Legends of the Dragonrealm, Vol. III

XVIII

Cabe wound his way through the vast underground cavern of the Green Dragon, his escorts trying their best to keep pace with the hurrying warlock. Having known the Dragon King for as long as he had, Cabe could have transported himself directly to the main hall of the subterranean labyrinth without asking permission, but he had needed the time to think. Think and plan.

“This way,” he muttered, turning down yet another corridor. The guards and guide stumbled after him. None of them thought to order him to slow down, for everyone who followed the master of the Dagora Forest knew of the warlock and how powerful he was said to be. He was also known to be a friend and ally of their lord. If there had been some question as to his motives, then they would have tried their best to either capture or kill him, but it would not have been something any of the guards would have looked forward to with eagerness. They were quite aware of their chances against the robed figure stalking ahead of them.

Only at the end of the corridor did Cabe at last pause. Here at last was the great central chamber that the Green Dragon utilized as his throne room and hall. Here the Dragon King met his guests.

Unlike the caverns of most of his counterparts, that of the Green Dragon was covered with lush plant life, most of it of the kind that should not have been able to thrive so far from the sun. Yet, thanks to the power and skill of the drake lord, vines, shrubs, and flowering plants made the chamber resemble more a forest than a cave. Over the past few years, the Dragon King had redesigned this hall, adding further to his vast collection of foliage.

In the midst of the underground grove and seated upon his throne was the armored form of the Dragon King himself. He was flanked on each side by the fiercest pair of guards that Cabe could recall ever having faced. As was typical of Lord Green, one of the guards was a drake, but the other was a human. It was debatable which was the more terrible of the two. The Green Dragon prided himself in carrying on the ways of his predecessors; here, humans and drakes were almost as equal as at the Manor. What made things different in Cabe’s home, however, was that it was a human who ruled there, not a Dragon King. The experiment at the Manor represented the first time that drakes had ever coexisted peacefully with humans in a place where they did not dominate. The idea had been the Green Dragon’s.

There was so much about his host that the warlock had always admired.

“Thank you for coming, Friend Cabe.” The reptilian knight indicated a chair that had been set near his throne. The chair was set on a level with the Dragon King’s own, which was supposed to indicate the drake’s long-standing belief in the equality of the two races, but the mage had always noticed that both Lord Green and his throne stood taller. He had often wondered whether that was intentional, or whether the Dragon King had simply never noticed it.

“Thank you, but I prefer to stand.” Behind him, his escorts vanished down one of the other tunnels.

The Green Dragon straightened a bit. “As you desire. You know the contents of the missive, then?”

“Gwendolyn informed me, yes. It’s not surprising when you think about it. Not even the fact that Lord Blue is coming here. Of all the Dragon Kings, other than yourself, of course, he is the only one I would trust enough to allow entry, temporary entry in his case, into the Manor.”

“Yesss, I trust him, too. The others are upssset, Friend Cabe, although none of them would be able to give you the same reasons.”

Cabe frowned. “Imagine what they would have been like if the assassins had succeeded in murdering Kyl. Thank goodness for Grath, if that should happen.”

It appeared to take Lord Green time to translate what he was saying. “Yesss, we may be thankful that if some tragedy did seize the life of the heir, may the Dragon of the Depths prevent such, there would be Grath to step in and take hisss place.”

“We’ve often commented to one another that he would make just as good, possibly better, an emperor as Kyl.”

The Dragon King shifted position. “That we have, which is not to say that Kyl isss not already coming into his own. He will do sssplendidly, I am sure.”

Cabe walked around the chair set aside for him. He stared the drake lord in the eye. The warlock heard the guards suddenly straighten but paid them little mind.

“You are the one who sent the assassins to murder Kyl. You, my Lord Green, tried to have your new emperor killed. We both know that, don’t we?”

The guards readied their weapons and started for the warlock, but the armored tyrant raised a mailed hand. Both warriors paused, but the glares they gave Cabe Bedlam were dark and murderous.

“Friend Cabe, are you aware of the wordsss you jussst spoke? We have known each other since you firssst were forced to acknowledge your heritage. I consider you and yours not only close allies but close companionsss as well.”

“Which doesn’t change the fact that you tried to murder Kyl and ended up murdering Toos.”

There was an edge to the Green Dragon’s voice. “How could you sssay something like that?”

