Giving it a moment to sink in, we gave him notice and resumed our regular appearance. He handled the shock of that well.
The boy's name was Ranji, Ranji Nur-Hajisti. He told us that the name had given his family some problems in the past, but, to his knowledge, only as it related to Syndial, not to the Black King. The family was unaware of that connection. He did allow that some things made more sense given that context.
Ranji was a bright one, thank élois. He had already finished his schooling and had been attending Bard College, but the Orc style was not what he was after. He was actually planning on heading West to complete his studies in the Taliswood or Sandlise.
We had yet to tell the lad our true identities, and I began to relish the chance to do so. He might well faint. We did decide it best to equip the boy with whatever he needed. He may turn out to be a valuable addition to our party.
Margrin and I left Ranji with Janiver at the inn and struck out with our shopping list. We needed a good rapier and a long dagger, studded leather armor, the best lute we could find, and clothes for the young man.
The shopping took us perhaps an hour and a half, but when we returned to the inn, there was utter chaos. So far, Janiver hasn't alerted anyone, thank goodness, Ranji was nowhere to be seen and there were three bodies on the floor of her room. Swalesians.
“They came for Ranji not long after you left," Janiver said, shaking, “You may come out now." As she said that, Ranji stepped from an armoire where he had been hiding.
“We need to get back to Nez Ambril; not Yis-Gláz. We need him to be safe, hidden behind as much magic as we can put into place," I told Janiver. “Is everyone okay?"
Janiver and Ranji both nodded assent. “Just a little shaken up," Janiver allowed. “If I hadn't placed a glyph on the door they may have had us. With the alert, all I had to do was put them to sleep and slit their throats. Swalesian animals,” and she spat on the corpse closest to her.
Margrin was examining the bodies. “You can see the toad venom on their daggers. They didn't mean for him to live, either of you for that matter," he said to Janiver.
I made the call, "Gather your things. We leave for Yis-Gláz in five minutes. We'll be there just long enough to get May, then we're back to Nez Ambril.”
Ranji looked confused, "Do you mean May as in the Queen? Surely it's a coincidence?”
"That's who he means,” Margrin answered. “This is her husband, Prince Tendil. We'll tell you the whole story once we get back. Our first task is to guarantee your safety.”
Ranji’s mouth was hanging wide open as he tried to digest what he had just been told.
"Your Majesty, a thousand pardons, Sir! If I had kno…”
“There's no time for all of the formalities right now, Ranji," I told the lad, patting him on the shoulder. “Let us worry about you for the time being."
Janiver was waving out the window to someone down the street telling them to come quickly.
“We can't leave Ravin and Brevid here now. Not with however many teams of assassins may be behind this group," she indicated the Swalesians on the floor.
“Tell them to hurry! You're already advertising that the first team failed!"
As I said this I could hear footsteps in the hallway. I put my finger to my lips to get everyone quiet and slowly drew my blade. I looked at Ranji and pointed to his rapier laying on the bed and saw that Margrin already had his crossbow cocked.
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Janiver was attempting to convey our situation to Ravin and Brevid. They just needed to get to us as quickly as they could.
We were fanned out around the room. Ready for whatever came through that door. We didn't have to wait long.
The door burst open with a kick and a glass grenade was smashed on the floor as the assassin ducked back out quickly.
Without a thought, Janiver made a sweeping motion with her arms and a violent wind swept the developing cloud of poison out the door.
Four assassins rushed in. I ran the first of them through and saw the one next to him take a crossbow bolt to the forehead.
The one coming at Janiver was nothing more than a heap of ashes before he could take a good step, and the assassin coming at Ranji had been skewered through the neck.
The next set of footfalls were those of Ravin and Brevid. When we told them our plan, Ravin was emphatic,
“We can't go with you friends, we have business here. Trust we can take care of ourselves and may élois be with us all. We shall meet again.”
“Alright, then we must make our leave of Kruklig. Ranji, sit on the floor here in case you get dizzy. Janiver, let's go!"
It was noon when I arrived with Janiver in Yis-Gláz.
"I sent Margrin ahead with Ranji while we recover Queen May if that's okay, Sire.”
"Yes, certainly, I guess I didn't take the time to go over all that with everyone. Can you send him a message to coordinate things with Father Vastil and Mother Felistia to make sure he's well-protected? Please. And that we'll be along shortly?”
"Yes, my Prince.” I watched as an illusory quill took to illusory parchment and then shot out a window in scroll form.
“You're probably worth more than we pay you, Janiver, I'm certain.”
"I get a very small salary, My Prince, but I go lacking for nothing. I've but to ask for it and it's mine.”
"Good. Anything you want is yours. Now, let's locate May and …”
"Tendil! Janiver! I was getting worried,” May was running down a hallway from where our rooms were located, “We need to go, quickly!"
Hugging her closely, I said “What's going on, May? You're trembling!"
She was breathless. “Lasca Grimriel is next in line for godhood. That's all you need to know for now. Get us back to Nez Ambril and safety! Now!"
Janiver fumbled through her satchel for scrolls with her powers being momentarily weak from the last teleportation. I grabbed one and handed it to May and grabbed one for myself.
“Halt!" came a cry from the other direction. It was a group of Spotted Gnolls from the Palace Guard.
May ran back the way she had come, “Follow me! With haste!"
We got back to her rooms just in time to bolt the door before the Gnolls tried to batter it down.
Quickly reading off our scrolls, we were back in the throne room at Nez Ambril in a flash.
We quickly excused ourselves to everyone in the throne room and brought Pelisir and Janiver along with us. Margrin was already in our quarters with Ranji. Everyone was brought up to speed, but May still had a story to tell.
“Oh this is a complicated tale," she said, “We've known that Carca has been specially training Warlocks, that is a normal thing to train new generations. She has been handpicking females from the Necropolises. But what we haven't suspected is that she's been flipping them evil. And they've been going back to their respective Necropolises and repeating the pattern.”
"We must find out how deep this plot goes immediately,” I said. "How many of them are we dealing with? What's their power?"
I spoke to Pelisir, “Summon Milost Phaeronyón immediately. He must be our eyes and ears in Moss City."
“Yes, My Prince. I will keep a tight lid on all of this."
“The good news is that we have Ranji. We have Ranji and we have the included amber that we have recouped from ?rdelon and Cralix. That gives us power. We just need to figure out how to use it."
“Oh, fear not, My Prince," Janiver chuckled, “I know how to use it!"
Pelisir returned promptly with Milost.
"Ah, the White King. Welcome, Your Majesty!” I may have been too effusive in my greeting, but any friendly face was a reason for celebration in these times.
After I had told him our story, he didn't seem terribly surprised.
"In all honesty, Your Majesties, Carca hasn't been herself in quite some time. Especially since calling off our engagement. She's seemed bitter, joyless.”
I was at a loss for words. "The two of you were engaged?”
"This was before the Siege of the Black Banner, Sire. After those events, my life took a different turn. She was unaffected. I became committed to our people more than to myself and that was not her way. We had too many disagreements. That was when she doubled down on her dabblings with the Dark Arts.”
I was stunned. "So this is potentially a plan that has been in the works for more than a few hundred years.”
"Yes, Your Majesty. I'm afraid so.”
"Then we haven't a moment to spare. They'll be throwing things at us to keep us diverted. We must prepare for those and be sure to keep our eyes on the true goal here. These wayward gods must die!"