The Archmage Unbound (50 page)

Our arrival in Lancaster was greeted
with some surprise but I didn’t have much patience for formalities. I headed
for the keep as soon as we arrived, stopping only to ask one question of the
guard on duty, “Where is Genevieve now?”

“She’s in the study sir,” the man
answered quickly.

I turned to Walter and Harold, “I will
be meeting with the duchess, go ahead and find something to eat but don’t go
too far. I plan to travel again momentarily.”

I ran into Benchley right after entering
the main hall. “Your Excellency, it is good to see you again,” he said to me
in a tone that was genuinely respectful. Since I had been granted the title of
count I found I missed his sarcastic tones.
He just isn’t the same anymore,
I lamented inwardly.

“Benchley!” I exclaimed. “I’m going to
see her Grace but she will need your assistance immediately thereafter. She
will want to send several messages. I would appreciate it if you would call
for the messengers and tell the head groom to get a fast horse ready.”

He gave me a tight lipped smile and
walked with me to the study door. “Certainly sir,” he replied.

I stopped, “I mean now Benchley. I can
let myself in. I don’t need you to open the door for me.”

He coughed. “Begging your pardon sir
but I’ve already taken care of those things. Do you still wish to open the
door for yourself or is there something else you would like me to do?” His
hand was already gripping the door handle.

I almost laughed, instead I grinned at
him. “You smug bastard, I’ve missed you.”

He gave me a quizzical look, “I never
left sir.” His tone and expression gave nothing away, but my magesight showed
me a distinct flicker of amusement as he answered.
I could study for a
hundred years and never attain this man’s level of sarcastic excellence,
I
reminded myself.

I waved my hand at the door and let him
open it for me. I found Genevieve sitting at a desk leaning over a heavy
ledger book. She glanced up at me in surprise, “I hadn’t expected to see you
back so soon. Is James alright?” Her eyes had already taken in the fact that
I was alone.

I walked around the desk and held out my
hands. She tentatively accepted them and I pulled her gently to her feet
before embracing her. “Penny and Dorian are alive,” I said softly. It was
something I had only learned myself an hour past and the emotion that swept
over me as I allowed myself to say the words was overwhelming.

“What?!” she said thrusting me out to
arm’s length. “Where are they? How did you learn this?”

“They’re in Albamarl. The King has
them…,” I began. It took almost a quarter of an hour to explain the situation
and how I had come by the information. The matter was only made more difficult
by the fact that I could barely speak due to the storm of emotions that was
running through me.

The duchess was patient as I told my
story, waiting till I had run down before she spoke. “What do you intend to do
now?” she asked bluntly when I had finished.

“I need you to send a message to James.
He still thinks we’re trapped in that cave. He should come back and I will
probably need his help soon,” I told her.

“And then?”

Frustration boiled up causing me to
clench my fists, “I don’t know! I want to go to the capital and separate
Edward from his entrails!”

Genevieve shook her head, “You know you
cannot do that.”

“Why not?” I asked. “If he can’t speak
he can’t order their deaths. I simply have to kill him quickly.” I knew
better but I wasn’t in the mood for being rational.

“He has been at this game for much
longer than you have been alive. If you kill him they will die, you can count
on that Mordecai,” she replied sternly.

Helpless anger put tears in my eyes as I
looked up at her. “Then what would you advise me to do?”

“You might consider negotiating first. Obviously
he will use them as hostages to ensure your cooperation. Depending on his
plans for you it may be better to cooperate than risk him harming the two of
them,” she said slowly.

“No,” I said immediately, “Walter took
that course and he hasn’t seen his family in over four years. Besides, the
king doesn’t dare kill them. We are at an impasse. If he kills them I will
not hesitate to avenge them. Their lives are the only things that shield him.”

Genevieve’s voice was bitter. “Who said
anything about killing? He can do far worse than that, and send you the
evidence of their torture to prove his point. This isn’t a fairy tale
Mordecai. Edward is capable of many fine gradations of cruelty to ensure your
compliance.”

She was right of course, and her words
only gave voice to my deepest fears. Still I couldn’t accept things as they
were. “He hasn’t made his ‘acquisition’ known to me yet so I at least have
some time to think before I have to respond to any demands. How long do you
think I have before he reveals his hand to me?”

The duchess had her head down, for she
was focusing on writing a letter. “Not long. He will want to solidify his
hold upon you as quickly as possible. Most particularly if he already has
something in mind he desires to gain from you,” she speculated as she wrote.

I straightened up, “I’m going to
Albamarl. I don’t want to waste what time I have.”

She glanced up, “Anything specific you
want me to tell James?”

“Stay here and stay ready, if I need him
I’ll arrive suddenly and probably need to depart again just as quickly,” I
replied, striding purposefully for the door. I paused with my hand on the
knob, “Thank you Genevieve. I’ll never be able to say that enough.”

Ignoring my words she replied instead,
“Don’t do anything rash Mordecai. As long as Edward is unaware of your
knowledge you are still free to act on your own. Once he communicates with you
your every action will be viewed and evaluated carefully, and any consequences
will fall upon Dorian and your wife.”

***

I interrupted Walter and Harold’s brief
lunch and within a few minutes I had taken us on to my house in Albamarl.
I
began searching for Marc and Rose as soon as we arrived. I held out little
hope of finding either of my two friends in residence but luck was on my side
for a change. Marcus was lounging in the downstairs parlor, one leg thrown
over the arm of a well cushioned chair. He had a wine bottle in one hand, and
another now empty bottle, lay on the floor.

I took one look at him and asked Walter and Harold
to give us some privacy. They excused themselves and went looking for the
kitchen, most likely to finish the meal I had interrupted in Lancaster. Once
they were gone I closed the parlor door.

