The Archon's Apprentice (4 page)

“I would hate to do their army a favor,” said Arceri with a smirk. “It doesn’t seem they’re well-liked. But regardless if their army despises them, they offer the warlord too much power and need to be dealt with. Have we located their command tent? I don’t see one. Is the army led by the blood mages?”

“We cannot be certain if this warlord is a blood mage or not. We haven’t received reports that he is,” said Eocara. “But we’ve seen a figure we believe to be the warlord in the center of the blood mage tents.”

“Well, that should—“

They were interrupted by an explosion behind them. They rushed back to the courtyard. Pieces of the travel stone were scattered about the area, and a smoking crater resided where it had been moments ago. Walking toward the crater were several Highbarrow guards. The bodies of the honor guard lay on the ground; they had been too close to the explosion. The arriving guards spread out around the courtyard. None of them had the curved Casparanian swords of the guard.
 

“Prince Arceri,” said the head guard, “we have been waiting for your arrival. There will—“ Surprised, the man looked down to see a small hole had appeared in his chest. He started to reach for it but fell forward instead. Arceri wasted no time and finished another rune in the air. He directed the projectile towards another of the traitor guards. It barely missed the second man as he fell to the ground to avoid it. The trap sprung, everyone else sprang in to action. The Paragons had all prepared runes and flung magic at the guards. The magical missiles arced forward and crashed into magical shields the traitors had quickly erected, spraying blood from the shields on to the walls behind them.
 

Arceri ducked when the guards raised their hands towards him. The wall behind where Arceri had stood exploded in a shower of rubble. He peeked around the wall and retreated further as another wall exploded the area around him. He heard someone scream and turned to see one of his Paragons, on the other side of the open door, grab his leg. Arceri did not see anything amiss with the man until he tore open his pant leg. The skin beneath appeared dead, and tentacles of black spread outward quickly. Arceri drew a rune in the air and spoke a word as he flung a shimmering ball of magical energy at the guards. One man dodged the ball, but it struck another unaware in the chest and exploded into fire. The man screamed. Momentarily, the traitors were no longer interested in Arceri and turned to put out the fire.
 

Arceri raced to his downed man. The damage had enveloped his lower leg and seemed to be going higher. The man grabbed Arceri’s arm and nodded quickly. Without delay Arceri traced several intricate runes on the leg. The spreading tentacles of death did not subside right away, and Arceri prepared additional runes. The tentacles halted their advance seconds before Arceri finished his spell. While the dead skin did not recover, the spreading death had stopped before Arceri had been forced to remove the man’s leg. Arceri tried several healing runes on the leg, but when the runes reached the dead part of the leg they fizzled. The man had fainted from the pain and Arceri lay him down.

The fire had spread to a second traitor, but they had quickly killed the man to extinguish the fire. They were now using his blood to erect more magical barriers. Arceri signaled to Foen and they both unleashed a flurry of magical missiles. The barriers held against their onslaught but completely blocked the sight of the mages. The other Paragons brought forth their own magical barrage at the shields and quickly brought them down. As the shields fell, one of the mages leapt at Arceri, brandishing a long curved dagger. Arceri had prepared for such an act and released a spell point-blank at the mage that flung the man across the courtyard. With a terminal crunch as he hit the wall, the man slumped down dead. Hearing nothing else, Arceri looked out from behind the wall. The last of the traitors had been killed.
 

The aftermath of the fight seemed more gruesome than what had actually happened. The courtyard was now coated with blood from spells of the blood mages. After taking a quick assessment of his Paragons and finding only the one wounded, Arceri was glad it had not been more. He glanced back to his wounded man. He hoped the spell could be reversed and did not leave him paralyzed like Omoni. He would have to see if the Archon knew how to help him. Absently kicking some of the larger shards from the travel stone, he knew it could not be repaired. It would take weeks to procure a new one, probably more with a siege army around the city. He turned to ask Eocara what they could do and realized the man was no longer with them. After a quick search they found him in a hallway with a dagger firmly sheathed in his back.

“Was he the traitor?” asked Foen. “Or another casualty?”

“I’m not sure. Did any of the mages make it out of the courtyard?”

