The Sleeping King (52 page)

He finally broke the silence. “What is really going on behind the stage of this play? Who pulls at the puppet strings?”

Selea countered, “Who would benefit by bringing all of us back together? What does that being have to gain by it?”

A log burned through just then, its halves collapsing with a burst of sparks. The blaze flared up briefly, then settled back to a sluggish flicker.
An interesting word choice, that. What
being
indeed?
Selea thought greater powers were involving themselves in the affairs of humans? Such a thing had not happened in a very long time.

“I think,” Aurelius said carefully, “that someone wants us to finish what we began.”

“And what, exactly, was it that we began?” Selea shot back.

Aurelius winced. He'd known this conversation would come to this. That the price for the assassin's help with De'Vir's boy would be the secret he and Tiberius had guarded so closely for all these years. “I don't suppose you'll accept that it is Mage's Guild business and leave it at that?”

“I accepted that once. I will not do so again. The last time you nearly led me to dishonor.”

Aurelius sighed. If Selea deemed this a matter of honor, he would not budge. He had come for answers and would not leave without them. Nonetheless, Aurelius tried one last time to divert the nulvari. “The Boki are slaughtering innocents. It is up to us to find a way to stop them. Is that not enough?”

Selea's voice was deceptively gentle. Chiding, even. “Surely you know that slaughter is no argument to sway me, of all people.”

Aurelius closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. It did not alleviate the dull ache starting behind his eyes. “I take my word and my oaths no less seriously than you, Selea. What you ask of me is tantamount to betraying my oath to the Mage's Guild.”

“Which part of it?”

Aurelius snapped, “Does it matter?”

Selea replied promptly, “Nay, it does not.”

They traded commiserating looks. Living by a strict code of honor could be a many-horned pain in the arse sometimes.

Finally, Aurelius broke the stalemate. “I will tell you as much as I can. You will have to fill in certain blank spots for yourself, however. After that, I leave it to you to decide whether or not to help me finish this thing.”

Selea nodded, the only movement disturbing that uncanny stillness of his.

“When I first arrived in the colonies and realized the magical nature of the land itself, I immediately suspected that there might be more to this continent than the Empire realized. Much more. I sent several of my most trusted people forth to learn what they could of this land and its past. I had no way of telling how much history the Kothites had successfully expunged.”

Selea made a wry face. “If my limited research is any indication, the Empire has vastly underestimated Haelos.”

Aurelius nodded. “On that, we are agreed. I sent my Dragon north into the Forest of Thorns, which rumor said was an especially dangerous—and magical—place.”

“Tiberius?” Selea interjected.

“Aye. He brought back word to me of a land guarded by fantastic creatures—gruesome magical constructs, talking trees, and the fiercest greenskins ever encountered. I sent a request to my superiors for resources to research the contents and magical properties of this place. Governor Volen got wind of the discovery. He made a stink that the guilds were becoming too powerful, too independent.”

Selea chimed in, “And as he was the duly appointed representative of the Emperor, this could not be tolerated.”

Aurelius nodded. “He ordered us to leave the Forest of Thorns alone and, furthermore, set his first advisor, Anton, to keep an eye on us. But of course, what poor Volen didn't count on was Anton starting a war with the Boki.”

“One that conveniently killed Volen,” Selea commented wryly. “You've proof that Anton engineered the Boki incursion?”

Aurelius pulled a face. “Anton's too smart for that. But why else would the Boki come roaring out of their trees, kill the governor and most of the landsgraves who were giving Anton trouble, and then pull back into the Forest of Thorns? The Boki had no argument with the colonists. Their paths had never even crossed for the most part. There's no question in my mind but Anton hired them to do his dirty work.”

Selea nodded slowly. “I have long thought his violent campaign to avenge the death of Volen seemed … contrived.”

“Not only did it make him look good to the Emperor and emphasize his innocence in knocking off old Volen, but it also gave him a perfect excuse to poke around the Forest of Thorns for whatever secret treasure Tiberius had stumbled across.”

