Serpent's Lair (The Forgotten: Book 1)

CHAPTER 5

  Lord Telvani strode down the hallway purposefully. His steps echoed in the empty corridor, but still he paused and looked carefully around before sliding the tapestry at the end of the hallway aside and opening the door that was concealed there. He hurried down the secret passageway, pulling the hidden lever to remove the grate at the end.

  The moon was covered by clouds this evening, and the dark shadows obscured his motion. Stealing through the streets, he found his way to an underground temple, masked by the front of a shop above. It was one of the last fortresses of the Order, as most of them had been found and destroyed by the Queen, and several he had been forced to give up himself in order to maintain her trust and confidence in him.

  He knocked on the door to a side room and waited while its occupant shuffled around, the noise growing closer until the handle jiggled and the door swung open on creaking hinges.

  “Lord Telvani,” Lord Farthen greeted him quietly, a far stretch from his usual boisterous demeanor.

  “Lord Farthen,” Telvani nodded to him and entered, shutting the door behind him as Farthen laboriously made it back to his chair. Apparently not all of the prison guards felt as charitably towards the prisoners as the Queen did, and Farthen had fallen ill after becoming weak from one too many beatings. There were also a fair amount of them who disliked his treatment of women as well which added to his mistreatment. “How are you feeling?”

  Farthen slumped gratefully into the plush cushions and gave Telvani a weak grin. “I’m growing stronger every day, thanks to you. And no thanks to that conniving Queen of ours,” he nearly spat the words out and Telvani smiled grimly.

  “Well, I have some news that will interest you then.”

  “Oh?” Farthen sat up straighter in his seat.

  “The King and Queen have,” Telvani paused, deciding how much to tell Farthen, “fallen ill.” The light in Farthen’s eyes seemed to brighten. “I have a unique opportunity to gain power by their incapacitation as I have been their chief advisor all along.” He did not mention to Farthen that he was fairly certain that this particular title had come perilously close to being stripped from him when the attack had come. It made it that much more essential that he solidify Farthen’s support and aid in order to cement his own power should they suddenly wake from their frozen stasis.

  “And how can I help with this?”

  “I need to know where we are with the project.” Though Farthen’s physical body had been damaged by his stay in prison, there was nothing wrong with his sharp mind and Telvani had immediately put him in charge of the project upon his ‘release’.

  “Well, it seems as though our cocky friend Morven may have done us a small service, even if he did go and blab about collecting talents.” Farthen paused and gave Telvani a sly smile. “Everyone’s talking about how Hardonia was just raided by bandits; slaughtered the entire town I hear,” he commented dryly.

  “Indeed,” Telvani commiserated, “but I haven’t heard anyone talking about the unfortunate speech that Morven gave the day before, have you?”

  “Not a peep.” The two exchanged knowing glances. Farthen was quite clever, a little too much so for Telvani’s liking, and he was glad he was on his side. Not only did he immediately assume the correct reason for the action taken in Hardonia, but Telvani sensed that he was amused by it. Though Telvani knew it to be necessary, he would have preferred to avoid wasting lives.

  Farthen went on, “The girl he sent us, though slightly traumatized by the short amount of time she spent with him, has proven to be most useful nevertheless. Her progress has already surpassed all those brought before her, and I am confident that she will succeed where the others have not.”

  “How soon can we implement the next stage of our plan?”

  “I don’t know for sure. It’s not an exact science,” Farthen answered, a slight tone of wariness in his voice. No doubt unwilling to make promises he wasn’t sure he could keep. He was a snake of a man, but he was rather cowardly when confronted. Telvani used this to his advantage.

  “You have two weeks,” he told him sternly, “and I will expect the ball to be in motion. We can afford to waste no more time.”

  “Two weeks?” Lord Farthen squeaked out, “that’s not nearly enough time for what you’re asking!”

  “Two weeks.”

  Lord Telvani made his way back to the palace and entered the room of his head mage, which was currently directly adjacent to the King and Queen’s chamber so that he could monitor them.

  “Any change?” Telvani inquired, striding to the side of the oak desk where the older man sat pouring over a large volume cracked open on the desk before him. A candle was burnt down almost to the bottom beside him, the wax dripping down and gathering on the holder below.

