The world turned upside down, and her insides tried to follow suit. Her stomach felt as if it wanted to occupy the place her heart was supposed to go, and her lungs desperately wanted to breathe air that simply wasn't there. When the world flipped back again she was dumped, unceremoniously onto a rug with a familiar pattern. As existence wobbled back into focus, Amberlynn knew where she was, it was somewhere she had been before. Kuss loomed over her, ready to grab her if she ran. The queen was no fool, however. She knew she wouldn't get far before the rest of their lizard soldiers dragged her back. She needed to bide her time and think. She stood, summoning up all the dignity she could in this situation. “I have no intention of running, so you can keep your scaly mitts to yourself.”
“Welcome, your highness.” The malignant voice echoed in the vaulted room from the top of the stairs. He stood there, draped in black robes that were covered in arcane writing. He held a twisted staff shaped something like a shepherd's hook. “Now that we can meet face to face, like civilized beings, I am sure we can bring this conflict to a swift conclusion.” He turned and walked away from the railing above, his walk was not particularly youthful or elderly, with his face covered by the hood his age was undeterminable. Sussing out her opponent would be a blind chess game. “Bring her, general Kuss.”
The large lizard man wrapped his hand around her entire forearm and pulled her toward the steps. “Mind the scaly mitts.”
As the War council took their seats, General Magnus looked right at Xerro, who was sure he was about to be ejected from the meeting. The man walked around the table and guided the lad to a seat right next to Angeline.
“Sit my boy,” he said in his kindly uncle voice he had used when talking to the princess, “our queen was snatched from under our noses, I'll be damned if I let our princess be taken the same way.”
Xerro gave a scolding look across the table at Wogan, “of course I told him,” the knight said unflinchingly, “he needed to know what resources we have at our disposal.”
He took the scolding look from Angeline with less grace, “yet we agreed Xerro's secret was not ours to tell.”
“I have no intention of conscripting the boy, Peach pit.” Magnus said, kindly uncle tone had disappeared, “but he will not leave your side until this is over.”
The table was set, Angeline, her uncle, a couple of the local lords were there, and a lady he had not met. But judging from her robes this was their high priestess of Amon. As soon as Wogan and Tina were seated Magnus stood again. “The sorcerer king has our queen, and we need options.”
“Did we ever locate where he was holed up?” Asked Wogan.
“We have lost a hundred men in six raids of and around their camp.” Offered one of the lords. “He must be invisible.”
“If he was, he would have walked right into your castle by now.” Xerro whispered to Angeline. But a single tear was making its way down her cheek as she sat there, desperately trying to emulate her mother's stoicism and bearing. Xerro took her hand in his, “we'll get her back, I promise.”
He dabbed at the tear with his sleeve as she gave him a weak smile. “Where is she then? Surely YOU can figure it out.” She whispered back. But only receiving a shrug in return she turned to her uncle as she tried to regain her composure, “We must save my mother,” said Angeline. “As soon as possible. Can we negotiate? There must be something they want.”
“Our only communication, outside violence, was their first demand we surrender.” The priestess replied, “we assumed what they wanted was the kingdom itself. Is that not what they will ask for?”
“Wait, are we talking about surrendering?” Asked one of the lords.
“Never,” was Magnus's swift answer.
“No, I will not sacrifice the kingdom, but we still don't know what they want. Or why the sorcerer set his sites on Amberwyben in the first place.” Angeline added.
“Well they can't possibly hold it.” Offered the lord who asked about surrender, “even if they take the castle by force, without an unconditional surrender or gods forbid a formal union the other kingdoms will come and take it back.”
“Formal union?” Asked Xerro.
“Usually marriage.” Answered Angeline.
“The sorcerer king needs a formal union, hmm. So they would need you or your mother.” Muttered Xerro, pondering. They tried to kill Angeline to force her mother's surrender, he thought. But at the bridge they seemed keen on capture. Maybe they realized the queen wouldn't surrender no matter what. But, then again, they have her now. “I think we need to reclaim the queen as soon as possible.”
“We don't know where she is,” the other lord spoke up. “They took her by magic, she could be anywhere.”
“No,” the simple answer from Xerro took the room by surprise, “he is running this invasion from here. He has to talk to his troops, react when things go bad and not only change tack but communicate quickly to them if he is to put his plans back in motion.” He looked around the room. “Do we have a map of the town?”
A map was taken from a cubby and rolled out over the table. Xerro stared at it for a few minutes, then traced a finger around it while he spoke. “the main army camps in the woods beyond the castle, close to their big bonfires. But the centuries and their torches patrol the town every night. The sorcerer is a human. He is not going to be sleeping in a heap of lizards near the bonfires. The centuries don't just watch for people trying to make it in or out, they are guarding their king. And any man, any human calling himself a king refuses to live in squalor. He is sleeping in your town you abandoned, where he would be most comfortable, and can live like the king he calls himself.” Xerro's finger stopped over the town inn. “This is where the sorcerer would be, and where he will hold your queen.”
