The Quest for Nobility

by Debra L Martin

  Lucas rose from his seat and strode out of his study, banging the door shut.

  Excerpt from The Chronicles of Otharia during the reign of the First Vacancy:

  Division II – The PSI Potential

  Subsection V – Crystals and Portals

  Not all crystals are created equal; they are rated according to their connectivity. Crystals rated at 1K are used by children for training, while those rated at 10K are used for travel between Duchies. Opening a “local” portal requires a telekinetic of modest power and a crystal of moderate worth, usually about a 6-7K quality. The average telekinetic can open a personal portal of up to ten leagues with a 3-4K crystal. The more distant the portal, the more power the telekinetic needs.

  Chapter 20 - Escape

  Eclair could scarcely breathe while watching his father storm out of the study. When the door slammed shut, he released his power. His body was drenched in sweat and he had the beginnings of a splitting headache.

  I can’t believe it, my own father. I’ve got to warn the twins. They won’t stand a chance against this.

  He hurried to the door, and listened for any noise in the hallway before slipping out. He walked as fast as possible back to his room, but he had not gone far when he heard his father’s voice again. He was about to walk the other way when he heard the familiar voice.

  “Hello, Duke Jortac. I’ve come to visit with Eclasius and see how he’s doing.”

  “Hello Dyla,” Lucas said. “I haven’t seen much of my son lately. He stays in his bedchamber these days, recovering his strength, but do come in, and I’ll have someone take you to him.”

  Dyla accepted the duke’s offer, and entered the foyer. Before Lucas could summon a servant to escort her upstairs, he spied Eclair rounding the corner of the adjacent hallway.

  “Eclasius, what are you doing over there?” he demanded.

  Eclair looked at his father with blank eyes. He continued to move slowly forward, smiling slightly at Dyla.

  “I was so tired of staying in bed that I thought I’d take a walk. I guess I’m not as strong as I thought,” he answered weakly, “I‘m actually not feeling very well at the moment.”

  Dyla hurried to Eclair’s side.

  “I’ll take you back to your room.”

  She put a supporting arm around his waist, and felt his damp shirt. The last time she saw him like this was when he’d bent the light around them during the competition. She looked at him with raised eyebrows, but he simply looked down in exhaustion.

  “Let me get some help for you,” Lucas said, watching Dyla help Eclasius up the wide staircase.

  Dyla called over her shoulder.

  “It’s all right. I can get him upstairs.”

  “Very well, call for a servant if you need help.”

  “Thank you, my lord.”

  Lucas briefly watched the two climb the stairs before turning away. His son’s weakness disturbed him. Lucas had thought he should have recovered by now, but seeing Eclaisius now belied that thought. He had a momentary feeling of unease when he first saw him in the hallway, and briefly wondered if his son could have overheard the conversation with Avikar. Watching Eclair being helped up the stair, a near invalid, he quickly dismissed the notion. There was no way he could have been near the study without Lucas noticing him.

  Eclair leaned on Dyla, but didn’t speak. Dyla sensed waves of wrongness emanating from him, but said nothing. When they finally finished climbing the massive staircase, Eclair pointed to the door on the right and Dyla helped him inside his bedchamber. She guided him to the edge of his bed, and he sat down with an exhaustive sigh. He grinned weakly to show his appreciation, and motioned for her to close the door.

  As the door clicked closed, Eclair tried to get off the bed. In his weakened state, he nearly fell over. Dyla rushed to his side to keep him from collapsing onto the floor.

  “Dyla, you and Darius are in great danger,” he gasped. “You must leave at once.”

  “Eclair, sit down. You look dreadful. What are you talking about?”

  “Before you came, I was walking around the manor, but I got tired and looked for somewhere to rest.”

  Eclair stopped momentarily to catch his breath. Dyla watched him carefully, concerned with his exhaustion from a simple walk around the manor.

  Definitely not ready for any strenuous activities, she thought.

