In my rooms to get a couple of hours of sleep, a knock came on the door. I was surprised to find Father Vastila standing there with a beautiful mahogany box. He instructed a valet to bring us a tea service and proceeded to take a seat on my couch, putting the box on the coffee table.
“I hope I find you well, Mister Bascombe.”
“As well as can be expected, Your Grace. I'm very tired.”
“Well, this won't take long, Sir. Open the box.” I did as he said and discovered a black-tipped crossbow bolt with purple fletching.
“Tell me what I'm looking at, Your Grace.”
“Touch it, Mister Bascombe.”
I did, and quickly pulled my hand away. The thing was pulsing with an energy like a heartbeat. When I touched it, just for that brief moment, sigils that had been etched into the bolt's point and shaft had glowed with a radiance like the sun. Getting over my reticence, I picked the thing up and found it surprisingly heavy.
“I'm sure you can tell, Mister Bascombe, this is no ordinary crossbow bolt. I know it seems like a small thing, but iron, especially meteorite iron like this, is one of two things that can really hurt a Witch when they are in an elevated form which Cralix will certainly try to assume. The other thing that hurts them badly is salt. You'll note the thin layer of a white crystalline substance covering the thing…”
“Listen to me closely, Mister Bascombe, this bolt must hit her directly in the heart there isn't another chance. We must get her in the process of Ascension when she'll be momentarily weak. The thing is blessed by élois himself. You won't be on your own though, Sir. I'll be there with Mother Felistia and Janiver, and we three have our own surprises planned for these villains. Whatever happens, they must be killed. Their heads cut off and thrown into the salt sea. Their bodies buried upside down in sacred ground. We normally wouldn't have to go to these extremes, but Cralix is bound to the Black King, she's no normal Witch. That's from where her power is drawn, the evil side of the Weave, and it's strong enough to make her nearly like him. So hitting her when she's at her absolute most vulnerable means everything for our victory.”
“Okay, so no pressure,” I deadpanned. “When does all this happen?”
“We need to hear back from your Mister Ephisieryón and his Syndicate friends. Hopefully tomorrow night.
After a late lunch, I went back to the map room. The same crew was still there. May greeted me warmly, even giving me a slight hug which thoroughly surprised me. Then she went to the center of the room.
“Listen everyone, I know there's talk about me and Mister Bascombe. We are in a state of war and we may not be victorious. That's just a harsh reality but you've seen the numbers stacked against us. I, for one, won't live my life in secret knowing it could be over in a few days’ time. I hereby decree that Mister Tendil Liste Bascombe, Esquire, late of Wikehold, Feersland is now my royal consort, we shall be wed this evening by Father Vastila here in the ballroom. It's not the wedding a little girl dreams of but it's to the man I dream of when he's not here. From this day forward, he is to be addressed as Prince Tendil and Your Majesty.” Then she came over and kissed me so that I felt all of her love for me.
There was scattered applause around the room, then May said, “Now back to work everyone. We still have a war to win! We meet here at seven bells for the wedding!” The applause turned to cheers, and everything went back to normal just like that.
I jokingly said to May, “I accept.”.
“I know you do, My Prince.” And she kissed me again.
“We'll be wed while the mercenary army is being dealt with. That shan't take long and you sleep with me tonight.”
I coughed and my face must have been blood red. Yes, no pressure.
At just that moment, Margrin appeared in the middle of the room, promptly bent over and threw up the contents of his stomach and possibly that of someone else's.
Janiver said, “That will happen with too much teleportation.”
“I need some tea,” Margrin croaked.
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I looked to the nearest valet, “Timmins, please fetch a tea service for Mister Ephisieryón, and thank you.” He replied “Yes, Your Majesty,” and sped off.
Margrin looked slightly perturbed, “Cheeky little thing, isn't he?” I laughed, he wasn't being cheeky, Sir. Queen May and I are to be wed right here, this evening at seven bells.
“Why, Bascombe, er I mean, Your Majesty, you do move quickly don't you?” and he clapped me hard on my back.
“How go things on the fronts?”
I got him caught up on everything and we sat at a table in the corner while he had his tea.
“What's the situation in Sandlise?”
“It's as we suspected. They stay in the villa. She working on her demons and he working on new spells with all of that included amber. They've done nothing to indicate any action on their part.”
“Okay, My Friend, we go in tomorrow night. We'll have your syndicate associates create a diversion. Just something to get Cralix and ?rdelon off their guard for a moment. Did you see where my parents were being kept?”
“Yes, they're in the middle room of three bedrooms on the second floor.
“And what will I be doing while this grand plan plays out?” Margrin asked.
“I'll give you a score of iron-tipped crossbow bolts … “Arrows!” Margrin interrupted insistently. “Yes, very well, arrows it is. The iron works wonders against devils and Witches. You just stand on whatever promontory suits your purpose and snipe away at anything not on our side. Perhaps we can find you a magic bow.”
“That would be splendid, Your Majesty.”
As seven bells struck, May entered the ballroom resplendent in a silver and lavender gossamer dress, silver slippers, her hair perfect. I had changed into one of the several outfits given to me by Margrin and Pelisir. We were married then in front of the people who mattered to us the most, though I wish my parents had been there. As the nuptials ended, we kissed and headed back to our respective rooms to change and get back to the reality of the situation.
