Kingdom of Magicians

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Keo and Maryal stared at Dlaine in stunned silence for a moment before Maryal said, in a hasty voice, “Dlaine, I must have misheard you. Did you say that someone in the Magical Council put that demon down there to kill us?”

  “Yep,” said Dlaine, his tone as grim as ever. “You heard me right.”

  “But …” Maryal looked at her feet like she wasn't certain what to say. “That doesn't make any sense. The Magical Council doesn't even know we're coming this way. Even if they did, the Magical Council doesn't even know that the demons are coming back, so how could anyone among them possibly order a demon to ambush us in that passageway?”

  “Because it's the only theory that makes any sense and explains anything,” said Dlaine. “It explains how that demon could have possibly known we were down there and why it didn't seem shocked to see us. It explains why the Magicians of Capitika have done nothing about it, because someone in the Council is hiding the demon's existence from all of the other Magicians.”

  “That still doesn't make sense,” said Maryal, brushing back some strands of hair. “The Magical Council can be a bit cruel sometimes, even corrupt, yes, but I don't think that anyone in the Council would ever work with demons. That's insane.”

  “That theory really isn't as crazy as it sounds,” said Keo. He was remembering what the demon in Castarious had said. “Back in Castarious, Dlaine and I ran into another demon. This one claimed that our quest was 'pointless,' but at the time we dismissed it as the demon trying to demoralize us. But what if the demon knew that someone in the Council works for them and that was why he told us that our quest is pointless?”

  “No way,” said Maryal, though she didn't sound as certain as she usually did. She slumped against the building that they were gathered before, a look of confusion and fear on her face. “If the Magical Council is working with the demons—”

  “Not the whole Council,” said Dlaine. He held up one finger. “Just one member. But hey, for all I know, there might be multiple people in the Council who are working with the demons or maybe the whole damned Council is in on it. Who knows?”

  “But why would anyone in the Magical Council do that?” said Maryal. “The demons … you guys said that they just want to kill us all, return us to the old days, before the Good King sealed them away. The Magical Council is supposed to defend us from threats like that.”

  “I don't know why anyone in the Council would work with the demons, but I see why the demons would try to get the Council on their side,” said Dlaine. “It's pretty simple war tactics: If you want an easy victory, then make sure that your enemy doesn't believe you are going to attack. By taking control of the Magical Council, they can keep the rest of the country from being aware of the demons' return and thus prevent us from being able to prepare for—or outright stop—their attack.”

  “What a brilliant but evil move,” said Maryal, putting her fist against her mouth. “Assuming, at least, that is what they are doing.”

  “I think it's safe to assume that something like that is going on here,” said Dlaine. “The only question is, who is the traitor and can we expose them?”

  Maryal looked down at Keo suddenly, like a thought had just occurred to her. “Keo, didn't you say you were friends with Magician Nesma? Do you think we should contact her and let her know about this possible conspiracy?”

  Keo opened his mouth to answer, but then Dlaine said, “What if Nesma is behind this conspiracy?”

  Keo looked at Dlaine in shock. “Nesma? Working with the demons? Impossible. Nesma would never knowingly work with monsters that want nothing more than the complete and utter destruction of humanity and everything we've created. I refuse to believe it.”

  Dlaine shrugged. “I didn't say that Nesma was behind it. I just suggested it because she's a member of the Magical Council, so we can't rule out her involvement in the conspiracy just yet.”

  Keo rose to his feet, despite his pain and exhaustion, and stared Dlaine straight in the eye. “Neither can we throw ridiculous accusations at her when she isn't even here to defend herself from them.”

  “It isn't ridiculous if we have reason to believe that the Magical Council has been compromised,” said Dlaine, meeting Keo's glare with his own. “Listen, Keo, I know you are young, but one thing I've learned in all of my years of travel is that people are not always what they seem.”

