Just because we can’t see patterns in what is in front of us, doesn’t mean those patterns don’t exist.

The Book of Lost Wisdom, Kalutu

Eighteenth of Learning 1142

After the fight with the pasdara, the dungeon returned to its original state—boring. Chari wondered if the stories she’d heard had been edited in the telling, removing the dull parts, or if this dungeon was somehow defective. After much thought, she decided that all dungeons probably had boring bits in them. People didn’t tell that part of the tale on their return to civilization, because it would defeat the whole purpose of the telling in the first place. She’d certainly edit out most of this place if she survived long enough to share the experience. She’d pass on the fun and exciting parts and try to forget the rest. She just wished someone had taken the time to tell her what dungeons were really like.

Explorers had to move slowly, because there were traps, or at least, there might be. But there weren’t so many traps that most of that time wasn’t wasted.

They had moved on from the large room, guided by Eric and Dahr’s location. This way, if they did find an exit, they would have less distance to cover to catch up.

There were fights, to be sure, but not that many and they weren’t that difficult. There were trodara in these passages, but they ran in small, easily dispatched groups. They also fought some giant rats at one point, but that was it. The only thing of real interest they’d found were areas that displayed evidence of larger battles that had taken place. The dead, rotting creatures left behind had already been looted.

“There’s another team of adventurers down here,” said Sam. “At least let’s hope they’re adventurers and not dungeon runners.”

“There’s a difference?” asked Kalutu.

“Not every person who explores the dark places of the world is in favor of the guild system. Sometimes groups of outlaws will explore places like this, or just independent parties that never joined the guild. Sometimes those groups are worse than the monsters.”

“Something else to look forward to,” said Chari.

“I’m right there with you,” said Sam. “I’d rather face monsters than people any day.”

Chari looked at him strangely. “I wasn’t being sarcastic. One day, I’m going to have to tell people about my first experience in a dungeon. This can’t be it. Even Dahr couldn’t exaggerate this into something worth telling.”

Kalutu looked sad for a moment at the mention of Dahr, and Flapper wandered over to him, resting his flat tail on Kalutu’s foot as if trying to console him. Kalutu looked down at the beaver.

“It’s okay, Flapper. I’m fine.”

But Kalutu wasn’t fine, and every one of the familiars knew it.

They came to another empty room, and Chari decided it was time to call a brief halt. She realized she was ravenous. She hadn’t eaten in many hours. She had been so focused on the dungeon and her quest that she had forgotten to eat.

“Okay it’s time for food,” she said, unslinging her pack and lowering herself to the floor. “I assume everyone is hungry.”

“I am,” said Sam, “but I can’t speak for anyone else. The familiars, at least, wouldn’t be.”

“Why is that?” asked Chari.

“Familiars don’t need to eat.”

Kalutu was in the process of removing his pack, which hit the floor with a thud when he dropped it. “What do you mean familiars don’t need to eat.”

“They don’t need to sleep either,” said Sam. “Surely you’ve noticed.”

Kalutu looked embarrassed. “Well, yes, I did notice that.”

“It’s not that you can’t eat, it’s just that your nourishment comes from the connection to your master. It’s his life force that feeds you. Your life force would feed your familiars.”

“My life force? How could I possibly have enough to feed all of them?”

“In your case, you draw what you need from Prince Dahr. So you’d draw enough from him to feed your familiars.”

“Wouldn’t that weaken him?”

Chari shook her head. “Dahr has reserves none of us can guess. I think it might come from his class. The thing is, I don’t see Dahr running out of energy anytime soon. His god would not let it happen.”

“You think George is feeding me through Prince Dahr?” asked Kalutu, uncertainly.

“It makes sense,” said Chari. “Or maybe he’s not, but he would be if you hadn’t been eating. Anyway, you’re pulling energy from two masters, not one.”

“That’s true,” said Kalutu.

“It’s an experiment worth trying,” said Sam. “Skip a few meals and see how you feel.”

“It just seems strange not to eat.”

“You get used to it,” said Sam. “What about you, Zephyr? Do you have provisions? Because if I’m not missing my guess, we suddenly have extra.”

“I don’t have to eat much, I get a lot of my energy from the way, but if there’s extra, I can have a bit.”