“You captured Darkhorse,” the bitter sorcerer went on, ignoring both the questions of his host and the seething faces of the guards. “As good as tortured him by using that box. I think that you had confidence enough to handle everyone but Darkhorse . . . and you found a way to make use of his power, too. You forgot one thing, though. I know you as well as anyone does. We’ve discussed the history of the Vraad over and over. I’ve seen your collection, and I know from my own researches some of the tricks and toys that my unesteemed ancestors devised, especially when they realized that most of them were losing their vast powers.” Cabe folded his arms. “There was also the band of assassins that I was supposed to think was part of an Aramite plot. Drakes and humans working together on this? Did you want to be discovered, my lord? Was that why you made it so obvious to me?”

He knew that he had really said little that could directly be tied to the Dragon King, that would have been considered proof by anyone, but to the warlock’s sad surprise, the Green Dragon slumped back in his throne. He glanced back at the guards and commanded, “Leave usss, pleassse.”

With obvious reluctance, the two obeyed.

When they were alone, the lord of Dagora finally spoke. “I do not know whether I desssired to be found out, Cabe Bedlam, or sssimply wasss so full of anxiety and horror at what I was doing that I did not take more care. Yesss, I am the one responsible for nearly assassinating Kyl and inssstead killing the brave and honorable regent of Penacles.”

Try as he might, Cabe could no longer stay angry. Instead, disappointment was all he felt. Great disappointment. It was as if the world he had known had proven to be a falsehood. In some ways, it was even more terrible than when he had been torn from his uninteresting existence as a server at an inn and thrust into a world of sorcery and intrigue. He had learned so much from the Dragon King, shared so much with him. There were few beings that the warlock felt comfortable with; in the small circle of true friends he had thought he had, the Dragon King had been one.

Yet, after what the drake lord had done . . .

“I did what I felt was necessary, warlock. Kyl was an arrogant, conceited creature who threatened to repeat the mistakes of hisss sire. Grath, who the powersss that be had brought to this world after his brother, wasss by far a more level sssort. He would deal with the relations of both races fairly, evenly. Kyl might suddenly be of the mind to reconquer the continent, plunging usss all into a war none can afford. He might even be the great enemy of hisss own kind, for I know that he still holdsss much bitterness toward sssome of the surviving kings for abandoning his predecessor. Kyl isss even the sort who might find the renegade, Toma, more of an ally than a danger.”

“I find that hard to believe.”

The Green Dragon rose from his throne and looked down at the human. Cabe did not flinch, much less back away. “I do not.”

The warlock matched his counterpart’s gaze. He was not pleased, however, when the Dragon King finally looked away. Things should not have deteriorated to such a point that the two had to attempt to stare one another down. “Kyl had Grath to guide him.”

“But our esteemed emperor-to-be doesss not have to listen to hisss brother. Should Kyl grow furiousss at something Grath suggests, he has only to order his brother from hisss sight. Then, the voices that whisper in his ears will become those of my fellow kings’ spiesss. Where would the Dragonrealm be then? No, the only certain method by which the stability of the throne could be assured was to remove Kyl and replace him with Grath.”

“I don’t agree.” Cabe shook his head, still unable to completely believe that the figure before him had created so much chaos and tragedy. “That also doesn’t condone what you did to Toos and Darkhorse-or the Gryphon. Toos was a brother to the Gryphon, my Lord Green; you saw what the general’s death meant to him. He wants the one responsible. So does Darkhorse.”

The inhuman knight started to turn away. “I did what I knew had to be-”

“Don’t turn from me!” roared Cabe. Without meaning to, he almost unleashed a spell on the recalcitrant monarch. Cabe barely contained it in time, and the power was such that his body glowed red for several seconds afterward.

The Green Dragon stared at him, jaw hanging. The warlock calmed enough to see that, for the first time, the Dragon King was truly afraid of him.

“I should tell them the truth, you know! Both Darkhorse and the Gryphon deserve to know. Do you realize the extent of Darkhorse’s claustrophobia? He existed in a place without time or end. I know that the Vraad used a box very much like that to capture him! He’s never told me everything, but I’ve never seen as much terror in his eyes as when he is reminded of that!”

“What did you do with the box?” interrupted the drake lord.

