Alex was surprised at how easy getting an audience with the king had been.
When they’d finished viewing Uldar’s journal, the group had split up.
Isolde, Watcher Hill, Grimloch, Theresa, Brutus, Birger and Bjorgrund had gone to Greymoor, while Alex, Cedric, Drestra, Hart, Merzhin and Professor Jules, teleported straight to Ussex.
It was late in the day when they arrived at the castle, and their sudden appearance had caused quite an uproar. Guards and soldiers were scrambling, falling over themselves when all five Heroes materialised in the snowy courtyard.
Within minutes of Cedric announcing their need to speak with the king, they were being ushered into a meeting room in one of the highest towers of the castle. The Heroes and professor were quickly seated at a long table, and servants had hot wine in front of them while they waited.
The wait wasn’t long.
Alex had finished only about a quarter of his goblet when the doors to the chamber had opened and a woman in fine black robes trimmed with golden filigree, had come through them. “Announcing his majesty, King Athelstan Merciex, wielder of the divine right to rule from Uldar, Lord of Ussex, King of Thameland and ruler of Uldar’s earthly realm. Also announcing High Priest Tobias Jay—protector of Uldar’s divine will and leader of his church—and Court Wizard Errol of Ussex, master of mystic knowledge!”
As the herald stepped aside, the three men made their way into the room.
Alex hadn’t seen any of them since their meeting at Rockmoot many months before, and he found all three changed.
The court wizard was looking at Alex with curiosity, suspicion, and interest. His scorn for the former Fool—which had been plain to see at the standing stones—seemed long gone, from what Alex could gather from his body language.
Tobias Jay, meanwhile, looked thinner. Older. More stressed and tired. He would quickly glance at the Heroes with an air of shame, but when his eyes fell on Alex—who he seemed to be actively trying to avoid making eye contact with—he would sheepishly look away.
King Athelstan simply seemed exhausted. He too looked older. The bags beneath his eyes were deeper. When he looked at the Heroes, he seemed to almost do so reluctantly.
His facial expression seemed to be shouting; ‘What in the world is it now?’
But there was no hostility in his demeanour, just dread.
The Heroes and Professor Jules immediately stood up—Drestra was a little slower than the others—bowing to the king, high priest and court wizard as they made their way to seats across from them.
“Welcome,” King Athelstan said. A servant scurried over to pull his chair out for him, then—after he was seated—the sovereign gestured for his guests to do the same. “It’s been quite some time since we've seen each other.”
“Aye, your majesty, aye,” Cedric said. “Not since Rockmoot.”
Errol visibly winced.
“That was a tense time.” King Athelstan gave them a weary look. A servant poured him a cup of wine. “But all times are tense as of late. I take it you come bearing bad news?”
The Heroes looked at each other.
“Actually…” Alex began, drawing every eye in the room. “We wanted to start, if you don’t mind, with some questions for you.”
The king’s eyebrows rose. “What sort of questions?”
“Uhm…they may not be suitable…” Alex glanced at the servants and guards standing against the walls. “For all ears.”
Athelstan’s eyebrows rose even higher. “I see. Perhaps I might be able to guess what your questions are concerning.” He looked at his guards and servants then. “Please, leave us.”
The guards nodded to the king, then looked at the Heroes, but none protested. Both they, and the servants quickly headed for the door, silently closing it behind them.
King Athelstan reassured the Heroes and professor. “The walls in this room are cork lined; meaning that sound does not travel very far, so unless someone has concealed themselves directly outside these very high windows, then we may speak freely. Am I correct in assuming that you are about to refer to Councillor Kartika’s concerns about individuals covertly working among our army, and within our kingdom?”
The Heroes looked at each other in surprise.
“Uh, yeah,” Alex said. “How did you know?”
The king looked at Cedric. “We suspected you would've noticed our moves to clean our house, then come to ask questions.”
