“This is politics, Kirona. Believe me that it is better if our wives are not aware of each of our small decisions that we make in the hope of creating a better world.”
“You might be right, your Excellency.”
The music stopped, the troubadours needed a break to catch some air.
“Thank you for the dance, Baroness.”
“It was an honor dancing with you, your Excellency,” she said, making a bow.
“Baron Telron, I am giving your wife back to you, I will have to retreat to my obligations.”
“Your Excellency, thank you for taking your time to talk to us,” my brother bowed to me.
As night descended, the servants brought out the main attraction, the colorful lampions made of rice paper, of which each guest received one. According to our traditions, the lampions set to fly at this night would make the whispered wishes come true. We lit the candles inside and let them slowly arise to the starry sky. I let mine away next to Victoria. I whispered my wish to the flickering flame without anyone hearing it.
“Andor, thank you for helping me to get here. Give me strength to be able to continue and realize the rest of my plan.”
The lamp lazily began to fly as the warm air led it upwards, then it joined the many dozens of others in the sky. Their faint light was flaring on the dark sky like several glow worms.
“Aren’t they wonderful, Orlond?”
“They are, my love,” I said, playing the role of the caring husband.
“I heard that you whispered something, what did you wish for?” Victoria asked me, taking my arm.
“For us to have a calm and peaceful life,” I kissed her gently.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
In the Shoes of a Duke
Dozens of carriages stormed out of the palace gates when the guests left in the morning. Randar successfully brought my crystal ball back before they returned to the Telron’s land. I could finally start carrying out my ducal obligations, which was the next phase of my plan. As my first order, I commanded the Black Spear legion to march forth to the border area, currently occupied by the East Barbarians and strike them down should they attempt another raid, infiltrating their lands if necessary. I designated Lord Fonderlic marquis to be the commander. Our last conversation indicated that he would be honoured to lead the vanguard of such an attack.
The Duke had a dog called Brutus, big enough to kill a bear. He was apparently an animal lover. It was a real beast, its weight may have even reached over two hundred pounds. Obviously, it smelled me instantly, bristled up its fur and began barking an extremely deep warning. I was forced to have it taken away by the guards and cage it because the fleabag wouldn’t even let me get to the throne. I decided to poison it later on since it would never accept me as its owner. During the day, the Arch Mage had come to see me in the throne hall. A frail, balding man was standing in front of me, wearing a pitch-black mantle. His greyish beard extended down to his chest, he had a tiny tattoo under his left eye, the complicated signs I couldn’t interpret. He was holding a staff of his size, forming an eagle with wide open wings at its end.
“Your Majesty!” he bowed to me.
“Greetings, Motari. What do I owe your visit?”
He frowned and cleared his throat.
“I have new information for your Excellency regarding the unicorn.”
“Regarding what?” I scratched my chin a bit puzzled, I couldn’t recall anything about this.
“A few days ago his Eminence had asked me to look after how to domesticate a unicorn. Don’t you remember this?”
“I remember now, a unicorn.”
“You wanted to give it as a gift to your son.”
“Of course! What have you found, Arch Mage. Pray tell.” I was trying to cover up my confusion.
“I am sorry to say that all the information that I had found proved that it is impossible. These creatures are highly intelligent, they cannot be broken with force.”
“I am saddened to hear this but if there is nothing to do about it, let’s forget about it.”
I have never heard of such idiocy. To catch and domesticate such an ancient animal as the unicorn – it is incredible how little respect humans have towards the world and the creatures living in it.
“One more thing, your Excellency. What did you decide about the fate of the cave leopards? Should I talk to them first and ask them to leave the territories around the city, or would you rather send your people to hunt them down?”
I could sense that Motari was up to something with this question, I had to therefore be cautious with my words. I knew that the Duke was fond of animals, so my answer was ready.
“Well, I believe it would be wiser for you to talk to the animals first and if they leave on their own, we will make no harm towards them. The wild is big enough, they should settle somewhere further away where they don’t disturb our peasants.”
“Your Excellency always takes care of the animals. This reminds me, I haven’t seen Brutus anywhere, where is he?”
I had to come up with a well-grounded reason why I had got rid of the favourite animal of the Duke.
“He was behaving strangely this morning, he might have caught a disease, so I put him in a cage and had the servants take care of him.”
“How interesting. If you have no other requests, I will take measures concerning the leopards, I will be in the tower, should you need me,” he said and bowed.
“You may leave, Motari. I have no further requests.”
I had to be careful with this mage because I sensed a certain suspicion coming from his words. I assume that the lack of memories had blurred the image. I spent the rest of the day arranging boring cases and, in the afternoon, the Duchess came to see me.
“My dear husband, what will our only son receive for his eighth birthday?”
I couldn’t remember when it was exactly so I tried to ask carefully.
“Is it already the time?”
“Can’t you remember?” Her peacock-blue eyes grew wide with fury. “Tomorrow is the twelfth day of the month of Erlion, the warrior hero! The day of the birth of your son! What has gotten into you, Orlond? Are you ill?”
