by Jason Kenyon
Elsim Redrock was the first to knock on his door, and Bartell invited the man in with a quick glance to check that nobody had seen the clerk. Elsim’s true role was known to just a handful of people in the kingdom, mostly his enemies, and Bartell did not want anyone to know how often he was plotting with the little man. If so, they might get defensive, and that would foul matters up.
Although not that much. Really, there was nothing anybody could do to foil his plans.
To the left of Bartell’s desk a grand window opened up on the kingdom of Valanthas, showing much the same view as the throne room, which was a couple of corridors across from him. Now, though, dark clouds had swooped in, and rain lashed at the windows, gathering in pools at the bottom.
‘My lord, what did you want to see me for?’ Elsim asked, his voice strangely loud despite the storm outside. Bartell was a bit worried about the clerk, to be honest. He had come back rather strange, and he seemed to creep a lot more than usual.
‘Putting aside the farce that took place earlier, did you notice anything important when that mage and his friends were there?’ Bartell asked.
‘They were all laughing along with everyone else,’ Elsim replied. ‘But not I, my lord, not I. No, I was very angry, sir…’
‘Enough of that,’ Bartell said. ‘I hate crawling. You noticed nothing of interest?’
‘The mage muttered to the others twice,’ Elsim replied. ‘Might have been plotting, my lord, plotting against you.’
‘That would be no surprise,’ Bartell said. ‘It matters little anyway. I have already plotted their downfall. We can fit it in with the rest of our business after the feast. I’m rather looking forward to it.’
‘Oh good, sir,’ Elsim said. ‘Shall I see to it?’
‘No, this shall be my duty,’ Bartell replied. ‘And Sen’s. After all, this mage comes from Melethas. I fear that Sen may be responsible for him, in which case the old mage can teach him another lesson.’ He smiled, and the shadows swallowed up his eyes. ‘There will be none of his kind anyway, once we have everything contained.’
‘I do hope so, sir,’ Elsim said.
‘You need not hope, Redrock,’ Bartell said. ‘It is a certainty. I have decided it is to happen. Therefore, it will.’
‘Marvellous,’ Elsim said, and there was not a trace of sarcasm in his voice.
Bartell couldn’t bear the man most of the time, but circumstances had forced him to employ the fellow. After all, Elsim was excellent at ensuring the accounts were in order… and at settling accounts, too.
‘Now then, I want to know about these reports I have been hearing from the Forest of Gale,’ Bartell went on, shifting some papers on his desk. ‘It says here there was a large demon sighted there, and I believe that you said that knight had killed one.’
‘That is so, my lord,’ Elsim said. ‘They called it the Shadow.’
‘I couldn’t care less about the name,’ Bartell said. ‘However, I will not abide demons on my land. Demons are often warning signs of dark magic, and after the trouble we had with the last necromancer, I do not intend to let one get a hold here. Especially when the barrier goes up in a few days.’
‘Well, I had heard there were a couple of skeletons upsetting people,’ Elsim said. ‘I dismissed it as silly people thinking silly things.’
‘You probably weren’t wrong, but still…’ Bartell tapped a finger on his chin. ‘Gather some men together and send them up to scout the area. I do not want a necromancer fouling everything up.’
‘As you wish, my lord,’ Elsim said. ‘Anything else?’
‘Aren’t we eager today?’ Bartell said. ‘Very well, one other duty. I want you to set spies on every one of those nobles who were at the meeting today. If they say anything about that lie to anyone, I want them and the ones who heard the tale eradicated! The new dominion will not work if people are laughing at me.’
‘Nobody would dare,’ Elsim said. ‘Look at the Dusk Alliance. They aren’t laughing now.’
‘Well, indeed,’ Bartell said, smiling. ‘Even so, I want everything to run smoothly. This irritating mage has already interrupted our plans enough. There shall be no more surprises.’
‘My lord, everything shall be as you have commanded,’ Elsim said.
‘Just make sure it is,’ Bartell said. ‘Off you go. I am expecting another visitor.’
The little clerk bowed his head and scuttled out of the room. A cold draft whisked around Bartell as the door opened, and he shivered. So much was now at risk, everything gambled on this plan of theirs. Still, with what they already had, coupled with what they were due to obtain, they would be unstoppable. What was there to worry about?