“Am I the only one that has to eat?” asked Chari.

“I already said, I had to,” said Sam. “But it looks like there’s plenty of food. And to think, I had been worried there wouldn’t be enough. After all, when we first provisioned, the familiars had no master and still had to eat.”

Kalutu was looking around again, studying the place. It was beginning to annoy Chari.

“Kalutu, what are you doing?”

“Looking around.”

“I can see that. You keep doing that. Why?”

“I feel like I’ve been here before.”

“Do you? That’s just weird. How could you have been here before?”

“I don’t know. It’s just a feeling I’m getting.”

Chari shrugged. “Well, I’m starved, and your pacing is getting annoying, so sit down and rest.” She opened her rucksack and pulled out a rations pack containing dried meat and some cheese, then sat down and leaned against the wall opposite the door. “I feel like I can eat a troll.”

“Pretty sure that’s a recipe for food poisoning,” said Sam.

“It’s an expression,” said Chari, frustrated. “Do manamals not have expressions?”

“Not that one,” said Sam.

Kalutu had stopped pacing but still hadn’t sat.

“What am I supposed to do while you eat?” he asked.

“You can get to know your familiars,” said Sam. “There’s plenty I’m sure you could learn from them.”

Kalutu started to sit but stopped. “Where is Bruce? I can’t see him anywhere.”

Her.

“Are you invisible?”

The denim spider appeared a short distance away, facing in his direction.

I was. Does it bother you?

“No, I just like to keep track of you. Why did your master name you Bruce if you’re a female. It seems like an odd choice of name.”

My old master didn’t care to find out my gender before naming me. I was new to being a familiar and didn’t want to rock the boat, so I didn’t say anything. Once some time had passed, I realized he didn’t care much about me one way or another, and it never came up again.

“Well that’s not good,” said Kalutu. “Would you prefer a different name?”

I had one before, but Bruce is fine. The old name was in the spider tongue and mostly consisted of clicks and hisses. You wouldn’t be able to pronounce it.

“Very well. Bruce it is. I think Sam is right. It’s time to get to know all of you better. Since I’ve already started with Bruce, I’ll keep going with hi…her. I hope to get to all of you at some point. We have a lot of time to make up for.”

The familiars all crowded around Kalutu, who finally sat. Flapper, the beaver, on one side of him and Gruff, the goat on the other. Bear sat down in front of him, with Wingman, the hawk, perched on his leg. Drake, the lizard, clung to the wall besides him, and Mutt curled up at Kalutu’s feet, resting his head against Kalutu’s shin. Only Obby stayed back, though he inched as close as he could, changing shape just slightly to fit the area better.

Chari looked on, amused. “Maybe you should have been team leader, Kalutu. You’ve pretty much recruited an army.”

Kalutu shook his head. “I’m happy with the leadership we’ve got. Even without Eric and Dahr here, your presence is a great comfort to me.”

Chari met his eyes. “I feel the same about you.”

“I feel left out, but don’t worry about little ole me. I’ll be just fine.” said Sam. “I don’t suppose anyone has a beer.”

Chari jumped up. “Oh yeah, I forgot!”

She opened a pack and foraged around. “Where did I put it?”

Sam actually stood up before she burst out laughing. He looked at her incredulously.

“You would joke about something as serious as beer?”

Chari chuckled again and sat back down. “Absolutely. It’s called banter, Sam. It’s quite common on adventuring teams.”

“I know what banter is,” complained Sam. “but that was just mean.”

Chari shrugged. “When we get back to civilization, I’ll buy you a beer.”

“Really?”

“Really.”

That seemed to mollify the manamal, who sat back down and started eating. Chari bit off a piece of dried meat and thought about Eric. Her husband. How the hell had this happened? Why had she not gone with him? Eric and Dahr were out there, and there was nothing she could do but hope to catch up. But she wasn’t chasing him. She was in a dungeon. Admittedly, it seemed like this is where Sheba wanted her, but she couldn’t figure out why. She had assumed that it was to help her catch up with Eric, but what if that wasn’t true. The goddess had never explicitly stated that was the case. She only said this was a holy quest. What if that holy quest didn’t bring her any closer to Eric? She couldn’t afford to think that way, whether it was true or not.

“This is quite an unusual team you have here,” said Zephyr.