Magnus was aghast. Three months of trying to root out the sorcerer, of losing men on raids of the camp looking for him. He was less than a mile away the whole time. And this boy had figured it all out in moments just looking at a map, if he was right. But it made perfect sense to the general as he spoke each word. “So that's it,” the general said, “we hit the inn at dawn.”
“No,” the lad countered the room again. All eyes in the room were locked on Xerro, some people even held their breath. “We hit them now. The torches, the bonfires, they don't have them just so they can see. They are reptiles. Cold blooded. The army gathers into piles by bonfires to stay warm. They came north from the swamps, the cold of night up here slows them down. If we fight at night we have the advantage. I killed one on the way in, me. It should have been faster than me, but I got the drop on it.” He looked over at Wogan, “at the bridge you and Kuss fought evenly, to a standstill until the legionnaires arrived. Yet that night in the wood behind the inn you embarrassed him. You handed him his tail with little difficulty.”
Wogan nodded, “that's true. I was unimpressed with my first fight against Kuss. I thought I had just caught him off guard before. He fought much more fiercely on the bridge.”
“It was daytime, the air was warm.” Commented Angeline, catching on. “If we are to rescue my mother it must be at night, now!”
“The sun has just set, gather your men, arms and equipment and assault the inn. Make sure your archers on the wall fell any century they can spot, and hit them hard.” Xerro laid out for them.
“What of the sorcerer?” the lord asked, Xerro would find out later was named Benson.
“Pyre and Tina will be with you. Protection, healing and firepowers of your own. But you need the element of surprise as long as you can keep it.” Xerro looked at Tina, “Don't you agree?”
The tiny gnome lady stood in her chair, “I have served in war, but we knew our enemies. I knew what a battle mage was throwing at us. This sorcerer is unknown. Honestly Xerro, the best protection out there, against him, would be you.”
“He is not to leave the side of the princess.” The general responded gruffly.
“He has your queen,” replied Tuna, “he has no reason to come after your princess now.”
“I am not a warrior.” Xerro added to the argument, “I would just be in the way.”
“You short sell yourself,” Wogan said, with what almost seemed to Xerro as a look of pride on his face, “your training on the trip here was why you took down the century in town. Fighting is more than strength and reflex, it is also the cunning to predict your opponent's moves. Your training is helping a little on the first two Xerro, but you already had wits in spades. You are often three steps ahead of the rest of us. You knew the lizard was coming the other night, and judged your swing well.”
“Besides,” Angeline added, a genuine smile on her face now, “not being a warrior did not stop you from assaulting the Temple of Adelphi with Wogan to rescue your Melodie.” She meant it as a playful tease, she knew the moment it left her mouth it was wrong to bring up.
“Angeline!” Hissed Tina, decorum and station ignored.
“It's okay,” said Xerro, “yes, I attacked the high temple of Amon. But I also ended up getting Melodie killed.”
“You did NOT!” The princess's grief now buried in her ire and concern for her friend, “that bastard of an Archbishop killed her.”
The priestess was thoroughly confused by the turn in conversation, “Archbishop Ambrose? Wait, you attacked the high temple?”
“Ambrose has been deposed.” Tina answered with a smile, seeming to relish the look of shock on the clergy of Amon, “he apparently had an affair with Delilah, high priestess of Alyssa. Then he cursed her and banished her to the Pit of Adelphi to cover it up. He sent his legionnaires in every night to finish the job. But she eluded them for three years, long enough to bear and partially raise their daughter, before she was beheaded and set on display in the temple. Then, when Xerro bravely rescued their daughter from the pit, the Archbishop kidnapped and killed her, his own daughter. Xerro's true love.” She took Xerro's hand and squeezed it tenderly at this point. “So yes, Ambrose is in the dungeon and the temple is, well let's say, under new management.”
The priestess collapsed into her chair and whispered, “what is becoming of the world?”
“Holy vestments are just as corruptible as merchant's robes.” Tina replied, “we all have our pride and our weaknesses.”
“Regardless, I actually had a plan to increase our chances then.” Xerro confessed. “In this instance, I don't even have the whole picture. We honestly don't know if he wants your mother's surrender or her hand. We know nothing about the man.”
“No,” it was Magnus's turn to interject, “we now know where he is.”