There was a knock at the door, and shortly afterwards Akarith was shoved through. She flashed him a quick smile and he could not help but smile back. The soldier who had brought her looked as though he wanted to keep an eye on her, but Bartell motioned him out of the room. He was more than a match for her now, although it hadn’t always been so.
‘Well met, Akarith,’ Bartell said. ‘Come over here and sit down.’
The assassin, whose hands were still bound, did so with a certain amount of reluctance. At least Bartell had conceded to allow her feet to be unbound this time. Bartell waved at a chair and she sat herself down. The Lord of Aldrack eyed her up and down, and her eyes narrowed with mock anger at his lengthy perusal.
‘Enjoying yourself, milord?’ Akarith asked.
‘As ever,’ Bartell replied. ‘You’ve certainly changed since the last time we met before today.’
‘So have you,’ Akarith said. ‘You’ve become fat, Auber.’
‘All muscle, I assure you,’ Bartell said, grinning. ‘You’ve certainly plumped up a little, my dear. You were a slip of a girl back then.’
‘You haven’t lost your charm, Auber,’ Akarith said with a snort. ‘You still know just what to say to a girl.’
‘Oh, bah,’ Bartell said. ‘I never said you weren’t beautiful. Because you still are, Akarith. You always will be, too.’
‘You’ll never stop trying, will you?’ Akarith asked, rolling her eyes. ‘You know I will never settle down with anyone.’
‘I don’t know for certain,’ Bartell replied. ‘How about it? Lady Akarith of Aldrack.’
‘Wouldn’t the people have something to say about that?’ Akarith asked.
‘The people won’t have any say soon enough,’ Bartell replied.
‘Oh?’ Akarith blinked. ‘Whatever are you up to, Auber? Planning a rebellion?’
‘More than that,’ Bartell replied, pouring two glasses of wine and pushing one towards Akarith. He walked around to Akarith and paused just before cutting through the ropes around her wrists. ‘Promise not to bite?’
‘Oh, all right,’ Akarith replied, grinning.
Bartell cut the ropes and dropped them on his desk. ‘We did have some times, eh? Just you and I.’
‘Those were the days,’ Akarith said. ‘You running around swinging your sword, and me stabbing anyone who was still standing… good times.’
‘Indeed they were,’ Bartell said. ‘If only they had never ended, eh?’
‘Heroes and lovers forever, is that what you want?’ Akarith asked.
‘Why not?’ Bartell asked. ‘Heaven knows we fought for it.’
‘It could never have been,’ Akarith replied. ‘You were always too much of a nice boy. I had too many shady ties. Once everything ended we had to part.’
‘Perhaps so,’ Bartell said with a sigh, dropping down into his chair. ‘But Akarith… I have to ask, why did you raise the Dusk Alliance against me?’
‘Don’t be so arrogant, Auber,’ Akarith replied. ‘I wanted revenge on all of Valanthas. It was just unfortunate that you were nearby.’
‘I don’t want to execute you, Akarith,’ Bartell said.
‘You pronounced my sentence to everyone,’ Akarith said, her eyes darkening. ‘There isn’t any way out now, unless I escape.’
‘You couldn’t manag
e that,’ Bartell said. ‘In any case, what was said today matters not a whit. It was what one might term a stalling tactic. Big things are coming, Akarith. Perhaps I am no longer the nice boy I once was.’ He smiled into his wine glass. ‘Or perhaps it is because I am still the nice boy.’
‘Whatever are you going on about?’ Akarith asked.
‘Recently Sen uncovered traces of the lost tomb of Vortagenses,’ Bartell replied. ‘Legends tell of the incredible power that Vortagenses sealed there – the power to save the kingdom from some undefined threat.’
‘I know,’ Akarith said. ‘That’s why I wanted to get the staff.’
‘Oh, the staff is nothing by itself,’ Bartell said. ‘It is not the power Vortagenses left behind. But it is the key. Anyway, to go back a bit, I sent him a team of men to help him excavate the area in question. It happened to lie at the bottom of some old mines, and we entered to find some incredible caves filled with crystals, that Sen imaginatively dubbed the Crystal Caverns. Hidden deep within these caverns is the tomb.’
