Michael Manning - The Archmage unbound

“A messenger delivered it after you left,” he replied.

“A messenger? Why did you answer the door? What did he say? What did you say!?” I could feel a panic rising quickly from the depths of my stomach.

Harold looked at me oddly and I realized I hadn’t given him any explanation regarding my plan to avoid letting the King know of my current location. “He asked if you were present and I told him that you weren’t,” he answered finally.

I let out a sigh of relief, “Oh thank the gods!” It was a remark of habit but I corrected myself anyway. “Actually damn the gods, but thank goodness you told him that.”

Harold smiled, “Don’t worry; I told him you would be back and that I would make certain you got the letter today.”

I startled Harold by spending the next several minutes practicing my nautical language. In spite of the fact that he was around soldiers most of the time he seemed quite impressed with my extensive vocabulary. When I finally wound down he commented, “I get the feeling that you didn’t want me to take mail for you.”

That was an understatement but I let it go. “You didn’t know. Here, let me read this and I’ll explain after.” I opened the envelope, fearing the worst. As usual I wasn’t disappointed. The letter was addressed to, ‘His Excellency the Count di’Cameron’ and it didn’t waste any verbiage beating around the bush.

His Majesty, King Edward the First requires your presence to discuss matters of great import. Failure to appear will result in grave consequences. As a sign of the nature of these matters we do enclose this token…

The rest of the letter went on to detail the time and place, which happened to be three o’clock tomorrow afternoon. What really got my attention however was the ‘token’ he had included. It was a small lock of hair, and judging by the color I was sure it was Penny’s.

I held it in my hand for long minutes, just staring, until my vision grew blurry and I had trouble seeing. When I could no longer see for tears I brought it to my face in a vain attempt to catch her scent but by then I could hardly breathe through my nose either. Eventually I looked up again, aware at last that I was surrounded. Everyone in the house stood around me now, in a tight circle and by their faces I could see that I wasn’t alone. Marc in particular looked as if he were having almost as bad a time of it as I was. Rose managed to keep her composure this time but there was a look of smoldering anger in her eyes.

Everyone watched me expectantly and the weight of it was almost more than I could bear. I made my way to the kitchen and we all took seats around the table. I handed the letter to Rose first and waited for her to read it. When she was done she passed it to Marc and eventually it made its way completely around the table.

Walter broke the silence first, “So what are you going to do now?”

The question reminded me of another time, another day, when I had been at a similar table with friends and family waiting on me to give them some direction. As I recalled Penny and I had not been on the best of terms then and they’d had to lock us in a room till we reconciled before we could decide anything. Thinking of it now it seemed like a fond memory, though I knew that at the time I had been just as desperate.

I reached into my pouch and drew out the letter Penny had left for me, and studied the words she had written. One part in particular stood out in my mind and I found myself rereading it several times:

Do not let this break your spirit. I have seen what will happen if you pay heed to your darker impulses. It is a bleak and empty path, and you will no longer be the man I have loved. There is still hope if you do not despair.

I folded her note and carefully put it away again before I addressed my friends, “First we carefully assess our resources. In this case those would be primarily information, so let’s put everything we know on the table.” I made a slow and careful description of the recent events Harold, Walter and I had been through. When I finished I nodded at Rose.

“I haven’t very much to add I’m afraid,” she said with a graceful tone. “You only left here two days ago and since then I’ve only had one interesting bit of information come to my attention.” She repeated what she had told me regarding the guards at the palace the evening before. Marc paid close attention as she spoke and after she finished I could tell he was ready to begin.

He leaned in toward the table, “As most of you already know I had to leave the temple of the Iron God rather suddenly yesterday.” Marcus carefully relayed his tale but when he reached the end of it he caught my eye. “What I haven’t had a chance to tell yet… is what I found amidst the high priest’s paperwork,” he paused dramatically.

“What, damnitt?!” I said impatiently.

“One of the documents on top of his stack detailed a payment received from the royal exchequer. It was for the amount of five hundred gold, but the thing that caught my eye was the fact that no reason for the payment was detailed on the paperwork.” He stopped there.

“Is there anything else?” I asked.

He shook his head, “No, but the timing seems… highly congruent.”

“The obvious conclusion is that he is paying the Iron Brothers to keep his hostages at that secret compound you mentioned before,” said Rose at last.

Marc nodded, “Yes, but it is still a guess. We can’t be sure from the little we know.”

Walter was fidgeting with anxiety. “Do you think he might be keeping my family there as well?” he asked me suddenly.

“I don’t know,” I told him, and I didn’t. In fact I knew very little beyond guesswork and suspicion. Glancing around the table I could see everyone waiting on me to announce the next step. The pressure built upon me until it felt like a physical force, bearing down upon my shoulders. Taking a deep breath I stood quickly. “I’m going upstairs. I need to think and I can’t do it with everyone staring at me. I’ll be back down in a little while,” and so saying I left the table.

In the relative silence of my bedroom I stared at the wall where the picture of my mother Elena had been placed. Studying her features I wondered what she would have thought of the situation I was in now. Even more I wondered how she might have judged my actions up until now. She saved her child while mine has yet to be born and is already in danger, I thought. I had never known her in life, so even her features were strange to me. I couldn’t possibly guess what sort of advice she might have given.

“Think,” I said aloud. I had always taken my mind for granted, but now that I needed a truly inspired plan it was coming up empty of solutions. “I have two intelligent and gifted friends,” I said to myself, referring to Marc and Rose. “I have a wizard with strong reasons to want me to succeed in liberating the King’s hostages and a nearly invincible warrior armed with magical arms and armor. On top of all that I have a strong ally back in Lancaster willing to assist with men and support.” I finished listing my assets and considered the goal.

More than anything I wanted Penny and Dorian back, safely and unharmed. Once that was accomplished I could easily dispatch my largest current problem, the King himself. And civil war be damned, I thought. Edward had elevated himself to a level of threat that I no longer considered him to be the lesser of two evils. Another thought occurred to me then, what about Illeniel’s Doom? That was the true motivator behind the shiggreth making a deal with the King to begin with and I still hadn’t begun making a search for it. Hell, I had no idea what it looked like or if it was even a physical object.