Gathering of the Titans: The Tol Chronicles Book 2 (9 page)

“Why only young trees?”

“It takes many, many turnings for the community of plants and animals that depend upon each other to develop. Once it is fully matured, that community may remain active and healthy for millennia. Cutting down such a tree does far more damage to the forest as an organism than simply removing one tree. Thousands of creatures are left homeless and without a source of food or shelter.”

“I see. Very well, your request is granted. Also, there is a group of dwarves—hurriers—who want their shrine not far from here protected. Do you know of it?”

“The shrine marks the location of a very ancient thing I do not understand. It was here before the first tree: although it manifests only rarely, the latent energy field it radiates is enormously powerful. I myself have on occasion drawn some strength from it, and that pool seems bottomless. You would do well to grant their wish if only to guard it from other hurriers who might accidentally encounter that energy pool. The last time it activated, it disgorged a creature not of this world.”

“So I have been told. The dwarves call him H’esh’tuk. My brother calls him ‘The Exalted One.’”

“All I know of him is that he possesses a peaceful, contemplative soul and thus was adjudged no threat to us. He disturbed nothing while here and left behind no scars upon the forest. Such a being we consider a friend and will gladly suffer. Ah, we are about to have visitors.”

Aspet turned, expecting to see some spirit or other ancient forest denizen. Instead he was face to face with Tol, disruptor drawn, and a goblin mage, poised to strike.

“Greetings, brother. Welcome to the Eldest Grove. Relax: you’re perfectly safe here.”

“Where have I heard that before?” answered Tol.

in which the King’s absence is keenly felt and the Palace is attacked

The RPC Field Agent in Charge (FAC) immediately set up a tight perimeter around Aspet’s last point of presence. No one but RPC in or out. They had their own mages, who scanned unsuccessfully for magical activity. No unusual electromagnetic fields or quantum gateways were detected, either. It was though the King had simply ceased to exist. Sudden loss of the Sovereign for any reason had not been experienced in centums; the protocols for handling this existed but were not in anyone’s daily repertoire, as it were. The RPC were ruthlessly efficient at protecting the Sovereign from conventional threats; this one, however, was anything but conventional and left them stomping around in frustration.

While the traveling squad searched every square centimeter of the surrounding forest, pulling up roots or even cutting limbs were it deemed necessary in the search for clues, they discovered something truly astounding: the damaged trees healed themselves almost immediately. One of the RPC mages noticed and talked to the FAC.

“We might want to be a little more careful. This section of woods seems to be semi-sentient and given its considerable healing powers, could potentially be dangerous.”

“If it had anything to do with the disappearance of His Majesty,” the FAC answered grimly, “There aren’t enough healing powers on the planet to save it.” It was not a threat, just a fact, as the agent saw it. Goblins did not take kindly to anyone or anything that interfered with their Royalty.

As the vanishing act had the potential for being some form of advanced magic, both the Ostia Magineer and Ballop’ril, who was still on retainer with the Royal government, were summoned, although they were not told precisely why. The disappearance of the King was a tightly controlled state secret for now: everyone except RPC who had witnessed the event was taken into ‘protective custody’ and had any communications devices confiscated.

Ballop’ril and Prond had made such excellent and impressive progress with the new magical gateway talismans that the Archmage felt comfortable leaving the operation to assist the RPC with whatever they were so worked up about. Prond had recently advanced to the rank of Mage Second Tier and was happy with his own progress. Together they teleported to a spot communicated to them by one of the RPC mages, also a former student of Ballop’ril’s.

By the time they arrived the place was crawling with RPC, soldiers, constables, reporters, and a few onlookers, despite the remote location. The officials were pulled immediately into a secret briefing where it was revealed that the King had vanished right before a lot of eyes. During the briefing another localized commotion was set off when the King’s brother Sir Tol-u-ol and some transcended mage materialized. They were also brought in.

“When he disappeared, was it a shimmering, or did he go sort of wavy first?” asked Ballop’ril.

“Neither,” replied the FAC, whose name was Riddix, “I was looking right at him and he just vanished. No winking, no shimmering, no waviness, no change in illumination or light scattering: just here one second, gone the next. No aftereffects, either.”

“Hmm,” replied Ballop’ril, looking at Oloi for confirmation, “Temporal rift?”