“No. We had it surrounded quickly. We would have seen someone leave. The corridors were clear.”

“And yet we have a loose assassin,” said Arceri. “We need to search this entire castle. Foen, you come with me. The rest of you spread out and search this castle. Report to me in the throne room. I am going to find the king.”

The Paragons saluted and departed down the hallways leading into the castle. Arceri went to check on the wounded Paragon, only to find him staring back with dead eyes. The black death had not grown any more on his leg. Puzzled, Arceri looked over the man. He found a small slit in the man’s shirt above his heart. Peeling back his shirt, Arceri saw a coin-sized black mark over the man’s heart. Arceri sighed and lay the man down, closing his eyes. Before heading to the throne room he stopped at the parapets again and looked out over the entrenched army. There was no sign they were aware of what had occurred within.
 

Arceri and Foen made their way to the throne room, disturbed to not find anyone along the way. Neither did they find any bodies or other signs of fighting. Arceri hoped they would find someone inside the throne room, but it too was empty. The room itself measured at least half the size of the throne room back in Valefort. Even if it had been larger, Arceri would still have felted trapped. He seated himself on the throne. His Paragons filtered in shortly afterward. None of them had seen anyone, and they reported all of the entrances were barred from the outside. Surveying the room, Arceri decided it was good enough.

“Prepare defenses and ready your runes,” said Arceri.

“For what?” asked Foen.

“For when our captors come home.”

Chapter 3

Succession

Mikol could tell Bayle was not fully committed to sparring today. He had already scored several hits, and none of them seemed to faze Bayle. Mikol went in for a leisurely thrust that Bayle barely blocked; had he really gone in for it he would have scored another hit. Finally Mikol decided if Bayle did not care he would make the most out of it and try some new moves. He performed several actions meant to distract, though he almost scored with all of them as Bayle hardly moved. The last swing had to be blocked with a wide arc from his opponent. Bayle obliged Mikol by blocking and left both of them wide open for an attack. With an annoyed delay, Mikol made a series of spins and dodges that Bayle did not follow and with one last spin move he brought his sword forward in an upward arc. Had it been a real sword, it would have parted his opponent in twain. Bayle fell to the ground panting.

“Mikol,” said Bayle, “Why are we sparring every day?”

“I told you,” said Mikol as he picked up the sword Bayle had dropped. “I plan on winning this year’s tournament. Coming in second is not where I want to be.”

“You think there will even be a tournament?”

“Of course. Why wouldn’t there be?”

“How many people are talking about it? How many signs have you seen?”

“Granted,” said Mikol, “I have not seen as many as last year, and fewer people are talking about it. But there are still some people very excited about the tournament.”

“Besides yourself?”

“Yes! Now why are you being so whiny today?”

“Why are you still training for tournaments when you will be Archon?”

“Just because I will be Archon doesn’t mean I stop being me. This is something I love to do. And I am good at it!”

“I don’t see how you can train when we know nothing of what happened to Arceri or my father, let alone the rest of the Paragons who went to Highbarrow. How can you not care?”

“Not care!” Mikol tossed the blades to a waiting servant. “Come with me. I will show you not caring.”

Bayle stared after him a moment before realizing Mikol would not be waiting for him. Bayle had to run to catch up to Mikol or be left wondering where he had gone to.

“Where are we going?” asked Bayle.

“You will see.”

They entered the Eagle’s Gate courtyard moments later. The guards standing outside the courtyard let Mikol and Bayle pass. Preceptor Ussan slowly walked around the stone. Every other step he drew a rune and touched the stone. There would be a small flash and Ussan would note something on a piece of paper. Ussan walked around the stone several times before Bayle cleared his throat loudly. This caught Ussan’s attention, and he looked up at both of them. Another moment passed before recognition dawned on him.
 

“Ah, yes,” said Ussan. “Mikol, we have still not determined if anything went wrong. I have done hundreds of tests of this stone. They have all come back normal. This stone is functioning as it was created. From what we have been able to gather from those tests, Arceri was able to travel to Highbarrow, and the portal closed successfully. Any further connections to Highbarrow have failed. The runes corresponding to its location do not activate. Do I have to tell you this every day?”

