Outside was an older elf dressed as a fery conductor, he noticed Elise state of undress and behind her he could see a male laying in the bed, “They didn't waist anytime,” he thought to himself, “Tickets please.”
Elise holding the door and her hidden dagger in one hand, handed the conductor the tickets with her free left hand, then casually leaned against the door frame giving him something to look at other than Myst.
“Have a nice trip miss, oh passage is expected to take a bit longer today with the head wind, we should reach port in about four and a half, maybe five hours.”
“Thanks, good bye…” she told him cheerfully shutting and locking the door, then taking a small wedge from her bag she wedged it under the door. Anyone kicking it open would find it taking far longer than any attacker would reasonably expect.
A still rather cold looking Myst put his short sword on the shelf next to the bed as she finished with the door.
“Hum, four and a half hours,” She said, “How will we ever kill the time…” With that she jumped back onto the bed and dived under the covers to warm her partner up… “after all, what are friends for…!”
~
Kayla finished the last class of the morning and last class of the week it was about magical probability and wavelength absorption, she decided to head back to her room before going to lunch, what she really needed was a drink after that and she preferred company when drinking, maybe her roommate would be in. What she really wished was to be heading on the boat to Palantar and her husband… It was to sunny and pleasant a day to be stuck here.
Hurriedly she opened the door to her dorm room to find her roommate Sasha Romminas standing before the mirror.
“Kayla! You just missed him, your husband called on the mirror for you.”
Instantly excited, Kayla demanded, “tell me Sasha, hurry up, what did he say!”
“You know it's a good thing you warned me that he might do that Kayla, or it would have scared me to death, it almost did when a man started talking to me when I was alone in the room…”
“Sasha!” Kayla demanded loudly.
“All right, all right… Gee, he said that he had things worked out, whatever that means, and now you could go to the Emperor's Celebration tonight, he said to go to the apartment and change, and if he was not there he would meet you by the Swan Throne in the palace at seven when the party started. So you had better hury hury hury as the ferry to Palantar leaves in about thirty minutes!”
Kayla dashed about the room grabbing what she would need for the weekend, most of her things she might need had already made the trip to there apartment.
She looked over at her roommate, “aren't you coming Sasha, you have a chaperone now!”
“Saddly I can not, I just got word my husband has been injured, I’m taking the next boat to Reynel…”
“He’s not hurt to bad is he,” a concerned Kayla asked.
“He fell from his horse, broke his leg in multiple places, they think at least a month to heal even with magic, so he should be fine, and I get to go home and nurse him back to health.”
“That's great Sasha!” Kayla gave her a hug and ran for the door, “I'll see each other again soon…”
As the door closed Sasha Romminas sadly said to herself, “No, I don’t think we will…”
~
Chapter 14
A very pleased Lord Caiwen Nightsong, Marquis of Savine, Lord High Constable of the Empire of the Sun, sat behind his grand desk reading over the report his adjutant had just given him.
“Everything going to plan as expected… very good. I want you and the rest of our Everaux troops clear well before time.”
“Yes my Lord, the boats are ready, secured and hidden along the east shore, all will be away at six o’clock precisely.”
Captain Damien Favier, stood silently waiting he knew better than to ask questions, he “wasn't paid to ask questions, just carry out his master's will, and of course look dashing while doing so if he must say… well my tailor has this grey and dark blood red uniform looking stunning on me, not that was difficult really. Ah, the future looked so bright, years of planning was about to bring the boss great advancement, and of course for me as well, oh yes, oh yes!”
“Favier,” Lord Caiwen brought his attention back, “It looks like it wasn't necessary to plant the information at the cycle shop for Myst Sunstar to find, that silly Ramzes girl had plans to the machine on her body.”
“One less of the scum my Lord.”
“Yes, Sunstar is following my designs perfectly, and he and Grand Master Kelaborn should be able to deal with the Dark Lord and his minions when they attack the machine.” He broke into laughter, “And that should be the end of our former--- accomplices. Also Sunstar’s wife is on her way back to Palantar, just another redundancy plan incase Sunstar decides to wander of my script.”
Captain Favier smiled, “A masterful idea to convince the Shadow Elves of the need to insure the machine was seized so Kelaborn could not turn it off at the last moment.” Privately he thought that, “It’s not a smart idea to make it personal in that way with Sunstar, he had a reputation for violence. It’s also not quite honorable, but it was Lord Caiwen call, yet if Myst discovered this… one risk too far old man.”
“Yes Damien, but they have no way to know that there is no contingency in effect to turn it off, there probably should have been, well that oversight is not our concern…” He stood up and paced to the window full of energy and excitement, he seldom could stay still for long as it was, and today he was on fire with anticipation, “well too late now, and so much the better. We enter the last stage of the plan, the cursed Empire has,” he looked to the mantal clock, “less than six hours.”