“Aye…” the Chosen said. “There was a bunch o’ folk bein’ transferred out, or suddenly disapperin’…an’ we had no idea where they went…”
“Our garden was infested with snakes,” Tobias said, frankly. “Snakes we never suspected were there. And we are still trying to clean the rest out.”
“So you know about the hidden church?” Alex asked.
“Indeed.” The high priest’s expression darkened. “Strange happenings have been occurring this cycle, we thought we should do some investigating. I learned that two members of my council were vipers waiting to bite.” A look of sorrow crossed his face. “I have known them for decades, and didn't suspect a thing.”
He looked at Alex. “They were responsible for the attempt on your life at Rockmoot and are currently in our dungeons.”
“Oh,” Alex’s anger spiked. “I’m glad you caught them. How?”
“We began scrutinising every member of our high command,” King Athelstan said. “All of them. We kept our actions among only ourselves and those we could personally verify. Those of unknown, spotty, or mysterious backgrounds were examined thoroughly. Often it was those who had entered high positions, came into them through references from others who are well-trusted. Upon intense scrutiny, far too many of those references were shown to have problematic irregularities.”
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“Like?” Alex asked.
“The referees were often difficult to find,” King Athelstan said. “Or when we did find them, they were often long dead and buried in various cemeteries.”
“I even sanctioned the exhumation of some of those gravesites,” Tobias Jay said solemnly. “Many were empty, indicating that there was a certain pattern to this fraudulent business: apparently, lower ranking officials or nobles were introduced to assistants by those they were familiar with, those who were either bribed, or blackmailed into making the introductions. These assistants would have glowing letters praising their achievements from people who were either difficult to reach or obscure, but their titles always sounded impressive, and unimpeachable.”
“From there,” Errol continued. “These agents would make themselves indispensable to whomever they worked for, and through sheer competence, they would rise up through the ranks. And because of their continued excellent performance, no one felt the need to question their origins.”
“These things are not uncommon,” Professor Jules said. “Similar things have actually happened at the university. A time back, a new professor was hired based on letters of reference written by an archwizard from the Rhinean Empire who was a former graduate of our institution. The letter glowed with praise, and the individual in question showed an incredible talent for alchemy. There was an opening in the department at the time, and they were soon hired. But, two things brought them under scrutiny. First, their clear lack of ethics. While their skills were first rate, they would often put students at risk—risks that were intolerable, even taking into account the barbaric safety protocols in place at the time. That was what made people question them initially. The second issue that brought them under further scrutiny, was the fact that the archwizard who had supposedly given them their letter of reference, had always been a major proponent of student safety in their time studying at the university a century earlier. Questions were asked, letters were written, and the deception was uncovered. He was removed from his position immediately but went on to hone his tendencies for illegal acts before he found himself before the courts and an appointment with a deleo, but I digress. It's a fairly common scheme.”
“One that I am ashamed to admit, has infected much of the army, the church, and the court,” Athelstan said. “We found some of the higher ups first, since they were closest to us.”
“But none would confess,” Tobias Jay shook his head. “None would talk, none that were connected to them talked…not a single one would cooperate. Not when they were asked, not when they were ordered, not even when they were tortured. No one said a word. Finding every treacherous worm has been an operation of searching for connections, and following the very scant trails of parchment.”
“We've needed to work in secret, of course,” King Athelstan said. “We would've preferred to strike all of them down at once, but we came to realise that the corruption had seeped so deeply into our systems, that to wait to do anything about correcting things would have greatly increased the chances of a devastating betrayal occurring.”
“We have continued searching and had resolved to answer you truthfully if yourselves or Councillor Kartika came to inquire as to whether or not we had gotten our ‘house in order’, as it were,” Court Wizard Errol said, looking embarrassed. He turned his attention to Alex. “I must unreservedly offer you my apologies for that attack against you at Rockmoot. Some of my very own assistants were in collusion with the traitors.”
“I wish to apologise as well,” Tobias said.
“And I have to add that I am disappointed in my kingdom,” the king said. “We are united against the Ravener, under Uldar, and I cannot tolerate those who go against my word, or against his divine will.”
