“It is enough for me,” I responded. “My wife is expecting our first child and I would rather seek a peaceful solution than bring him into a world torn by strife. The real question is whether you wish to settle our differences or not.”
“We did not think it a possibility before now, but you have been persuasive Mordecai. The proclamation branding you an outlaw was certainly a misunderstanding, we shall move to remedy it immediately. Similarly we must think of a suitable reward for the hero that saved our realm. Would two weeks’ time be enough for you to prepare for a bit of pomp and circumstance? The crowd does love to celebrate a true hero,” he gave me a smile that sent chills down my spine. I might be forced to hard decisions now and then, but this man made them without compunction or regret. I could see him smiling just as easily after sending an army to its death. The callousness of his regard for his people lit my anger again.
“That sounds lovely your majesty. I would be pleased to take this news to James Lancaster as well. I would remind you though… I will not respond well to a betrayal. What happened here today was no mistake. Do not forget it,” I gave him a feral grin to answer his cold smile.
Edward stood straight up at that point, his eyes flashing with true anger. “We do not take kindly to threats young Illeniel. Remember that well. Nor will we rule as a puppet to some other master. If you would prefer that you should make a more direct resolution of this matter… now!” He slapped his chest lightly to punctuate his remark. “Can we count on your oath of fealty… or not?”
I might not like the man, but I had to respect his courage. I waited a moment before replying, “Yes your majesty, you can.” I stood up and prepared to leave. I still did not bow to him.
His eyes narrowed, “Did anyone see you enter here today?”
“No, unless you count the four channelers,” I told him.
He grinned, “Excellent… that makes things easier for me then. We’ll keep this meeting a secret. Do you think you can leave without being recognized?”
“Of course,” I replied drawing my hood up over my head. I didn’t plan on relying on such a simple disguise, but I still wanted to keep my methods to myself. No one had seen my remove my disguise, although I was certain that a recount of Ruth’s use of magic against the guard would lead to a lot of interesting speculation.
“Perfect,” he told me. “We shall look forward to seeing you in the capital again in two weeks’ time.” I left after that, but as I walked I could hear him bellowing orders. “Someone get the Baron of Arundel… I would have words with him!” I could only wonder how he was going to explain the reversal of fortunes to Sheldon. The last time I had seen the Baron I robbed him of the entirety of his wealth… putting aside the fact that Penny had made a fool of him in front of his men there was no way he could possibly forgive me, without even considering the fact that I had ‘stolen’ all of his retainers as well.
I could only wonder how interesting that conversation would be. I made my way carefully through the palace using the stolen visage of a guard. Leaving was much simpler than entering had been.
Chapter 9
I returned home that evening. I felt a bit bad about not staying to eat dinner with Marc but I wanted to tell Penny the news. If things worked out as expected we would all be visiting Marc very soon anyway.
She received the news with less enthusiasm than I had expected, “He wants you to appear in the capital in two weeks?”
There was nothing wrong with Penny’s memory, but for some reason she loved repetition. “Yes, two weeks,” I said again.
“And you think he’s really planning to welcome you back into the fold?” she asked skeptically.
I sighed. “I made sure he knew the consequences if his offer wasn’t genuine.”
“You mean you threatened his life,” she said flatly.
“Essentially yes,” I replied.
She shifted topics, “How many people did you kill reaching him?” The question annoyed me, and I really didn’t want to answer it.
“Four,” I told her flatly.
She raised one eyebrow. “Was it worth it?”
“They were channelers, working for the gods… I had no other options,” I said.
“They were men, and you said you could get to the king without being caught,” she reminded me.
Anger and guilt simmered close to the surface now. “Would you rather we went to war again? I had to meet the king, and I had to do it on my terms if we were to bring him around.”
She knew I was close to snapping and her eyes softened. “I’m not blaming you Mordecai, but I can’t ignore this. As your wife, your partner, I have to be sure you’re keeping your focus on what is important. Stop being defensive and think clearly… was it worth it? Did we gain something worth four lives or should we have tried something different? I don’t expect you to be perfect… I just want to make sure you’re not forgetting the people that suffer for our choices.”
Somewhere in the background of my mind I noted that she used the pronouns ‘our’ and ‘we’ frequently. She was trying very hard to keep me involved in the discussion rather than simply creating a fight. I took a deep breath, “I do think that it was still worth it, though I regret the necessity. Perhaps if I had used a better method I could have avoided killing them, but I’m not sure…”
She stepped forward to put her arms around me, “Don’t do that. Neither of us is perfect. I just want to know that you’re keeping the costs in sight.”
“I haven’t forgotten the watchman, that night in Albamarl, when we raided the royal warehouses,” I told her. “More than any, his death still haunts me…,” I began.
“I’m sorry Mort,” she interrupted. “I didn’t mean to make you think I don’t trust you. Let’s eat, this conversation has turned entirely too morbid. What will Dorian and Rose think when they see us downstairs?” She took me by the arm and pulled me toward the door.
