Kingdoms and the Elves of the Reaches: Omnibus

by Robert Stanek

  “Even you, Edward?” Vilmos looked up from the board.

  “Especially me,” said Edward as he captured one of Vilmos’ fools.

  “I thought you were my friend. Do you know the shaman, Xith?”

  “I do.”

  “And?” Edward took a deep swig from his mug and then made his next move but didn’t answer. “And?” repeated Vilmos.

  “I’ll tell you one thing Vilmos, and you remember this clearly—and you remember that I’m the one who told you.” Edward sucked at the air nervously, emptied his mug in one great gulp. “You have no friends in this realm or any other—nor will you ever have any true friends. Those you count as friends will all betray you.”

  Vilmos blinked several times to be sure he was sitting with the same gentle giant that he had come to know in these past few hours. He found darkness and bitterness in Edward’s words but strangely he wasn’t upset or frightened by them. “Your truth?” asked Vilmos.

  “It is my truth.” Edward filled his mug and said nothing further.

  Vilmos turned his attention to the game as well.

  The two played late into the evening, with Vilmos losing many games and winning none. Eventually his skills and strategies improved though. By the evening’s end he was providing ample challenge for the astute master of King’s Mate.

  Chapter Thirteen:

  The High Council

  “She is really quite remarkable,” said Jacob. “This is the first time I really got to talk with her.”

  “Yes she is,” said Adrina. “Who is that with her?”

  “Father Francis. He is here for the council session. He wanted to help out.”

  Knowing the other’s nature Adrina said, “More like he couldn’t wait to see our guests.”

  Jacob smiled and nodded. The two talked for a time, turning from conversation about Seth and Galan to various other subjects, chief of which was the council meeting tomorrow. Adrina was attempting to wedge herself into a seat, and as she talked to Jacob she thought of ways to convince her father. She didn’t want to miss anything that went on within those walls, and if she had it her way, she wouldn’t.

  Eventually Father Francis joined them in the hall. Adrina didn’t know much about Francis, only what she had heard from others. She hated to pre-judge someone, but his reputation preceded him. He did appear to be as inquisitive as she had heard, but other than that, she couldn’t confirm the other things. He seemed conservative and knowledgeable. Perhaps that was the reason Jacob had chosen Francis to accompany him today.

  The three talked at length. Father Francis was curious about every detail Adrina could give him about Seth and Galan. He pondered her every word and she marveled at his great consideration. By the time the two priests departed, she had a totally different opinion of the pious Father Francis.

  Adrina? came the whisper into her mind, the voice was pleasant and feminine. Before she realized whose voice it was, Adrina looked about the vacant hall. Princess Adrina, are you listening?

  “Yes,” said Adrina in kind with a whisper, although it was aloud and not a thought. “Can you hear me? I thought you were sleeping.”

  Not really. Come into the room. The door swung eerily open at Adrina’s touch. Galan had been trying to sleep but many thoughts clouded her mind. Images of all sorts, pleasant and unpleasant. I heard your voice from the hall. Have you been here long?

  “What is your home like?” asked Adrina, a thought she had considered but until now had been afraid to ask.

  Galan answered with, It is hard to explain. I do not know what to compare it with. I have not seen your world, your… Galan borrowed the word from Adrina’s mind. Great Kingdom is unknown to me for the most part. I know only what I’ve seen in the south and now here in Imtal.

  Adrina frowned. She had hoped to learn more about the elves, anything at all would have helped—this frustration readily filtered to Galan. Adrina had given her and Seth so much. Galan wanted to repay that debt in part, a token of some sort.

  “Tomorrow at noon, the council will meet,” said Adrina. “They wish you and Seth to attend. Do you think you will be able?”

  Don’t worry so, Princess Adrina. This is the reason we came across the great sea. We must speak before your council. It is what we were destined to do. You can prolong fate only so long, replied Galan, reading Adrina’s innermost concerns. She almost asked Adrina about Seth, but she could feel his presence nearby now. Thoughts of Seth made her happy and she thought of home. In her mind she saw Queen Mother, the palace, and the beauty of her homeland. An idea came to her, she knew how to let Adrina see her world. Adrina, she began. I have an idea… I want you to relax and open your mind to me. I want to show you something…

  Adrina didn’t quite understand what Galan meant, but she did relax, and eventually Galan coaxed her into opening her mind. With warm, gentle feelings, Galan stroked Adrina’s mind.

  A warm breeze tantalized her skin and a picture began to form before her closed lids, fuzzy at first, then clearing. An enormous palace loomed in the window of her mind. She stood at its foot.

  Beautiful, spiraling towers reached up into the heavens. She could reach out and touch them. Peace and happiness flowed and overwhelmed her. She was free, happy.

  Abruptly the image blanked, the flow of emotions ebbed. “What’s wrong?” Adrina asked, bewildered, blinking her eyes at the seeming sudden brightness. “What’s wrong? Are you all right, you don’t look so good.”