The courtyard was filled with soldiers, many still needing rest after fighting today. But the lord general refused to wait, he had an advantage and he was desperate to press it. Their four mercenary friends were down there with them, the queen's brother was counting on them to tip the tide if anything unexpected happened. But Tina looked apprehensive to Xerro. She didn't like going in blind either. Stelletta and Brute were leading the charge with Wogan up front. Tina stood by Pyre and looked up at Xerro. The normally confident gnome looked frightened.
“They could use you.” Angeline said from beside him on the ramparts.
“Your uncle was adamant that I stay beside you.” he said, with what she could hear was annoyance.
“I'm sorry,” she replied, “Wogan did what he felt was his duty, but he had no right…”
“I have no regrets about keeping you safe princess, but I would like to have had the opportunity to volunteer.” Xerro said as he took her hand. “I am not mad, highness, but this is what always happens when people find out.”
Angeline laid her head on his shoulder, “I know I keep trying to keep you from leaving, but I value you as a friend more than some asset. I have never had many friends, apart from Wogan who was always with me, you and Melodie are the first friends I have ever had.” She looked up at him as she mentioned the girl, “so believe me I miss her too. And I promise, when this is over, no one will prevent you from leaving, by word of the princess.”
They heard the bolts in the gate below them slide back and the gates were pushed open. The soldiers charged out into the town, on the offensive for the first time in months.
“Ready!” Shouted Corbin from on top the wall, as the remaining guard on the wall leveled longbows and crossbows at any lizard they could see. “Loose at will!” The reptilian soldiers fell to arrow and sword as the army charged into the city. The lizardmen scrambled to a defense but the centuries were vastly outnumbered. The castle guard had to reach the inn before the rest of their army flooded in from the wood. The troops trampled the reptiles, unprepared for such an assault and slowed without the sun overhead, they did not stand a chance.
Xerro looked to the light in the wood, expecting any minute to see lines of torches headed for the town. But they did not come. The army slept, unstirred, unsummoned, so why did the sorcerer not call them? “Something is wrong.” Xerro cautioned Angeline.
Wogan reached the front doors to the inn, rather than stop, he continued his dash and at the last minute pulled both feet up off the ground, and hit the doors like they were a stone wall. Pain radiated out from his shoulder as he lay on the porch of the inn. Stelletta was helping him up as he noticed the air ripple in front of the doors where he had impacted and red runes carved on the doors fading as the ripples settled.
“He's warded the building!” Shouted Tina, as the gnome fought her way through the crowd of soldiers.
“Can you break them?” The general inquired.
“I can try. But now we are in the open, sitting ducks!” She replied.
“Form up!” Cried the general, as the soldiers gathered around the entrance, shields out to form a defensive bulwark. The gnome placed her hands in front of her, her thumb and pointer fingers forming a heart in the open space as she began to pray.
Two large armchairs sat on either side of a small coffee table by the fireplace. Tea and biscuits had been set out as Amberlynn and the sorcerer sat opposite each other. The hood was down and the man before her was scarcely older than Angeline. Dark haired and average looking. But he spoke with the weight of ages,and so she was still unsure how old he really was.
“I don't want unpleasantries, your highness. Just surrender. I intend to run the kingdom just as it has been, so you have no need to worry for your people. They need to keep farming, it's good for the treasuries. But I will rule, alone if I have to, but I'd much prefer someone by my side. I will accept you, my dear Amberlynn, your beauty is still something even to this day. But your daughter is much prefered, no offense. But that I leave to you.” He looked away suddenly and smiled. “Your rescue party has arrived. So I must leave you to show them the folly of crossing me. I have stayed out of this conflict until now, letting my army speak for me, but they will now know of what I am capable. And you,” he said, turning back to her as he stood, “you will decide before I return, or I will.”
He vanished before her eyes, leaving her alone in this private room. Left with an impossible decision, protect herself or her daughter, and either way lose the kingdom.
Tina struggled against the wards, her brow drenched sweat as she concentrated, “he's powerful! More powerful than I even feared up to this point!” She stopped and dropped to her knees on the porch, panting for air, “I can't, I'm sorry I can't.”
Wogan picked the tiny woman up in his arms, “it's ok, you tried, little miss.”
“We need to retreat,” she gasped, “we have to go before…”
“Well well well,” boomed the voice above them, “party crashers, it seems! Do you take me for some cheap conjurer of tricks?! You are mice squeaking at my door! I can and will squash you with a few waves of my fingers! Your swords mean nothing to the power I wield!”
Wogan stepped back and looked up at the robed man standing on top of the inn. No, not standing, he floated several feet above the peak of the roof, arms outstretched and staff in his grip.
“How's this for a mouse, pretender!” Came the shout from the crowd in a voice Tina recognized all too well.
“Pyre, no!” She screamed.