~
In the darkness of the late winter twilight, Dar Krell waited patiently as her mercenaries silently moved into position to attack. She had gathered over five hundred mercs from the far arseholes of the three continents together without attracting notice, that was a worthy feat in itself. They were mostly Horcs like herself, a smaller number of Wild Elves, and a handful of other elves who would put money above all or nurtured some hatred of their own side. As long as they fought well Dar Krell cared not where they came from or their motivation, but fail her and she would slit their throats or strip their hides with her whip…
She was motionless, only her eyes moved, scanning the area. The plan was to have her mercs in place about ten minutes before the attack began to lessen the chance of discovery. She figured they were ahead of schedule, that was fine, better that than late…
The odds where the Sun Elves would not have heavy protection on the secret back door, who would even know about it right. A secret few of the highest ranked elves shared, and the magic concealing it was good, very good. She looked up at the Twilight Keep complex perched some ninety feet above the small beach on a pale sandstone cliff. The beach was only a small three of four acre crescent that disappeared as the forest regained the shore where she was hiding.
In the rocks at the bottom of the cliff was the supposed back door, it’s not that she distrusted the intelligence, well not more than she distrusted anything and everything in general, but it was information she had not confirmed herself so it remained suspect in her mind.
She shifted slightly to look out at the lake, it was too early to see the boats that would bring in her employers, but they were by now on there way, “by Côl Mallen Lord of Coins, they blasted well should be”, she silently swore to the demi-god of money!
Dar Krell had worked for the Shadow Elves for the last five years, so she knew not to trust them. They were making her rich, but the days working for the Kantara Orcs raiding caravans, and certainly before that guarding those same caravan between Naya and Kush had been simpler, just not as lucrative. And that, certainly not ideology was her motivation. All things considered she hoped the psychotic Shadow Elves nothing but death and destruction, but only after she was paid of course.
Dar Krell shifted slightly
as the wind blew the tree she was next too, using its movement to disguise her own, looking east toward the road, she could not see it or the Keep’s gate where the diversionary attack would take place, but she looked to see any movement.
Slowly she shifted back to face her target area, she had developed considerable skill in stealth, something slightly unusual in a person with her large six foot heavily muscled frame. Her dark leather armor also helped, it had been highly magicked as much with stealth as with protection in mind. The armor had cost her thirty thousand silver, but it was an investment well taken, dead she could not enjoy her hard earned wealth. She believed in spending money to make money, a lesson from Côl Mallen teachings.
She caressed the black lacquered wood shaft of her Naginata, also an investment that had paid off. It looked like a simple four foot pole with a wicked two foot long slightly curved blade on the end, a simple weapon from the far east. She chuckled silently to herself, “you could buy a dozen slaves for what it's worth,” preternaturally fast and sharp it was probably the thing she prized most in the world. In her hands it was a wonderfully deadly tool.
The sky darkened as the cloud cover thickened overhead. “Five minutes until the boats should be here, all is ready, only waiting now.”
She smiled in anticipation of battle, as her heart started pumping faster. It was actually a rather pretty smile, her best feature she thought, not that she was ugly, not like those of her orc heritage, but she was not what anyone would call beautiful, there wasn't enough elven blood for that either, most would call her physically impressive or even dangerous, and that was fine with her. Anyway she prefered to pay for sex rather than attract partners, ‘you get the value of what you pay for,’ was her motto.
“Finally!” The shape of three low hulled boats appeared out of the gloom.
~
Anton Amur stood in the center of one of the three long boats, he had no fear of losing his balance, even an earthquake could not cause him to stumble, the powers of a Dark Lord granted him dexterity beyond that of any ‘living’ elf. And the concept of fear was completely foreign to him, he knew that it was something he caused in others, but it was not a part of him. What was, was suspicion, and the necessity of this particular part or the mission had him very suspicious indeed!
He did not trust their Sun Elf conspirators, and he had told Ver Sitha on her pleasure yacht ackered a quarter mile out in the lake, the same thing just a few minutes ago… She had been less than impressed, of course he trusted her far less than the Sun Elves betraying their own country, in fact there was no one he trusted less than that snake eyed devious Head of Foreign Intelligence, the Dread Princess of Night and Shadows. His destruction would weaken the Grand Empress Xoechan and a victory here of this magnitude would increase the Dread Princess’s power enough to challenge her mother.
“No wonder she was smiling as his boat cast off for the trip to the shore. I win she wins, I lose she wins more...” It was not a position he was pleased with. “She would even save on the final payment to the mercenaries under Dar Krell if they got destroyed. Well we dread our leaders for ruthless deviousness”.
“Yes, this is a trap,” he hissed, “I can feel it… and that is, nice, it has been so long since I have felt anything.” He spoke out loud, but the Night Fang assassins with him were too far away to hear. “If I survive, and especially if I’m successful, I may just do the Grand Empress the favor of killing her daughter….” He even chuckled at the thought.
The nearest Night Fang looked over at the strike leader next to him, they exchanged a glance of concerned wonder as no one had ever heard a Dark Lord laugh, the dead don’t laugh…
~
Myst was standing in a vast far underground cavern that stretched miles under the great lake from Twilight Keep and pointed at Palantar Island some thirty miles away. He had not thought to ask if the tunnel went all the way to the Imperial Palace, but somehow the woven magic wound up there, the weave projected right up thru the Throne Room to arch high above and surround the island in protection.