“Until you can come up with a better answer,” said Mikol.

“My lord, the order has studied this stone every day for the past three months,” said Ussan, “And I understand you have questioned all of my apprentices, adherents, and even some masters.”

“And with all of that, none of you have come up with an explanation for why Arceri has not come back.”

“But we have,” said Ussan, “and we have told you every day. Whether you believe it or not, Arceri is not able to come back by way of this stone from Highbarrow. And you should learn to trust in those who will serve you.”

Mikol laughed. “It’s not that I don’t trust you or your judgment. I trust you completely, Ussan. And I always will. I just hope in asking the question every day there will be a different answer.”

“I can see why Voletain has chosen you for his apprentice. You are very much like him. Now, please leave. The Archon has asked me as well to diagnose the stone yet again.” Mikol heard Ussan sigh heavily as he turned back to the stone.

Mikol nodded and they left. They walked through several corridors that had become very familiar to Mikol, as he had walked them every day for the last three months, and eventually ended up near the front gate. The castle guard had tripled, but Mikol barely noticed as he walked with purpose up to the gatehouse. Waving at the Captain of the guard, Mikol ran the last couple of strides. Bayle had barely kept up and arrived only to see the captain shaking his head and Mikol storming off yet again.

“Mikol!” said Bayle. “What did he say?”

“Same thing. They have had no word from Highbarrow.”

The two eventually made their way to the throne room. Perim and a few the generals had laid out maps of Ternia and the surrounding lands. There were many small figures placed on the map, each piece representing a regiment of the Ternian Army. The majority of the figures were arrayed around Valefort, while several formed a line on the border of Ternia and Casparan. There were a few near the border of Sibilova on the east.

“Perim,” said General Dryos, “we have had a steady stream of refugees from Enhurst, yet there has been nothing from Highbarrow. We need to move the army East to protect against the army we know about. We should not waste resources on a threat we don’t know about.”

“The refugees have not told us anything about an army, only that there is rampant looting and pillaging. That is the daily life in the Savage Kingdoms.”

“Yes, but there have never been as many refugees. Ever. The only answer is the Savage Army is east of Enhurst and they will be coming West in to Ternia,” said Dryos.

“There are even rumors Enhurst has been burned to the ground,” said Turos. His cane tapped softly as he emerged from a corner of the room. His usual brightly colored ensemble had been swapped for an all black outfit of mourning, though, Mikol noted with disgust, it still had a flair to it that seemed disrespectful. Surprised, Perim and those gathered quickly turned towards Turos. Dryos had partially drawn his sword, but sheathed it when he saw who had addressed them.

“There have been many rumors concerning the East and Sibilova,” said Perim. “And many more from the North. Which of them do you believe?”

“With Arceri’s death ...” said Turos.

“We don’t know that!” said Mikol. Everyone turned to see Mikol and Bayle.
 

“Sorry, little brother, I didn’t see you there. With his ... absence, and the compounding number of rumors from the East, does it not make sense that whatever,” Turos looked at Mikol, “
delayed
Arceri, would have made its way south by now?” Turos traced a line from outside of Highbarrow following the foothills around the Crystal Sea and jabbed his finger on Enhurst. “Your scary army is lined up north. Do you think you are the only one who knows this? With Arceri dead, you will be the next king of Ternia. So, either take your army north into Highbarrow and bring back his body, or take the army east and stop this army that is ravaging the countryside.”

Dryos reached for his sword, but Perim placed his hand on Dryos’s shoulder. “No. Turos may not have any tact, but he is right about one thing. Many of our agents in the field are not answering, compounding the problems we are facing with this many refugees. I need to protect Ternia more than we need to wait for Arceri to come back. Right now we have to assume Arceri has met with deception. If there was an army north, we would have heard something. The roads north are still open and there is still some trade with the outlying villages of Casparan. Arceri took the Paragons with him to Highbarrow. This leaves us with nothing to fall back on. The true problem lies east towards Sibilova. We need to engage with whatever is happening at our borders and make sure nothing slips through to the heart of Ternia. We need to secure Valefort as well as Ternia.”