“What? Oh, yes. It seems to work quite well though, at least so far.”

“It seems to be building itself,” said Kalutu. “We haven’t gone out recruiting. Even you, Lady Zephyr. You found us.”

“I did. And I’m not Lady anything, I’m just Zephyr.”

“I was thinking about roles,” said Chari. “Like Maynor talked about during training. Kalutu and I are front line fighters as is Bear. We have two stealth specialists in Bruce and Zephyr. What we’re missing is a healer. I suspect Zephyr can act as a tank.”

“A tank?” asked the kindred.

“A role normally performed by Prince Eric. He seems to be able to draw a lot of enemies to himself, and has a way to survive it.”

“I’ve never heard of that. And I don’t think any of the other kindred have either.”

“It’s unique in this world, according to Sheba, though it exists in others.”

“That’s interesting.”

“I notice,” said Kalutu, “that you didn’t react to there being more than one world.”

“The kindred have always been aware of other realities. Some of the more powerful of us have touched them.”

“If you can play the role of tank,” said Chari, “that puts you in the front line with us. We don’t really have anyone for ranged attacks either. Those are the obvious roles we’re missing… ranged and healing. We have potions but they won’t last forever. We also have gold to get more but it would help if we could add to that stockpile by finding some actual treasure. I thought dungeons were good for that.”

“We’ve only been here for a short time,” said Kalutu. “I suspect we’ve seen very little of this dungeon. It feels like we’ve been here longer because of the speed of progress. Looking for traps is time consuming, but ultimately important.”

“We shouldn’t rest too long,” said Chari. “As Kalutu said, we’re making slow progress. I can’t imagine Eric and Dahr aren’t getting further away as we speak.”

Kalutu nodded. “They hadn’t been. It had been like they had stopped for a while, but they’re moving again, and faster than before.”

Chari growled in frustration. “Okay, I guess this break ends now, then. Let’s go.”

As soon as she spoke those words, a trodara appeared in the room with them, out of nowhere. It just phased into existence.

“What the hell?”

Chari was on her feet in an instant. Kalutu a moment later, but Zephyr had been faster than both of them. She had already engaged the trodara when a second one appeared, then a third.

“What is going on?” asked Chari. “I’ve never heard of a trodara having this skill.”

“They don’t,” said Sam, sounding quite certain.

“Then what’s happening?”

Several more trodara appeared, and Lost Wisdom killed them before they had a chance to do any damage. But if the enemy could appear out of nowhere, they would have to be careful. Chari finished off the last one and looked around, but nothing else happened.

“Let’s get out of here before more show up.”

She moved out of the room and down into the corridor they had been traversing. Chari motioned to Bruce and Zephyr and they moved out to scout ahead.

Eric and Dahr were moving again, and she was stuck in a dungeon with a gaggle of familiars and a kindred. This was absolutely the weirdest dungeon expedition she’d ever heard of.

*

King Terrence sat in the throne room. There wasn’t much he could do at this point but wait. He wished he knew what he was waiting for. Treya was busy trying to understand her new ability, so he had been left alone to deal with the current situation. Maynor and the Misfits of Karmenon were off trying to track Striker and the princes.

He would have loved to be with them but had to remain in the palace to run the kingdom. Instead he was left with trying to piece together what had happened. Terrence had exhausted every clue he had and was still no closer to knowing anything other than that Striker, for reasons no one understood, displayed power no one could figure out and took his sons from the palace, most likely against their will. Why had she done it? What did she hope to gain? Who was she working for? There were no answers. And so he waited for more information. He had to keep reminding himself that waiting wasn’t giving up.

What he really needed to do was to focus on something else while he waited. If nothing else, perhaps more mundane matters could distract him, because as it was, he kept dwelling on the same information over and over. When King Leonid walked into the throne room, Terrence was almost happy to see him, in spite of the fact that they had nothing in common. His welcoming smile was cut short when he saw the expression on his ally’s face.

“King Leonid. I hope you are…”

“Chari is missing.”

Terrence stood and walked down the single step to go to him.

“What happened? You had a team of guards on her, right?”

“I did. She had gone to the temple to pray, then she got sick and returned to the palace. She had been on her way to see you, when suddenly, the guards lost her.”