He looked down the tunnel, almost the whole of the cavern was taken up by a bronze and steel cylinder made up of many hundred foot long segments, within each segment the machine turned, alternating segments seem to be clockwise, the others counterclockwise, a vast low humm pulsed from it. Then he noticed some of the segments change direction while others didn't, so he could not see any pattern to it.
He had been warned by Professor Kelaborn to not look with the magical sight, the intensity of doing so would be painful, very painful.
He checked out the control panel for the Great Machine, it looked very much like a big pipe organ in the cathedral, and the two mages in front of it were working various leavers to keep the thing weaving magic, or he supposed that was what they were doing, they could have been composing a symphony for all he could tell.
Professor Kelaborn had left a few minutes ago to check on Elise who was in control of the Keep’s main gate, along with a few hundred students and teachers. The rest of the Masters were spread out along the battlements to counter any attacks. Myst was the last line of defence, at the machine itself.
The ‘control room’ as Kelaborn called were Myst was standing, was simply a half circle about a hundred feet across and thirty feet high, where three tunnels met to form the cavern. The middle one was the main tunnel going up to the Keep’s vaults, the one on the right spiraled up to a hidden door high up in the Archmage's tower, and the one on the left to an emergency escape hatch.
Keleborn assured him that there were only five people who even knew about the last two tunnels and they were warded so that detection or intrusion was impossible.
“Nothing is impossible Professor,” Myst reminded him.
“That is correct Myst,” Keleborn conceded, “but the only non-divine powered creatures that could access either hidden door are someone of my blood or the Emperor's…” He touched a pendant hanging from his neck, “and this tells me that besides myself, everyone else who could open the doors are right now in the Imperial Place thirty miles away. But I’m cautious, so you are here just incase everything goes dreadfully wrong.”
“Is there anyway to shut the machine down Professor, until this situation is under control.”
“Only the Emperor could order a shutdown,” Kelborn then thought a moment, “and even then…” he looked at the control panel, “it would take, more than an hour to stop it. And getting it back up, a day or two with considerable magic spent doing it.”
Myst had watched him go, he was more concerned that his wife was not at the Keep. Professor Tavernier, the headmistress of the girls Tower of White and Gold, had told him that Kayla had taken the ferry to the capital.
“Kayla was in a rush, but from what I understood,” Tavernier explained, “her roommate Sasha Romminas had told her you left a message by a magic mirror to come to the party at the palace this evening. She left on the noon ferry, you probably passed her somewhere in the middle of the lake.”
“What game is this,” he pondered. “I will have have a word with this Sasha when I find her, one she will not enjoy…”
Just them alarm klaxons began ringing in the keep far above.
~
From her belt Dar Krell took a small red magic stick, and as the three boats beached, she broke the signaling stick in half to start the attack on the main gate.
Almost immediately the sounds of conflict erupted from the direction of the Twilight Keep’s main gatehouse. Repeated blast of fireballs detonating and the crackling of lightning bolts told of stiff resistance.
“So they were expecting us… No real surprise. That contingency has been anticipated. The four hundred and fifty mercs attacking the front gate was just a diversion, yes it would have been preferable to find them unprepared, but…”
She waved her fifty best bowmen forward to support the Shadow Elves as they landed. They quickly flowed forward to their new positions and as any of the enemy poked their heads over the Keep�
��s fortifications, the sound of powerful crossbows firing drove them back.
Dar Krell simply had to hold here as well as not have her diversionary force defeated to quickly. “Twenty minutes, that's all the Dark Lord said he needed for them to divert attention. This was the easy part, escaping afterwards with the whole nation looking for them, that would be the true challenge… I’m sure our employers are hoping most of my crew fails to make it back to the secret base at Inasari. It was a hundred miles cross country to where the river boats supposedly were waiting for them in Duveray, along way to run, and was there really riverboats waiting, well she had a contingency plan for that too.”
~
The Dark Lord strode quickly across the beach to where the hidden door was, even using his magic sight there was no sign of it, no detectable magic. The Night Fang assassins flowed past him and most began scaling the wall, another diversionary measure, he would only take a handful in with him.
Before him was the cliff face, he searched it carefully until he found a palm sized smooth section. He reached into his coat, and taking from within his dark armour he produced a glass vial full of a dark liquid.
He took off the stopper and poured the contents on the smooth section of rock… and almost instantly lines of a door appeared, then the section of cliff glided backwards silently, then slid to the side exposing a narrow tunnel.
“Ah the blood of a princess, so much easier to obtain than Kelaborn and the Emperor would have guessed!”
Without a second of hesitation the Dark Lord strode down the tunnel, a few minutes and he would seal off the control room so no one could interfere with the machine, and then he would be back out and back to Ver Sitha pleasure yacht to enjoy the annoyance his return will cause her.
~
“Ser Myst,” called one of the mages operating the machines control panel.
He looked at where she was pointing, a red light was flashing.
“The secret exit door is open!”
Darkness has Fallen (Elf World Saga Book 2) Page 18