The pyromancer moved his hands in complicated gestures as he chanted, Tina recognized it immediately. It was his kill shot, his biggest spell. The ball of fire left his hands, rocketing towards the enemy sorcerer. The man reached out his free hand and the ball stopped before it. The ball hovered there in the air, vibrated and began to shrink.
The sorcerer closed his hands around the spot where it had been and laughed, “pathetic.”
“No no,” Tina whimpered, “take cover!”
Hearing the panic in the gnome's voice Wogan dashed back under the roof of the porch, dragging Magnus with him by the man's cape. Stelletta and Brute, knowing her tone followed suit. The sorcerer swung the staff forward as the ball reappeared in front of it traveling back to the street. The explosion engulfed the majority of the army. Wogan felt the heat as his cape was immolated and his armor heated on his back. Still he kept cradled against the wall shielding the tiny cleric from the blast. The armored men scattered, those not vaporized or blown into chunks were burned and scorched and lay about the streets unmoving.
“This is the best your kingdom has to offer?” He laughed, “you have stood before the great Arcos Magi, and have been found wanting. Surrender now, while your kingdom still has people to call it so.” And at that the sorcerer faded away, like the last light at sunset.
Wogan stood, clawing at his armor glowing red from the blast. He could feel his skin still blistering as he cut the straps and it fell to the floor, blackening the wood as it sat there. He helped his general do the same as he felt Tina's small hand on his skin and the pain faded. “Thank you,” he said, as she moved past him and on to the general.
When he was healed she looked out over the street where the army lay decimated, “Pyre!” She screamed, with tears in her eyes as she ran out towards where she last saw him. She hadn't made it halfway before she slid to a stop. Stelletta ran after her, scooping the gnome up and running back to the inn.
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A contingent of a few dozen Lizard troops marched into the streets and surrounded the inn. “Bind them, bring them inside.” Boomed the voice of the sorcerer from out of nowhere.
From the castle wall Angeline and Xerro watched the flash in the city, just as they felt the thump of the explosion as it washed over the wall. The princess screamed, burying her face in Xerro's shoulder. “Wogan,” she cried, “I knew it, I knew they needed you there.”
Xerro watched as torch lights appeared in the distant town. He hadn't called his army because he already had troops stationed in the buildings. It was an ambush, pure and simple. They gathered nearly the whole human army in one spot so the sorcerer could wipe them out. And Xerro convinced them to do it. He should have been there, he thought, this was his fault. He should have seen it coming. Now, without an army, or Wogan or the mercenaries. All was lost.
Angeline pulled away from him, tugging on the lad's arm, “we have to go, we have to help them.” Tears streamed over her cheeks as she pleaded.
But he pulled back, “and do what?” Her face was fuming as she turned back to him. But Xerro raised a hand, “yes, you are right. If I had been there I could have protected them. But he has retreated back inside and the inn is now guarded by soldiers. How am I any good against them?”
She tried to summon an argument, a retorte, but all logic failed. He was right, his usefulness had passed with the sorcerer now secluded again. “We need a way inside that doesn't require more fighting, more death. “How do we get him to bring us inside?” she asked.
“We tempt him with what he wants.” He answered.
Again she was right there with what he was suggesting, “me.”
The five were brought into the common room of the inn, bound with hands behind their backs, and made to kneel. Two lizards for each one plus Kuss kept an eye on them, spears against their backs as a deterrent. They looked up as the queen was escorted to the banister overlooking the room by the sorcerer.
“I am so glad you all could join us for this wonderful news. Her majesty, Queen Ambelynn has agreed to my proposal of marriage.” The sorcerer smiled a greasy smile, “and look we have witnesses all tied up with nowhere to go. How convenient.”
Amberlynn hung her head in shame, she had agreed only to keep this man from forcing himself on her daughter. But still she was handing him the kingdom.
The man called to his lizardfolk general, “pray tell, general Kuss, do you have a shaman perhaps at the camp?” To this he gave a self-satisfied laugh.
Tina gave a throat clearing noise, “excuse me, Mr sorcerer, if I may?”
The man looked down at what he thought had been a red stain of blood on the rug below, and replied in annoyance, “yes my dear, what is it?”
The gnome looked up at him from the floor, “I happen to be a priestess of Alyssa.”
“Terribly sorry my dear,” he replied in, it seemed, genuine confusion, “I'm not up to speed on all of your local gods and goddesses.”
Tina scowled at this dismissal of her patron, but soon returned to her warm smile, “I was saying, I represent Alyssa, goddess of love and marriage.”
The dark sorcerer smiled, “really? How fortuitous. Now why would the cleric of a love goddess just happen to be on a battlefield this night?”
“Lucky I suppose.” She smiled back in an almost predatory manner. “I was the only battlefield cleric they had available.”
