “What?” she asked.

  “Jack is going to have to go on his errand. This city is going to explode soon.”

  “It has already started,” Jack said. “I couldn’t have said it earlier today, but I definitely have the feeling to get in the temple when we get back.”

  “So here we are, reduced to guards,” Helen said.

  She looked miserable, and Jack felt sorry for her. She had developed some kind of relationship with the wizard, as unlikely a one as he could imagine, and circumstances would end that as thoroughly as circumstances would soon end his time with Ralinn.

  The door opened, and Lark walked in first, smiling along with the other nobles. Lady Maltwill smiled at them but said they could take up positions around the room when their betters came to the table. She didn’t exactly say that, Jack thought, but it felt that way. Jack looked at Tanner and shrugged. He had gone from an active participant in helping Lark take his rightful place to a servant.

  He bit his lip. He was a servant in Tesoria, tasked with two errands, he reminded himself. He had come with Lark to protect him, so he took a deep breath and stepped away after one more bite of food and another sip of light wine.

  Servants whisked the remnants of their meal away, and the table soon filled up as the meeting participants retrieved a wide variety of food from the buffet. At least they didn’t have to wait until the higher-ups were done, Jack thought.

  Jack looked at the various attendees. Lark did have Jorey to protect him anyway. He decided to concentrate on the guards while the others ate.

  It appeared that the meeting had gone well, and the discussion was focused on the timing and location of Lark’s formal declaration of being the pretender to the throne and the demand to see his father in the flesh. If Lark’s father had been killed, the Black Finger Society would have to resort to violence to take over the capital.

  Jack almost missed a guard saying something to Helen and then casually retaking his place against the wall directly behind Lark. The guard moved his hand onto the hilt of his sword. Jack’s hand went to his wand, since the man was on the other side of the table. He tried to keep his gaze elsewhere as he slipped the wand out. He couldn’t believe someone would attempt an assassination in this room with so many witnesses, but this had to be a suicide mission.