“I still have it. It damned you more than anything else; I could recognize your knowledge in it. No one else had access to such an artifact, and no one else would have understood it the way you do!” Again, the accusations were flimsy, but now that Cabe had had confirmation of his suspicions from the Green Dragon himself, the claims had weight. “There was so much. The spells that masked one magical trace with another. The cloaks of the assassins-men you callously assured would not live so that anyone questioning them would discover the truth. They died too easily, Lord Green. Even the Aramite. More futile deaths on your shoulders.”

“I will take no blame for their deaths, Cabe Bedlam! They were condemned criminals, one and all. They would have been executed. I am not like Black, who would carelessly send his enchanted human legions against the walls of his enemies again and again until the mindless unfortunates either overran the foe or died to a man!”

The warlock, his face carefully neutral, shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re like anymore.”

“I am as I have always been.”

“That worries me even more, then. What will you decide next serves your needs? The deaths of me and my loved ones?”

The Dragon King hissed and his talons unsheathed. “Of course not!”

“How can I believe that anymore?”

For several seconds, the tall, armored tyrant stood there, eyes burning embers, claws at the ready. Then, the talons slowly sheathed and the fire in his eyes died. Lord Green returned to his throne and slumped back into it again. “There isss no promise that I could give you that you would believe, isss there?”

Cabe slumped, too. This had taken more out of him than the drake lord knew. “No. There isn’t.”

“Will you tell the others, then? Shall I prepare to receive the visitations of either the eternal or the lionbird?”

“It would mean only more chaos and tragedy, neither of which we can afford these days.”

It was clear that his reply puzzled the Dragon King. “Are you saying that you will keep what you know a sssecret?”

Some of Cabe’s anger returned. “Not because of the friendship we once had, but because if peace is to work in the land, nothing else can go wrong. I may not even tell Gwendolyn, although I probably will. I know that she’ll think as I do, that we can’t afford another war.” He paused. “What she’ll think of you, I couldn’t say.”

His host nodded slowly. “I understand what you sssay. I understand your view of thisss. You will do nothing else?”

“There’s nothing I can do that wouldn’t make the situation worse than it is. I’m more concerned now with seeing this coronation through to the end . . . with Kyl assuming his rightful place. When he’s emperor, then we can judge his abilities. No sooner. Prejudgment is no one’s right, however often we all fall prey to it.”

Silence filled the chamber for several seconds. The Dragon King finally looked up into the eyes of the warlock and quietly asked, “Isss there more? I had assumed you would be gone the moment your piece had been sssaid.”

Cabe took a deep breath and smoothed his robe. “We still have Lord Blue’s change in plans to talk about. We still have to make all of this work. Are you prepared to accept things the way they are?”

“After Penaclesss, I swore that I would do nothing else to risssk this peace. I desire it as much as you, even if it meansss Kyl on the throne.”

With a small flicker of power, the exhausted warlock brought the other chair to him. He also enlarged it slightly, this in order to allow him to look directly into the eyes of his host, not up at them. “Then we should begin. Tell me what I need to know about the Blue Dragon and what he might have planned for Kyl.”

The Dragon King began to discuss his counterpart, but although the conversation became more comfortable as they went on, Cabe knew that his relationship with the drake lord would never be the same.

Aurim sat cross-legged on his bed while Ursa sat next to him. His fingertips were pressed against his temple and his eyes were shut tight. Although he could not see her, he knew that the drake watched him with concern. Neither of his parents knew what he was doing. That was fine with him; they had far too much on their minds already. He had relied on them and their friends far too long. It was time to prove that all the talk of potential meant something.

The young warlock intended to break Toma’s spell on his own.

Not completely on his own. Ursa was assisting him, albeit with reluctance. Some of the paths he had tried required more manipulation than he could muster by himself. She was also there in case something did go wrong . . . which he had assured her several times would not happen.

His methods of search bordered on the unorthodox. Aurim had already observed his parents and the Gryphon going through most of the more normal paths, and not a few unusual ones they were familiar with, which left him only the ones he was taking. One of those methods, he was certain, had to be the key to unraveling the renegade’s spell.

The past few minutes had left him encouraged in that respect. It was difficult to be certain, but Aurim almost felt as if the web Toma had spread over his mind had weakened a little more. It felt different.

“Are you all right, Aurim?”

“Yes.” He dared not answer further. At the moment, the tiny magical probe he was guiding was slipping past one of the multiple safeguards Toma had planted. This was his first major triumph over the spell. The warlock felt the pressure in his head ease just a bit more as he removed the safeguard and weakened the spell further.

