“Sir, the servants have asked me to...”

“Cormac!”

“... to come to see you...”

The captain of the Shadowrock guard stood stunned on the threshold of the cellar door, after being surprised by such unusual scene.

On the floor, his face glistening with sweat and his eyes reddened, was his own Lord lying next to a growing red puddle of wine that was pouring steadily from a barrel.

“Just in time!” the count raised a goblet with his hand from which even more drink was splashed. “The servants... wouldn't serve me... any more wine, so I had to come... and get it myself. Help me... will you?”

“My Lord...”

“My Lord...” scoffed Alaric. “Why... do you always... call me that? We've known... each other... since we were born... My lord this... my lord that... Call me Alaric... simple... like Leander does...”

Cormac sighed. Actually the servants had been looking for Leander but, not finding him, had gone to warn the captain.

He looked for the barrel stopper, and then walked over to the count with the intention of lifting His Lordship off the floor.

“I will take you to your chamber.”

The count stepped back.

“I'm fine here...”

“You can't stay here drinking all night.”

“I can do... as I please... I'm the Lord... of the castle... Anyway... there's no danger of my daughter... seeing me... in this... miserable state,” he drank from the cup to the bottom.

Cormac had already figured out what the reason for the lack of judgment was, and he couldn't blame his Lord. The last two months had been difficult for everyone and this was the first night they could relax a little. He had even ordered a large dinner for his exhausted soldiers and told them to take a couple of days off.

However, many of the castle's inhabitants were concerned about the uncertain whereabouts of Lady Olivia. Only those closest to the Count, including Cormac himself, knew the truth of what had happened.

“You are in no position to refuse,” insisted the captain.

“Am I not your Lord? You cannot... contradict me.”

Let the Nymph grant him patience.

“If you get up by your own means, I will start calling you by your name...”

The Count accepted the wager, but it took him a while to fulfill it. First he rolled on the floor until he was face down. He pulled himself off the ground with his arms until he was on his knees. Then, holding on to one of the barrels, he managed to stand up even though his legs were shaking.

“Now try walking,” said Cormac.

“That... wasn't part... of the deal...”

“I said by your own means, but you're still holding on to the barrel.”

The Count let go of the barrel, and raised both hands to prove him wrong, but the movement was so abrupt that his body tipped sideways and he would have hit the floor had it not been for the captain who grabbed him just in time.

With a hand under the Count's shoulders, Cormac dragged him out of the cellar without any difficulty. Outside were waiting some servants who had not dared to disobey their master. They offered to help, but Cormac reassured them that they could return to their duties.

It took a while to reach the count's quarters. Alaric let himself be carried without putting up any resistance, although he was not capable of using his feet to help Cormac either. After opening the door the captain approached the bed, and tossed His Lordship on it without worrying much about his position

“Is this... your way... of treating... your lord? asked the count with his lips pressed to the blanket and his body stiff as a statue.

Cormac's face broke into a smile that the Count could not properly see.

“I miscalculated.”

“I see... that...” with much effort the Count rolled over the bed to lie on his back and Cormac had to keep him from falling on the floor again. Grabbing him by the feet he placed him in the center to prevent any more falls.

The captain went to a basin of water that the servants had left behind. He dampened a cloth and handed it to the Count who began to wipe his face with it. A sigh of relief escaped his lips.

Cormac dragged a chair over to the bed and sat down, thinking that it would be best to wait for the Count to fall asleep, fearing that he might slip back into the cellar. Though in that state, he very much doubted he would make it.

They were silent for a while. He went over in his head the list of pending tasks for the next day, while the Count was lost in thought with his glassy gaze pointing at the ceiling of the bed.

“What have I done, Cormac?” the Count covered his eyes with one hand.

That was such a general question that it might well have referred to anything, though it was most likely about Lady Olivia.

“My Lord?”

“That's enough with "my lord"! Dammit!”

Cormac gave up. The Count was drunk anyway, and perhaps he wouldn't remember anything later.

“Very well... Alaric,” Cormac shifted uneasily in his seat. That didn't sound right at all.

“You're right, it sounded strange,” said the Count as if he was reading his thoughts. “What was I saying?”

“Something you had done.”

The Count let out a groan.

“What have I done!” he lamented. “I let her go alone!”

“I don't doubt that...”

“Alone! Alone!” Alaric let out a bitter laugh. “I never let her go alone, not even to the forest or the village, and now I even let her cross the kingdom on her own! All the way to the Isle of Demons! Alone! What's wrong with me?”