The Heroes and Professor Jules looked at each other uncomfortably.
Alex spoke. “There's…there's more, your majesty. We’ve also learned a lot about them and their mission.”
“Oh?” he looked at Alex with interest.
“We fought them before,” the young wizard continued. “An explosion destroyed a lot of their records, but recently, we were able to eliminate their leader and his second in command.”
“The leader?” Tobias asked. “Tell us more.”
Alex, Professor Jules and the Heroes, filled them in on what they knew about the hidden church. They told them about the First Apostle, about Uldar’s Rise and the battle they’d fought there, about Carey’s sacrifice and even about the Traveller. Alex then told them an abridged version of how he and the others had finally ended the menace of the First and Third Apostles and their troops.
The king listened with rapt attention, the high priest with mixed emotion, and the court wizard with shock.
“Truly?” The king looked at Cedric. “This is not some vast exaggeration?”
“Aye, I wasn't there for all of it,” the Chosen said. “But, I was there for the fight at Uldar’s Rise, an’ I did see the First Apostle’s head on the floor wit’ me own two eyes a few days back.”
“Remarkable,” the king mused. “We must use this. Now that we know where the organisation comes from, and the names of those who were at its head, we might be able to use the information to smoke out the rest of the rats. We will need to discuss this further.”
King Athelstan sighed deeply, smiling with relief. “I must confess that I thought you were here to deliver more bad news, but instead, you have given us a great boon. I needed such good news, things have been growing too grim…as…of…”
He paused, studying the faces of his six visitors.
“…why do you all look as though someone has just died?” he asked.
Merzhin made a choking sound.
Alex turned to his companions, each one nodded at him.
His eyes met the king’s and held them. “Your majesty, what we are about to tell you…I don’t have enough words to describe how earth shatteringly important it is to all of us. And how important it is that it does not leave this room unless we want it to. Are you sure no one can hear us, not even outside the door, or even in the hallway?”
The king suddenly looked very tired again. “These rooms are secure, my personal guard has assured me of that. Why?”
Alex took a deep breath. “My king, the place where we first fought the secret church is where Uldar ascended from the material world. By using the Traveller’s power, we were able to open the door to his sanctum.”
One could have heard a fly cough.
A wild-eyed Tobias Jay suddenly leapt out of his chair. “Do you mean this? After these many thousands of years, the path to Uldar’s sanctum has been found? Are you telling us that you have been there…that you have seen him?”
Before anyone else could respond, Hart answered. “Yes.”
Now, the king and the court wizard were also on their feet.
“Impossible! You must…you kept this from us?” Athelstan demanded. “When?”
“More importantly—,” hope burned in the king’s eyes. “If this is true—and by Uldar, after saying yes, it had better be—then you must have spoken with him! What did he tell you? What instructions did he give you? What is he doing? How is he?”
“He's dead,” said Hart.
Alex watched the three men closely. “Hart, I was thinking we should tell the king alone.”
“Meh,” the Champion said. “Faster this way.”
“It’s a lie, it must be!” Tobias said. “Why are you lying, Champion of Uldar?”
“I'm afraid he isn’t, high priest,” Professor Jules said. “And in fact, it might be better—” She caught herself. “—listen, I don't expect you to simply believe us. Not out of hand. But we can prove what we’re saying is true. We would like you to come with us to the sanctum—just…” she paused, looking at the high priest and court wizard. “…just the three of you. No one else, no guards, no servants. Mr. Roth can teleport us there with ease.”
“This is preposterous!” Tobias Jay shouted. “I…what do you gain from this lie? What do you—”
“We will go with you,” King Athelstan broke in, his face ashen.
“What? My king—” the court wizard started.
The monarch held up his hand. “I do not want to hear it. What I do know is that Uldar has been silent for too long, and that any lie of such magnitude would be pointless. I trust the Heroes. Let us see what they have to show us.”
He looked very, very tired indeed.