Images flashed in his mind. Ssarekai, a look of shock on his face that even the dim light of night illuminated all too well. A figure halfway between two forms, and although neither had been recognizable, he had known that one of them was Toma.

There was something more, but it remained just out of his mental reach.

“I’ve broken through,” he whispered, glancing up briefly at Ursa. His throat felt astonishingly dry. “Just a little, but I’ve made more progress than they did the other day.”

She clapped her hands together. “How wonderful!”

“It gets harder here, though. I think that I might need for you to-” Aurim was interrupted by a knock on the door. The sound shattered his concentration, which, in turn, shattered his probe. The warlock was frustrated, but at least he had forged further than anyone else. Once he dealt with the interruption, Aurim intended to try a stronger probe in an area near the location he had just freed. If the safeguard Toma had planted there also fell to him, Aurim suspected that he stood a good chance of completely dismantling the spell before it was time for dinner.

“I’ll see who it is,” offered Ursa.

Aurim was glad to let her. The moment he tried to rise, the room began to whirl.

The drake opened the door. “Yes? Scholar Traske!”

Aurim glanced toward the door to see the huge tutor waiting in the hallway. A shiver went down his spine as he met the eyes of the man.

Now why-he started to think, but then Benjin Traske spoke, interrupting Aurim’s train of thought.

“My apologies. I expected to find you alone, Master Aurim.”

“Ursa was just helping me with something.” He hoped that the scholar would not ask what it was with which she had been assisting. Aurim was fairly certain that Traske would not have approved. Likely the tutor would have reprimanded him and then informed his parents.

“I see.” Benjin Traske took a step closer. “May I enter?”

Ursa quickly darted aside. Aurim slid over to the edge of the bed, lowered his legs, and started to stand, but Traske raised a hand to stop him. “Sit, please. There’s no need to stand, boy.”

Ursa started to move for the open door. “I should leave you two alone. If you will excussse me, Scholar Traske, then I-”

“No, I think it’s best at this point that you stay also. Yes, that would be for the best, indeed. Why don’t you close the door and sit down next to Aurim. That will make everything much easier for me.”

Puzzled, she nonetheless obeyed his suggestion, closing the door, then settling down beside the curious warlock.

It seemed to Aurim that Benjin Traske was apprehensive about something. There was just the slightest hesitation in his movements and his breathing was a bit fast. “Are you all right, Scholar Traske?”

“Sssome decisions had to be made at the proverbial spur of the moment, Master Aurim. They are not decisions that I am comfortable with, but there really is no other choice that I can see at this time.”

“What do you mean?”

The tutor advanced so that he was within arm’s reach of both of them. He looked down at the two with what Aurim believed almost fatherly concern. Why not? Benjin Traske had watched all of them grow up. Surely he must sometimes think of them as his own children?

Putting a hand on each of their shoulders, the tutor sighed, a sound that was almost a hiss. A slight smile peered out from within the beard. “I mean that I can take no chancesss.”

Aurim felt the power swelling within Benjin Traske, but the comprehension was too late in coming. A thick malaise suddenly enveloped his mind. Somewhere distant, he heard Ursa gasp. Traske himself seemed to shift, becoming something else briefly, something that stirred memories.

The warlock remembered. It did him no good to do so, but nonetheless, he remembered. He remembered seeking out with his power and, through it, discovering something terrible happening. Ssarekai, his mind pleading, had been put under some spell. The other mind, that of the caster of the spell, had been two minds. On the surface, it had been Benjin Traske. Below, it had been a creature most vile.

Toma. Aurim had discovered that Benjin Traske was Toma.

He managed to rise to his feet, but that was all. Even that made the false Traske hiss in surprise. Then, however, the golden-haired warlock’s strength gave out and he fell back onto the bed.

Consciousness fled.

Although she had no control over her movements, Valea found that she could still shed a tear. Her world was in tatters. Benjin Traske was-possibly had always been-Duke Toma, the deadly renegade. He had listened to her as she had revealed all her deepest secrets to him. He had betrayed the trust her entire family had placed in him. Now, evidently in part because of her, Traske/Toma was going to seize control of the Manor by making one last use of his false identity. The drake intended to use the face of Benjin Traske to get close enough to each member of the family, whereupon he would catch them unaware with his power.

She had no idea why he did not kill them all outright. She did not even have any idea as to why he had left her frozen like a statue in Kyl’s room, her mind still very much functioning.