“Tina,” whispered Wogan, “what are you planning?” Only to get a smack on the back of the head by a spear shaft for his troubles.
“Love, marriage and contracts, remember Mr Wogan?” She whispered back, not receiving a thwack as the lizardmen were confused as she was talking to their king, if she was supposed to be talking or not.
“Oh, yes” the dark man smiled, “I remember the conversation you had with the young lad I was puppeting. You told him Alyssa tests the love of those she marries.” His smile turned to a frown as he spoke, “you will pardon me then if I do not look forward to a set of painful tests to prove a love I don't have.”
Tina sighed, this was her best gambit. To turn Alyssian law on him. But he was not stepping into her trap. “You never know,” she tried again with a smile, “it could be love, why not roll the dice?”
“No,” he said plainly, “I'm not marrying for love, little lady. This is a political move. She doesn't love me, she offered herself up to keep her daughter out of my hands. So, no thank you, to you and your harlot goddess.”
“You do NOT speak of Alyssa like that!” The gnome screamed.
The sorcerer laughed at the ire of the tiny woman, “oh, I do what I please.” Nodding to his lizardmen, his tone turned sour, “kill her.”
One of her guards hissed happily as it raised the spear to drive it through her. Suddenly another lizardman shrieked from upstairs. The sorcerer raised a finger halting the execution and laughed. He looked to the queen and smiled a smile that made her stomach turn, “it seems your daughter had decided to surrender herself in exchange for you.” His laugh continued mockingly, as he pushed the queen toward the stairs, “Kuss, take her highness and tie her up with the others.”
The white charger trotted along with its passenger in ceremonial armor. Long golden hair flowed from under the helmet as the person in the page's uniform guided the horse down the street. Around the corners of buildings lizardmen waited and held their distance.
“It looks like they're taking the bait.” Remarked Angeline.
“They aren't going to make a move unless their king orders it. The princess is his prize, and they won't risk damaging his prize.” Was Xerro's reply.
The front of the inn was a wall of over two dozen reptilian soldiers that didn't move as they approached.
“They aren't letting us through,” whispered the princess.
“They will just be patient,” he replied.
As the horse practically stepped on the first lizard, the garrison parted and the page walked the horse with rider straight into the inn.
“Now that is an entrance.” Laughed the sorcerer as the horse clopped into the main room, the silver ceremonial armor gleaming in the lantern light. “My princess, you made the right choice. I promise I will make you a happy wife.” He continued his gleeful chuckling.
The page assisted the princess down from the horse as the sorcerer made his way down the steps.
“Why so quiet my dear?” He asked, noting the stoic silence from his bride-to-be. “You should be happy. This alliance will not only bring an end to the conflict we are suffering through, but expand this kingdom to heights undreamt of.” He stopped at the bottom of the stairs, suspicions now raised he nodded to Kuss.
Kuss strode up to the newcomers and, grabbing the page by the arm, flung him to the side of the room where the other prisoners were being held, their backs to the walls. The page scrambled to the side of the Kingsblade, attempting to cower behind the knight as the lizardmen guards approached. The reptilian general then took the princess by the arm and pulled off the ceremonial helmet and cast it aside, the golden hair falling to the ground along with it.
As the page was struggling get behind the knight, Wogan whispered, “Xerro, is that you?”
“Not quite,” replied Angeline, as she cut his bindings with the knife from her boot, “but he could really use your help right now.”
The dark haired lad, that was definitively not the princess stood there in her decorative armor. “Does this mean the wedding is off, sweetie?” Xerro quipped.
“The waiter from the inn!” Roared Kuss. Instead of killing Xerro where he stood the lizard was more concerned with looking to where he had tossed the page. She was crawling behind the mercenary warriors as her golden hair was spilling from beneath the page's cap. The Kingsblade was free, and in a dead charge at him as his guards were struggling to react. Kuss released his hold on Xerro's arm to draw his weapon. He had placed the blade of his thick curved sword Wogan had broken on a spear shaft, turning it into a large glave. Large enough to require two hands, giving Xerro the opportunity to grab the reins of the princess's horse and turn the animal away from Kuss. A quick jerk of the bridle annoyed the beast enough to force it to kick, driving its hooves into the back of Kuss, and sending the general flying past Wogan and into his own guards.
Angeline had cut Brute loose and he dove head first into four lizards as she worked in Stelletta's bonds.
“Where are my soldiers?” Screamed the sorcerer. “Get them in here!”
The lizard man stood guard at the doors to the inn with the rest of his brethren. The princess was inside and soon this whole miserable campaign could end and they all could return to the warm swamps away from this frigid land. He felt this whole war was a mistake. All just to have access to more food, or so the king promised. Easy food made soft warriors he had always felt. Having to carry fire with them everywhere just to keep the blood warm was stupid. This whole thing was a mistake.