  “But that doesn't mean that Nesma is conspiring with the demons to destroy us all,” said Keo, not even bothering to hide the anger in his voice. “We're friends. Best friends. She would never send any demons to kill or even harm me or my friends.”

  “As I said, I don't know for sure that she's the one behind it,” said Dlaine. “But I think that approaching the Magical Council now would be extremely dangerous. Even if we didn't suspect someone on the Magical Council of conspiring with the demons, the fact is that we're wanted criminals and the members of the Magical Council usually don't schedule appointments with wanted criminals.”

  “Then what do you suggest we do?” said Keo. He gestured at the alley in which they stood. “The whole reason we came here in the first place was to tell the Magical Council about the demons' return. According to the demon I fought back in the Low Woods, there are still six months left before they rise, so we still have time to stop them.”

  “I'm not sure,” said Dlaine. He glanced around, like he wanted to make sure that no one was eavesdropping on them. “Truthfully, I only care about getting my daughter her medicine. If I can do that, and get her out of here before the demons rise again, well, then that's what I'll do.”

  “You mean you're going to just give up?” said Keo, his eyes widening in astonishment. “After everything we've been through, you're just going to run away to somewhere else?”

  “Probably,” said Dlaine. He nodded at the locked hatch. “Remember, Keo, that I was going to Capitika to save my daughter's life, not save the world. We only agreed to travel together in the first place because we both had the same destination and thought we would be safer traveling together than apart. And now that we're here, I don't see any reason for us to continue traveling together.”

  Keo bit his lower lip. “Yes, but—”

  “And I really don't want to take on the Magical Council,” said Dlaine. “They are a dangerous enemy to have, no matter who you are. And if this is the lengths that they are willing to go to kill us—or at least one of them is willing to go—then I frankly don't have any more time for this silliness, not if it will get me killed before I give my daughter the medicine she needs.”

  Keo's hands balled into fists. “So that's it, then? You're just going to leave the country, then?”

  “After I heal my daughter, yes,” said Dlaine, nodding. “I don't believe there's any way that we can stop the demons, particularly if the Magical Council has been infiltrated by them. I'll take my daughter somewhere far from here, maybe Hasfar or even the Upper Mountains, and never come back.”

  “What makes you think that the demons will just leave you alone?” said Keo. “How do you know that they won't chase you, maybe try to destroy the entire world? We have to stop them here and now, before they rise again and become a threat to everyone.”

  “Which we can't do if the Magical Council is wrapped around their finger,” Dlaine pointed out. “Look, I agree that the demons are bad, but I've seen just how powerful they are. They can't be killed by normal means, and even magic barely slows them down. Considering I'm just a normal man, I don't think there is much that I—or anyone else who isn't a Magician, for that matter—can do to stop them.”

  “But—” Keo was interrupted by Jola's voice in his head saying, I agree with Dlaine. Sorry, Keo, but we have to look out for ourselves, which is all we can do for at this point.

  Keo tried to think of a good counterargument, but his mind kept drawing a blank because Dlaine had already answered most of his objections, and what few objections he had left were so weak that he didn't even bother to bring
them up.

  After a couple of seconds of tense silence, Dlaine shook his head and said, “Sorry, Keo, but this is as far as I'm willing to go. I wish you and Maryal here the best of luck in stopping the demons.”

  With a final nod at Keo and Maryal, Dlaine turned and walked into a side alley and was soon gone from sight.

  -

  Keo and Maryal walked along another empty and abandoned alleyway in silence. Neither of them spoke, mostly because Keo was still thinking about how Dlaine and Jola abandoned them. He supposed he should have seen it coming, because Dlaine had made it very clear right from the beginning that he was more interested in saving his daughter's life than in saving Lamaira, but it still hit Keo hard. It didn't help that there was the very real possibility that the Magical Council was corrupted by the demons, in which case the situation truly was grim beyond words.

