The Archmage unbound

Chapter 47

Rose’s condition hadn’t changed much when I returned though she seemed warmer. Elaine still lay beside her, but her eyes were now open and she watched me silently as I checked on Rose.

Eventually her curiosity won out and she spoke before I did. “How did I get here?” she asked.

“I tricked you into making a mistake and then I threw you against a stone wall. I’m surprised you’re awake already,” I answered mildly. “Do you remember the fight?”

She shook her head negatively and after some questioning I discovered that she had no memory of the events that had occurred since she had summoned the shining god, something that had apparently happened the day before. Ironically, she had been praying to Celior to kill the King when he had offered to do more for her if she would help him cross the world bridge.

I ended our conversation as quickly as I could. “I need to find my wife and help a friend. I want you to stay here and keep Lady Rose warm until I send someone for you. Will you do that?” I asked.

She readily agreed and I went back to the throne room, or what was left of it. When I arrived I found Dorian conscious but unable to dig his way free of the rubble. I couldn’t examine his body through the enchanted armor that encased him but I suspected he had some serious injuries.

Struggling with fatigue I began carefully moving the large stones and granite blocks that had him trapped. It would have been easier to ‘listen’ to the stones and extract him in the same way I had carried Rose through the ground once before but I had no desire to risk any further use of those abilities that day. I was still feeling rather strange after my experiences within the bosom of the earth.

Dorian gritted his teeth when I finally pulled him free. “Damn that hurts!” he declared through clenched teeth.

“How badly are you injured?” I asked him.

“I feel like everything is broken but somehow everything still seems to work,” he replied.

“Let me get the armor off so I can examine you,” I said quickly.

He pushed my hands aside with surprising strength, “I can walk. Once you take this armor off I’m not sure how bad it will be but it won’t be pretty and I probably won’t be able to move around much after that. Let me help while I can. Have you found Penny?”

I shook my head, “She’s safe but I’m not sure where. I need to find her.” I didn’t bother explaining that she was with Moira.

“Then why are you here?!” he exclaimed.

I almost laughed at his reaction. It was typical of him. “Let me show you where Rose is before I abandon you. She’s badly wounded.”

That got his attention and it was several minutes before I could explain well enough to reassure him that she wasn’t about to expire instantly. I led him to where Cyhan had left her and explained why she had a teenager bundled up with her. Someday I felt sure Dorian would eventually come to expect weird things to occur around me, but it didn’t seem to have happened yet.

“Stay here with them,” I said, to which he rolled his eyes. Obviously I didn’t need to tell him that. “Cyhan is nearby and I’ll have him come help you later when he’s done,” I said and surprisingly he simply nodded. I couldn’t help but wonder what had transpired between the two warriors before Dorian had appeared in the throne room armed and armored.

Walking out I turned my thoughts outward and called to Moira again. I need to see Penny. Where are you?

After a long pause I heard her reply, she is with me beside the great stone.

What stone?

The stone I created before my final battle against Balinthor. It is near the palace on the east side, she replied.

I remembered the place. Why there?

When she answered I could detect a poignant feeling to her thoughts, I sought to protect your child. There is no safer place in Lothion.

Obviously she wasn’t remembering my house. The enchantments there made it by far the most impregnable location in the capital. As I considered those things I hadn’t meant to broadcast my thoughts but Moira heard me anyway.

No, she countered, there is no place safer than this. Even the gods could not enter here against my wishes. There was a note of pride in her reply and a hint of something else, a feeling that seemed almost maternal.

My curiosity was fully engaged now and despite my bone weary state I hurried to reach the place she had named. I found them both, as she had said, standing beside the great stone that thrust up from the bedrock beside the palace. There was no sign of any door or entrance and I had never considered that there might be anything inside the colossal monolith before, but now I wondered.

Ignoring my inner questions I headed straight for Penelope. Considering my last words to her, she had a look of some apprehension on her face as I walked steadily toward her. “I did the best I could…” she began but I put a hand over her mouth and pulled her into a fierce embrace.

Her belly was larger than I remembered and before I knew what had happened I found myself sobbing as I held her. My emotions were so great that it took a short while before I realized that our awkward embrace was being shaken by Penelope’s cries as well. It was the sort of moment that normally would only occur behind closed doors, but both of us had been through too much to worry about such things today.

Eventually we both calmed down and began to collect our thoughts. Looking around I realized Moira Centyr was gone already. “Did she take you inside the stone?” I asked. Despite my emotions I was curious what she had seen there. My magesight showed nothing but a solid rock with no hollows or inner chambers.

Penny nodded and then kissed me, which effectively ended our conversation for a minute or so. Holding her now, I felt fresh tears forming. “I thought I’d never see you again,” I said softly, when I was able to break away from her lips at last.

“About the note,” she replied, “I didn’t think I could put anything more there…”

“Let’s worry about that later,” I interrupted. “What was inside the stone?”

“You have too much to deal with. We can talk about that in a day or two,” she said with an odd look in her eyes.

I found the lack of details maddening. “Look Penny, I’ve had about all I can take of cryptic messages and hidden meanings. If you discovered something strange or important in there I need to know what it is!” Stress and weariness led me to raise my voice more than I might have normally.

