Finding the Earl was easier than I would have thought. He sat in his study three house away, looking nervous. It took me a few minutes of studying to realize he was expecting someone, me or the king. He was older, far from ancient but past youth for certain. When I stepped out of the wall he flinched then raised his hands showing me he wasn’t a threat.
“His foolish plan failed than?” Was the first thing he said.
“It did, you knew?”
“I did, told him he was a fool but that kid didn’t listen even when he was under my command.” He slumped in the chair before remembering himself. “There is coffee is you’d like, not poisoned. If you don’t believe me that’s fine but refill my cup if you don’t mind?”
I took a cup filling it from the pot near the fire than filled his as well. It was good coffee, I admitted taking a seat across from the man. We studied each other for a few minutes just drinking our coffee. After a time I set the seal and ring on the desk before speaking.
“The king said you could hold the throne.”
“I can, don’t want to but I can. Even his Queen won’t challenge me, crazy woman will likely end up dead in the arena. She was never a good match, to entitled.” He sighed heavily taking the ring and slipping it on than moving the seal into his ring.
“He also mentioned an orphan? Merid, he said the boy had good potential.”
“I know of him, he’ll be adopted since my son is sharded already. He is skilled enough but doesn’t have the mentality required. Takes after his father, to direct but unlike me he only has two shards.” I could feel the four shards thrumming in the Earl.
“You know my demands?” I asked reminding him of how this had all come about.
“Aye, they will not be a problem so long as I rule. There has been enough war and hunting dragons is a fool’s errand. Half elves, I’ll do what I can but I’m sure you know better than most that will be a process over time.” He nodded never really looking happy about any of it.
“You’ll see me at First day to deliver shards for the following year. Once the dragons are dead I’ll be a phantom you see once a year hopefully.” He nodded his response, but was only vaguely aware of me his mind focused on the problems ahead.
I fled back into the wood, Badb joined me moving back to the vault, I would return the wealth they would need it. Replacing the shards I noted the four set aside and marked for Merid, after some shuffling I turned four into five. Better to give him the power he would need rather than try and regulate it. I kept the kings safe, no one needed the information it held. I also kept the bookcase and books that shouldn’t have been there to begin with, that much I was certain about.
We made it back to the bolt hole at dawn, sleep took me not long after. Tomorrow I would watch the elven throne, hopefully staying out of it but I needed it to be settled before I left. I slept until late afternoon, recovering my strength it had been a long day yesterday. After a long lunch we headed out to see the city again. Skipping through the majority, again the commoners were unaffected by the troubles of nobility, we headed to the noble district.
It was oddly calm, too calm. There was something going on and I had a feeling it was in the castle. Badb took off silently to check out the air, he would see what I couldn’t. I moved through the ground and carefully slipped through the wards. I felt it as soon as I got inside, chaos blood and death. Heading to the throne room where the noise echoed from. The Earl stood back to the throne, wounded and bleeding as he faced off against eight armored nobles. They had decided to do away with any pretense and simple overwhelm him with numbers. They had started with thirteen if the bodies were any indication. Behind the armed nobles was a screaming woman, unarmed but she was the one pushing them.
“Kill him and my son will take the throne, then we can kill anyone else!” Her screeching voice grated my ears. The boy standing beside her looked as haughty as she did, weak and petty like his mother.
I stepped out of the floor and crushed the three shards the woman had, no warning simple destroyed them. She screamed and collapsed to the floor, both dead but no longer a concern. The boy was jerked down with her, since he had been clinging to her leg. The nobles didn’t notice for a minute but slowly one in the back turned around to find himself facing the black and gold clad swords man from the arena.
He had just enough time to gulp once and start to speak before I moved. My left blade slashed out cutting his throat while my right blade took the head off his neighbor. The spray of blood seemed to get the others attention but it was far too late for them. I moved through them like a blade dervish. Bodies fell, blood painted walls as my blades took lives. By the time I finished moving eight more bodies had joined the others on the floor dead or dying. With a flick of my blades to clean the blood off they disappeared back into my ring and I nodded to the Earl.
A quick flex of my will and healing magic closed the wounds on him, that’s when I finally saw the boy behind him. He was cowering, his own blades held in his hand, both had blood dripping down their edges. He had been in the fight along side the Earl.
“Grand master.” The Earl greeted me saluting with his blades, left up with the right crossed behind it.
“You know my rank?” I asked, returning his salute, curious since no one else had recognized it.
“I’m a bit of a history buff, especially when it comes to the blades.” He admitted looking a bit ashamed. “And I know why the dragons are important.”
“Then you do understand. I am guessing that’s Merid?” Pointing to the boy.
“Aye, managed to get to him before they did. The Queen knew the kings opinion on the boy.”
“The boy can speak!” Merid snarled stepping from behind the Earl to salute me, I returned it with politeness.
“That he can,” the Earl laughed, “and he can fight, despite not having shards yet.”
“Does this settle it?” I asked, ready to be done but just then the queen stirred on the floor.
“What did you do to her?” The Earl asked, already pulling magic to him. She had been a three shard mage not to be taken lightly.
“Crushed her shards.” Was my simple answer but the look of absolute terror that crossed his face reminded me that what I had done was impossible to most.
“You crushed her shards?” He asked fear riding every word.