  “I didn’t realize it at the time,” Eclair continued, “but I was outside my father’s office. I went in to rest and then realized where I was. I was about to leave when I heard my father’s voice in the hallway. I panicked and did the only thing I could think of. I sat down in the corner, and bent the light around me. He never knew I was there.”

  “So that’s why you’re so exhausted,” Dyla said.

  Eclair nodded. “I was bending the light for quite awhile.”

  “Why? Who was he talking to?”

  “Baron Avikar.”

  “Avikar?”

  “But listen,” Eclair continued, “it’s what they said that’s the problem. They were talking about the competition and the accident. Dyla, it was supposed to be us that went through that death portal.”

  Dyla’s mouth fell open. “What? We were the targets? Your father and Avikar tried to kill us? I don’t believe it.”

  “It’s true. I heard it myself.”

  “But, why?”

  “To stop us from winning the competition. It was sabotaged from the beginning to make sure we didn’t win, but we won despite their attempts to stop us.”

  “Oh my god.”

  Eclair let out an exhaustive groan.

  “There’s more. It sounded like it wasn’t only my father and Avikar that had planned this. I believe they’re part of some larger group and they’re going to the Grand Council to accuse you and Darius of murder. There’ll be arrest warrants issued for both of you.”

  “Arrest warrants? Are you joking? One minute someone tries to kill us, and then we’re to be arrested? This is unbelievable. Are you sure you heard correctly?”

  “Yes. I can’t believe my own father is a part of this, but we’ve no time to waste. I’m going to open a portal back to your manor. We have to find Darius and get away as quickly as possible.”

  “Wait a minute,” Dyla said exasperatedly. “Why would anyone want to stop us from winning the competition?”

  “Avikar said something about the Telkur treasury books.” Eclair explained. “He was worried that Darius was studying them. That’s when my father said not to worry, because both of you would be taken care of. You’re going to be charged with opening the portal at the arena and murdering the Dalcon team.”

  “No, that’s not possible. We’re innocent,” Dyla exclaimed.

  “They’ll say you did it to win the competition and get the prize money to pay off the Duchy’s debt. Avikar was overjoyed at the idea of getting rid of you both.”

  “Of course he would be. Then he’d be one step closer to grabbing the throne. Eclair, this whole thing stinks ...”

  “I know, I know, but we don’t time now to discuss it. We have to leave. We must be gone before the warrants are issued by the Council.”

  Dyla was stunned, trying to think through everything Eclair had told her.

  “You’re right. We have to leave.”

  Eclair watched the emotions play across Dyla’s face as the news sunk in. She suddenly looked at him with a critical eye.

  “Are you strong enough to open a portal?”

  “I’ll have to be. We need to get to the main Jortac portal station before my father halts all traffic. Then we can jump to your station.”

  Eclair looked around his room. Thinking furiously, he forced himself off the bed, went to his closet and changed into traveling clothes. He started shoving more into a pack.

  “What are you doing?” Dyla asked.

  “Planning, just in case.”

  Reeling from the news, Dyla was anxious to get back and talk with Darius.

  “Let me
help you. We’ll get out of here faster.”

  Eclair nodded, and within minutes he was opening a portal to the Jortac station. When the second portal stabilized at the Telkur station, Dyla quickly stepped through with Eclair fast on her heels. They wasted no time in leaving the station.

  “We should find Darius right away,” Eclair said.

  “I know exactly where he is. Are you strong enough to open another portal just outside the manor?”

  “Sure.”

  Dyla knew her brother; he would still be there chewing over the puzzle he found. Running down the hallway to the treasury office, they passed through the hall of portraits. Dyla could feel the weight of her ancestors looking down, somehow judging her, willing her to make things right again as she swept past. It added to her sense of urgency; she increased her speed and left Eclair to labor behind her.

  When she reached the treasury office, she threw open the door and burst in, startling Darius. He looked up at the commotion, staring at her in surprise before quickly changing to puzzlement at seeing Eclair, in a state of near collapse, following her into the room.