“What do you mean they lost her?”

“They stopped for a moment to greet me, and she turned the corner and vanished.”

“Vanished?”

“According to the guards at least. Veloran was there, but he hadn’t seen her all day.”

“I spoke to him earlier and filled him in on the situation. He didn’t say anything about Chari.”

“He didn’t know she was missing, only that the guards had lost her. But now she and that lycanthrope are both gone, and no one can find them.”

King Leonid’s tone of voice when referring to the familiar left no room for interpretation, which annoyed Terrence, but now was not the time to open that can of worms.

“What do you need?”

“Guards and servants to search of course. She couldn’t have gotten out of the palace. Not without being seen.”

“We thought that about Eric and Dahr too, but it wasn’t true. Still, we’ll start the search and hopefully find her.”

King Leonid nodded curtly, while Terrence moved off to get a page to fetch Leata and have her join him in the throne room. Chari had escaped a full guard detail? Of course she had. On one level he was impressed, which didn’t make him any happier about the problems it would cause.

After a glance back at Leonid, he made his exit and hurried to the room in which Lord Ormund lay. He passed a number of people on the way, who parted to let him through. Usually people greeted him, but that had changed since he had started glowing. His subjects no longer had any idea what to make of him. Some looked surprised at the sight of him, as if they hadn’t yet heard of the anomaly. Well, it had only started a relatively short time ago. Perhaps as time passed, people would get used to it.

When he reached his destination, Terrence paused at the door, bracing himself for the sight that lay beyond. That Lord Ormund, or anyone, should be brought to this was unthinkable. That Terence himself had had a part in that was unforgivable. He prayed to Sheba multiple times a day to bring Lord Ormund back to them, but he knew that Sheba wouldn’t directly interfere, at least any more than she had. She had given Treya what they suspected was a tool to heal Lord Ormund. It was up to Treya to figure out how to use it. This was Sheba’s way, but it didn’t stop him from praying.

He opened the door and entered, forcing himself to take a good look at Lord Ormund before turning his attention to his wife. The man lay on the bed in the exact same position he had seen him last time. Captain Jericho had done this to him, but Terrence had enabled Jericho. Allowed his own judgement to be clouded by unwarranted suspicion. He knew he had some responsibility and might never have a chance to make it up to the mage, who had been loyal to his wife beyond all reason. When he looked at Treya, she was watching him. He could see from the look in her eyes that she knew what he was going through.

“We need to get back to the throne room,” he said, shaking off the discomfort. “Chari is missing.”

“I thought King Leonid had assigned guards to her.”

“He did.”

“What about Kalutu?”

“I think we can assume he’s with her.”

“We should have never let her go to the temple. I knew she would find a way to shake the guard detail.”

“She didn’t do it at the temple. Apparently she got ill and returned to the palace. She was here with the guards. I’m about to talk to Leata and get the search started, but I thought you’d want to be there.”

“Of course. Rhea must be beside herself.”

“Leonid told me. I haven’t seen Rhea yet.”

Treya had been sitting on the edge of Lord Ormund’s bed. She stood and walked to the door.

“You think they’re gone already, don’t you.” she said.

Terrence nodded. “I should be used to not having a clue what was going on in my own palace by now, but I’m not. I don’t like this at all.”

“It’s Sheba’s will, Terrence. Don’t lose sight of that.”

“I keep telling myself that. And I know whatever is going on is for the greater good, but that doesn’t mean we don’t have to deal with the fallout. I don’t think King Leonid is going to be particularly understanding, all things considered.”

“They were his guards.”

“Yes. But you know with him, it’s not going to be that easy.”

She nodded as they walked quickly back toward the throne room. They didn’t speak on the way, and Leata was already there by the time they returned, but there was no sign of Leonid. Terrence didn’t even close the distance between them before he started talking.

“Leata, get me the three guards we’ve tapped to promote and bring them here as fast as you can. We have a situation.”

“Oh?”

He had closed the distance while talking but lowered his voice as he neared her. “Chari has gone missing.”

Leata looked shocked. “If this is the work of the enemy, whoever it is, they work fast.”

“I don’t think it is. I think this is the work of a young princess who wants to find her husband.”

“And the guards?”

“Did you really think she wouldn’t find a way to sneak away from them?”