As he complained in his head, one of the bodies among the soldiers his majesty had smited began to move. The fire apparently hadn't snuffed the life of this one, so he took his spear in hand and left ranks to put the miserable human down and end its suffering. As he approached the human was on its feet, obviously even less hurt than he had thought. The torch light illuminated the dark robes of the man thing, similar to the robes of the sorcerer king.
As the light illuminated his face, Pyre smiled, “lights out.” He raised his hand and closed his fist, as every flame of every torch held by every lizard man flowed to his hand, plunging the street into darkness.
The lizardmen shrieked as the cold of the night rushed in to chill their blood again.
“Oh sorry,” teased Pyre, “let me warm you up.”
The pyromancer opened both hands in front of him and, as in the tavern weeks ago, flame rolled out from his fingertips incinerating the reptile in front of him and catching the rest ablaze. He poured on the flame, all the fire from the torches, all the flames he absorbed from the sorcerer's strike he absorbed to protect himself, and the lizard soldiers burned, hissing and screaming.
Smoke rolled into the common room as the doors to the inn began to burn. The screams of the lizardmen dying outside echoed through the room.
“What is going on!” Screamed the sorcerer. He saw the knight run up to the imposter princess and decided to remove them both from the equation. “I will not be made a fool of!” he cried as lightning crackled between his hand and the staff. The stick leveled at the two armored figures as the arc jumped the distance between, and fizzled out of existence.
The sudden failure of his spell turned out to be less confusing to the sorcerer king than the fact that his two targets neither seemed surprised nor particularly fearful of the attack in the first place. In fact, they both seemed amazingly unconcerned by the attack at all. “Impossible.” The lizard king muttered, before he redoubled his efforts and sent a gout of flame in their direction. Thisbtoo never made it to the two men, who were infuriatingly simply engaged in conversation. At a loss for what was happening and what to do about it, the sorcerer's course of action became turning and making a dash for the stairs.
Xerro saw Kuss extraditing himself from the tangle of his guards and turned to the Kingsblade, “you handle Kuss, protect your princess and your queen, for skite’s sake restore some order, and I'll go after the sorcerer.” A smile and a nod from the knight was all he needed and Xerro was dashing up the steps after the fleeing magician.
Wogan tossed Brute his ax from the pile of their confiscated belongings, and drew his oathblade to immediately parry the reptile general's glave. Stelletta was fighting two lizards with a pair of daggers the lizardmen had apparently neglected to find in their search of her. Which they regretted as she put them both down in short order. The barbaric elven Brute was swiftly covered in lizard blood now that he had his ax back. Kuss watched as the tide of the fight was quickly turning against him. His warriors falling, the sorcerer had fled and the princess was dumping a mop bucket in the fireplace ensuring the building would soon be as cold as the night outside.
“Surrender Kuss,” Wogan gunted as their blades clashed over and over, “it's over, your king has abandoned you.”
“Never!” Kuss roared, springing into a series of furious blows to drive the knight back. When he had pushed Wogan back far enough the lizardman rushed at the smoldering front doors, splintering them under his weight as the flames from the burning porch rushed inside, causing Wogan to pause in his pursuit to recoil from the heat.
Pyre approached the burning inn, he could already hear the dressing down he was going to get from Tina if he burned down the building. He set his feet and began the motions to douse the flames with his magic when the twenty-five stone, burning lizard collided with him, knocking him to the dirt. The living flare dashed into the night toward the wood and the awaiting lizard army.
Pyre scrambled to his feet and rushed through the motions as the flames receded and vanished, their meal unconsumed. Wogan quickly ran out from the smoldering, smoke choked door frame.
“Pyre, you survived!” He said with a smile as he clapped the pyromancer on the shoulder.
“Please,” he replied, “as if I would suffer the embarrassment of dying by fire.”
“Kuss?” The knight asked.
Pyre nodded in the direction the general had run, “ran me down and set off towards his army.”
“Pyre?” The tiny voice of the priestess asked. The gnome ran across the still cooling porch to wrap her arms around the sorcerer as best she could. “You're alive.” She cried.
The mage returned the embrace, “hey it's me. Like fire was going to end me.” He winced as she squeezed. “Not that I'm not hurt, mind you.”
“Oh,” she cried, releasing her grip and wiping the tears from her cheeks. “I got you.” She lay her tiny hands on the mage and let Alyssa's love pour out, soothing his wounds.
As the rest of the group exited into the street, Angeline looked about and turned to Wogan, “Xerro?”
“He went after the sorcerer.” He answered.
“We need to help him.” She pleaded.