  “Hey, what are you two doing here?” he asked. “Eclair, you look terrible! Should you be up so soon?”

  Eclair was out of breath and couldn’t answer.

  “We need to go, now,” Dyla said, reaching out to grab her brother’s arm.

  The direct contact initiated a telepathic connection. The link sent forth a burst of thoughts that Darius tried to make sense out of in short order. Through the jumbled turmoil, he sensed danger and urgency coursing through Dyla’s mind, but not much more. It was too much, too fast.

  “What’s going on?” he asked, pulling back from her.

  “Darius, we have to leave immediately,” Dyla said, tugging on her brother’s arm. “Please come with us now.”

  “But I’m on to something here. There’s something wrong in the ledgers, I know there is, but I need more time to put it everything together. I’ve almost figured it out.”

  “No, we don’t have time,” Eclair urged. “We have to leave now.”

  Sensing the alarm in both of them, Darius relented and followed the two out of the office, leaving the ledger hologram floating above the tablet. He helped Eclair walk down the corridor, through the foyer and up the stairs to Dyla’s bedchamber. She locked the door once they were inside.

  Darius helped Eclair sit on the bed and turned toward his sister.

  “All right, what’s this all about?”

  “Darius, we‘re in serious trouble. Eclair accidentally overheard his father talking with Avikar earlier today.”

  “Avikar? So that’s where the little weasel went. He seemed a bit flustered this morning when he left, but why the need to see Lucas Jortac?”

  “He met with my father and said something about you snooping around the treasury books. My father mentioned some hidden entries, but then he spoke about the competition,” Eclair explained.

  Darius slapped his thigh.

  “I knew there was something wrong with those figures,” he declared, interrupting Eclair.

  “Listen. The competition was purposely sabotaged and my father said it was us who were supposed to die in that portal accident.”

  “What? Sabotage? Your father tried to kill us? No way, I don’t believe it. Why kill us?”

  Eclair shook his head. “I don’t know the answer to that.”

  “So, you’re telling me that, in addition to the competition being sabotaged, which I already believed by the way, you’re saying that your father was involved in a plot to have us killed? There’s no way he would murder us with you along. It doesn’t make sense.”

  “Well, he never actually said that it was the two of them that tried to murder us. The way he talked, it sounded like they were part of larger group, some kind of conspiracy.”

  “Now there’s a conspiracy?” Darius asked incredulously.

  Eclair nodded again. “My father is going to the Council today to get the arrest warrants charging you two with opening the death portal and killing the Dalcon team. He told Avikar that you’ll be easily implicated because we were behind in the final stretch and it was the only way we could win.”

  “That’s ridiculous!” Darius shouted, as the weight of Eclair’s words sank in. “We were winning fairly. It was Dyla’s vision that made her stumble. We told the officials that. How can they turn around and say we planned it? We have to fight this. We didn’t do anything wrong.”

  “You can’t fight this,” Eclair said.

  “Of course we can, and I’m not going anywhere but to the Grand Council. I’ll explain everything to them.”

  Eclair was nearly hyperventilating. He had to make the twins understand before it was too late.

  “Don’t you get it? You won’t be given a chance to explain anything before you are implicated. They’re going to claim that you and Dyla channeled your power through me when you pulled her up.”

  “Eclair, I agree with Darius,” Dyla interjected. “If we run now, it will look like we’re guilty. We should fight this before the Council.”

  Eclair jumped off the bed, waving his arms.

  “You can’t fight this. This conspiracy has numbers on their side. My father said they would sway the Council against you. They’ll have you locked up, tried, and convicted before you can say anything. No one will ever hear what you have to say.”

  “OK, calm down. Sit down and let’s think about this rationally for a moment,” Darius said.