‘How exciting,’ Akarith said.
‘You never cared much for magical history, did you?’ Bartell asked. ‘Ah well, leave that to me and Sen. We haven’t managed to find the entrance to the actual burial chamber itself yet, but we are working on it. The power within is said to grant the bearer the power of a creator. In essence, the one who obtains it will become a god!’
‘You sound like Tel Ariel,’ Akarith said. ‘I think you’ve had a bit much wine, Auber dear.’
‘Forget the wine,’ Bartell said, leaning towards her. ‘This is an incredible opportunity, Akarith. Don’t you understand? The Light created the world, yes? With this power, one could, in essence, recreate everything.’
‘Why?’ Akarith asked.
‘Oh, wake up, Akarith!’ Bartell said. ‘When we won that war years ago we all thought it would create a perfect world, but it didn’t. Why else did you start stirring things up with your Dusk Alliance? Revenge on a kingdom that had wronged you.’
‘I suppose,’ Akarith said.
‘People went back to their own petty corruptions,’ Bartell said. ‘Even you did. You became an assassin, for heaven’s sake! And there I was trying to stop your kind right after the war. Did I succeed?’
‘Not really,’ Akarith replied, smiling.
‘No, because nobody learnt anything from the war,’ Bartell said. ‘For the most part people stood together during the war, and once again there was trust. Yes, thieves grew in power, but they should have been the last of their breed. The world we won is a very cynical world, Akarith. Everyone deals in money purely for the sake of money. There is no desire to help one’s neighbour, no care for others at all.’
‘So what?’ Akarith asked. ‘That’s just the way it is.’
‘But it needn’t be,’ Bartell said. ‘Why should we let things continue as they are? When all of us fought in the war and sacrificed so much, why should we now roll over and let the rest of the world – those who came after – trample on us? People have become selfish, and that is where the problem lies.’
‘People were selfish before,’ Akarith said.
Bartell’s fist struck the desk, and wine slopped across the papers. ‘But they weren’t during the war! For that glorious time people knew the true value of life! Damn it, Akarith, don’t you remember? What dreams we had of the time to come, if we could just stop Tel Ariel! What I envisaged was the society that developed during the war, when people cared for each other, but without the war and without the thieves.’
He held out his forefinger and thumb. ‘People were this close to perfecting it, Akarith. But they slipped back. They let it go. They lost what could have been true enlightenment.’
‘We knew our dreams could never be true,’ Akarith said. ‘The world doesn’t work like that, Auber, and it never will.’
‘Not with the world as it is,’ Bartell said. ‘But say this power does exist. Say we could reshape the world as we dreamt. What then?’
‘Another lovely dream, Auber,’ Akarith replied. ‘I need more wine.’
Bartell fortunately had another bottle handy, along with several others that lived in his desk, and he poured a glass for her. ‘Magic is the province of dreamers, Akarith. Once, Sen was the only one of us three who was a true dreamer. Now, though… now, things have changed.’
‘Do tell,’ Akarith said. ‘Enlisted at the Mage School, have you?’
‘Don’t be ridiculous,’ Bartell replied. ‘No, I went to a different source for my “training”, such as it was. I went to the Dusk Alliance.’
‘I sold to a lot of people, Auber,’ Akarith said. ‘You would have only been able to buy one item at most.’
‘Not quite right,’ Bartell said. ‘In actual fact, every single buyer was me.’
‘Liar.’
‘No, it’s true,’ Bartell said. ‘The soldier who went on a rampage was just a gullible fellow I tricked to lull you into a false sense of security. I got every last object you sold, and believe me, they have come in handy.’
‘I’m sure they have, Auber,’ Akarith said. ‘And how strong is this wine?’
‘You may mock,’ Bartell replied, ‘but perhaps you would like to tell me about the cloaked man who destroyed your base.’
Akarith’s smile went in a flash. ‘No, you don’t mean…’
‘Oh yes,’ Bartell said. ‘You have to remember I was a little displeased at your rebellion at the time. It was me that day, destroying your little band of thieves. That was a test to see if these items would really do what your men told me they would.’
