Looming Shadow: Journey to Chaos book 2 (15 page)

“That's what really
happened.”

Henry slotted his notes
into a vanilla folder. “Exactly, and that's what makes it so perfect. ‘I won
because I had the support of my friends.' No one would believe a sell staff
could defeat the Founder of Magecraft on his own. No offense.” He put the
folder into a drawer for later use. “There's even a web for the use of a safety
net metaphor! It's a brilliant finishing touch.”

Eric slouched. “Is that
what K...Her Majesty has in mind? Underdog propaganda?”

Henry shrugged.
“Perhaps, but I'm thinking bigger. As you are aware, Dengel was a great mage
but a terrible person. If more humans knew the latter, they would think less
highly of him and our relationship with the elves would improve, and that could
only mean good things for our world.”

The young mage grinned
like a trickster, which only further convinced Henry that Tasio had made the
correct decision. The glee in his voice confirmed it.

“Then, for the sake of
global prosperity, I will blacken Dengel's name.”

Shadow Dengel appeared
behind him.

 
You will fail.
Humans have a secular religion based on me!

Eric resisted the urge
to swat it and focused on the archivist.
Can't hear anything!

By saying that, you
acknowledge you do
.

This is crazy! I
banished Dengel; you're just a figment of my imagination!

Keep telling
yourself that if it makes you feel better.

Eric's fists clenched
involuntarily and he took deep breaths to relax them. Henry noticed but said
nothing. Fighting one's inner demons was a personal matter. After living
through a thousand years of bloodshed, he knew that better than anyone else
did.

“Do you need anything
else, Mr. Pupil?”

“No, that will be all,
Mr. Watley.” The young mage stood up and walked out, but Henry's voice stopped
him at the door. “If you'd like to learn more about the Trickster's Chosen or
those favored by Dakol, you are welcome to their archives.”

Eric looked over his
shoulder. “That's legal?”

Henry's wrinkled eyes
crinkled in amusement. “It is now. Her Majesty pushed it through while you were
gone.”

“I might take you up on
that, but for now, I'd rather check on my teammates.”

Gossip followed him as
he descended the castle stairs. Clerks, nobles, servants, and soldiers were all
talking about the latest choice of The Trickster, Her Majesty's mercenary
friend, and Dengel's vessel. All of it made him want to wrap himself in
darkness, but that would only give them more to gossip about. Then he heard
something that delighted him.

“– causing a ruckus.
She challenged them to a three-on-one duel and won.”

“She
must
be a
dragon's child.”

“
I
heard she’s the
Spider's –” 

That sounded like Tiza.
He pictured her standing on a pile of unconscious trainees and pouring the hot
chocolate she was supposed to serve them
on them.
Unfortunately, by the
time he arrived at the training ground, there were only veteran soldiers in
their daily exercises. Icy breezes had free access to these grounds and the
ground was hard and chilly in preparation for snow, but these men and women
drilled without complaint.

“Snol may blow and Snol
may howl!” they belted. “But we will never ever bow!”

The queen appeared on a
balcony overlooking the grounds. She didn't wear a coat or anything more than
what she had in the heated throne room. Then she raised her right hand above
her head and a large ball of fire appeared in her palm. The heat from it was so
great it transformed the area into summer. All the soldiers stopped and saluted
with sword hands over their hearts. As suddenly as it appeared, the fire
vanished into Kasile's hand and she addressed them.

“Brave Soldiers of
Ataidar, the equinox approaches, and with it, the retreat of the Sun. Now more
than ever, you must remember the fire burning within each of you. Our combined
power can melt the hardest ice and restore abundant life. I implore you to do
your very best, for the Flame of Ataidar!”

The soldiers thrust
their weapons to the sky. “By the Fire of Shalindtros!”

This must be the
Fire’s Avatar religion I’ve heard about.

Veneration of the Grand
Elemental Sapience Fire was the official state religion. Kasile was a
descendent of Shalindtros, the avatar of this fire god, and thus the heir of
Ataidar’s founder. She was to be a benevolent sun shining on the ground,
growing crops in addition to a fire warming a camp of subjects. She was the
power behind a blacksmith pulling weapons, tools, and pottery out of his forge.
Here, she was acting it out.