Both Cormac and Leander had been surprised by that impulsive decision but the captain guessed that guilt had something to do with it. The Count had kept his daughter isolated for so many years that perhaps he thought it was a way to make it up to her.

Cormac felt grateful that he had no children.

“Didn't you say she left with the chimera?” he asked.

“It's the same thing! I don't know that creature at all! What if he hurts her? I was insane when I made that decision! It was too much all at once!”

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According to Leander, he didn't have much power, and your daughter can defend herself with magic.

“Magic, yes... though she is only an Initiate. I had my doubts about her learning, but maybe it was for the best... although I don't know what Eldrin must have done with her.... Bastard... How about with the sword?”

Cormac stiffened in his seat. He would have liked to answer that the girl was as skilled as her father, but the truth was that she was still a long way off. In a close combat she wouldn't stand a chance. As for the bow, her aim was pretty good, as long as she didn't get nervous, which happened all too often...

He didn't want to lie to his Lord, but if he told him the truth his master would worry even more.

“She'll know how to handle herself. She is an intelligent young woman. The proof is that she's managed all this time without us.”

“Yes... when I let her go she didn't put up any buts... as if she wanted to get away from me as soon as possible... Yaritza and Numi were also mad with me.”

“There are always disagreements between parents and children. Yours can be fixed.”

“Seventeen years old! She's a child!”

“For her age, she's very mature. Trust her judgment.”

“The same judgment that caused her to run off with a chimera and sneak off into the forest where she would be found by that damned elf?”

Nothing Cormac said would appease him. What was done was done. There was no use lamenting but to think about the next steps.

But the Count wasn't finished.

“I don't even know where she is now!” he continued lamenting, “What if she ends up drowning in the gulf? I should leave in this instant...”

Seeing that the Count was trying to get up, Cormac stretched out a hand, and forced him to remain still.

“First, you can't do anything as you are now. Second, you said yourself that if we went after her it would look suspicious. It's better if the royal family continues to think she was kidnapped.”

“I'll confront the royal family!”

“And our soldiers would be overjoyed, but we have no wizards... except Leander...”

“We have the weapons created from the arcantio!”

“Weapons that have not yet been completed, let alone tested by our own soldiers. We have no use for a magical artifact that an ordinary human cannot use.”

“You sound just like Rovenna Astra...”

“I take that as a compliment.”

“And just as arrogant.”

“Coming from you, I find that remark very amusing,” Cormac took the opportunity to ask him what she had told him about the new wizards who would join the Order.

“She said that she herself would select the candidates from among those who were most loyal to her. That doesn't reassure me completely, but at least it means that the new wizards will not attempt anything in Eldrin's name...”

“But in Rovenna's name...”

“I prefer her to Zoran.”

“True. The man is disgusting.”

“And for now our goals are aligned... Later we will see. By then we will have the weapons.”

Hard work awaited them. Yet another reason to rest.

He was about to say that to the Count when suddenly someone knocked on the door.

“Who is it?” asked Alaric.

“It's me!”

Cormac furrowed his eyebrows at the sound of Leander's muffled voice. There was something odd about it. He didn't sound like himself.

“Come in!” the Count shouted.

The heavy door opened slowly as if the wizard didn't have enough strength to push it open. He shuffled in, swaying his body from side to side. His face was as red as his robe.

Oh, no, another one, Cormac thought.

“The servants said... you were looking for me?” said Leander to the Count.

“Cormac already took care of it...”

“Ah...” said Leander, squeezing his eyelids together while he looked at Cormac as if he had just noticed him. “And what are you doing here?”

Cormac didn't bother to explain.

“What happened to you?” he asked the wizard.

“I've been removed.”

“I know... but was it necessary to...”

“I was waiting... for you to comfort me, but you were... so busy... with your soldiers... and now... with the Count in his chambers...”

The count raised both arms as if reaching for something from the ceiling.

“He didn't do anything to me. I swear. I would never betray my best friend... I mean Leander... not you, Cormac.”

Cormac tried to silence Leander.

“Don't you think you're out of place?”

“As usual!” Leander threw himself into a chair. “Always duty first... We were separated... for I don't know how many days... I was locked in a dungeon... and you weren't even able to...”

“Can we leave this conversation for later?”

“Later! Always later!”

“What's the matter, Cormac?” Alaric complained. “I know very well what's going on between you two... By the Nymph! The whole castle knows it!”

“That doesn't mean... my Lord... it doesn't suit...” Cormac struggled with what to say next.

