The Chamber of Eternity, page 13
“No, my lord. I will carry out my orders. I simply wished to offer a warning. Assessing threats is one of my duties after all.”
“I appreciate your honesty,” he said. “But the potential gains outweigh almost any risk. In fact, I want you to go with them, oversee the operation personally. Show me you’re not too scared to do your job.”
That was the last thing she wanted, but Renna just nodded. “As you wish. If I’m to travel north with them, I’ll need to pack. Is there anything else?”
“Only a final warning.” He grabbed her by the chin and pulled her face down so their lips almost touched. “Otto Shenk isn’t the one you need to fear. I am.”
Lord Audin shoved her back. Renna bowed and hurried out of the office.
Now she had a furious wizard on one side and a lord governor that didn’t trust her on the other. Marvelous. How much worse could things get?
Otto’s sight soared above Audin as he peered through the ether looking for the unique glow of the runes he’d inscribed inside Corina’s ring. When he put them there, he never imagined he’d be using them this way. Whoever kidnapped her wasn’t a wizard and must not have access to one. Even a cursory examination would reveal the ring’s glow, even if they didn’t immediately realize its purpose.
Oh well, it was good luck for Otto and bad luck for the kidnappers.
He found what he was looking for halfway across the city from the administrative building. The faint spark led him to a basement room under an inn. Three men dressed in black were gathered there. One was pacing while the other two sat on wooden crates. The one pacing carried the ring in his pocket.
Otto sent his hearing to join his eyes.
“What are we going to do?” one of the seated men asked.
“Nothing’s changed,” the pacing man said. “We still need to stop him from delivering the mithril. Losing the girl was a blow, I don’t deny it, she would have made a useful bargaining chip despite her ignorance. But done is done. Now we focus on planning the ambush. Whatever the cost, we have to succeed. The consequences for failure don’t bear consideration.”
The others mumbled their agreement.
Otto had heard enough. He left a thread to mark a spot in the left rear corner of the basement and returned his senses to his body. Hans stood to one side and held a large silk pillowcase that looked just big enough for his needs.
“I found them.” Otto stood, took the case, and tucked it into his satchel. “This won’t take long.”
He became one with the ether and followed the thread he left back to the basement hideout. All three kidnappers were staring at him when he stepped out of the shadows.
Otto flicked his ring and bound them all in place. A moment later a dome of silence surrounded the room. “I assume you all know me. You have considerable courage, kidnapping a drugged girl in the middle of the night. It is unfortunate that you chose my apprentice as your target. That’s not the sort of thing I can just let slide.”
Otto drew his sword and snapped his wrist, slicing open the leader’s pocket. Corina’s iron ring fell out. He collected it and straightened. “Where’s the mithril ring?”
Otto released the binding on the leader’s head so he could answer. “Help! Someone, help!”
The sword flicked out again, this time slicing the leader’s forearm to the bone.
He howled in pain.
“Answer my question or I’ll take your other hand off at the wrist,” Otto said.
“Stop, please. I gave it to the ambassador as proof that we had the right girl. Our people made detailed notes on you and your party during your time in Bandon. A mithril ring was kind of hard to miss.”
Otto couldn’t deny that. “How many people are aware of your plan to ambush me at the portal?”
“Just us and the ambassador. If you let us go I promise we’ll leave Audin tonight and never interfere with you again.”
“Surely you weren’t planning to attack with only three men. You don’t strike me as stupid, despite kidnapping my apprentice.”
“We were going to use constructs. Half a dozen armored warriors are nearly unstoppable when they attack humans, even wizards.”
“And where are these constructs now?” Otto asked.
“In a ship that docked two days ago. We haven’t smuggled them into the city yet. She’s called the Bandon Bird. Now please, let us go. I’ve told you everything I know.”
Otto examined the kidnapper through the ether and as far as he could tell the man wasn’t lying. His hand tightened on the hilt of his sword. Much as he wanted to send these three fools’ heads to the ambassador as a message, that wouldn’t serve his plans. Better by far if no one ever knew they existed.
“You’ve been very helpful. Unfortunately, I can’t allow anyone to harm those under my protection without consequences. Rest assured that had you lied to me or been less forthcoming, your deaths would have been far more painful.”
Before the lead kidnapper could make another sound, Otto lashed out, slicing his head off. He repeated the process with the other two. A quick look around revealed nothing that might betray his presence.
Now he just needed to speak to the ambassador.
Otto found the Bandon ambassador alone in her modest office reading a page from a huge stack on the center of her desk. Middle-aged, forty pounds overweight, and wearing a conservative dress of deep blue, the woman clearly didn’t get her job based on her looks. Probably political connections then or, heaven forbid, actual competence.
No magical wards protected the embassy, which indicated that Renna was right about them not having wizards among their staff. That certainly made Otto’s job easier. Forcing his way in would have alerted any magic user within ten blocks who was paying attention.