The words of the
fireball spell floated in his mind as well as the one who taught it them. “Crimson
fire, grant my desire.” Fire was then related to Chaos….

 Eric shook his head.
As
fascinating as all this is...where's Tiza?
 

 He wandered about
until he found his answer in the next field over. It took the form of an
overturned table and chocolate-flavored snow. Instead of a crowd of soldiers,
there was only a handful sparring and their drill sergeant ranting.

“Abyss take that salt-sucking
sell sword! An entire day of drilling wasted! Why would Her Majesty ever –” He
trailed off as he caught sight of Eric. “You! Trickster's Choice! You caused
this!”

He drew his sword and
the motion generated a crescent of energy that sliced through the air. Eric
dropped to his knees and the beam smashed into the walls behind him. To the
credit of the long-dead craftsmen, it wasn’t as much as scratched. The officer
waved the gleaming blade while shouting, “I hope you had a good laugh because
my maggots will
never
be this embarrassing again!”

Eric backed away
slowly. “Uh...good...I'm leaving now.”

“And take your friends
with you!”

Eric scanned the
courtyard but couldn't find any of them. However, he did find some oddballs
mixed in with the recruits. They were a quartet of soldiers playing the drums
on each other's backs while also doing the conga through the sparring circles. Their
armor lacked the same royal motifs as the others and instead possessed an eye
and two hands.

“Those aren't my
friends.”

The drill sergeant
turned red in the face and marched to get up in Eric's. He moved so close his
goblin’s fungus breath stung Eric’s eyes

“They sang your
fighter's praises while egging on my maggots! They distracted me so the duel
could brew into a brawl! I don't care if they're assassins come to kill you
– get them out of here!
”

“Y-yes, sir!”

Eric beckoned the four
soldiers and they followed him back across the training yard and into the
castle. This hallway was shadowy and could fit three people abreast, so the
soldiers walked in pairs. One of them walked ahead of him while the other
dropped behind. An anxious feeling needled in his mind. He whispered the words
to a spell and, suddenly, the feeling blared. He leapt upward just in time to
avoid a four-way shanking. Two of them struck low while the other struck high.
They clearly expected him to dodge, but didn’t expect him to cling to the
ceiling.  

He cloaked an instant
later and pushed off thin air. His Winged Feet enabled him superior
maneuverability, even in the hallway. He landed lightly and the feeling blared
again. Something snapped his Dark Veil. He sidestepped a downward club strike
and this maneuver put him behind Gruffle. He fired a dark bolt directly against
the troll’s back and darkness rushed into the hallway. By the time Gruffle
dispelled it, Eric was several yards away.

Rallying the imposter
soldiers, the troll ran after him. Their prey fired mana bolts over his
shoulder, but they either missed or dispersed on their armor. The mage threw
everything in his repertoire at Gruffle, but the troll negated it all with his
Orderly Pocket Guardian.

“Only Chaos can
defeat Order.” That was what Annala said.

Gruffle returned fire
with his shockwaves and they rattled the walls with their passage. Eric stepped
onto an Air Disk to avoid them. He only stepped down to open a door and enter
the next room.

“Excuse me! Coming
through! Under attack!”

Servants scattered
before him, bumping into each other and dropping their burdens to the floor.
Crashes were heard as they broke. His flight pushed a lady into the arms of a
clerk and he heard a smack from behind him. A group of soldiers blocked his
path and demanded that he halt. Instead, he changed directions and went down
another path, with Gruffle and the imposters in hot pursuit.

“Call the Sentinel!” the
ranking officer said. “That troll has ordercraft!”

Then he pointed to
three other soldiers and told them to follow him. He followed the intruders,
who followed Eric, who was doing his best to get away from them all. When he
reached the main hall, he found his chance.

It was as busy now as
when he arrived earlier that day. Cloaking once again, he joined the crowd in
order to slip away. Gruffle bashed one person aside after another, but Eric had
too much experience with hiding in plain sight. The troll lost sight of him and
howled in frustration. Everyone ran away from him, but one woman wasn’t fast
enough. He grabbed her by the hair and hoisted her off her feet.