  The only upside was that Keo might see Nesma again. Even then, if Nesma truly was the one behind that frog demon from before … no, she couldn't be. Nesma was Keo's friend. She would never order a demon to kill him. Keo just had to get Gildshine to Nesma and let her read it and then she could bring this knowledge to the Magical Council, who would then prepare the country for war against the demons. And maybe this would also help them root out the traitor, whoever it was.

  “So …” said Maryal, causing Keo to look at her. She seemed rather awkward around him now, probably because she had mostly stayed out of his and Dlaine's spat earlier and so was not sure if Keo was going to yell at her or not. “We need to find Nesma, right?”

  Keo nodded, though he didn't smile. “Yes. Where is the Magical Council? This is my first time in Capitika, so I don't know my way around here.”

  “That's easy,” said Maryal. She pointed ahead of them. “The Magical Council always meets at the Citadel. It's located in the center of Capitika. I've been there before, so I can show you the way if you'd like.”

  “Sounds good,” said Keo. He frowned again. “But how do we avoid being seen and caught? We're both wanted criminals. We can't just walk up to the Citadel and ask them to let us in so we can talk to the Magical Council. We'll need to come up with disguises and false identities to get in.”

  Maryal tapped her chin as they walked along the street. “Visitors are usually allowed to enter the Citadel without needing to ask for permission, but you're right about the disguises. We could buy some cloaks and hoods to hide our faces under.”

  “Right,” said Keo. “But how do we get an audience with the Magical Council, or at least with Nesma? Is there some kind of procedure we should follow?”

  “Yes,” said Maryal. “Actually, there are a couple of ways to gain an audience with the Council. The first is to go to the Citadel's Scheduling Office, where, for a low fee of five hundred lems—”

  “Five hundred lems?” Keo repeated in shock, stopping and looking at Maryal in disbelief. “That's more lems than even Magician Skran makes in a year.”

  “It's supposed to keep poor people from seeking an audience with the Council,” Maryal explained, stopping next to him. “Anyway, you go to the Scheduling Office, pay the fee, and then they schedule your meeting with the Council.”

  “How far out do they usually schedule the meeting for?” said Keo.

  “A couple of years,” said Maryal. “The waiting list is enormous and the Council doesn't have a whole lot of time to entertain guests, so even if you can pay the fee, you might have to wait two years before you can actually meet with them.”

  Keo rubbed his forehead in frustration. “We have neither five hundred lems or two years to speak with them. What about meetings with individual Council members?”

  “It's an entirely case-by-case basis,” said Maryal with a shrug. “Some Council members always schedule plenty of meetings with people, but others never meet with anyone outside of the Council ever, and I don't know which one Nesma fits under.”

  Keo scowled. “What other ways are there to meet them?”

  “Being summoned by the Council to appear in their meeting room is another,” said Maryal. “If you receive a summons from the Magical Council, then you always have to appear before them as soon as possible. The problem, of course, is that you can't make the Council summon you. You just have to get lucky and hope that they decide that they want to speak with you.”

  “Nesma doesn't even know that I'm in the city, so I can't expect her to summon me for a meeting with her,” said Keo. “Any other ideas?”

  “No,” said Maryal, shaking her head. “Like I said, we could disguise ourselves and enter the Citadel itself, but beyond that I am not sure how we could meet Nesma or any other member of the Magical Council.”

  Keo shoved his hands into his pockets, thinking about their dilemma. If Maryal was telling the truth, then he would have to rely almost entirely on luck to get a meeting with her. It made him angry, because they had come so far, come so close, to saving the country, and yet now they had run into a seemingly insurmountable object.

  But then an idea occurred to Keo, causing him to look at Maryal suddenly. “Maryal, are you ready to help me break some more laws and possibly spend the rest of your life behind bars if we get caught?”

  Maryal gulped, but nodded anyway and said, “Well, I believe it is our destiny to save Lamaira from the demons, so I'm open to whatever ideas you come up with no matter their legality.”

  Keo smiled. “Great. Now listen closely, because if we don't do this right, then we'll definitely end up in jail for sure.”

  ***