From there, Leander and Cormac continued to talk to each other and make jokes at his expense. Annoyed at first, Cormac eventually gave in. If that would get the Count to stop worrying about his daughter, then he had no problem becoming their target. He stayed with those two drunks until they were both asleep and snoring at the top of their lungs. He went back to his quarters to rest, he had done his part.

He also missed Lady Olivia, he was worried, but it was no use imagining all the worst possible scenarios, as he felt tempted to do at times. Just in case, he would go to the temple for a while to pray, something he hadn't done in a while.

The next few weeks were busy ones. Rovenna Astra, as well as Zoran and the Control Division, stayed a few more days and finally left one morning along with all the traitor wizards who would have to walk in chains to Nemertya as a prelude to a much worse punishment awaiting them at their destination. There was even talk of the death penalty. It was expected that the other nobles, now fearful of their own Orders, would demand a punishment that would make the other wizards think twice before revolting against them.

As the group of traitors shuffled through the great castle gate under the heavy chains, some servants came up to spit on them and even throw food scraps. For Cormac that was a very pityful sight. He knew all the wizards of the Order. With them he had shared the responsibility of protecting the castle and had formed several friendships, as well as Leander. who must have felt worse.

The wizard had secluded himself in the south tower requesting that no one disturb him and that his food be left by the door. Cormac had tried to reason with him but the wizard never allowed him to enter. The only ones allowed in were the Count, Myrius, Korinna and Fidelia, with whom he seemed to be working with the arcantio. That bothered Cormac. As the captain of the guard he should have the right to say something about the matter. But he decided not to force the issue.

Rovenna Astra had told the Count that she would be receiving the new wizards in the next few weeks. She would have liked to be present, but could no longer stay away from the capital. Cormac supposed she didn't want to lose sight of Zoran either.

Among the latest news was one that seemed insane to him. A group of wizards and soldiers were expected to go into the Roaring Mountains to find the chimeras. Cormac was in charge of selecting some of his own soldiers. What a waste of good men!

When he learned that Fidelia would be taking part in that impossible mission, Cormac dared to protest although the woman herself shut him up.

“Cormac! No matter how you look at it, or what Leander told you, I'm not a child!”

The captain didn't understand anything. From what he had been told, she had been the first one to complain to the Master Arcanist. Why was she suddenly so angry with him who had nothing to do with it? And what did Leander have to do with it?

Wizards were so exhausting...

As Rovenna had promised them, the new wizards who had been especially chosen to restore the Order arrived at Shadowrock, along with the newly assigned Leader. In the courtyard were all the soldiers assembled, besides a few curious servants. Alaric, Leander and Cormac, dressed formally for the occasion, were waiting in the center.

Seeing Leander after all that time, the captain felt calmed. The wizard looked haggard but not ill. That he had come out to greet the new Order was a good sign.

“Nice to see you,” he whispered to the wizard.

“Is that kind of comment appropriate just now?” Leander scoffed.

“I was worried.”

“For your information, I was not all this time lamenting but doing my duty, as you spend all this time doing.”

“I see that.”

“I've made incredible progress with the arcantio, and all by myself, no help, no distractions.”

“So I'm one of your distractions?”

Leander pursed his lips.

“Yes, perhaps it would be time to dismiss you and concentrate only on my work.”

“Tonight will be the welcoming dinner. Since you are no longer Leader of the Order, why don't you show me what you've been doing with the arcantio?”

“In your place or mine?” Leander asked, and Cormac barely had time to answer when the procession of carriages and horses finished crossing the great gate and stopped near them.

Not all were Masters. There were several Initiates, as well as Acolytes. Cormac began to study the face of each one. The first to step forward was a fairly young Master with tan skin, short dark hair and a serene gaze. Actually, to Cormac's surprise, they were all young, being the new Leader perhaps the oldest of them all.

“Your Excellency,” the young Leader bowed his head in front of the Count and held out a sealed parchment. “My name is Theo Malis. I have been appointed Leader of the Order of Shadowrock by Master Arcanist Rovenna Astra. It is a great honor for us all to have been chosen to serve the Guardian of the Circle. We hope to rise to the challenges ahead of us.”

Alaric did his best to give a cordial welcome to the new wizards, but Cormac could tell how much effort he was making to dissemble in front of them. All this time they had waited in vain for some news about what had happened with Olivia. That first visit to the cellar had not been the last and it was always Cormac who had to go down to look for him. He had given serious thought to sealing the cellar entrance and keeping the key himself. The captain had better things to do than chase after drunks.

However, once Theo Malis finished with the introductions, he approached the Count to whisper something to him, loud enough for Cormac to hear.

“Rovenna also asks me to pass along this unofficial message. It is about your daughter.”