He marked the office with a thread and traveled through the ether. Before she could even look up from her reading he bound her in place and wove a ward of silence around the office. There was no time to mess around. Otto took a step toward the desk, paused, and went to the office door instead. It had a simple lock which he secured. Satisfied that he wouldn’t be interrupted, he moved to stand beside the ambassador.
“Whatever you’re going to do, please don’t,” she said the moment he released the binding on her head.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill you.” Otto glanced down at her hand and found Corina’s ring shining on her little finger. He wrenched it off. “That doesn’t belong to you. Now, I have a couple questions. Please understand that your answers will determine whether I simply erase your memories of me or if I lop your head off like I did those of your kidnappers.”
“My agents are dead?” Her calm expression gave way to fear.
“Oh, yes. What did you think was going to happen when I returned and learned what you’d done? Wait, let me guess. You thought those idiots would kill me when I showed up to rescue Corina. I’m almost insulted. Now, have you sent any reports about your plans back to Bandon?”
Otto drove threads of ether into her brain when a section lit up and ripped the truth out of her mouth. “No. I wanted to wait until the task was complete. My hope was that my superiors would be impressed and give me a promotion out of this wretched city.”
She stared at him, clearly aghast at what she just said.
“I know, for someone used to lying, this spell can be disconcerting. On the other hand, it is considerably less painful than the other techniques I know for extracting information. Lucky for you, the answer you gave is the one I was hoping for. Now, just try and relax and stare straight ahead.”
Otto conjured a wheel of spinning light and with no magic to protect her, the ambassador was quickly under. Next, threads of ether shot out into her brain.
“Otto Shenk.” When a portion of her brain lit up he used his threads to scrub it away. The process continued until her brain no longer lit up when he said his name.
Next he erased all knowledge of the mission she’d given her agents. Finally, he eliminated Corina and Hans. A thin line of drool now extended from the ambassador’s mouth to her chin and he hoped he hadn’t done too much damage. He needed the woman functional, at least for the near future.
He released the spell and she slumped forward, head resting on the table. Satisfied with his work, Otto unlocked the door, removed the silence ward, and vanished into the ether.
When he appeared in his room back at the government building, his knees nearly buckled. Using that much magic over such a short time had left him exhausted and weak. He needed to rest, but first he had something important to do.
Otto opened the bedroom door and Hans sprang out of the chair he’d been sitting in. “Is all well, my lord?”
“I believe so.” Otto tossed him the pillowcase. “Is Corina awake?”
“If she is, she’s been quiet.” Hans held up the pillowcase. “This is awfully clean for having three heads in it.”
Otto offered a thin smile. “I had a better idea. Not nearly as satisfying as lining her minions heads’ up in a row on her bed, but more useful to the mission. Find Renna and tell her that I’ll be happy to join the lord governor for a late dinner. Right now I need sleep. Just as soon as I return something.”
Hans saluted and went out into the hall. Otto eased the door to Corina’s room open and peeked inside. Her eyes were open and she smiled when she saw him.
“I heard you talking,” Corina said. “Sorry if I made trouble for you, Master.”
Otto stepped inside. “You didn’t and those that hurt you will never hurt anyone else. How are you feeling?”
“I’m okay. My head’s still a little fuzzy, but that’s all.”
“Good. I’ll be counting on you when we set out for Colt’s Workshop.”
He held out his hand and she gasped. “You got my rings. Thank you, Master.”
She took them and slipped them on with a sigh of relief.
“Make sure not to lose them again.” Otto offered a gentle smile and returned to his own room. The overstuffed bed looked like the sweetest thing he’d ever seen.
He dropped into it and was soon fast asleep.
Chapter 13
After a four-hour nap and a delicious meal, Otto felt nearly back to normal. Across the table from him, August seemed calm and at ease. Considering his failure to protect Corina, that confidence seemed ill placed. Otto had remained largely quiet during the meal, letting the lord governor muse on what he might be thinking. He was still annoyed at the terrible quality of their security, but in the end, nothing had really changed. They each still wanted something from the other, and neither had another way of getting it.
Otto took a last sip of his wine and said, “The patch is ready and I’ve brought your mithril to the portal. Have you devised a way to activate it that won’t draw the attention of every spy in the city?”
August brightened a bit now that they were back to business. “No. The problem is I can’t think of a good way to distract everyone. It would have to be something major to draw every embassy’s attention.”
“How about kicking the Bandon ambassador out of Audin. Would that do it?”
“Certainly, but I’d have to give a reason and we don’t want to advertise your presence.”
“Did I not mention they were smuggling a number of animated soldiers into the city? They’re on a ship in the harbor right now. I assume that goes against whatever agreement you all have with each other.”
August’s expression darkened. “It certainly does. We can even claim the traitor that told us where to find your apprentice told us about the weapons. I’ll make a big show of grabbing them and announcing the embassy’s expulsion from the city. While I’m doing that, you can activate the portal. Illsa will go with you to examine the mithril and bring back our first half for processing. Agreed?”
“Agreed. I’ll be bringing some reinforcements back to help me search the workshop.”
August frowned. “How many? Remember, we have to keep this quiet.”