“Of course not. Chari is intelligent, willful and driven. If she wanted to get away she would.”

“That’s my assessment as well.”

“So what do we do?”

“First we promote some guards and have them start a search. Direct the servants to do so as well.”

“We won’t be able to keep this a secret.”

“I know. I would like to know if they are still in the palace, and if not, I’d like to know which gate they left from. I’m hoping we can stop them from leaving the city.”

Leata nodded and walked away, passing Queen Rhea as she entered. Treya and Terrence hurried over to her.

“I just heard. Do you have any idea…”

“She’s gone, Treya. We both knew it would happen. I shouldn’t have tried to stop her. If we’d just let her go, we could have made sure she had provisions and perhaps protection. Trying to protect her has placed her in more danger than she would have been in.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Don’t I? I know my daughter, Trey.”

“We’ll do everything we can to find her.”

Queen Rhea looked like she was about to say something, but nodded instead. “I’ll pray to Mitra that we do.”

“When was the last time you saw her?”

“Not since the throne room, this afternoon. She’s gone after them, I just know it.”

“But she was in the palace. How did she get away from the guards?”

“I’d like to know that as well.”

“The real question is, what do we do if she’s not in the palace?”

Rhea looked solemn. “Nothing at all.”

Terrence looked surprised, but Treya understood.

“I too am loathe to interfere with Sheba’s will.”

“We were warned,” said Queen Rhea. “I just didn’t want to believe.”

Treya put an arm around her and guided her to a bench along the far wall between two of the tapestries. Terrence left them to chat and returned to his throne. He looked down at his hands and realized they were still glowing. He supposed he’d have to get used to that.

Before long, Leata returned with the three guards slated for promotion. Leata approached the throne leaving the men waiting to be called forward. She pointed out which was which and retreated to wait with them. Terrance looked them over. The three were a study in contrast.

Gallen Burk, an impeccably groomed man in his late thirties, was smaller and thinner than most of the warriors in the guard. He must have been skilled in combat, or he wouldn’t have been a candidate for captain, but he looked more like a scholar than a fighter. He had short blonde hair and was clean-shaven. His blue eyes seemed intensely curious, taking everything in as he waited.

Ezra Lorko was in his late twenties, well-muscled and bigger than Burk. He was the image of a warrior. Head shaven, with a neatly trimmed black goatee, Terrence could see discipline in the man’s stance and fire in his eyes.

The man called Cech was practically a giant, almost a head bigger than Lorko, who was a fairly large man himself. He had a head full of shaggy dark brown hair, a wild, unkempt beard and mustache, and his eyes seemed to be laughing as he looked around. His stance was casual. He didn’t look like a man waiting to see the king. He looked more like a man in a tavern waiting for his friend to show up.

Terrence motioned for them to approach, and they all knelt.

“Rise, all of you.”

They stood, Burk and Lorko at attention, while Cech was more relaxed.

“There’s a lot going on, but I need to get this sorted before anything else happens. You know that Maynor is temporarily away from the castle. What you don’t know is that Captain Jericho is dead and will need to be replaced as well.”

“Dead?” asked Cech.

“I killed him,” said the king, unapologetically, making no attempt to lower his voice. He refused to keep Jericho’s death a secret. There were too many of those already floating around.

Burk and Lorco looked surprised, but Cech shrugged. “I’m sure you had your reasons.”

Terrence nodded. “I did. Look, I can’t pretend I know Maynor’s plans for any promotions, but I’m going to make the three of you captains. The issue is, I don’t know any of you well enough to make a decision of where to put you. I’ll need one person to watch the walls, one to take charge of palace security and one to act as liaison between the two and also to train new guards. I’d like your recommendations.”

“Cech on the wall, Lorko in the palace,” said Burk immediately. “I can act as liaison.”

Both of the others nodded.

“That was fast. Explain your reasoning, Burk.”

“Cech never really fit in with the palace guard. It’s far more formal than the wall. But he’d be a valuable defender without the need for palace discipline. Lorko is the best technical fighter we have. He also looks the role of the palace guard, where as me, not so much. But I have a good mind for coordination.”

“Shouldn’t the best warrior be the one who trains the guard,” asked Terrence.