“Of course I remember, it is only that the days are confused in my mind now, I had to issue many decrees within a short time. I am quite fatigued, to be honest.”
“You have never forgotten about the day our son, Arion was born.”
“I am sorry, Victoria, forgive me! I know I have no excuses, I promise it won’t happen again.” I gently grabbed her waist and looked deep into her eyes; she had always loved this.
“You had better, dear husband. And now, leave me alone.” She turned away and pushed me away from her.
I turned around and left the room. May Andor have mercy on me, I have messed this up quite well! I knew I wouldn’t remember everything but I wouldn’t have thought that it would be the birthday of the Duke’s son. I tried to calm myself down and say that this was merely a tiny stumble. The time had come to give a report to the ruling council of my race. Leaving the armada of guards behind, I locked myself into a room and took out my crystal ball.
I whispered the ancient words. The ball flared up, emitting a violet light, and soon the blurry spots formed an image, showing the Council of Elders. They were all sitting around a table, their wrinkles running through their whole body and face, like ditches in the soil. They were expecting my report in their perfect, real shape.
“Council of Elders. May Andor bless you with power and health!”
“You as well, young End’horis,” they all greeted me.
“As you can see, the first phase of my plan was successfully completed. Now I am the monarch of the duchy of Therwold.”
“Congratulations, it was a job well done. We were hoping that you would not fail. However, brother Randar has reported that you did not manage to copy all the memories,” the old man sitting in the center spoke with a creaky voice.
“This is true, master Goromond. I cannot deny th
at but I believe that this will not cause us trouble and I will be able to handle the situation,” I tried to look utterly confident, even if, at the bottom of my heart, I was worried.
“We have started the implementation of the final phase of our plan. You must stand strong, young brother, regardless of the difficulties that the lack of memories impose.”
“I will do my best. I will now start the next phase. I will trigger a war between the neighbouring states and I will use the alliance of the duchies to involve even more countries in the conflict.”
“We are content that your plan will work out well. The assassins are soon going to take care of Ironfist Rondbar, the warchief of the Nightwolves. We will pretend that the duchies had been involved in that orc’s murder. Since Rondbar is the last one to respect the old traditions and to oppose the mingling of orcs with other civilizations, this will surely make his followers who likewise respect the traditions to proclaim a war against the duchies.”
“The timing is perfect, Master. This way I will soon get the reports of our spies about the preparation of the orcs that I can respond to by ordaining precautionary manoeuvres in order to prevent an attack. Within a few weeks, we will set the north ablaze.” I clenched my fist.
“We have heard that the mirror demon that you befriended had been of great assistance to you,” one of the Elders said.
“Yes, it is a peculiar creature. I have never encountered such being. It was with its help that I got hold of the Duke’s body. It has come to my aid several times prior.”
“Do you have a contingency plan?” another elder asked.
“I am really hopeful that it won’t happen but I can reassure you that I have planned the first step to do in that case.”
“Regardless of how remarkable your achievements are so far, make sure to behave in a way that you impose no risk on the identity of the other shapeshifters, especially the ones who had attained important positions. Do you know what to do if you are captured?”
“I am aware of the traditions of our race which I will uphold.”
“Great. We are going to observe your steps. It is no accident that we have entrusted you with this task. Do not abuse this trust. We wish you the best of luck, young brother. May Andor protect you on your way!”
“I will not let you down. Andor protect you.” The crystal ball faded as the connection was over.
Now, at the gate of victory, I can make no mistakes. Only these bloody memories might cause me trouble. I must be on the lookout and silence those who might suspect something. I hid the crystal ball at the bottom of a chest and left the room. Colossus, the guard who was the size of a giant, used to be a ruthless orc warrior but now he serves me as the captain of the guard. He had a rather interesting story from what I gathered. He defeated all the knights and warriors at a jousting tournament, following which, the Duke appointed him to be the commander of his guard, despite the strong opposition of his environment. It was an interesting turn of events that while a century ago they used to be arch enemies, now an orc could be the commander of the ducal guard. He didn’t talk much which is what I liked about him.
“Captain, I would like to go to the treasury. Inform the mage,” I ordered.
“As you wish, your majesty. Knights, form two columns. March!” Colossus yapped.
Descending on an array of steps, we finally arrived to the basement of the palace at the end of the stairs. Apart from massive iron gates, the treasury was also defended by powerful magic. The gates were surrounded by a sinister aura of ebony light and I needed the Arch Mage to deactivate its power. The familiar shape of Motari soon emerged in the blazing flames of the torches.
“You are in need of my assistance, your majesty?”
“Yes, Arch Mage. I need you to deactivate the charms defending the treasury so that I may enter.”
“Instantly, your Excellency. I will need only a minute,” he responded, brushing his fingers through his long beard.
He knocked on the ground twice with his staff forming an eagle with open wings then, muttering some words, he pointed at the door. The magical aura vanished within a second. I stepped there and placed the unique golden key into the lock, turned it once, and following the sound of a click, the lock gave in.