  Nothing, nothing, whispered Galan through tired eyes. She was glad her simple picture had brought Adrina joy. I must rest a bit more, that’s all.

  Adrina watched Galan drift back to sleep, soon her own eyes became heavy. As eyelids melted into place Adrina followed Galan into the land of dreams. The face before her eyes was Seth’s, and it lay frozen in the window of her mind against a backdrop of spiraling towers.

  When the new day arrived, Adrina greeted it from Galan’s bedside. Galan awoke soon after. The two ate a light breakfast and afterward went to the bathing pool. “Galan, are you listening?” asked Adrina.

  They find it very strange when we speak with our minds. Their customs are very different from our own.

  I know, yet perhaps it is best if they think us different.

  Perhaps not…

  Adrina tilted her head back and dipped her long hair into the waters of the bathing pool. “Galan, what’s wrong? Did I do something?”

  Galan broke the link with Seth and focused on Adrina. While churning up the waters of the bathing pool, she said, It is nothing. I’m a little confused that’s all… Tell me more about this council of yours. What is it like?

  “The Great Council, the High Council, is made up of the ten wisest of the Kingdom. They are chosen for their skill at making decisions and positions—”

  Sounds very much like our own council in the Eastern Reaches, said Galan, reading the thoughts before Adrina could put them fully into words and not meaning to cut the princess off. The hot water seeped into her body, soothing and invigorating.

  All conversation ended as the two enjoyed the bath. Galan didn’t restore the link with Seth, though he thrust thoughts into her mind two more times. Remembrance of the homeland that seemed so far away came to her, allowing her to think of little else.

  When they finished, they found a pair of silken dresses where their discarded gowns had been, put there by the invisible hands of attendants. The same invisible hands that busily dried the princess then fitted one of the dresses.

  I cannot wear such as this.

  “I have given it to you, it is yours,” said Adrina.

  “I am sorry,” began Galan, not realizing she spoke aloud. Her speech flowed with a broken pace, but other than that, it was Kingdom tongue with Kingdom accent—borrowed from Adrina’s mind. “In my homeland… one of my office cannot wear such as this. My robe of office is a subdued shade of red. I am only the second, Brother Seth is the first.”

  Seth cut in, You are not in your homeland, Brother Gal
an.

  “You must take it, the tailors made it especially for you. It is for the council meeting. I won’t let you sit before our upper council in a house robe.”

  Seth, we are in a private conversation… Galan clipped the link forcefully, even though she had been the one to re-establish it.

  You’re still angry about our earlier conversation. Forget it, you owe me nothing. Nothing, remember that… We shall sit before the council and you are to do as told, threw in Seth, just before the link broke.

  Adrina slipped the dress around Galan’s shoulders before any further objections could be offered. The fit was perfect. Cool silk against her skin sent tingles through her body. She had never before worn silk.

  “It is truly beautiful,” she whispered, “Thank you!”

  The time for relaxation and reflection over, the two hurriedly found Seth. Within minutes, Seth, Galan and Adrina waited in the antechamber of the council hall. Adrina assured them the wait would only be a few minutes. Seth’s mind flowed fluidly in and out of conscious thought while Adrina and Galan talked. He remembered sitting in the antechamber of another hall, far away.

  Seth, called out Galan, What do you think? She hadn’t considered that she would be interrupting his thoughts.

  I’m going to probe their thoughts, Galan. I need to know their intentions before we go in. And I need to know if their— Seth touched Adrina’s mind slightly, —King Andrew is akin to our Queen Mother.

  You shouldn’t, said Galan, Adrina’s thoughts are open and she won’t mind the intrusion.

  Don’t worry, they can’t detect it, and besides, her thoughts are prejudiced. King Andrew is her father.

  Despite Galan’s cautioning eye, Seth reached out to those within the hall, wandering in through the eyes of a broad-shouldered, broad-backed man seated upon a high-mounted chair. He gazed out through those eyes, regarding those that were gathered before him, seeing only the faces, nothing more. He heard their voices and followed their conversation, silently joining them.

  “Out with it, captain, have the rumors been confirmed or not?”

  “No, Keeper Martin, they have not.” The captain grimaced.

  “Get on with it man,” demanded the black-robed priest.

  “Father Tenuus, please contain yourself,” said King Andrew.

  “You must excuse me, sire. I am not well. I think I have the chancellor’s cold,” replied the priest.

  A raucous laughter erupted from the chamber, audible even behind the closed doors.

  “Then we should proceed as planned, sire,” said another priest, the white ribbons of his office decorating the dark sleeves of his robe.

  “Yes, Father Jacob,” said King Andrew, “I should think so.” He turned to regard the captain then, “Send word to the garrison. Keep the patrols light but keep them steady. We do not want any more problems.”

  The captain’s frown broadened as he waited for the king to finish.

  “This should be a matter you handle yourself.” King Andrew paused, regarding Captain Brodst. “Is there something wrong? Or should we find another who is more willing?”