“Mort, stop,” she said calmly. “This isn’t anything like that. Nothing bad, nothing serious or dangerous, we just talked, woman to woman.”

“And what did you say?”

“Tomorrow,” she insisted. “I can see Lord Hightower leading the city guard up the streets. You need to deal with him and explain what happened. We can discuss family matters later.” She ran her hand over her belly and I was even more mystified than before.

I assumed the face of King Edward and spent the rest of the afternoon giving orders and generally making an ass of myself. Under my direction I had some of the rubble cleared away and Lord Hightower took charge of his daughter and Elaine. He moved them to his own residence to have them looked after. Dorian steadfastly refused to be separated from Lady Rose so in the end Lord Hightower allowed him to ‘guest’ in the Hightower residence as well.

Cyhan was nowhere to be found and he had taken the King’s body with him, or hidden it somewhere. I was grateful for his quick thinking, for once Hightower arrived the palace was swarming with activity and I had no further chances to sneak away from my new role as King of Lothion.

It looked as though I would be unable to meet James at the carriage house but luckily I still had the wooden message box, so I sent him a short note detailing the recent events and requesting they meet me at the palace.

My official story was that the Count di’Cameron had been summoned for an audience when the dragon attacked and partially destroyed the palace. I had no particular explanation for the shining god but I discovered quickly enough that few people questioned the king. I told a harrowing tale involving magic and the timely intervention of one very heroic wizard, Mordecai Illeniel. By the time I had finished my tale I was quite impressed and almost wished I could meet this amazing hero, for certainly I bore no resemblance to him.

When James and the others arrived that evening I had them brought in to one of the private guest suites (the royal chambers were partly demolished and unsuitable for visitors). Once I was sure that there were no eavesdroppers I dropped my disguise and addressed them as myself.

Because of his magesight my change in appearance was no surprise to Walter, but the others were still a bit shocked. “Damn Mordecai! Give us some warning next time!” said James.

I wanted to laugh but I was too tired to find the energy. “I did warn you as I recall.”

He snorted, “I mean, right before, that was hours ago. A man needs a chance to prepare himself.”

I wondered at the quirks of a man who had been unfazed by an evil wizard possessed by one of the dark gods assaulting his home, yet who found my sudden change of appearance unsettling. I passed over his remark and went on, “I am about as bone weary as a man can get. If you don’t mind I’ll get to the details before I collapse.”

After my transformation my physical body had emerged unharmed, but my mind was beyond tired. The sensation was similar to having stayed up three or four days without sleep and I was beginning to see double. “Let me tell you what occurred on our end first then,” replied James and he began to describe their raid on the Doronite compound.

It had started well, as they had easily gotten inside with the aid of Walter’s invisibility. When they reached the area where the hostages were being held things got a bit out of hand. Harold had tripped and alerted one of the door guards, partly because he couldn’t see while invisible. Fearing the worst he had slain the guard and an alarm went up.

The Duke’s men outside were waiting for a problem such as that and had been given orders. When the cries rang out they stormed the small collection of buildings and the fighting turned bloody. Meanwhile Walter and Harold had secured Walter’s wife and son, but they found no sign of his daughter. The older wizard’s wife was named Jessica, and some of the guards had played a cruel prank upon her, telling her that her daughter had been slain.

Neither she nor Walter had known the truth of the matter, and her husband reacted rather badly. Despite James’ efforts to calm his men they had taken no prisoners, or more precisely, Walter had not. He had even gone after the few that escaped into the forest, though he wouldn’t say what he had done to them.

I had a very good idea what the other man had been feeling. “I have excellent news for you Walter. Your daughter was here, though she gave me a bit of a hard time about being rescued.”

“What?!” he managed to say, before he lost the use of his voice. The news overwhelmed him to such a degree that it was some time before I could finish my story and we all got a bit misty eyed.

Then I explained what had happened in the palace, though I abbreviated the story as much as possible. Still, much of the tale was outlandish so I had to repeat some parts several times. Near the end I pulled out the glowing stone that held Celior, “Here, this is it. Now do you see?” Harold had asked me one too many times what the stone looked like.

As I drew the stone out it filled the room with a soft golden light that pulsed gently. Its presence in the room left no doubt in anyone’s mind that it was indeed a living thing, even if it did appear to be just a glowing rock. “What are you going to do with it?” Harold asked.

I rubbed my short beard, “I have no earthly idea. I will have to find some use for it though; otherwise it will eventually destroy itself and free Celior. We can worry about that later. First on my list of priorities is getting some rest.”

I had already shown Walter the spell for imitating the King’s voice, as well as demonstrating it for him. He had known how to disguise his appearance beforehand so that wasn’t a problem. I could see he was reluctant now when I mentioned him taking my place as Edward. After a moment I realized why. “You haven’t seen your daughter yet!” I exclaimed, “…or spent any time with your wife and son. I’m sorry Walter! I didn’t think.”

He shook his head, “No Mordecai, you’ve done enough for me today. I don’t mind this duty if it will help keep the kingdom in one piece.”

I started to argue with him, for I couldn’t stand the thought of him being separated from them any longer. It had been four years for him already. “Let me handle today and you can take over for a week or so after that,” I replied. “I’ll just sit down and rest my eyes for a few minutes and I’ll be right as rain.”

Needless to say… I didn’t wake up again anytime soon.