“That was my first thought, too, but I’ve been back and forth on both sides of the continuum in the local neighborhood and while there is some form of resonance present, it isn’t from a simple rift.”

“Exactly where was he standing?” asked Tol.

“Right here,” pointed Riddix.

Tol stared at the maze of footprints and broken twigs. “Smek. You guys may be great at VIP protection, but your crime scene etiquette leaves a lot to be desired.” He sighed and got down on his knees to peer carefully at the prints.

“We were trying to find His Majesty, not secure the scene,” explained Riddix with a trace of irritation. “What are you doing?”

“I’m a cop. I’m looking for clues. What else?”

“We’ve already been over the area thoroughly.”

“Looks like you brought a herd of plainsrunners with you…Aha!” Tol pointed to something no one else could see. He followed a seemingly invisible trail that led off toward an area where giant roots popped out of the ground in an oddly sculptural way.

“What is he doing?” one of the RPC asked.

“I think he’s just making it up,” replied Riddix.

Tol snorted in response but kept crawling.

“Wait,” said Ballop’ril, “I think he’s onto something. There’s a faint goblin aura overprint following that same trail.”

Tol stood up. “His Majesty is still here,” he announced, brushing off his pants. “We just can’t see him. It’s like he’s in one of those parallel dimensions or something. He’s still leaving tracks, although they’re being made so quickly it’s hard to tell.”

“It’s an extradimensional planar fork,” Ballop’ril said, realizing it himself at that moment.“Elemental magic, not invocational.”

“Of course,” said Oloi, “I have to go now. Can you take care of it?”

“I will do what I can,” replied Ballop’ril.

“Excellent. Thank you,” Oloi said, and then sparkled out.

“Prond,” Ballop’ril said, “I am going to send you along with Sir Tol to rescue the king. When you are ready to depart, cast the Ritual of Rejoining and I’ll direct that stream back to this physicotemporal plane.”

“Yes, Master. Planar Travel Ritual of Rejoining. I am ready.”

“Sir Tol-u-ol, I can send you and my apprentice to the extradimensional space where His Majesty is, if you care to go. Prond will bring you all back here.”

Tol eyed the young goblin doubtfully. “You sure he’s up to that task?”

“Quite certain,” replied Ballop’ril. “Possibly my most competent apprentice ever.”

Tol shrugged, “Okay, let ‘er rip.”

Ballop’ril created a blue and silver bubble from energy flowing out of his hands and, positioning it over Tol’s and Prond’s heads, allowed it sink down over them. Once it was in place it, and they, vanished.

“Really, Tol, you and”… he looked at Prond expectantly… “Mage Second Tier Prond, apprenticed to Archmage Ballop’ril, Your Majesty,” Prond responded sharply… “Prond are perfectly all right here. Arbus has just sped time up a bit so we can converse with him in a way more comfortable for us.”

Tol looked around. “That’s mighty keen for you and Arbus, wherever he is, but there is a big crowd of folks back there getting very, very anxious wondering where you are right now.”

“What? Oh, yes, I suppose there would be. I thank you for your extreme hospitality, Master Arbus, but it is best if we return now. Your request is granted in full.”

“For that I and the Eldest Grove thank you most sincerely. You are a wise and noble Sovereign.”

“May I?” asked Prond. Aspet nodded. “Goodbye, Arbus. Long may you live in peace.”

“Goodbye to you, Aspet King. Long, after the fashion of your kind, may you reign in peace and health.”

Prond invoked the Ritual of Rejoining and the ‘other forest’ blurred into existence around them as though they were returned from an amusement park ride.

The RPC instantly encircled them, weapons drawn. Aspet said a nonsense-sounding code word and gestured with both hands on his chest. They holstered their weapons and relaxed, if only a very little bit.

A couple of hours later, after everyone had been briefed and debriefed, and preliminary incident reports filed, Aspet and Tol walked through the forest. Aspet relayed to him the incredible history of the Eldest Grove.

“Apparently this part of the forest is one big organism that has been here since the Protocene. It has even evolved a limited form of sentience,” said Aspet, “That’s just amazing to me.”

“What’s amazing to me is how poorly trained the RPC are when it comes to preserving evidence. If you had been kidnapped or otherwise assaulted by creatures from this dimension we would have had a terrible time tracking the perps. Those gobs trampled everything like a herd of grazers. I could barely see your footprints while you were making them, for smek’s sake.”