It was Lorko who answered. “With all due respect, Your Highness, being a good fighter is no guarantee of your ability to teach what you know. A lot of what I do is instinctive. I can’t always break it down. Burk is much better at explaining and well…teaching, Your Highness.”

“I see. You knew about the positions and discussed it already, did you?”

Lorko and Burke looked surprised, but Cech chuckled. “That’s about the size of it, Your Highness.”

“Well, you know yourselves better than I do, so I say we give it a try, Captains. Your first order of duty will be…”

King Terrence stopped talking. A golden, translucent sphere had appeared around each of the guards. He looked down but couldn’t see a similar effect around his own body.

“What the blazes!”

Treya and Rhea had been joined by Leonid, but like Terrence, Treya lacked the sphere that everyone else but them seemed to have. As people moved about, some in a panic, their spheres overlapped and intersected, passing through each other.

Treya moved toward him. “What’s going on?” she asked.

“There is nothing to fear,” said a woman’s voice he had never heard before.

A flash of light appeared, and most of those present retreated. When it faded, an attractive woman stood in the center of the throne room. Her skin was pale and perfect, her high cheekbones giving her an exotic look, and the auburn hair resting atop her head gave the impression that she wore a crown. Her long red gown seemed to shimmer with its own light. It fell about her body in such a way that it made it hard to make sense of her form. One second she seemed slender and boyish, a moment later, voluptuous, and shortly after that pregnant. It made her hard to look at. An aura of divinity flooded the room.

“No kneeling,” she said immediately, though several had already done so, and others were moving to copy. People found their feet almost immediately.

“Greetings King Terrence. Queen Treya. King Leonid. Queen Rhea. A pleasure to make your acquaintance at last. I am Sylinar, who you call the mother of the gods.”

Terrence forced himself to take a step toward her and spoke. “Greetings Sylinar. Welcome to Rish. May I ask a question?”

“Apparently.” The goddess’s eyes twinkled. “But I take it you wish to know about the shields I’ve placed around the people in the throne room.”

“Yes, please.”

“I am shielding your subjects, and your royal guests, so they are not damaged by exposure to the power of the gods.”

“I notice that protection doesn’t extend to either Queen Treya or myself.”

Sylinar beamed at him like a proud mother. “For neither of you require a shield. You are both descendants of Arimen on both sides. You are immune to exposure to divine magic.”

Treya and Terrence shared a glance but didn’t hold it long. There were audible gasps from those around them. The shock of being descended from an immortal threw Terrence, but he recovered quickly. He had other, more important things on his mind.

“When Sheba visited us, she did not shield my people.”

“She was only one goddess. I will not be alone.”

“Oh?”

Sylinar gestured, and a being in a black robe that might have been woven from darkness itself appeared beside her. His face was a human skull. Se Karn, the god of death, had come to Twyl. Sheba appeared beside him a moment later, wearing the same form she had taken last time, blonde and beautiful, though this time she had no white wolf with her. To her right stood a stunning, ageless, black-haired woman in glittering silver mage robes, carrying a staff with a glowing crystal on top of it. She could only be Iorana, the goddess of magic. Her eyes were golden, her radiant skin, a perfect bronze. You’d have known she was a goddess without the aura. As if to counterpoint her perfection, the figure next to her might have been any woman from anyplace on Thysandrika. She was about forty years old, with long brown hair tied in a pony-tail that fell over a simple brown dress that reached past her knees. The only way she could be identified as Mitra, the goddess of lore, was by the symbol she wore around her neck.

“Hello, Terrence,” said Sheba. “We meet again it seems.”

“You enjoy this, do you?”

“I really do.”

“Well I do not,” said Iorana. “So can we get on with it?”

Sylinar nodded, and Iorana continued.

“King Leonid…”

“Yes, my goddess.”

“You are to return immediately to Melar and start building your army.”

“But my daughter is missing.”

“She is not. You just don’t know where she is. She is where she needs to be, and is no longer your concern. You must return home.”

“I’ll notify the ships…”

“No. You will take a chirkir portal from the Adventurer’s Guild. There is no time to waste. The Undead King has built a vast army. He has had years to prepare for the war to come. You have months.”

“But there is no chirkir gate in Melar.”

“That is true, but there is one very close in Andara.”

“Andara!”