‘You bastard,’ Akarith said. ‘You ruined everything!’
‘Calm down, your rebellion was due for a bit of payback from the army anyway,’ Bartell said. ‘You didn’t think that such a crude display could really trouble the kingdom? Valanthas is more powerful than you understand. Certainly I do not intend to pull my punches when I turn on it.’
‘We could have done it,’ Akarith said. ‘We were growing fast… we would have…’
‘…Been killed just the same,’ Bartell said. ‘Although maybe less would have died. Ah well. That was the price for crossing me. We are even now.’
‘We’re even if I say we are,’ Akarith said, her eyes dangerous.
‘Don’t be so hostile,’ Bartell said. ‘It doesn’t suit you.’
‘I hate you,’ Akarith said, a grin breaking onto her face despite her best efforts. ‘You always were out for yourself above all things. And you always wondered why I wouldn’t…’
‘Enough of that,’ Bartell said, a momentary shadow passing across his face. ‘What is important is that already I am powerful enough to take down groups of mercenaries alone.’
‘Only when you take them by surprise,’ Akarith said.
‘You think it would have transpired any differently?’ Bartell asked.
Akarith thought about this for a moment. ‘Hmm, maybe not. Go on then, Auber. Tell me this brilliant scheme of yours.’
‘You’ll come round to my point of view soon,’ Bartell said. ‘Some of the other items have another purpose, which I will put into play in just a handful of days.’
There was a knock at the door, and Bartell felt a flash of anger grip him at the interruption. He cast it aside for the moment and called for the knocker to enter. He laughed when he saw who it was.
‘Ah, Sen, you have arrived just in time!’ he said.
‘It looks to me as though you might want to be alone,’ Sen said, eying Akarith as he wandered over to the desk. ‘And who is this ravishing beauty here?’
‘You haven’t forgotten me, have you?’ Akarith asked, beaming.
‘Could I possibly forget you, Akarith?’ Sen returned, bending and kissing her hand. ‘It has been a long while.’
‘Too long,’ Akarith said. ‘Auber was just telling me about some mad scheme of his.’
‘Of his?’ Sen asked, frowning. ‘I came up with most of it.’
‘Pardon me,’ Bartell said. ‘You
know how it is. One must always impress the ladies.’
‘You two should have got together years back,’ Sen said, drawing over a chair. ‘I never understood why you didn’t.’
‘She was a thief, I was a mighty general,’ Bartell said.
‘It wouldn’t have worked,’ Akarith said.
‘It would have worked just fine,’ Sen said. ‘Still could. Pass me a wine glass, Auber.’
‘Can’t promise any wine,’ Bartell said. ‘She’s already drunk most of it. In fact, looks like she drank these last bottles by herself.’ He opened a drawer and grabbed a fresh bottle.
‘Oh rubbish,’ Akarith said. ‘That was you. I bet it was because of what I said in front of all your real friends.’
‘Those idiots will be the first to suffer when things are set in motion,’ Bartell said, pouring Sen a drink. ‘I despise them all. But why did you make that nonsense up anyway?’
‘You were about to put me to death,’ Akarith replied with a shrug. ‘What did you expect? Anyway, I didn’t make it up. You mean it isn’t true?’
‘Yes!’ Bartell replied. ‘It certainly is not true. You can check if you like,’ he added with a grin.
‘Might take you up on that, Auber, if you’re nice to me,’ Akarith said.
‘So who told you that rubbish?’ Bartell asked.
‘What rubbish?’ Sen interrupted.
‘I thought Auber had managed to remove his you-know with one of my magical objects,’ Akarith replied.
‘Oh, too bad, Auber,’ Sen said. ‘I imagine that went down a treat in front of the entire court.’
‘Shut up, Sen,’ Bartell said. ‘It was dreadful. They’ll pay for it in due time. But where did you hear this rumour, Akarith?’
‘It was that mage who brought me in,’ Akarith replied. ‘I shouldn’t have trusted a word he said.’
‘Archimegadon?’ Bartell asked. ‘That bastard is really starting to annoy me! I shall make sure his punishment hits home to the core!’