“None of us are as equipped to handle the sorcerer as he is.” He replied, to which she gave one of her disapproving looks, “but, by all means, I will go into the fire damaged building and get him,” he sighed before jogging back into the building.
The sorcerer king ran into the room he had been using as his personal chambers. He slammed the door behind him and with a wave of his staff a large rune burned itself into the wood, magically locking the door. He had to reach the circle he had drawn on the floor to teleport him to the encampment. As he gathered items he refused to leave behind he mused over what he had witnessed downstairs. The knight and the interloper were unscathed under the assault of niether his lighting strike nor his flame wave. It was not possible. He had cast the spells as powerful as he could, maxed every formula, they should have been reduced to ash. But they just stood there, they didn't even blink. It should not have been possible. While his mind raged over the inconceivability of what he witnessed, he became aware of the click of the doorknob behind him as the door swung open.
Xerro stepped up to the door and turned the knob, the latch clicked and the door swung free of the frame. After all, to someone with Xerro's curse a magically locked door is just an unlocked door.
The sorcerer king looked at the young lad with total shock, “but…but I sealed that door with an arcane lock!” Confusion turned to rage as the magician conjured yet another spell in an attempt to smite the boy. Swirling magical energies built up, and were flung at the enemy, only… to do nothing once again. “How is this possible? What are you?”
“The last time I faced someone like you I ended up losing someone very dear to me.” Xerro's face was an indicator of a barely contained rage as he slowly stepped forward into the room. He was done, this was not a game. “So you will excuse the fact that I have no more patience for your kind of self important prattle nor do I feel like being gentle with your ego as you work through your bout of magical impotence.” The sorcerer's look of horror only intensified as Xerro crossed the room, purposefully and thoroughly done with powerful casters and their delusions of grandeur. “Now you will go home, and you will take your stinking lizard army with you!”
What immediately struck Xerro as he reached out to snatch the staff out of the sorcerer's hand was how fast his face changed from fear to utter and complete confusion. The man's eyes stared at Xerro in total befuddlement, “I… I'm sorry… who are you? Where am I? What happened?”
Xerro let go of the staff and stepped back. And again, in a flash, the man's demeanor changed. Back was the ire, and fury.
“What was that? What did you do?” He demanded.
And Xerro stepped up again and took hold of the stick.
“Wait… what happened? Everything just blinked out again.” The man stuttered, his face on the verge of tears.
“Who are you?” Xerro asked.
“My name is Pervall. And the last thing I remember, we were in the vaults of Evermore, below the ruins of the keep of the wizard Drakespear. I had just found a magic staff…” he trailed off as he looked over at the crook in both their hands.
All this time. All the pain and suffering and death, all along there was no sorcerer king, just a mercenary adventurer like Tina and her group. All along the despot, the tormentor, the conqueror, was this ugly crooked stick. All the power Ambrose held was in that staff he wielded. But even then his deeds, his evil was his own doing. This was a staff so powerful it wielded the person holding it. It had its own plans, its own ambitions.
Xerro looked at Pervall with all the pity he could muster, “I apologize, I need to let go one more time.” As he stepped back again, and let the staff take over once more.
“What have…” it began before Xerro cut it off.
“Shut up before I send you to oblivion again. Now you will tell me what you are, and how you came to be. And you know very well I am not speaking to Pervall.”
The man was silent for quite a few heartbeats. Before resignation overcame the face of his puppet, “as I said on the roof, I am Arcos Magi. I am the god of magic.” The body let out a long sigh before continuing, “at least I was, back in my home universe. Before a group of adventurers in my world became so powerful they waged a war on the heavens and slaughtered all the gods, taking their place. The mage of their group, a particularly sadistic individual, instead of killing me imprisoned me into this staff, to be hung in the wall like some sort of demented trophy. Centuries passed under the new order and as one would expect a new group of adventurers came along, not powerful enough to kill them but savvy enough to rob them. I was stolen along with other divine treasures and then they fled across universes to escape. I was lost in the shuffle somehow. I ended up in some dungeon for another century until this low level sorcerer happened to find me and touch my prison. His ego was easily pushed aside and I could harvest his magical potential and magnify it. I merely figured if I could conquer your world and if I could make enough people worship me again, I would be free of this wretched staff.” He gave a wry look to Xerro, "you can blame an ex-god for trying.” Pervall's body shrugged, like a petulant child would to play off its misbehavior.
“Oh, really I can.” Xerro said, flatly. Just before he snatched the staff completely from Pervall's hand.
Wogan had just made it to the top of the stair as he saw Xerro walking toward him down the hall, his arm around the sorcerer and the sorcerer's staff in his hand. Wogan drew his blade.