  “Sire, there is none more willing to serve than I… You have my word and my oath of honor,” quickly returned the captain as his eyes darted about the room. There was a look of pain as if he had been stung. “Sire, I mean no disrespect but—”

  “But what?” demanded Andrew.

  “It is nothing, sire. By your leave, sire,” said the captain excusing himself.

  Silence followed. A set of doors opened. Seth saw a long, unhappy face stare back at the king from the doorway. The eyes were not quite angry, rather, openly displeased and the frown quickly shifted to a scowl.

  The captain looked away. His footsteps echoed across the chamber once more and the doors were closed behind him.

  “Father Tenuus?” said King Andrew. “You know what to do. Correct?”

  “Yes, sire,” said the priest.

  “Good, very good,” said Andrew. “And father, ensure that the poor captain doesn’t discover our little ploy. The celebrations will commence on the Seventh day and carry forward to the next. Imtal has not forgotten the deed!”

  “Yes, sire,” said Father Tenuus smiling. He regarded the king, and in his eyes Seth saw a mix of admiration and adulation.

  “Ensure the captain has an enjoyable time but have Swordmaster Timmer keep a close eye on him. We want him fit. Remember, no swordplay other than the trials. And Chancellor Yi?” The chancellor turned to regard the king. “What of your sources in the Free City, what do they tell you?”

  Chancellor Yi looked about the chamber, seeming hesitant to speak.

  “Out with it! What is the lay of it? Is it the same as we thought or not?”

  “Yes, sire, I believe it is,” said Yi, a hint of submission in his voice.

  “Good, send something special to our mutual benefactor in Solntse.”

  “I will at once, sire,” replied the venerable chancellor. “Is this the end of the previous business? Are we then on to those waiting?”

  King Andrew nodded, sitting straighter in his chair as he looked about the room.

  Suddenly the antechamber doors opened. Seth’s mind jumped for an instant back to the High Council of East Reach. I know what I must do, Queen Mother, he whispered.

  “His Royal Majesty, King Andrew, King of Great Kingdom, requests the presence Elf Seth and Elf Galan, friends of the realm.”

  Seth stood and took Galan by the hand. As he walked into the audience hall, he said in the polite form of his people, “I am Brother Seth of the humble Order of the Red.”

  “I am Brother Galan, also of the Order of the Red,” added Galan.

  Both spoke aloud.

  “Welcome unto High Council of Great Kingdom! Please be seated,” said Chancellor Yi. Father Jacob graciously indicated the two seats the elves were to occupy on one side of a large, triangular-shaped table.

  Seth drank in the influence the hall held over the mind in one glance as he sat. The king and his advisors were seated on the longest side of the triangle. Others, like Seth and Galan, were seated on the short sides of the triangle, turned at an angle to each other and the king. The high vaulted ceiling, accented by each cutting rib with their intricate tierceron design. The table massed in the center of the hall, following each diagonal cross-section of the vaulting above, with three carefully placed groups of five chairs per side. The enormous oaken pews leading out in three concentric rows. All hinted at an unusual balance of power that Seth wished he understood.

  The chamber emanated a subtle power all its own, perhaps it was the gathered knowledge of the men who sat within it or perhaps it was due to the design, Seth couldn’t tell which, although both seemed very real possibilities to him, and here he felt at home. The hall reminded him of another place far away, that place, too, held a far-reaching power.

  Keeper Martin spoke first. As head of the Lore Keepers, he spoke the words best that King Andrew wished expressed. “Brother Seth, we of the council of ten have many questions about you and your people, as we are sure you have of ours. The first question we must direct to you pertains to the purpose of your journey. What has brought you to our lands? Why have you come now?”

  “I would gladly answer all your questions,” said Seth closing his eyes, breathing in the profound air around him before he began again. “Once, long ago, our people, the Elves of the Reaches, came to your aid in your hour of need.

  “The ancient evil has come to our lands now. We are under siege. If you do not help us this evil will spread to your lands—and it will spread until it dominates the world. For this is its goal. Even as I speak armies gather, the war begins, and such a war there hasn’t been in generations of your kind.”

  Keeper Martin stood and turned to the king, speaking the king’s will. “You speak of things of which we have no recollection. The Elves of Old are our enemy. We count you, Seth, and you, Galan, friends, only because of your actions in the south and because of the word of
a friend who is unknown to this council.”

  “I have been granted the right to speak truth by my queen and to show truth. If you would allow me to do so, it will only take a moment of your time.”

  Chancellor Yi tapped his staff to indicate approval.

  “Keeper Martin, do you recall the Battle of Quashan’ and the injury you received during the battle?”

  “But of course,” said Martin. “The battle was turning against us and in the rush to get to Princess Adrina’s company I took a wound—an arrow in the side. Elf Galan removed the arrow, and may have saved my life as well that day.”

  “On that day Galan did more than remove an arrow. She gave you a gift for safekeeping, for we were unsure that we would survive the day but Galan foresaw that you would—and that you would one day share the gift with this council. I would ask your permission to remove that gift from your person and share it.”