None of that completely explained the tears. Valea was well aware that much of the reason for her crying concerned Kyl. Kyl and his betrayal of her.

The other drakes remained in the room, awaiting Duke Toma’s return. They were all highly anxious, especially the traitorous heir himself. Valea hoped that Kyl was feeling pain. She hoped all of the drakes, Grath, Faras, and Ssgayn included, were feeling pain and remorse, but most of all she hoped that Kyl did. The enchanted witch wanted him to feel so much pain that it would make his heart burst.

“Where isss he?” muttered Kyl as he paced.

“You know very well where he is,” responded Grath, looking up from a book. The younger drake sat in one of the chairs, hands steepled, eyes keeping track of his brother’s movements. “If the spell on Ssarekai has failed, then it stands that Aurim, too, is near recalling. That hasss to be the first thing that is dealt with and the duke must do that on his own. It would look too suspicious for all of us to go with him.”

“I want them handled with care, that isss all.” Kyl glanced rather guiltily at Valea. “They dessserve that much.”

“I know that. Our brother only does what he has to do. They would kill him instantly if they knew he was here, Kyl. Do you think that’s fair? Toma will fight to preserve his life, that is all. Look how long he has lived among us, yet never has he tried to harm anyone. That more than anything else, isss proof of his intentions.”

He’s killed no one here because that would mean chancing discovery. It was enough just risking the spell on Aurim and Ssarekai. Toma wants Kyl to give him a place at his side, one where the Dragon Kings can’t touch him! She wondered how long Kyl’s reign would last once the renegade had a secure power base again. With the confederacy of the dragon clan survivors to back him, the duke would have enough influence to perhaps alter the law that said he could not be emperor himself.

Despite her bitterness over Kyl and all else, Valea could not help but admire Duke Toma’s incredible patience. All those years of masquerading so that he could be an influence on the life of the young emperor-to-be. He had helped mold Kyl-and Grath, too-had learned the innermost secrets about his greatest enemies, and prepared the way for his return to power.

She tried to speak, but, as before, Valea might as well have not even made the attempt. There was no movement whatsoever. She could see, blink, swallow, and breathe, but nothing more. The witch remembered the stories her mother and father had told her about her mother’s imprisonment by her grandfather. Azran had left her sealed in amber for . . . what? One? Two centuries? At least Gwendolyn Bedlam had not entirely known what was happening around her. The few minutes that Valea had been helpless were already driving her close to the edge.

Concern for her family was what kept her going. She knew that Toma had no intention of letting any of the Bedlams live. Kyl and even Grath might believe otherwise, but she knew too much about the history of the renegade to think he would do otherwise. The Bedlams would always be a threat to him.

There was a quiet knock on the door. Faras, who stood nearest to the door, unbolted and opened it.

Aurim stepped through. Valea’s spirits rose, then sank. Behind Aurim came Ursa, but behind her followed Toma, the renegade once more clad in the form of the tutor.

“You see,” said the duke after the door had been closed. “As I promised, my lord, here are your friend and your sissster, both unharmed.”

“Why did you bring them here?”

With no warning, Traske melted into Toma. The transformation continued to both fascinate and horrify Valea. “If anyone saw them after I had bespelled them, they would have realized something was amiss. I could not simply make them forget. As I said earlier, Your Majesty, things must now be resolved with ssswiftness.” Toma looked properly upset, an expression Valea knew was as false as his words. “Thisss is hardly the way I wanted it. I would have preferred your transition to the throne to be peaceful. If you like, I will sssurrender myself to the Bedlams and take their brand of justice. If you think it will benefit your ascension, that isss.”

Accept his offer! Valea wanted to shout. It was not that she believed that Toma would follow through on his promise, but rather that she wanted Kyl to understand the dark creature with whom he was dealing.

Kyl, however, shook his head. “No, I know what will happen. Jussst . . . jussst ussse care.”

“That I will, my brother. I have promisssed that from the beginning, have I not, Grath?”

The younger drake looked at the heir. “That he has, Kyl. Toma has only worked to serve you for all the time I have known him.”

“Now that I have the opportunity to prove myself to you persssonally, I dare not fail to live up to your ssstandards.”

Kyl stepped away from the others and out of Valea’s view. “What will you do with them?”