“You don’t have to worry, you’ll have family waiting to greet you when you get there.”

“Very well, I’ll leave first thing…”

“You will leave now.”

King Leonid looked like he might protest, then his shoulders slumped, and he turned to his wife. “Come, Rhea, we have to go.”

“No,” said Mitra.

“What?”

“You will be returning to Melar alone. Queen Rhea is needed here.”

“But she’s my wife.”

“And my servant. Which do you think she should honor first?”

King Leonid looked from Iorana to Mitra and back. “Very well. I’ll go prepare.”

He kissed his wife and moved to leave the throne room. Every eye followed him as he made his way toward the large double doors.

“Wait,” said Sheba.

King Leonid froze.

“There is more news you must take with you. King Terrence will be leading the combined armies of the world into battle. The gods of order have agreed that he will be High King for the duration of the war. Each countrys’ generals will answer to King Terrence in battle.”

King Leonid looked first angry then resigned, but nodded.

“I will do as you say.” He continued to the throne room door, and paused only briefly before turning the corner.

Mitra, still looking at Queen Rhea, continued. “As previously stated, your service is needed here. You will assist High King Terrence as ambassador to the other nations. You too will travel by chirkir portal. The chirkir are already expecting you. You will meet the ruler of each kingdom and explain the situation.”

“Why would they believe me?”

“Because every high priest in the world will back you up. If any ruler wishes to act independently, he will soon learn the cost of attempting to thwart the will of the gods.”

“If the high priests know, why do I need to travel to each Kingdom?”

“Because the world’s royalty needs to know that King Terrence is the one in charge. They will hear the news from you and check it with the high priests. Seeing a representative of the High King is crucial.”

Mitra gestured, and Queen Rhea stiffened. The level flare indicated to all who could see it that she had gained a level.

“Oh!”

Sheba stepped forward. “High King Terrence.”

“I’m a warrior, not a general.”

“You will have generals to advise you, but you will control the force that will be raised against the Undead King. This is the will of the gods.”

“All the gods?”

“The gods of order, at the very least. The gods of chaos will no doubt have other ideas. Do you care what Tharin or Deloshi want?”

“What about Sarith?” asked Queen Treya. “She is, after all, the goddess of war.”

A new figure appeared in the room, away from the other gods. She had black hair like Iorana, but shorter, and her eyes were blood red. Also like Ioranna, she was attractive, but not in the same way. When you looked at the goddess of magic, you saw the perfection of the female form. Sarith was more like looking at a natural vista. She may have worn a human body, but she was a mountain, a glacier, a canyon. There was no humanity in her face, no emotion at all. She wore a suit of plate armor that would have been more suited to a high level human warrior than a goddess. She held her helm in her hand and had a great sword slung over her back.

“I too approve of King Terrence as the High King for the duration of the battle.”

“Why?” asked Terrence.

“Because few hate and fear the undead as much as you do, and we can not afford to lose this war. Build your armies, for war is coming.”

She was gone before he could ask any further questions.

“Build your army and make your plans, but you must hurry, High King Terrence,” said Sheba.

“What of me?” asked Treya.

“You must rule Twyl in King Terrence’s absence, but your role in this is not done. The day is not far off when you will be called to serve me more directly. Until then, you are to remain here. It may seem that we’ve left you with mundane tasks, Treya, but there will come a time when I will require your service.”

“I will be ready, my goddess. And I will serve, gladly.”

Sheba, for a moment, looked sad. “Perhaps. We will see when the time comes.”

Treya looked thoughtful but did not speak again.

“Chari?” asked Queen Rhea.

It was Sheba who answered. “She is beyond your reach for now. If you wish to help her, help High King Terrence, for he is the best chance to win this war.”

“This is all very sudden,” said Terrence. “I don’t mind saying, I’m feeling out of my depth.”

“If that is the biggest sacrifice you are called upon to make by the end of this, I would be greatly surprised,” said Sheba. “Anyone would be out of their depth. I didn’t expect otherwise. But I do believe you will rise to the challenges ahead of you.”

She stepped forward, closer to the royal couple.

“This war will task you both. It will test your endurance, your resolve, your faith in the gods themselves. It is why the two of you have been chosen, not only by me, but by all of the gods.”