“Was there a treasure?” Selea asked quietly.

“Still is one. And to anticipate your next question, no, I do not know what the Boki guard so fiercely. But they are willing to die to the last man, woman, and child to protect it.”

“You're sure Anton did not find it?”

“Positive. He was chased out of that grove before we were. He never even made it into the cave. I'm convinced the Boki moved whatever it was they hid soon after that debacle, anyway. Even if Anton returned to the spot later, the treasure was long gone before he came back.”

“Any idea what the treasure is?” Selea asked casually.

A little too casually. Aurelius looked his old friend directly in the eye and answered honestly, “I do not know.”

“Any guesses?”

Aurelius laughed. “I've got plenty of those. I've had many years to come up with a long list of possibilities.” And because he was not eager to elaborate upon that list, he asked in a diversionary feint, “I never did understand why you were sent to accompany me on that original expedition.”

Selea leaned forward. “Since we are sharing confidences today, I suppose it does no harm to tell you. I was sent along to investigate a request for an assassination writ on you. The evidence presented to the guildmaster was … questionable … and I was sent to see if the charges had merit. Should you show anything other than utmost loyalty to the Empire, a writ would have been issued for your death.”

Aurelius stared, stunned. “Who tried to buy the writ?”

“Who else?” Selea answered elliptically.

Of course. Anton. The whoreson
. Aurelius looked at the assassin quizzically. “Then why am I not dead?”

Selea's gaze went blacker than his skin. “The First Rule. I cannot say more.”

Aurelius was shocked. He had in no way demonstrated utmost loyalty to the Empire in that grove. By all rights, he should have been dead in short order. Behind his back, Selea was called the killer who never failed. Aurelius silently blessed whatever quirk of nulvari honor that had interfered with Selea making a report that would have resulted in a writ of execution on him all those years ago.

The only person to suffer out of that's day's work was …
of course
. An explosion of understanding detonated in his head.
Tiberius
. Despite his own glowing reports on how Tiberius had conducted himself in the Forest of Thorns, the knight had inexplicably been stripped of his title, charged with a host of crimes, and sentenced to death.

“Did you divert attention away from me and onto Tiberius instead?” he blurted.

“Not I,” Selea answered blandly.

Who then?
An image of another nulvari came to him, one close enough to Anton to whisper in his ear. Ceridwyn Nightshade. Selea's cousin and both of them from House Bat. Did she and the assassin seated beside him conspire together from time to time? Blood was particularly thick among the nulvari, even more so than most elves.

All these years later, he did not know whether to thank the nulvari or curse them.
Ah, Tiberius.
Ever the loyal soldier. They'd all used him ill, and he was no exception to that. The knight had silently accepted disgrace and become a fugitive to protect his adopted father and his guild. Pain and pride sluiced through him in equal measures. Tiberius was surely worthy of his family's name.

“What more can you tell me of that odd fellow who helped us escape the forest?” Selea was asking.

“That nature guardian? What did he call himself?”

“Greenbeard,” Selea supplied.

Aurelius would never forget the shock of seeing the forester. Ostensibly human, the fellow had actually had moss growing in his beard and veins colored green beneath his skin. He had seemed part plant and part human, and he had not been much more civilized than a forest creature. But he had called off the guardians of the grove and guided their little party clear of the remnants of battle. Or, by that time, the remnants of slaughter. The Boki had utterly destroyed Anton's army and not been merciful in the doing of it. They did not appreciate their lands being invaded and had let it be known in no uncertain terms.

“I know nothing more than you, Selea. He appeared out of the trees, led us out of the forest, and then disappeared back into the woods. Strange fellow, to say the least.”

“Tell me more of this political stink over your researching the grove,” Selea murmured.