“Well damnitt woman make up your mind!” I exclaimed. “One minute you’re making me doubt myself… the next you’re trying to cheer me up.” I gave her an expression that was equal parts pout and smirk.
We went downstairs, and by the time we arrived both of us had replaced our glum expressions with the more positive demeanor expected of the Count and Countess di’Cameron.
***
I spent the next week as productively as possible. I actually managed to finish the first set of armor and brought Dorian in to try it on. He tried to hide it, but the look on his face reminded me of a kid who has gotten too much candy and is hoping no one will notice. It took us a good quarter of an hour to get him buckled into it.
“How does it feel?” I asked.
Dorian didn’t answer immediately. Instead he backed up a bit, moving his arms in circular motions, and then he made a sharp lunge forward. He had a very positive expression. I couldn’t help but laugh as he began doing warm up exercises.
“Are you going to talk to me or start practicing your ball dances?” I teased him.
He gave me a boyish grin. “I might just try dancing! How did you do this? It’s even lighter than the chainmail you magicked for me!”
Though the armor didn’t fit me I had already tried it myself… and I had designed the enchantments that produced the effect he was describing. These enchantments were different however, and I was curious about Dorian’s reaction. “This armor isn’t actually any lighter than normal,” I informed him. “You complained that the lightness of the chainmail made you feel like you were being tossed about so I didn’t alter the mass of this armor.”
“Mass?” he asked without a hint of guile.
I sighed… he never had really paid attention to his tutors in the sciences. If it wasn’t military history he just hadn’t been interested. “It’s what gives your armor weight, what makes it heavy.”
“It doesn’t feel heavy, I might as well be wearing nothing but my gambeson and a bit of leather for all the weight I have on me,” he replied.
“It’s all still
there, I’ve just enchanted the armor to move with you… at least partly,” I explained. It was actually an exceedingly complex enchantment. I had been working on it far longer than I had the actual armor crafting. As usual it was the sort of accomplishment that no one would ever really understand.
“How?” Dorian asked, though he regretted the question almost immediately.
Excited to finally have someone to tell I launched into a detailed explanation, “The armor stores energy from your downward movements, rather like a spring… then the energy is released whenever you move in a direction that works against gravity. The end result is that while you still retain the inertia of eighty pounds of metal you don’t have to exhaust yourself moving it around with just your muscles…”
“Mort!” he interrupted me with a pained expression.
The look in his eyes told me I had gone overboard again. I started over, “The armor uses magic to help you move. It’s still as heavy as normal, but you don’t have to bear all the weight yourself.”
Dorian’s eyebrows went up, “That’s perfect. I’m assuming it’s still as hard to pierce as the chainmail you did?”
I chuckled, “I don’t know what it would take to cut through that. My guess is that if something powerful enough to pierce the armor hit you, you wouldn’t care, the shock would kill you before the armor failed.”
“What about one of your enchanted blades?” he asked seriously.
I squinted involuntarily, “It would be unlikely. The edge would have to strike perfectly and the blade would have to be wielded with a strength beyond what a normal man could muster.”
“What if he was wearing magical armor that moved with him?” Dorian said pointedly, flexing his arm.
I shook my head, “No the armor doesn’t augment your strength. It merely assists you in moving it. It wouldn’t be enough.”
He looked disappointed. You’d almost think he was trying to figure out a way to kill himself. Finally he opened up, “Well I think it’s wonderful, though I wonder if it’s really worth your time to be making armor down here.”
“There’s only one of me Dorian, but I need help. I need men that can fight the shiggreth on equal terms. Scratch that… I need men that can cut the shiggreth into small pieces and send them packing. I can only be in one place at a time… while the enemy is numerous. The valley is large and there are several villages, it just isn’t possible for…”
Dorian held a hand up to silence me. “I understand Mort… I’m the one that told you originally remember? You have to trust the people to be your strength.”
“Right!” I agreed. “But they need the proper tools if they’re to be effective against the sort of enemies we’re facing now.”
Dorian nodded, “You’re right, but you can only make so many suits of armor like this. Even for you it takes too long. How many do you plan to make and what will it accomplish?”
“Twenty or so… for a hand-picked group of leaders and fighters… a new order of knights,” I told him. I was a bit hesitant, until now I had kept my idea a secret, and the thought of saying it aloud made it sound a bit like one of the stories I used to read. I feared laughter.
I needn’t have worried though. Dorian’s imagination was greater than mine and for all his wisdom he had a simplicity that made such things very believable. His eyes lit with enthusiasm almost before I could finish my sentence. “That’s brilliant!” Two words… that’s all it took and I could see my dream written in his face.
“Well don’t get the wrong idea, they won’t be a traditional military order. I’ll commission them as protectors, wardens of the people…,” I said calmly. I was hoping to calm Dorian’s exuberance, although I had to admit it was contagious. He had a habit of saying what perhaps my inner child had been thinking all along.
“So you’ll send them out… patrolling the land, guarding the citizens from undead monsters and bandits alike,” he exclaimed.