“It's ok,” he said calmly, “this is Pervall. He is NOT the sorcerer king.” He held up the twisted staff Wogan thought looked remarkably like a question mark, “this is the sorcerer king. This staff has been controlling him.” Xerro noted the knight's confusion, “I will explain, but first let's rejoin the others. I don't want to have to explain multiple times.”
What Wogan could gather of a town militia after returning to the castle, found the lizard encampment empty the next morning, bonfires reduced to dying embers and only the scraps and refuse remaining. Sans their king, the lizardfolk had no desire to remain in this climate so unwelcoming to their metabolisms.
Angeline stood on top of the wall, looking out over what was left of her town. The gates were open however, and the citizens of Amberwyben were returning to rebuild the town and their lives. Xerro walked up, the click-click of the crooked staff accentuating his walk.
“Shouldn't that be locked up somewhere?” She asked.
He gave a long look at the staff before answering, “I think the safest place for Arcos Magi is right where it is. I don't want some servant coming along and accidentally picking it up and this whole thing starts up again. As long as it stays in my hand the mad god is effectively put to sleep.”
Angeline cocked her head, in what Xerro felt was a little too cute of a fashion as she raised an eyebrow, “actually, I think it kind of suits you. A fitting accessory for a traveling wiseman.”
“I think I'm far too young to be considered a sage.” He argued.
“But you are,” she replied as she took his free hand in both of hers, “Xerro you freed my home, restored my kingdom, helped rescue my mother and vanquished an ex-god. You have more wisdom and intelligence and raw wits than any advisor I have ever met. I implore you, please consider taking that job on, full time, here with me.”
“Princess,” he began and gave a deep exhale, “Angeline, I'm sorry. I cannot. What is chasing me, what I struggle to stay ahead of is far more dangerous than the sorcerer king and his army. I can not endanger Amberwyben. I cannot endanger you.”
She wrapped her arms around him and gave as big a squeeze as she could muster, “I know. And as I promised, by order of the princess no one will stop you. But you aren't leaving today, are you?”
“No. Not yet.” He smiled, enjoying the hug from one of the most beautiful ladies he had even known, outside and in. “I'm still exhausted and I need to pack some things before I leave.”
“You will have whatever you want. On me.” She smiled at him stepping back, “and it's good you will be here tonight. Mother is holding a banquet in your, as well as Tina and her crew's honor. You have to attend.”
“I wouldn't miss it, my princess.” He replied, as she smiled and kissed his cheek before walking away.
“See you tonight.” She said over her shoulder, “I'm having an acceptable wardrobe sent to your chambers.”
Xerro laughed to himself, before looking out over the town, over the forest beyond and to the horizon. He knew he had to go, but he also knew he would miss his new friends.
Kuss was seething as he knelt before the unnatural beings that surrounded him. He had lost the majority of his army when the sorcerer king was taken. Without the fear and reverence for the dragonblooded human, most of his people immediately headed back to their home lands, to the swamps and bogs with their life giving warmth. Only around two dozen of his most loyal warriors remained. And they gathered in fear behind him now, as the four creatures they encountered while regrouping surrounded Kuss now. In their circle he could hear their master inside his own head. Dark and oppressive it was as it wormed its way into his mind.
“You know where the boy I seek can be found.” The voice was so deep Kuss could feel his bones vibrate with every word. “You have seen him, I can read that in your mind. Return him to me.”
“Why? What do I care about what you require?” he hissed, straining against the unseen thing as it pushed its way into his brain.
It laughed, if that is what you could call it. In truth the sound had more in common with an earthquake or a building collapsing, but Kuss assumed a laugh was what it was trying to emulate, “you have been wronged. Your anger is palatable. I can feel it. It pleases me. Many of your own people have abandoned you. You seek revenge against those in the castle. You hunger to unite your people as easily as that sorcerer did. I can give you that kind of power. I can make that which your kind most fears become yours to command. To control that which haunts the nightmares of your people. Serve me, bring me the boy Xerro, and that power can be yours.”
Kuss struggled, but it was fleeting. He could see what he had done to these, truthfully it was difficult to discern what they used to be, he assumed they were humans. But did he want this? They subdued him and his numbers without really trying, and that kind of power impressed Kuss.
“Excellent.” The voice boomed. He had said nothing, but the thing in his head had listened to his musings and apparently taken it as acquiescence. The metal of his glave creaked as the blade frosted over. But the frost continued its way down the handle and his nerves burned as it reached his hand. “I cannot promise you that you will not suffer. You see, you will need to be destroyed, if I am to recreate you.” The frost quickly covered his arm, each of his cells burst as they froze from within. The cold continued up his arm and continued down his body as it creeped up his head. Saliva solidified and his eyes glazed as the freezing continued, Kuss desperately attempted to scream, but it was however, far too late.