“Don’t you wish to enter Lord Cameron?” he asked.
I could sense two figures within and it was easy enough to identify them. The first was Edward, and the second was his ever loyal servant Cyhan. “Thank you Adam, but no, I prefer to open these doors myself.”
Something about my expression must have warned him because he backed rapidly away from the heavy double doors. “You should probably give yourself the day off Adam,” I told him and then I faced the doors.
The moment had arrived and I felt Rose’s hand tighten on my arm. Lifting my staff straight up I brought it down to strike the iron shod heel hard against the stone floor. “Borok Ingak!” The words rolled out from me like a breaking wave and shattered the massive double doors. The room within was showered with flying splinters and bits of wood. When the dust settled the only thing left of the doors within the frame were the iron hinges that had held them there.
Stepping forward Rose and I entered the room. I was mildly disappointed to see Edward sitting calmly on his throne rather than cowering. I suppose some things are too much to hope for, I reminded myself.
The room itself was impressive for its size. It was much larger than the small informal meeting room that James and I had met the King in a few times previously. This was a room used for state functions and as such it had a high vaulted ceiling, rising up some forty feet above our heads. It stretched thirty yards or more from side to side and the distance from the doors I had just destroyed to the throne at the opposite end of the room was at least thirty yards as well. Long rows of benches were arranged between here and there, to allow the nobility and clergy ample seating during major court events. There were two exits, aside from the way we had entered, in the form of two normal size doors leading from each of the two corners of the room behind the throne.
The throne was positioned atop the dais at the far end and Edward seemed quite composed as we neared it. If my destructive entrance bothered him he didn’t show it. He smiled as we approached. “Ahh! My dear Count di’Cameron, we are pleased indeed to see you this day.”
I stopped before reaching the dais and addressed him from some twenty feet away. “The feeling is not mutual.”
“You seem out of sorts Mordecai and you have arrived almost two hours early for your audience. Perhaps you have received some distressing news this morning?”
I ignored his goading. “Let’s dispense with the games Edward. You have one opportunity if you wish to live through the rest of this day and that is to deliver my wife, Penelope Illeniel and her guard Sir Dorian Thornbear to me now, safe and unharmed.”
His eyebrows shot up in mock surprise. “Bold words from such a young man, are you certain you have thought this through properly Mordecai? You really shouldn’t threaten the man that holds your wife and unborn child’s lives in his hands.”
My eyes narrowed at his words. “And you shouldn’t attempt to use hostages against a man who can kill you on a whim,” I replied.
The King laughed as he answered, “If I die you will never see them alive. You can count on that! Do you understand? You’re playing at games you are ill-equipped for, boy.”
“Your threats do not hold power when those you threaten no longer fear you,” I replied.
“Careful child, your words here will determine the fate of your loved ones,” he said sternly but I could detect a flicker of uncertainty in his eyes. He was beginning to realize I had moved beyond the point of being coerced.
“That is the first and most basic lie used by the corrupt to assert their will via threats and extortion. I will not accept responsibility for your actions. If I cannot stop you from harming them I will at least make certain you never repeat your evil deeds against others,” I declared.
Edward sneered, “Such noble words from a man who is dooming his wife and child to death at the hands of another.”
“Your twisted delusions have made you incapable of ruling. I doubt now that you ever understood the nature of a ruler’s power,” I answered, deliberately goading him.
“You seek to lecture me on the basis of power? I rule by the divine right of kings. None of your feeble words can change that and your ‘magic’ is insufficient in the face of the power of a nation,” he replied.
“That is where you are mistaken. The ‘divine right of kings’ is a farce. A wise man taught me the true source of a ruler’s power,” I said remembering Dorian’s words from the past. “It lies in the people that serve him. The strength of his people is a gift that a true king must cherish and nurture, and in that you have failed. None of this would have been necessary Edward, but for your constant failure. Failure to put your people first, both during the war with Gododdin and again when you forsook the people to make a deal with the shiggreth. And for what? The chance to coerce and control me? If you had been a good king I would have served you without coercion.”
As I spoke I could feel Cyhan’s eyes boring into me. Rose was watching me as well, and I had a feeling there were others, though my mind could not find them. There was another presence in the room, and it lay heavy upon the air, like a great power held in check.
Edward had to know by now that I wasn’t bluffing. I had come to kill him. Yet he still showed no fear. “You fool!” he shouted at me. “You spout that tired old philosophy at me and yet it still isn’t true! My power is from the ‘consent of the governed’? Lies! My power is granted me by the gods themselves!”
I had had enough. My decision had been made before I entered the room and our conversation had merely served to reaffirm his madness. Lifting my hand I held a small pebble on my palm. I had picked it up from the road during our walk to the palace. “This stone will be your end Edward. I would not waste anything more on you now, and in truth even this is more than you are worth.” Raising it to my lips I blew upon it and said the words that would send it hurtling with lethal speed at the King, “Tielen striltos.”
A flash of golden light, visible only to my arcane senses, flared near the King, and my stone struck an invisible shield in front of him. Where before he had stood alone with only Cyhan beside him, there were now two more figures. The golden glow emanated from a young woman and I could feel the shield she had erected around herself and Edward. She was either a wizard or a channeler. Cyhan still had made no effort to move. He was still and silent.
“Where did they come from?” Rose asked beside me.
“I don’t know, but it appears that Edward has reinforcements. You should leave now Rose,” I told her. “This isn’t going to be pretty.”
She spat at the ground in the most unladylike gesture I had ever seen from her. “I’ll be damned first.”
The woman standing beside Edward was slender, with light brown hair and fair skin. Examining her more closely I realized she was hardly a woman at all, but rather a tall teenager, still gangly and awkward. She was dressed richly in a dress made of golden satin but her face gave away her lack of experience.
The second figure was that of a well-built man, tall and perfectly formed. He kept his face hidden in the deep recesses of a hooded cloak but there was a sense about him, an air of menace I couldn’t yet define.
“Who is the girl Edward?” I asked casually.
He smiled, “Allow me to introduce Elaine Prathion. I suspect you may have met her father already, have you not?”
I winced inwardly. Now I knew why Walter’s daughter hadn’t been there when they liberated the rest of his family. I ignored the King and addressed her directly, “Elaine, listen to me. This man has no hold upon you, not any longer. Your father helped your mother and brother escape early this morning.”
Her eyes were slightly unfocused as she stared back at me and I could hear Edward’s laughter as she replied, “Celior has told me of you. You are a pestilence that will bring the destruction of the world if you are left to fester unchecked. I serve the true King, Edward, for he has been ordained by the gods to lead us through these dark times.”