“Eric Watley,
Trickster’s Choice, come out here or else!”

“Taking a hostage is a
crime in Ataidar.”

The authoritative
baritone sent shivers down Gruffle’s spine. From the third floor, an orc looked
down on him. He jumped the railing and landed solidly before Gruffle, cratering
the ground. He stood a head and shoulders taller than the troll and possessed
greater muscle mass. He wore full body armor that made him appear bigger still.
It was bulky and emblazoned with flaming tiger paws and glowing golden runes
made from ten intersecting lines at his stomach. The royal crest was engraved
on his chest and his helmet.

“I am Fairtheora the
Lawkeeper, Royal Sentinel in service to Her Majesty Queen Kasile Ataidar. By
her authority, I charge you with the following crimes: Assault in the first
degree, attempted murder, hostage taking, impersonating a royal soldier,
trespassing on royal property, and the possession and use of ordercraft
contrabands. Will you come quietly?”

Gruffle soiled himself
and tightened his grip on his hostage.

“Go away or I’ll kill
her!”

“If you do so in the
palace and before all these witnesses, then I will be within my legal right to
stick your dismembered body in my stew while you are still alive and bleeding.”

Gruffle raised his club
to bash her head in, when suddenly the hair in his grip parted from the hair on
her head. While he stared at the strange sight, something hit him in the one
spot that is as sensitive to trolls as it is to humans. Once again, he clutched
himself as his shorn hostage ran to safety. Then, something tried to take his
crystal. He tightened his grip and blasted the thing grabbing it. Eric
decloaked in midair and landed near the sentinel, skidding on the polished
floor.

“Thank you for your
assistance, Mr. Watley.”

The sentinel stepped
forward and Gruffle summoned the four imposters to protect himself. Fairtheora
grabbed the first two and used them as hammers to bash the other two into the
ground. Then he twisted them into a double pretzel and left them on the ground
next to their fellows. Gruffle raised his Orderly Pocket Guardian to generate
an order barrier, but Fairtheora reached through it, grabbed his crystal, and
crushed it into dust.

“Her Majesty is The Law
here and I am the enforcer of her Law. Will you come quietly, come now, or must
I resort to further violence?”

Gruffle nodded meekly
and allowed himself to be cuffed. A squad of soldiers surrounded him and the sentinel
turned his attention to Eric.

“I will not tolerate
any further disturbances. Understand?” Eric nodded. The sentinel marched his
prisoner down a different hallway and out of sight.

Eric shivered.
Your
sentinel is scary.

That's what I pay
him for.

Is he new?

Sort of. He used to
guard the castle itself, but after the Stratos Tragedy, my father sent him to
guard the border in case Latrot made a move.

The whole border? By
himself?!

No, only half of it.
Father wasn’t worried about Mithra attacking. After I found an enforcer living
in him, I recalled his sentinel to ensure stability in my realm.

Eric knelt to take a closer look at the
twisted up armor shells. Royal soldiers were blocking off the area so passersby
couldn’t interfere with the scene, but they left Eric alone so he was free to
examine them on his own. Upon close examination, it was obvious that these
soldiers were imposters. The fire designs on their armor were not royal Ataidar
designs; just normal fire. The eye symbols were more elaborate – better made
and identical to the one in Gruffle's crystal.

Shadow Dengel knelt at the opposite side of
the bodies and examined them as well. Then he looked up and sneered at Eric.
You were helpless before the Power of Order. Nulso and his spirit, Gruffle and
his crystal; they negate your power. All you could do was run like the coward
you are.

To look away from the phantom would only
acknowledge it, so he pretended it didn't exist by looking at the armor and
refreshing the mechanics of Order's power in his head.
Ordercraft is
bequeathed upon sapients by Order to carry out his will. Order is the original
mage and so his authority is to control mana. Thus, objects runed with his
symbol are capable of directing mana or absorbing it. This is the basis of
anti-mana storm runes inside every wall surrounding every city on the planet.