I got back just as things were about to go south for the mercenary army. The trebuchets behind the wall of Nez Clar? had been set up about twenty yards back, so the illusion was that the mercenary tents were just out of their range. When the trebuchets were moved up, it put a good number of their soldiers in harm's way. This was the case for the archers as well. On the command of “Loose!” A flaming hell began to rain down on the enemy encampment. Moon Elf horse archers stormed through picking off individuals here and there, the scene was utter chaos. Then the Barrow Elf cavalry came through on their zombie horses and a full blown panic ensued. Field Marshal Royst, the High Elf commander, held the Hobgoblins back, seeing that the deed was done. Better to conserve them for the Swalesians once they had their siege of Ilníst and Nez Ambríl underway. The mercenary army was no longer a threat as their few survivors began the long trek back to Feersland. along the way, they passed the troops of King Cromar, 50,000 strong to help break a siege. The young monarch would take this opportunity to make a name for himself in the West.
We had to prepare for the Gnolls. Still roughly five miles out, we could see their ranks of torches slowly advancing through the trees. This was Janiver's chance to contribute further.
She began her ritual, kneeling in a chalk ring surrounded by cryptic runes and sigils, intoning krushmak egtoblas entervil. The sky became a mass of black clouds, roiling, lightning coming out in all directions, and when the bottom opened up, a deluge came like none had ever seen. There were flash floods roaring through the Gnolls' ranks, sweeping many into the river, and soldiers being nearly incinerated by wild bolts of lightning that arced from Gnoll to Gnoll. Their screams were hideous, a blend of howls and a laughing sound they make when they are feeling aggressive or anxious. The cacophony, heard over the steady thrum of thunder, was enough to drive one mad.
But their spirit wasn't in it. Had Mag'stula been there, their morale would have been unflappable. She was back in Yis-Gláz, likely engineering her Ascension and preparing for her showdown with the White Queen. Cries went up from the walls as the Gnolls began to retreat. There would be no Elf flesh on this day.
Watching from the crystal ball, both May and I had donned our armor. If I looked half as good as she did, then I was a hell of a sight. But it wasn't for show. We were talking about skirmishing the Swalesians as they approached. But they didn't. We waited most of the night, and Ilníst was never threatened. In Janiver’s ball, there was only fog where the Swalesians should have been. Their Wizards at work.
May and I decided to retire, leaving instructions to be notified immediately of any developments. Being a gentleman, I won't belabor the fact that our night was incredible until…
Around three bells, May and I both jerked upright in bed. It took me a minute to realize where I was, but I didn't get the chance to savor that moment. In the distance, we began to hear sounds so disturbing that we both shot out of bed and put our armor back on. I could say they were screams, and some were. Like cats doing their mating ritual but mixed with a mother giving birth, a child burning themselves on a hot stove, the squeal of a pig. It was the most ungodly thing I could imagine. Echoing through the still night air.
“What devilry is this?” May asked of me.
“I believe we shall find out soon enough, Love. Whether we want to or not. It's not the Swalesians. It doesn't sound like something of our world, does it?”
“No, Darling, it sounds devilish. Let's get to the ballroom, quickly.”
When we got to the ballroom, it was full and busy, soldiers, valets, Wizards, running about in a state of panic. Janiver and Pelisir were at the crystal ball.
“Good morning, Your Majesties! You're just in time to try to help us figure out what the hell is going on.”
“What is going on?” I asked Pelisir.
“That heavy fog bank we saw move in last night. You see, here,” he pointed to the ball, “it's been moving towards us. And you can see, the thing is full of beastly animal shapes that you can just barely make out before they vanish again into the fog.”
“Someone fetch Father Vastila and Mother Felistia”, Pelisir commanded, “whatever this unholiness is … sound the call to arms and alert the Gatekeepers. We've holy blades to put to the test this evening I believe.”
”I've heard this sound before, in my adventuring days, Agruzar, creatures summoned from the Nine Hells. This is what Cralix has been crafting. They aren't normally such a horrific challenge, but with the included amber, who knows?”
May addressed Pelisir directly.
“You know you're in charge of the army now. Don't go getting yourself killed. Next in line is me, and I'm a warrior, not an officer.
When Father Vastila and Mother Felistia arrived, Pelisir directed them, “It looks like this first wave is going to be of an infernal nature. These are Agruzar and I pray you're familiar. Normally pretty low in the pecking order as far as devils go, but we don't know what to expect yet. They're birthed out of amber magic. You and your priests need to get down to the Imgril Shár and back me up. I'll be with my Gatekeepers. Right now, the only attack is this one from the South. They've bypassed Ilníst for the time being.”
“Actually, Count Pelisir,” Janiver broke in, “a large Swalesian host is approaching the Wood Elf city, they're under heavy attack from the tree snipers, but there are just so many of them.”
Pelisir was already in full armor. He looked to one of the valets, “Have my squire bring my horse to the gate and tell him I'll be there shortly!” With a “Yes, My Lord,” the boy was off.
“I must get to the gate. My Queen, you will be in command while I fight, are you good?”
“Yes, Palisir, I am very good. Please don't make me wait; I need to get out there, it's been far too long.”
“Yes, it has, My Warrior Queen. When the Swalesians arrive, okay?”
“If I must.”
“Tomorrow, you may, once again, be a stubborn Queen; today you must be an obedient soldier.
Father Vastila said, “We are ready to go out with you, Count Pelisir.”
“Very well, to the gate!”