“That seems preposterous to me,” said Terrence. “Surely there are others more qualified.”

“The fact that you think so is part of why you’ve been chosen. You have always been a humble man, King Terrence of Twyl, but it is time to leave that behind. You are the High King of Thysandrika, and you will lead the largest army ever assembled against the undead. Can you truly say you do not want that honor?”

King Terrence remained silent for some time. When he spoke, his voice seemed deeper and filled with power that had not been there a moment before.

“The Undead King will regret invading the moment the first undead soldier sets foot from the Plains of Xarinos.”

“You misunderstand, King Terrence,” said Iorana. “I do not believe that we should wait for the Undead King to attack.”

“You mean for me to enter the plains?”

“I do.”

A fire kindled in Terrence’s eyes that was terrible to behold, even for those who knew him. When he spoke, his voice was magnified, and contained the power of Sheba as if he spoke for her, which indeed he did. Thus far, only Jericho and Treya had heard the king speak like this. The reaction of those present was palpable. There wasn’t a person present who did not believe that Terrence himself had somehow transformed into a demigod.

“If that is what is required to end the undead threat, then I will lead an army into the plains. I will find the Undead King’s castle and lay siege to it. And I will destroy anything that stands in my way.”

The gods all nodded approval.

“Each of us will give you a gift. This will seal the pact made among the gods and mark you, and Queen Treya, as our representatives here on Thysandrika.”

The blood drained out of Treya’s face. “With all due respect, I am not up to that task.”

“Do you think you are wiser than the gods, child?” This from Sylinar.

“Of course not!”

“Then if you don’t trust yourself, trust us. You may not believe in yourself, but Sheba believes in you. I believe in you. We all believe in you.”

“But I’ve made so many errors.”

“It is not the errors you make that define you,” said Iorana, “but how you deal with them after you’ve made them. Everyone makes errors, even gods. Sylinar was correct, we do believe in you, and King Terrence.”

“Because we have Arimen’s blood running through our veins?”

“Partly,” said Sheba, “but that’s only a small part. We see how you act. We know how you think. We are not blind, Queen Treya. We know you, and we’ve chosen you.”

Again there was silence in the throne room. Finally, Sylinar spoke again.

“The road ahead will not be easy. It will test all of you, even you, Queen Rhea. But you would not have been chosen for these roles if we did not believe you could handle them.”

“How will I know where to go first?” asked Queen Rhea.

“The chirkir know where you are to go. Talk to them. It seems they have long waited for this time,” said Iorana.

“If they have some knowledge about this, I might just have a conversation with one of them myself,” said King Terrence.

“I think that would be wise,” said Mitra.

The entire situation—the visitation to the throne room, the shielding, the revelation that both Treya and Terrence were descended from an immortal, had the feeling of a stage show. The gods weren’t here to impart information. They were letting the world know that they had been chosen.

There would be envy and jealousy, but no one would gainsay the gods. Terrence would be High King and command the largest army ever seen on Thysandrika. He would lead the legions against the Undead King and for the first time take those armies into the heart of Xarinos. Already Terrence’s mind was buzzing with what he had to do once the gods ended their performance.

“One more thing, Terrence. You should use your new skills better,” said Sheba.

The intrusion into his thoughts left him unready to respond. “Excuse me?”

“You were looking for Chari. Don’t you have a skill that allows you to locate anyone in your kingdom?”

“Oh! I do.”

Sheba laughed. Terrence looked embarrassed.

“To be fair,” said Queen Rhea, “there has been a lot going on.”

Treya looked surprised that Rhea was standing up for her husband, particularly when it was her daughter that was missing.

“That’s true,” said Sheba.

King Terrence closed his eyes. “That’s odd.”

“What is?” asked Rhea.

“She is close and yet at the same time very far away. Both in the palace and yet not. I can not pinpoint her location. What does that mean?”

Sheba smiled. “Come now, High King Terrence. I gave you the skill, but I’m not the one who needs to learn how to use it.”

“You know where my daughter is now?” asked Queen Rhea

“More or less,” said Sheba. “Well, less actually. She’s in an unusual place, one that is not part of this reality.”

“I don’t know what that means.”

“Then you are in good company,” said Iorana. “But before this conflict ends, I will understand all of it.”