Suddenly the FAC spoke into his comm unit and sprinted over to Aspet. “Pardon, Your Majesty, but we have a verified Condition Violet Dee.”

Aspet dropped the bark section he’d been examining. “Boogla!” He turned to Riddix. “Get everyone and every piece of equipment we have on it. Go!” The RPC shouted into his comm: “Dump it all. Everything. Red Three. Royal Direct.”

Aspet grabbed Tol and started running. “We need to find Ballop’ril!”

“Why?” asked Tol between breaths.

“We have to get back to the Royal Palace as soon as possible. It’s under attack and Boogla is there.”

“Whatta ya mean, ‘under attack?’”

“I mean an armed attack against someone in the Royal Complex has taken place, a member of the Royal Family is present— that’s Boogla—and at least one fatality is confirmed.”

“Smek me. What kind of suicidal idiot would attack the Royal Palace? Oh, smek me double. We may never know with your evidence-destroying goons charging around.”

Aspet punched him in the arm. “There’s Ballop’ril.” They swerved to intercept him. They and the two RPC agents running just behind them skidded to a halt in front of the bemused bugbear, who waited patiently while Aspet recovered his voice.

“Archmage, Tol and I need desperately to get to the Royal Palace as quickly as possible. Can you teleport us there?”

“I don’t know much about the Palace itself. Have you any mages handy who could give me a mental map of a prospective materialization area?”

“Can you just pull it from my memories if I concentrate?”

“Yes, if you will do just that.”

“Sorry; I know you won’t like this, but it’s an emergency,” Aspet said to his RPC contingent. “Wait, can you send a couple of them along, too?”

Ballop’ril nodded. “Great, one of you run and tell Riddix you’re both going back with me and that we may land near a firefight. Okay, Archmage, I’m ready to be probed.”

Ballop’ril touched him lightly on the forehead and said, “Concentrate on the area where you want to materialize. It CAN NOT be inside a building: that’s too dangerous. A rooftop, lawn, or road is best. Try to pick a place that isn’t likely to be occupied.”

Aspet closed his eyes and pictured a little-known private rooftop garden that spanned the Palace and Residence, offering access to both with his master key. He looked to Tol. “I’m thinking about the Seclusion Garden. Help me.”

“What kind of help do you need?” Tol asked.

“Just visualize it as best you can. It will give Ballop’ril an alternate view.”

Tol shrugged. “Okay. I’m visualizin’.” The archmage put his other hand on Tol’s forehead.

Just as Ballop’ril muttered, “Got it,” Riddix and Aspet’s other RPC agent came sprinting up.

“Your Majesty! You can’t teleport into a possibly unsecured area. That’s a tremendous risk.”

“That’s why I’m taking a couple of agents along with me, Riddix. We’ll be fine. I’ll let them and Sir Tol here take care of any necessary rough stuff.”

“But Your Majesty! The kingdom needs its King!”

“And I need my wife. I’m going.”

Riddix looked pleadingly at Tol.

“Sorry, laddie: can’t help you. Runs in the blood, I’m afraid.”

The FAC rolled his eyes. “Fine. Take this, at least.” He handed Tol a high-powered sidearm specially built for RPC agents. He also fished around in his pocket and produced a badge for Tol. “I hereby deputize you into the Royal Protective Corps.”

Tol shook his head and handed the badge back. “No offense, but I don’t need no smekkin’ badge. I’m a Knight of the Crimson, a sworn EE officer, and—he’s my brother. No badge can trump those.”

“Point taken. Please give the weapon back to one of the RPC agents at the palace. They come out of my capital budget.”

“Will do.”

“Do it,” Aspet said to Ballop’ril.

The RPC agents stood in front of and behind Aspet, weapons drawn and facing out. Tol stood beside him in the same posture, one hand on the king’s shoulder. Ballop’ril waved his own hands and then dropped them suddenly to his sides. The party vanished.

They materialized in the empty rooftop garden. Aspet leapt to a nearby door and opened it with his key. He slammed around the corner and yanked open a drawer with a console in it. The screen popped up and he put in his Royal Access Code, then in a flurry of flying fingers pulled up a tactical alarm map with body heat signatures for the entire Royal Complex. Meanwhile his RPC detail were on their comms to their own people exchanging status information.