After a brisk toweling off, we dressed for our meeting in the sanctum. As requested, we had some new faces and Janiver had created a larger table and more chairs. I noticed that all the chairs were padded now with arms. A far cry from the old farmhouse style no one ever understood and which was horribly uncomfortable.
In attendance were myself, May, Janiver, Margrin, Brevid, Milost, Ranji, Father Vastila, and Mother Felistia.
Janiver took the lead.
“Welcome, old guests and new. For those of you unaware, the Father and Mother will be Ascending tomorrow afternoon before May’s duel. Ranji will be Ascending in three days’ time; he has yet to begin the serum.”
"A fourteen year old Human male on that stuff. What could go wrong?” Margrin laughed at himself with a lewd wink at an already flustered Janiver.
“We have enough fourteen year olds at the table, Love. We don't need another," she quipped under her breath.
Chastised, his smile quickly faded.
“If I may introduce something, Janiver?" I hated to interrupt one of their little scenes.
"Yes, Tendil, what do you have?”
"A new member for our group, and with him and Veralia, we will be eleven.”
"Well, who is it, Love?” May enquired.
"Abbot Istip from the temple. We may need him against Toris if I can't handle him, and he brings another martial dimension with Pelisir's departure.”
It was then that I remembered that neither the Holies nor Ranji knew of Pelisir's evil. It took careful telling. That's the sort of thing that can sow doubt in a group. But Ranji didn't really know him, and the Holies strangely didn't seem terribly surprised at what had happened.
I asked the two of them, “You don't seem too surprised about Pelisir?"
Father Vastila responded, “We've always held our noses to a degree where he's been concerned. You'd have to have known him from the beginnings to fully understand. He'd have slain his own mother if it would help his riotous climb and, no offense, a chance to ingratiate himself to May. He was very singularly focused and quite the hard charger. But he was already embedded far too deeply by the time King Hembrik passed and the throne went to May. Like him or not, he was there.”
I rang for Waldinor.
"Yes, Your Majesty?”
"Go and find Abbot Istip and bring him here, straight away.”
"Through the portal, Your Majesty?"
“Yes, Mister Waldinor. Istip will be a part of our meetings from now on. And while you're at it, get Veralia. I tire of her dragging her feet."
"Yes, Your Majesty!” and he vanished.
Of the Holies, I asked “What will your new forms be?"
Father Vastila answered “I shall be Forcress, God of Self-Reflection and Contemplative Meditation. How about you, Mother Felistia?”
“Oh, I'm stretching my wings a bit, Father. I am to be Eranian, God of Light!”
"I know it hasn't been asked of me," Ranji broke in, “but I will be taking over Pelisir's domain of dreams and making it my own. His name will no longer have power or associations here!”
Several “here, here's” came up from the table at that show of bravado.
I had to ask, “So, that's part of what you do? The morale boosting thing?"
Ranji blushed. "I wasn't making a conscious effort to do it there, no, Your Majesty. I was speaking from the heart and out of anger at Pelisir,” he said, turning his head and spitting to the side in disgust at the utterance of the former Count's name.
Before May could say it, I said “Now, we're not in the Waste here, Ranji. We're in civilized society. No spitting on the floor. Here, someone must clean that up. But the sentiment is felt."
Our two newest prospects showed up quickly, as usual, uneasy about the nature of our sanctum.
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I took the floor this time, “Welcome, Abbot Istip, Veralia, to our little out of the way meeting spot. We're completely shielded from prying eyes and ears, and whatever is discussed here goes no further."
I urged them to each take a seat and seated myself.
“Both of you know why we're here and what we're about. Abbot, you've already pretty much accepted a seat at this table." He nodded his head.
“Veralia, on the other hand, has been much harder to convince. But we need you, Ma'am. We need your skills as a Wizard and your knowledge as a librarian. You also have an intimate understanding of some of the backstory behind all of this, although it would appear that ?rdelon and Cralix were operating purely in their own interests as was Mag'stula. The power of the included amber has settled into the hands of those powerful enough to wield it, for good or evil.
Frankly, Veralia, we need all the help we can get and you'd make a powerful ally.
Ranji hasn't started his Ascension yet. That begins tomorrow morning. We'd like to have you join us together. What say you, Ma'am?”
“Frankly, Your Majesty, I'm a little upset that you have neglected to heed my refusals to this point. You've been terribly inconsiderate. That being said, I do understand the importance of your mission and I do feel compelled to do my part as does Ranji. I've seen it in him since he came here.”
Sitting upright and pursing her lips, she said "I accept the offer, whatever it may be. I'm typically neutral, but in a world of choices, I choose good over evil every time. I saw what it did to my daughter.”