“I thought a scout company. That’s a hundred men.”
August immediately shook his head, just as Otto expected. “That won’t do at all. Not only couldn’t we hide them, but I can’t have such a large foreign force in my city. Heaven only knows what they might get up to.”
“Ten then,” Otto said, naming the number he actually wanted. “If the workshop is as dangerous as you say, I’ll need at least that many.”
“Fair enough. Considering how badly we bungled your security, I can’t blame you for wanting backup. When should I make the announcement?”
“Noon would be ideal since that’s the brightest part of the day and will hide the portal’s activation best.”
“Very well, noon tomorrow.”
They shook, grasping wrists, all the tension that had been building between them long gone, and grinning like two kids up to a prank. Only this was a prank that would change the world.
At a little before noon, Otto, Hans, Corina, and Illsa were gathered across the street from the portal. Three squads of guards had been dispersed to keep anyone in the area away. Luckily, for some reason, the locals considered the portal bad luck and the area around it was largely abandoned. Beside Illsa a floating cart, for lack of a better description, hovered a foot off the ground. It was about four feet square and had high sides. She called it a load carrier and planned to use it to transport their mithril back.
Otto watched as the shadows grew ever shorter. Not much longer.
“What’s it like traveling through the portal?” Illsa asked. “I’ve always wondered.”
“It’s like taking a step through a tunnel of light,” Corina said. “I’ve never seen anything so pretty.”
“It can also leave you dizzy and a little sick,” Hans added, eyeing the portal with clear distaste.
“They’re both right,” Otto said. “I’ve done it so many times I don’t even think about how remarkable the whole process is. The power of the Arcane Lords never ceases to amaze me.”
“We tried to process the portal, you know,” Illsa said. “Nothing we used even scratched the mithril.”
“Garenland tried that as well with equal success.” Otto shook his head. “The power required to destroy a portal boggles the mind. I doubt a single Arcane Lord could do it.”
The shadows reached their shortest point and a minute later a messenger came running around the corner.
“The lord governor has moved on Bandon’s embassy.”
“Fingers crossed that everyone’s looking where they should be.” Otto took the patch out of his satchel and tossed it at the master rune.
The ether flared like lightning and dragged the patch into place. It only took seconds, but anyone watching would have been treated to quite a light show.
As soon as the ether settled Otto pulled out the control rod, charged it, and touched the rune for Garen. The instant the connection was established he motioned the others through. A single step brought Otto to the portal fort.
“We have little time.” He guided Illsa toward the covered wagon and motioned the scout on duty to pull the tarp back. “Where’s my brother?”
“At the Franken barracks, my lord.”
“Send a messenger for him and his chosen men. Make sure they have their new equipment and make it clear they need to hurry.”
The scout saluted and ran off at a dead sprint.
Illsa had her full attention on the rubble in the back of the wagon. Ether flowed from her fingers and wove through the stone.
“Is there anything we should do, my lord?” Hans asked.
“Watch the portal. I don’t want any surprises coming up behind us.”
Otto doubted August would do anything so stupid as attacking Garen, but then again you never knew. He’d seen smarter people do dumber things.
At last the ether faded and Illsa said, “It’s amazing! There’s nearly as much mithril in this wagon as we have in all our armor combined. I’ll do wondrous things with this metal.”
“So you’re satisfied?”
“Perfectly. Let’s begin loading.” She gestured and the carrier floated over and stopped directly below the wagon’s gate.
Otto pointed at the four nearest soldiers. “Half the ore needs to be transferred over to her cart. Double time.”
They saluted, leapt into the back of the wagon, and soon the crash of stone landing in a metal box filled the fort. Illsa watched every stone fly through the air with the same hunger a starving cat looks at a mouse.
The carrier was nearly full when Axel, Cobb, and eight other scouts came trotting through the fort’s gate. They all carried mithril weapons and the archers had mithril-tipped arrows. Whatever they encountered in Colt’s Workshop, those weapons would give them the best chance of winning.
“Axel,” Otto said when his brother stopped in front of him. “I see you had no trouble getting the weapons.”
“None at all. Your name opens all kinds of doors.” Axel took out a spare sword and handed it to Hans who looked at Otto.
“An upgrade, just in case. You can leave your old sword here. Don’t worry, no one will make off with it.”
Hans unbuckled his worn blade, laid it down as gently as a newborn and belted on the mithril weapon. “The weight feels off.”
“It takes a little getting used to,” Otto agreed. “The effectiveness more than makes up for it.”
“I’m ready,” Illsa said.
“Good. Everyone back through the portal.” The whole process had taken at most fifteen minutes, but even that might have been too long. If the wrong pair of eyes saw them going or returning, it might mean the ruin of all Otto’s careful plans.
Otto was the last one through and as soon as he cleared the portal he used his control rod to deactivate it. No one could come or go until he let them.
Illsa led the way back to the government compound. Axel and his men would be garrisoned overnight in an old barracks scheduled for demolition in preparation for hopefully an early morning departure. Assuming the ancient building didn’t collapse on them during the night.