  The man looked up at him through his spectacles and scowled. “Nothing!” He exclaimed exasperatedly, as though this was a bad thing. Telvani was perfectly content with the current state of affairs. “And I can’t find a blasted thing that explains what in the Gods’ names happened to them either! I can find no traces of an ongoing spell that would be feeding their stasis to keep them frozen like this. I can only assume that the colder temperature of their bodies is what is making their heartbeats so slow and keeping them alive despite not eating for weeks, but that’s ALL I can do: Assume. I have nothing!”

  Telvani held up a calming hand. “All that needs to happen is that they stay this way. While they are incapacitated but still alive, I am able to rule in their stead. If they perish, then the status quo will be changed.”

  The man was still looking disgruntled.

  “No change is a good thing,” he persisted.

  “I suppose so, but it is still frustrating. I did not even know that something like this existed, and still we can find no mention of it or find any clue as to who did it.”

  “But neither have we had any opposition to our taking over the country. I would think that if it was the plan of whoever did this to take over Gelendan, that they would have made some kind of move by now. Or made contact for a ransom.”

  The mage looked thoughtful. “Unless the target wasn’t the country or even the monarchs,” he began, “But rather the child herself.” He paused, rubbing his pointy white beard. “Think about it: She is the child of the two most powerful mages we know of and was further blessed by the gods. Whoever controls her would be most powerful.”

  Telvani thought about this revelation, though really he shouldn’t be surprised by the idea since he had entertained similar notions in the past. He just hadn’t the means to accomplish them. “If that is the case,” he commented finally, “Then we can assume we have at least another few years until the child’s talent has any chance of emerging. We will have time to find out who they are.” He scrunched his forehead. “But then why leave the King and Queen in a stasis like this? Why not just do away with them?”

  “Maybe it’s still as we’ve thought all along, simply that they were unable to overcome them. There is the possibility that I’ve been contemplating that the frozen state is actually a defense mechanism, designed by the combined power of the monarchs as a reaction to the attack rather than the attack itself. Perhaps it was meant to kill, but it couldn’t.”

  “But then, they could wake up.” Telvani sighed. “We’ll simply have to continue playing the game, sending out search parties as though actually concerned for the little whelp and trying desperately to find a cure.” He had needed to come up with some reason for the people to explain what had happened and why he was needed to run the country. He had decided it best to tell them about the kidnapping and make it seem as though the stress of it had caused the monarchs to fall ill and be unwilling to carry out their normal duties. People assumed that he was merely carrying out their wishes.

  “It is the safest route, my lord, if not the easiest.”

  “Alright,” Telvani said in resignation, turning from the man. “Carry on.”
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  His next stop was the Council chambers, where the members were gathered once again. He had been required to inform them immediately about the situation, seeing as how there had been too many witnesses present who were not under his control. Luckily, he had managed to get them to agree to allow him to be the acting monarch until they could all discuss and think about their options, and until more about the state of affairs could be learned.

  Nothing new could be said about the position they were in, and he could only hope that he would be able to convince them again to let the situation ride as it was.

  He had spread the rumor among the staff that the King and Queen were ill, and that their condition was contagious to discourage any curious onlookers from getting too close and determining just how grave the situation was. Telvani had also managed to put a regime of mages and healers who were loyal to him in charge of maintaining twenty-four hour supervision of the monarchs and therefore was able to make it seem as though even though they were ill, they were still able to pass along their will through him. It made the Council much more willing to let him run things thinking that he was running them with the consent of the Queen behind him.

  He knew her well enough to know what she would like done to continue the charade, but he was growing tired of continuing on with the same pointless projects that the Queen was so eager to pursue, and more than ready to start putting his own plans into motion.

  Two more weeks, he reminded himself. He had no doubt that the Council would insist upon a public proclamation of what had happened, and he did not think that he would be able to convince them otherwise. Nor would it be very smart of him to try. It would make him look like he was enjoying running the country behind their backs. Gods forbid. He smiled to himself. It was rather nice not to have to listen to her constant rambling on about the good in everyone. And maybe a more formal search for the child would prove useful. Having the whole country up-in-arms about the situation would rally them to support the government, unifying the country against the unknown foe. That was how he would have to spin it. There was promise in this yet.