“Well yes…”
“And they’ll pledge absolute loyalty to you Mort… the defender of Lothion!” Dorian was pacing now and nothing I could say would get through to him, his head was filled with visions of knights errant and deeds of chivalry. I smiled to myself as I watched him. If I could find nineteen other men like him, perhaps it wasn’t such a foolish dream after all.
“Ideally they’d pledge fealty to the…,” I started to say ‘king’ but I knew already that it was a bad idea. “Perhaps they should swear to James of Lancaster,” I amended.
He stopped and glared at me, “Say something like that again and I’ll wallop you!”
“You object to James?” I started.
“No, fool! I know you’re trying to be modest and all, but it’s time to own up to what you’ve done. You defeated an army of over thirty thousand men, saved the realm, and won the hearts of thousands of people. Do you honestly think you could create some new order of knights and just hand it over to someone else? Do you think people would be inspired by that?” he said angrily.
“Alright, you’re right,” I said trying to placate him. I knew there was no use in arguing once he got riled up like that.
“Don’t agree with me and think I’ll shut up! You always do that. I may not be a genius but I’m smart enough to spot your patronizing ways. Listen up… the people need inspiration, just as much as they need protection. We just fought off a massive attack; many of the people lost loved ones. The first harvest was nearly a complete loss and you and I aren’t the only ones who know that there’s a lot of damned undead wandering around unaccounted for. This idea is brilliant and it’s just what they need, something to hope for. Nothing inspires hope like a hero, and you’re planning to give them twenty… but they need to be led by a hero, someone the people know. Someone the people believe can do anything… in case you haven’t been paying attention, that’s you Mort.” He poked me forcefully with his index finger.
Sometimes Dorian could embarrass the hell out of me, even when we were alone. I tried to change the subject, “Actually Dorian you brought up something important. This new order will need a captain… aside from whoever they answer to… and you made a lot of good points. Naturally I want you to be that person.”
He blinked for a second, “Well I knew that already, the real question is who else you want, you need nineteen other men if you’re to have a force of twenty.”
I had done some thinking on that already but it was a difficult subject. I had to be selective. I wanted men who had already been tested in battle, veterans who were also trustworthy. There were a number of capable warriors in my livery now but I had no way of judging the integrity of many of them. Quite a few were ex-mercenaries with questionable backgrounds. Finding killers was easy; finding men like Dorian was a daunting task. So far I had only come up with two names. “Joe McDaniels and Harold Simmons,” I said at last.
“Joe won’t do,” Dorian commented. “He’s too old and he has a business to run. Much as I love the man I wouldn’t saddle him with something like this in his later years. Harold might be a good choice though, what made you choose him?”
“He’s young and bright eyed. You’ve mentioned him several times in the past, regarding his skill with weapons. He’s also a native son of Washbrook. He knows the people here and they’ll trust him. More importantly he’ll care about them far better than one of our transplants from the capital,” I explained.
Dorian nodded. “I like your thinking. I may know one or two more that meet those criteria among our new guards. I’ll work with them and let you know if I think they’ll work.”
“Perfect, I want you training them anyway,” I added.
“I figured that, but you’ve omitted one key piece of information here,” he told me.
I stared blankly at him, “What?”
“What are you going to name this new order?”
“Oh…,” I said eloquently. I didn’t have a single idea, and it didn’t take long for my vacuous gaze to communicate that fact to him.
“Ha! Don’t w
orry! I’ve been dreaming about something like this since we were kids,” he reassured me. Long experience prevented me from being reassured. Dorian drew a dramatic breath. “The Mystic Guardians of Lothion!” he pronounced, as if he stood upon a stage.
I groaned, “Mystic?”
“Well you are outfitting them each with magical weapons and armor,” Dorian explained. “Alright how about: The Defenders of the Flame!”
“What flame?”
“The flame of life that burns in all of us, we’re supposed to be protecting people from the undead right?”
“I don’t know… I was thinking it should be something shorter,” I mused. “Let’s think about it a while, there’s no need to rush into a name yet. Besides, I have a question for you.”
“What about?” Dorian asked.
“I built this armor with you in mind. Now that you have it, I still feel it isn’t enough. You’ve fought them before, hand to hand and wearing enchanted armor… what would have helped you most?” I said, trying to elaborate so that he would understand my question.
My friend pursed his lips for a moment, concentrating. “What helped most was your father tossing oil on them and setting them on fire when they had me helpless.”
I smiled ruefully at the thought, “If I could bring him back to follow us around and haul our asses out of trouble every time things went badly… I would, and I’d bring your dad back as well. I’m sure that with the two of them around we could just take it easy from then on.”
Dorian grinned, but I could see a hint of sadness in his eyes at the thought. “Well I suppose the next best thing would be something that would prevent me being borne to the ground and overwhelmed by sheer numbers. I was always rather jealous of Penny’s strength when she was your Anath’Meridum. If I had been strong like that they never could have forced me down.”