Vance Moore - Odyssey

He rolled upright, furious that his being could betray him so. He walked quickly to the orb, the sphere's glory feeling slightly less. He stooped to pick it up and rapped his head against the wood.

’Everything conspires against us!” Aboshan swore, closing his eyes against the pain. ’Forced to walk on legs like a common animal. How I despise them all!" The ruler put his tentacles to his head as if to press the anger back in. The land assaulted his mind. Even for the care of treasures like the orb he depended on the Cabal. He wondered what trick they had prepared for him?

He held the Mirari before his eyes. The sphere's endless seas were swept by waves without land's interruption.

"That is what I want. For my kingdom to stretch on forever." Perhaps his wife might come back to him if he were more powerful. But the continents seemed forever beyond his reach.

"We will sweep you all away!" he said madly and thrust his magic into the sphere.

Laquatus swam down the corridor, his jack struggling to keep up with him. He had waited too long, and now everything might be at risk. He did not hear of the emperor's excursion until after he finished chastising Turg. Only after he started for the vaults did another courtier ask him if he was joining Aboshan's tour of the treasure rooms? "What do you mean?" Laquatus bellowed, as he crowded the noble back. His champion took hold of the aristocrat's limbs. Outrage filled the minister's face as the amphibian laid hands on him.

"I demand you let me go," he hissed. The frog broke his prisoner's collarbones at his master's surge of irritation.

"You might heal if you hurry to a doctor," the ambassador said intently, giving the broken bones a nudge with his hand. "Or you could suffer injuries leaving you with flippers instead of hands." Turg gave the noble a simple fracture in a lower arm. Guards and servants ignored the impromptu torture session. It was unhealthy of late to be interested in Laquatus's business.

"He is clearing the treasure rooms of workers and will inspect the rooms in person. He left while you talked with this animal." Turg broke his other arm in passing as Laqua-tus rushed to the vaults in the depths of the palace.

The way was clear, the servants keeping as much space as possible between themselves and their sovereign. The aristocrat passed guards and checkpoints, but they were never challenged. The ambassador was now the second most powerful person in the northern court, but he could be cast down at the emperor's whim.

Laquatus passed the interior banquet rooms, ignoring the delicacies that eternally awaited a courtier's dining. The hall changed shape and direction as he passed chambers that had been sealed at the emperor's pleasure. Rumors abounded of disloyal subjects interred in the finest rooms, lacking nothing but an exit. The swim was taking too long, and the ambassador accelerated, cursing the grand airs of the marine rulers. He and Turg neared the lower passages, leading to the vaults. There were few doors here, most of the space devoted to the organs which allowed the palace to live. Laquatus passed members of the imperial guard, posted to protect the emperor as he toured the bowels of the palace. A giant squid jetted back and forth through the narrow corridor. The ambassador wanted to force it aside.

However, he knew how aggressive the cephalopods were, so he slowed and gave it as wide a berth as possible. A huge eye looked him over as the ambassador continued on. It took seconds to pass the monster. The long whips stretched beyond the other tentacles. Laquatus dodged the long clubs with their oversized hooked suction cups.

The squid was one of Aboshan's proudest achievements, recruited from the queen's allies in the abyss. The emperor proved at least in his own mind that he could compete with his wife. The pair neared the entrance to the vaults.

The sessile warrior still floated on his stalk. He held a trident in his hands as he directed the guards in moving a partition. Laquatus was surprised to see Fulla and her companions penned in the bubble set over the trapdoor. The air was stretched until it resembled a loaf of bread. The spell seemed to be straining. The dementia caster poked her hand out through the water barrier, watching the boundary ripple with interest.

"Guard," the ambassador said, drawing the stationary fighter to attention. The arms on the rooted figure crossed as he drew himself upright. "I would speak with the emperor."

Laquatus wondered how he would deal with an outraged sovereign. He had no idea how obvious the Cabal's looting operation of the vaults was. Aboshan might have no idea anything untoward was happening.

The flare of powerful magic seemed to fill the room. A massive spell's presence set the magical field to vibrating. The air bubble shook violently as the palace spells interacted with the new force. With a sinking heart Laquatus realized Aboshan must have found the orb.

"I must see the emperor now," the aristocrat demanded, determined to find out what was happening. The guard twisted his stalk, the trident no longer at attention but lowered for use.

"Absolutely not," the sessile warrior said flatly, coiling on his long stalk as if to lunge forward. "His imperial majesty did not wish to be disturbed, so none shall pass. The emperor allowed for no exceptions."

The soldier waved for reinforcements from the corridor.

These guards might move from where they were rooted only a few times in their lives. As a result, Laquatus believed, they were the most stubborn and unyielding guards in all existence. Rigid obedience to all orders was their trademark.

Another pulse shook the ether, but this time the concussion was also physical. The ambassador felt the water surging in sympathy to some spell perpetuated by Aboshan. Laquatus remembered the disaster that had struck the Order. Aboshan had no interest in what happened to the Citadel, and Laquatus neglected to share the information for fear of drawing the emperor's attention to the orb. Even now a spell might be encasing the vaults in impenetrable crystal. The palace wall shivered as a new wave of energy blasted through the living tissue.

’There is no time,” Laquatus growled as his commands leaped from his mind to the palace walls. His authority unquestioned by any in the court, the building obeyed. The walls closed. Laquatus imagined the panic that must be filling the upper floors of the building for he did not limit his command. He wondered how many would die as the passage pinched shut, sealing the troops away from the emperor. The giant squid the ambassador had passed jetted down the corridor, it speed blinding as it tore into the vaults' antechamber, getting through the door before lattices of chitin and coral could crimp the passage shut.

”Take it,” the ambassador ordered Turg and moved against the rooted guard. The stubborn whelk directed a sudden current at the ambassador, threatening to batter the merman against the walls. Laquatus swam into the flow, showing off his body's power as he rarely did. He stilled the torrent and circled the guard, wondering how long it would take the poison on his rings to kill his opponent.

In the background he could see the Cabal workers panicking—under the ocean with only a thin bubble preventing them from drowning.

The ambassador focused on his one fight. Who would think an immobile opponent would offer a challenge? He called for a shark to feast on the stationary target. But the fighter was tied directly into the palace, and his counter-spell disrupted the magical call. Laquatus tried to conjure other monsters. In spite of his vigorous attempts, the guard's magic was a stone bastion upon which he wasted all his strength.

In the bubble, the Cabal workers struck at their amphibian watchers with magical attacks. The blind tre-sias's limbs withered, the muscle melting away under the workers' hands. The fighters shrank to miniscule proportions, their bones cracking and spearing through their skins. If only the aristocrat enjoyed some of that dark magic, but his spells were of the sea and his opponent opposed every summoning. At least the amphibians would not interfere with the ambassador's fight.