  “Look, I know what my father said,” Eclair implored. “If you go to the Council and there’s a conspiracy against you, who will you turn to? Who will help you? Ty, the newly-crowned Duke of Persing? How much sway will he have in clearing your names? Or, maybe Avikar, who’s drooling over the prospect of gaining the Telkur throne for himself? Everything is spiraling out of control. Don’t you see that?”

  Darius was speechless and began to understand the full weight of their predicament. “I see your point.”

  “I understand,” Dyla added. “But I don’t see how running will help any of this.”

  “It will buy us time,” Darius answered.

  Eclair’s head bobbed up and down. “Time that we need to figure this mess out; but we’re not safe here. We have to leave now before they close down all the portal stations. My father might have already discovered Dyla and I gone. We don’t have much time before the Council sends out a royal edict for your arrest.”

  The more Darius thought about it, the angrier he became.

  “I can’t believe that your father is conspiring with Avikar against us. I can believe it of Avikar, but Duke Jortac too?”

  “If I hadn’t heard the words with my own ears, I would never have believed it myself,” Eclair said dejectedly. “My father is a monster.”

  “Then we need to move, and move quickly. Let’s get out of the mansion before the guards come with warrants. This will be the first place they’ll look. Eclair, I’m sorry to say this, but you look awful. Do you have the strength to open another portal?”

  “Wait,” Dyla said. “If we’re going to run, we’ll need supplies, especially gold. We’ll have to go into hiding and buy protection; nobody will give us anything when this becomes public. Grab things of value that we can sell quickly.”

  Darius nodded in agreement.

  “I’m already packed,” Eclair said, holding up his pack.

  “Good,” Darius replied. “Got any money?”

  “Little bit.”

  “OK, wait here, I‘ll be right back,” Darius said and left the room.

  Eclair collapsed onto Dyla’s bed.

  Darius sprinted down the corridor to his own bedchamber amid a torrent of thoughts swirling around his mind. Just two days ago, everything had been perfect. They were on their way to winning the competition and saving the duchy. Now, their lives were turned upside down again, sabotaged by who knows whom, and they were running away like criminals. He bristled at the unfairness of it all, but vowed he would not g
ive up without a fight.

  In his rooms, he changed into traveling clothes, gathered a tidy amount of coins, and threw them into his pack along with another change of clothes. Within moments he was headed back to Dyla’s room. Upon entering her bedchamber, he found Dyla had also changed, finished packing and was sitting on her bed next to Eclair.

  “You ready?” Darius asked.

  “Yeah, let’s go,” Dyla said.

  “Eclair, can you open a portal right outside the main Telkur station? I want to get close, but not inside in case there are any guards from the Council already waiting for us there.”

  “Sure.”

  Eclair stood up and opened the portal. When it stabilized, they stepped through to the street next to the portal station. Checking to make sure no one was around they slipped inside the main Telkur portal station. Relief showed on their faces when they discovered Trinity was now the telekinetic on duty.

  She looked up from the control desk.

  “Hey, what are you three doing here?”

  Dyla walked quickly over to her cousin. “We’re in big trouble. We don’t have time to explain everything, but we need to get away. Eclair overhead his Father and Avikar talking this morning, saying that Darius and I are going to be arrested for the murders of the Dalcon team.”

  “Are you kidding? Who would believe that?”

  “It doesn’t matter who believes it, it’s going to happen,” Eclair said.

  “But, that’s ridiculous.”

  Eclair cut off any further conversation with a wave of his hand. “Trinity, we need to get away, far away. Some place where no one will find us. The people after us are very powerful, and they’ll stop at nothing to get us.”

  “They’d be able to find you wherever you go,” Trinity replied; “you know that.”

  “I know, and I’ve been thinking about that,” Eclair said, looking at his friends. “We have to do something drastic if we are going to get away. I think we must go off-world.”

  Trinity plopped down in her chair, stunned at Eclair’s suggestion.

  “Off-world? Are you out of your mind? Off-world portals are forbidden and extremely dangerous. Besides there’s really only one address still in the database and it’s quarantined.”