“Open it,” I commanded to my guards. Two of them pushed against the gate which slowly started to move with a metallic clinking noise, revealing the treasure hall.
“Everybody, stay outside,” I said.
Entering the hall, I lit the torches on the wall. Their flames soon shed light upon the chests of varying size that were piled up alongside the walls. They concealed thousands of golden and silver dorens. Precious statues and antique objects lay beside them but these were not what I came for. According to the memories, I had to look for a smaller jewel coffer, which I found in a corner in a little while. I opened the lid and glimpsed at what I was looking for – all kinds and sizes of rubies, diamonds, sapphires and other precious stones were glittering above each other. I grabbed some major pieces and slid them into my pocket. I continued opening a few more coffers to pretend that I was actually checking their content, but this was merely for diverting their attention. I closed everything and left through the massive gates.
“Close it. Motari, activate the magic aura to make sure no one can enter.”
“Naturally.”
He frowned and began concentrating. He made a circle with his staff, stomped it on the ground and the aura emerged again, flashing around the gates.
“You may return to your duties, Motari. I will not need your services during the rest of the day.”
“My lord,” he said and bowed.
He turned around and disappeared at the end of the stairs, I could still hear the noise his staff made on the ground as he was leaving. I locked the door with the golden key and we returned to the upper floor of the palace.
“Colossus, I would like to spend an hour delving in my thoughts. Do not let anyone disturb me.”
“I will not, you can count on that,” the giant orc responded.
I entered the room where I had previously hidden my crystal ball. It is better to make sure that I have a second plan in case the situation deems it necessary, the services of the Alqafka were priceless. I went to a huge mirror and cut my finger. I took the granite statue forming a peculiar creature from my pocket and let my blood drip on it. I didn’t need to stare for long, the familiar figure of Gideur appeared shortly. It stared at me with its emotionless sulphur-yellow eyes as it crawled out on all fours through the mirror.
“Mirror Dweller, I have summoned you to pay you in advance for a future request of mine. I do not know what it will be yet but I will let you know instantly when I call you the next time.”
“Fine, shapeshifter, but the price is higher now, since I don’t know what you will ask from me.”
“Fair. I haven’t come empty-handed. What do you say to these?” I pulled out the stones that I had taken from the treasury.
The pupils of its enormous sulphur eyes expanded more than ever as the light flickered on the surface of the colourful stones. These were not the minor stones I had paid with so far.
“Do you like them?” I smiled.
It snapped its fingers and the stones floated closer in the air. Gideur examined them with the eyes of an expert and snuffed one of them with its trunk. It consumed the stoned amidst loud crunches and pleasure spread on its face as it swallowed the stone slowly.
“How delightful! It has been a century since I had eaten such delicious stones, shapeshifter.”
“I suppose this means that we have struck the deal. Will you appear and fulfil my request when I call upon you?”
“As far as my power allows me, yes. These heavenly bites merit all the efforts.”
“What happened to the real Duke, did he die?” I was curious to know.
“Let’s just say that when he regained his consciousness, he was not thrilled to be where he had arrived. My world is not fit for humans. I can say that he di
dn’t suffer long, he was taken away by a worlond.”
“This worlond is not a very friendly creature, I suppose?”
“Not at all, you can believe me. It lives between the fissures of rocks and emerges only if it senses flesh.”
“Great, this is what I wanted to hear. I don’t want to take any more of your time, I know you don’t like to chat too much.”
“Correct, shapeshifter! I will take my leave.”
It crossed through the surface of the mirror and disappeared in its mysterious world. If I were in need of quick help, I could count on the extraordinary power of the demon. During the rest of the day, I would have to approve the birthday program of Arion, where some relatives, including the mother and father of Victoria were also invited. The parents of the Duke had already died, so this was one less trouble that I had to face.
The next day a smaller crowd gathered to celebrate the birthday of the crown prince, with obstreperous children and irritating relatives alike. There was everything, a birthday cake, giving presents, tedious conversations with relatives. I was talking to the pot-bellied, bewigged Count Delgoro, the father in law of the Duke who emptied his wine glass quite frequently.
“Tell me, Orlond. What are your plans to resolve the food shortage?”
“Together with the Chancellor, we are of the opinion that we will be forced to fill our storages from abroad due to the poor harvest. We simply cannot do anything else.”
“It is rather sad, but the people and especially us, the nobles, cannot suffer from hunger, can we?” he laughed out loud, stroking his fat belly in between bites of a turkey leg.
“We cannot, indeed. Luckily, we have plenty for now.”
“Look at your son, he is now playing with wooden swords. Within a few years he will be wielding real ones.”
“That might be so, although his mother is always desperately worried about him.”
“This is normal. The duty of women,” Victoria’s mother joined the conversation as she came closer. “Tell me, Orlond. Have you made a decision concerning the land of Veyidermer?”
Faceless: The Takeover (The Shapeshifters Book 1) Page 22