"Then you will begin your serum doses tomorrow morning along with Ranji. Just don't be near each other,” I warned.
“In three days' time, we'll make gods of you both. Be considering a domain over which you can be patron, and a new name."
I realized, “And that makes three Humans in our eleven! Not that it's relevant, but I still have a little pride in my species."
“And it's terribly cute, My Love," May added derisively.
She stood.
“Janiver, are the Pretenders still in Yis-Gláz?"
“No. They departed a couple of days ago but I couldn't track them."
"That's priority — knowing where they are. We need to know what they're up to and what resources they're working with. That goes for everyone. Keep your ears and eyes open.”
Milost added, "I think the charade has finally played itself out with Shindur. I haven't seen her in some days.”
"Any idea where she may have gone?” I asked.
"Well, we know where they're from, but that doesn't tell us where they are,” he replied.
"I have a suspicion, but that's all it is. You all remember the tales of the Black King's origins, he had built a fantastic castle using the Dark Elves and his skeletons as labor? That would be an ideal location, would it not? It's sat abandoned for hundreds of years.”
Ranji spoke up.
"If you're talking about the castle near Kruklig, it's twenty miles to the south on the coast. But it's not abandoned — it's occupied by an ancient Necromancer, said to be a lich.”
“That thing that was once a lich is now the Black King. It's probably just Dark Elves living there now, his former servants. We need to find out what goes on there sooner rather than later.”
Janiver had keen insight on such a mission.
“If they are there with Syndial's former servants, the place will be protected by powerful magic. We must do whatever we can to ensure they don't gain more information from us than we gain from them.
Ranji, you obviously can't be part of this party.”
"But, why?” he protested. "That's my part of the world. I was raised in the shadow of that castle. ‘Cor’maglin’ it's called. I should be first picked to go!”
“Out of the question!" I had to step in, "Ranji, we still don't know if your blood relation to the Black King has any effect on you now. It's possible that he could simply sense your presence because of it. We just don't know. It's too big of a risk to take, though. You'll get into the fight soon enough. You should wait until you've achieved godhood at any rate.”
He looked so dejected, but everything I said was true.
“Look, I would trust you implicitly on the field of battle. I know your skill and your heart. But there are just too many variables that could put all of us at risk.”
"I understand, Your Majesty. I'm just hungry to prove myself.”
"We all are to varying degrees, Ranji. In fact, I'm more than hungry. I'm scared to death. We have no idea how powerful these others are yet. Much less Carca and the Black King. But trust me; we will all find the answers to our questions faster than we may like. This is a war, not a battle. You'll get your chance.”
I put a hand on his shoulder, gripping tightly, "And you'll fight next to May and me, okay?”
He brightened some at that.
"And remember, you'll have eternity to fight evil. I doubt it will ever leave us for long.”
I turned to Janiver, “Janiver, would you be a dear and see if you can find this Castle Cor’maglin on your crystal ball?”
"I'm certain I can, My Prince. Give me a moment.”
While she got to work on that, I addressed the table.
"I think another group of three should investigate the place up close. Milost, you're of course going to be part of that. Margrin? It may call for your stealth.”
"I guess I can be bothered for the cause.”
"And I shall round out the threesome. We won't need magic for this one. Simple reconnaissance.”
"Oh, you'll need magic,” Janiver quipped. "Ive got the castle on my ball, by the way.”
She placed the thing in the center of the table and we were offered a stunning, bird's-eye view of the dark and imposing structure — high on a cliff above the Eastern Ocean.
"I'll have to make some sort of magic you can wear in bird form so you won't cause any alarms to alert anyone to your presence.”
The castle was well-maintained for its age. We could see down into a large courtyard behind a high stone wall, but nothing moved.
And it occured to me, "It's daylight still on the coast. The denizens of this place won't stir until nightfall. For now, we can clearly see that the place is inhabited, and by things with an aversion to the sun. Dark Elves and the Undead certainly fit that description.”
"Well, the sun will be setting in three hours or so. Let's reconvene then and see what we're up against.”
"Wait!” Just then a small female figure walked out to a well in the courtyard with a bucket for water.
"There! That's Lasca! And I believe where we find one, we will find all."
Milost stood.
“At least we know we're on the right track. I shall be back in three hours. I have some kingly duties to which to attend."
“Milost," I called after him and he stopped. “Your instincts about that place were spot on. Thank you for agreeing to work with us.”
As he turned to depart, he said over his shoulder, "There won't come a time where I sit on the outside watching a battle such as this rage. For what it's worth, you have my full abilities at your disposal."