“It was the best way to remove her as a threat without killing an unarmed foe.” I admitted.
“It will not only to that but you can’t be a noble without shards, you’ve removed her from the board of players.” He admitted but then added. “It will terrify the remaining nobles as well, ensuring they never challenge you or accept your challenge.”
“What about you? I’m not sticking around, the only reason I am here is to be sure you took the throne.”
“Who are you?” Merid asked recovering from his shock at the Queen.
“Syn.”
“Duke Syn.” The Earl corrected.
“You’re the one from the arena!” Evidently he had heard about my climb. He sank to one knee and asked. “Will you train me grand master?”
“Sorry, you’ll have to do with the training of a master young one, I’m not staying.”
“Master?” He asked curiously.
“The Earl is a master.” I stated plainly.
“Is that why no one challenges you?!” He turned adoring eyes to the man who shifted uncomfortably.
“Yes but I have seen enough blood that I seek no more battle….” He trialed off looking around the room filled with corpses. Before he could finish the thought a scream from the former Queen interrupted our conversation.
“What happened to my magic?!?!” He tone was panic filled with fear.
“I took them.” I turned to face her locking gem covered eyes on her.
“How?!” She demanded but it went no further, three guards walked into the throne room looking around at the carnage.
“Remove this common trash from my throne room.” The Earl ordered, the guards taken by surprise collected thier wits fast enough. The lead must have felt the lack of shards in the former Queen, he stepped forward taking her by the arm and dragging her out of the throne room. I could hear her screams as he pulled her through the castle.
“She’ll be thrown out of the noble district with her son.” The Earl said slowly, feeling the weight of responsibility. “It will be a long day of this I fear, though the violence will be at an end. Your display in the arena eliminated any who could actually challenge me, though if I am honest none of them would have defeated me.”
“I’ll be taking my leave than.” With a flex of my will I took a simple sapphire out of my storage and placed a ward into the gem that would call me back if need be. When it was done I tossed it to the Earl. “If you need me simply infuse this and I will know, if I can I’ll come. Be warned if I come and am unneeded I will not be happy.”
“Understood, your going to kill the dragons?” He asked.
“And the king and queen likely.” I nodded slipping into the floor.
They waited for a few minutes to see if I would return before the Earl lead the boy out of the carnage. They still had a long day ahead of them. I followed them, watching over them for the next few days, while also spying on the nobles. I had to kill two more who plotted to poison Merid but over the following days the rest fell into line. Calm slowly returned to the elven capitol, a week later Badb and I teleported back to the bolt hole by the human queen. It was time scout out the queen than prepare for battle.
Badb reported back the next day, the guard had relaxed some but not much. He thought we might be able to get through the wards around the estate now at least, tonight we would try and make contact with the dragon. That was the first step, I needed to talk to them and make sure they understood my goal. Badb had been right the wards while still difficult were passable.
Slipping through them I sensed the pressure every dragon seemed to radiate. This one was crisp, sharp and stronger than the others. As I got closer I could feel various guards stationed around her head. Now that I was closer I could feel the dragons personality. Female, powerful and in a constant state of anger about being captured. Her color felt different to, cold and windy, she a white one of the rarest of her kind.
The little I knew about white dragons said they were haughty and aloof even for a dragon. Their magic tended toward ice and wind, they could freeze someone solid then blow them into shards used to attack other foes. This one was old, just short of the age required for being a great wyrm, the most ancient of her kind. She could feel me hanging back watching, her voice reaching into my mind verified that.
“Your him, the one whose come to kill me?” Even her mental communication carried the force of her magic. The cold sensation of it making me shiver even buried in the earth as I was.
“I would free you if I could.” I offered. “Is that possible?”
“No, like the others these chains have sank into my souls, breaking them will destroy me.”
“Do you want that?” It was simple to say but I know I was offering her nothing but death.
“Only if I can take them with me and if you offer it to my mate.” There was a demand in her tone, a requirement for her to allow me to come closer.
“Is your mate the other one?” I figured it had to be but verifying it was polite.
“Yes, he has suffered more than I.”
“How?” I asked, not sure how one could suffer more than others.
“His magic was used to create the rings. The forced him to siphon his magic granting them power over our kind.”
“The three rings?” I had one but didn’t know the story behind them.
“Yes, they must control all three if they are to truly control us.”
“They don’t, I have one.” Admitting the information wasn’t revealing anything important.
“You’ll need the other two to release him from his prison. The Queen has one, the king the last.” She told me, assuring me that my guess had been correct.
“I need to confront the king first then, but won’t that take away your mate’s vengeance?” I had to ask knowing how much they valued it.
“He will not care, his revenge will be undoing that treacherous act, removing their power over our kind. Return his magic to him before he is freed and he will be satisfied.” She spoke with such surety I had to ask.
“You can still talk to him?”
“Yes, it’s all that’s kept either of us sane through this.”
“So he knows what we are talking about?”
“Yes.” I could feel her smile at me, it was comforting and terrifying all in one. “I am telling you his desires. You must return his magic before freeing us, only than will we be able to move on.”
“Oh.” It was all I could say, because that changed my plans quite a bit. It meant stealing the rings before freeing the dragons and I didn’t think stealing the rings could be accomplished without killing the king and queen. That would complicate things a bit.