Indicating the emperor-to-be with his hands, the draconian knight returned, “As I sssaid earlier, it isss my hope to capture them all and, once that is accomplished, place the entire family under a more subtle, more thorough forgetfulness spell. Already, the children-and, regrettably, sister Ursa-are mine. As Benjin Traske, I should be able to approach both Lord and Lady Bedlam and take them without warning.”

“And kill them? I’d imagine that you hate them dearly.”

Again, Toma looked properly subdued. “My hatred hasss dwindled away over the years here, Your Majesty. I’ve seen them doing both good and ill. Now, I hold no grudges. I cannot say that I have come to love them; I simply understand them better. If they can be convinced to leave me be, then I shall leave them be.”

“And if they won’t?”

“I would rather not think about that unlessss it becomesss necessary to do so.”

“There is no time to discuss this further,” Grath interjected. “We must deal with Lord and Lady Bedlam asss soon as possible.”

“There is a piece of news that I have not informed either of you about yet.” As Toma spoke, he began to shift once again to the scholarly shape of Benjin Traske. This time, Valea clearly saw that the belt blade, the only item true to both Toma and Traske, glowed. She was fairly certain that it was what allowed the renegade to so well retain the form of the tutor. Drakes generally had two shapes. The first was the dragon form that they were born with, the latter was most often the reptilian knight, such as how Duke Toma looked when he was not being Traske. While the renegade was, by her parents’ own admissions, more versatile, there were still limitations. The enchanted knife was apparently a way around those limitations.

“And that news is?” asked Kyl. His tone was so matter-of-fact, so calm now, that Valea wanted to scream. He was, in her opinion, worse than the rest of them, for Kyl, as heir to the emperor’s throne, should have been strong enough to withstand Toma’s ploys. Instead, he had accepted every word as easily as a sheep would have accepted a handful of grass. It made the imprisoned witch furious, which only served to fuel her frustration.

“The master warlock is not in the Manor nor is he on the Manor grounds. He has gone to speak to Lord Green. It seems that the monarch of Irillian will be here in only two, at most, three days.”

Valea, unable at the moment to think of any drake save dear Ssarekai as trustworthy-and Ssarekai might be dead, although no one had told her so-did not see the visit as any buffer against the renegade’s plans. Toma knew the Dragon Kings well. They would be easier to fool than her mother or father.

“Ssso sssoon? I’m not ready for him!” Kyl stepped back into her field of vision. The veneer of confidence had been stripped from his face. He was openly nervous.

“You will be. Grath and I shall see to it that Blue himself will become one of your most ardent supporters by interview’s end.”

“Have we failed you so far, Kyl?” asked Grath, almost mimicking Duke Toma.

“You know that you have not, Grath, however-”

“Much of what I did, what suggestions I made, originated from Toma, Kyl. He has guided you more than anyone else, both as Benjin Traske and as himself.”

Traske/Toma moved toward the door. “We will have time to talk later. For now, I mussst locate and deal with the Lady of the Amber before her mate returns home.” He bowed. “With your permission?”

“You may-” Kyl began, but then he glanced at Grath. “One moment. You should take Grath with you, perhapsss. The better to occupy Lady Gwendolyn’s attention while you prepare to take her. What do you sssay?”

Valea saw the merit in the heir’s plan, which made her hate him all the more. Grath found it of interest, also.

“An interesssting notion,” returned the renegade, his smile more open. He was no doubt pleased by this sign of Kyl’s cooperation in this foul venture.

If I only had a few seconds of freedom! She had already planned and replanned how she would have dealt with the drakes. As to whether or not her ideas would have succeeded, Valea did not care. Trapped, the mental images of Toma and the others, especially Kyl, at her mercy was the only thing she had to keep up her hopes.

“Interesting,” Traske/Toma continued. “But unnecessary. I have thingsss worked out, Your Majesty. Besidesss, your safety isss as great a concern. The humans tried to assassinate you once; they may try again. Grath’sss place should always be by your side.”

“Surely I am sssecure here.”

The false scholar indicated himself. “Where I can enter, who can sssay what others might have followed?”

Kyl quieted instantly.

Traske/Toma bowed again. “Once more, with your permission, I shall now leave.” His eyes darted from Kyl to Valea. The glance was only brief, but the hatred she felt in that look would have been enough to make her stumble away had the spell not prevented her from doing so. “Before thisss day isss done, Your Majesty, I promise you that the Manor will be secure.” He returned his gaze to the heir. “Then, your future may begin in earnessst.”