“You’re drunk,” I started with a vindictive tone.
Marc stared up at me bleary eyed but gave no sign of responding yet so I
continued, “Did you even bother trying to discover any information while I was
gone? Or did you just spend your time whoring around with priestesses?” My
frustration with my situation was definitely spilling over and finding Marcus
drunk when I needed him most had pushed me over the edge.

His eyes focused on me finally, “I’m not drunk. I’m
a gods-damned heretic!” He held up a sheet of paper and waved it haphazardly
in my direction. “See! I have papersh to prove it.”

“You’re a waste of air is what you are! It isn’t as
if I have very many friends left. I’m up to my eyeballs in trouble and when I
need your help you’ve gone and pickled what little brains you have left with
wine!”

“You think I don’t know that?!” yelled Marc. “It
should have been me! They were my besht friends! If I had any faith left I’d
be praying to thoshe asshole gods to take me instead.”

I felt my heart grow cold at his words. “You think
I wish you were dead in their place?” I could see the pain in his eyes even as
I said the words.

“No idiot!
I
wish I was dead in their place.
You need to learn how to lishen better.” He stood suddenly and shoved his
paper in my direction, “Read thish damnitt.”

I plucked the sheet from his hand and then gave him
a brisk push, sending him falling backward into the chair he had just risen
from. “Sit down before you hurt yourself.”

Scanning the page I was surprised to see that it
bore a reasonable likeness to Marc’s face drawn upon it. The top line read in
bold letters, “Warning! This man is no priest of Doron or any of the other
shining gods…” It went on to detail his real identity as an ex-priest of
Millicenth and a disinherited heir of the duchy of Lancaster. Near the end it
labeled him, ‘Marcus the Heretic’ and included strong instructions to deny him
entry to any of the temples of the shining gods.

“How did you manage this?” I asked forgetting my
anger.

“They caught me sneaking around in the high priest’s
shtudy. I was trying to find invoices detailing what they’ve been shipping to
that shecret compound of theirs,” he explained with a bit less slur in his
voice.

I raised an eyebrow, “I’m surprised you weren’t
locked up.”

“Ha! They might’a tried that but it was jus’ the
high priest his pox-ridden self that caught me.” He punctuated his declaration
with a soft belch.

“What did you do?”

He grinned sloppily, “I popped the fat bashtard
right in his puffy face. You should have seen how surprished he was!”

“And then?” I prompted.

“He started screeching like a little girl so I hit
him again, but he still wouldn’t be quiet. I wound up beating him half to
death before he finally passed out. For such a weak man he took one hell of a
pounding. I hafta’ give him that. Anyway, after he finally shut up I had to
take my leave suddenly. I was lucky to get out before they sealed the whole
damn place.” After he finished he began miming the high priest’s expression
when he surprised him. “Whupsh! Pardon me Father, was that your nose!?”

It might have been funny if he had been sober.
“When did all this happen?”

“Yesterday morning… they had those warningsh posted
by mid-afternoon,” he replied. “I don’t think Marissha is going to want to see
me anymore... now that she knowsh I’m a heretic.” He looked around for his
wine bottle but I had already removed it from his vicinity.

“No more of that,” I told him, “I need you sober.”

“Why?”

“Dorian and Penny are alive,” I said abruptly.

His eyes widened and began to well with incipient
tears. “Don’t do that to me Mort. That’s not fair.”

“I’m not making jokes you drunken fool. They’re
alive and somewhere in this city. After you sober up you and Rose are going to
help me find them.” I leaned in closely and my hand reached into the collar of
his shirt. A moment later I had found the necklace I had given him.

“How? I don’t understand,” he said, trying to shake
me off as I unclasped the pendant.

“I’ll explain when you wake up. I don’t feel like
having to repeat myself,” I told him as I pulled the chain away and stood back.

His eyes widened as he realized I was about to put
him to sleep. “Wait, I have more news. I found their hidden compound. It’s
several miles…”

“Shibal,”
I said quietly and he sagged back into the chair. “You can tell me about it
when you’re sober.” After that I called Harold in and with his help we got him
upstairs to his room.

Once Marc was safely tucked in Harold spoke, “What
was that all about?”

“I need him sober and the best way to manage that is
to let him sleep it off. Hopefully Rose will be here by the time he wakes up
and I can explain things to both of them at the same time,” I said. As we
walked back downstairs I could smell something good frying and my stomach began
rumbling. It had been quite a while since I had eaten and my last food had
been a cold camp breakfast. “What’s that smell?” I asked.

“It appears Walter is a passably fair cook,” Harold
responded. “Once he got a good look at the pantry he decided to throw
something together.”

My mouth was watering already. I decided to eat
first before trying to magically locate Dorian and Penny in the city. I was
pretty sure the king would have them kept somewhere far enough away that I
wouldn’t find them anyway. Still I had to try.

***

The afternoon passed slowly into dusk. I spent most
of that time in a sort of focused meditation as I searched the area within a
mile or so of the house. As expected I didn’t find any sign of my wife or my
friend, but I had to be sure. The city itself covered a much larger area,
since it was at least two miles in diameter and simple math dictated that I
would have to move at least four or five times to completely cover the area just
contained within the outer walls.
The King wouldn’t be such a fool as to
keep them within the city.

Rose still hadn’t returned by the time the sun had
gone down, which left me to believe she probably was staying at her own house
again. Unfortunately that simply wouldn’t do. I couldn’t afford to wait
several days for her to check in, and that meant I would have to go out and
find her. Normally that wouldn’t have been a problem, but considering the fact
that I didn’t want the King to know I was back in the capital I had to make
sure I wasn’t seen. Once he knew I was here he would be able to send a summons
or message, and my freedom to act would be greatly limited. Until he found me
he couldn’t effectively leverage my wife and friend against me.