Aurelius gave himself a mental shake. “The Forester's Guild claimed the grove, as all forests fell under their control. Never mind that not one of their loggers would set foot in the Forest of Thorns for fear of dying a swift and terrible death at the hands of the orcs there. Then the Miner's Guild got into the fray. They claimed to be in charge of harvesting all magical components. If there were any magical properties to the place, they wanted to go in first and gather whatever was to be had.”

“I'm surprised the Heart didn't find a way to throw its hat into the fight,” Selea commented dryly.

Equally dryly, Aurelius replied, “Oh, they did. They claimed they ought to go in first and be allowed to convert the residents of the Forest of Thorns to the Heartstones. Once the natives were properly civilized, then the rest of us could go in and engage in peaceful trade with the forest's inhabitants.”

Selea rolled his eyes. Aurelius thought he heard his companion mutter under his breath in nulvari, “Self-righteous do-gooders.”

Aurelius echoed the sentiment. His guild was forever competing with the Heart over who would control the magics, scrolls, potions, and magical components so necessary to both of their crafts. He picked up the thread of his story again. “At any rate, representatives of various guilds went en masse on Anton's expedition to see this magic grove. They treated it like some sort of glorified picnic outing.”

“And conveniently forgot about the magical constructs and talking trees?” Selea asked wryly.

“Not to mention the army of orcs,” Aurelius added while he pondered how to gloss over the next part. He'd been ordered in secret by his Mage's Guild superiors to lead the expedition astray, not to reveal to the group where the actual magical site was located. But such an order was strictly the private business of the guild, even after all these years. Revealing that communiqué skirted the very edge of outright disobedience to the Empire.

He spoke carefully. “As we drew closer to the grove, resistance by its defenders grew steadily more determined and dangerous. It was decided that it would not be in the general interest to make a direct approach to the area. After the battle of the plant-men and the were-bears—” He broke off. “Were you present for that?”

Selea nodded, his expression grim enough that he could indeed have been there. It had been a massacre. Nearly half the expeditionary force had been killed in that one brief, bloody battle.

Aurelius continued, “After that, a panicked retreat was called. Parties got separated from the main force. Skirmishes further scattered our troops throughout the woods. It was chaos.”

“I remember it well.”

Time for another delicate evasion. “Tiberius and I fought as a team that day. Eventually, we found ourselves alone. He recognized a landmark and informed me that we must be all but upon the site we sought.”

“How convenient,” Selea murmured.

Not surprisingly, the nulvari didn't buy the half-truth for a minute. But, thankfully, neither did he press the issue. It went without saying that Tiberius and he had intentionally left the main force of Anton's soldiers to seek out the grove in the midst of the mess.

Aurelius continued grimly, “We made our way into the grove, the two of us. Just as we reached the clearing, a skirmish broke out on the other side of it. It did not go well for the colonial troops. A cadre of orcs—I found out later it was Boki Blood Lords led by Ki'Raiden—rolled through the squad like they were raw recruits. Hyland was the lone survivor of that fight. When he realized he was the only man alive, he fled and ended up with Tiberius and me. We three hid. The Boki elite guard was drawn to another fight on the other side of the grove, and we were not found.”

Selea grinned. “So. It was not superior skill over the Boki Blood Lords that gained you entrance to the grove, but rather dumb luck.”

Aurelius grinned. “Aye.”

“How did you get past the tree guardians and plant-men?”

“I do not know. Maybe because we were so few and so weak by then, they did not see us as a threat. Speaking of which, how did
you
gain entrance to the grove?”

Selea smiled. “I, too,… evaded … the Boki. As for the plant guardians, I captured a dryad and threatened to kill her if they did not let me pass. Lady Elysia was none too amused to have my blade at her throat, I might add.”

“How did you resist her charms?” Aurelius burst out in disbelief.

Selea pursed his lips. “Trade secret. Sorry.”

Another time, Aurelius might have argued strenuously that this knowledge was of utmost importance to the Mage's Guild. They'd been trying for decades to come up with some defense against the devastatingly effective gaze attacks of the dryads. But today he let it go.