“Are you saying that the djinn are monitoring the Council of Wizardry?” Damien asked worriedly. Would they need to put up Lenamare’s wards permanently?
She smiled again. “Not directly. We are observing someone else who is of concern to us, and who frequently interacts with the Council.”
“Who might that be?” Damien asked. This was making him very uncomfortable. The world was quickly becoming far more complicated than he expected.
She gave him a slight frown. “I’m sorry, but I am afraid I am not at liberty to reveal that information.” She looked truly contrite. Or at least as contrite as an orc face could look.
“Can you at least tell me if this person puts the Council in danger with his or her interactions?” Damien asked.
The djinn shook her head slowly. “I think you are discovering the answer to that through your inquisition.”
She then started turning again to complete her circle. She nodded, having observed everyone. She paused thoughtfully, and then spoke again. “I have been asked to inquire if Tisdale is here?”
Damien shook his head. “Is there anyone that demon does not know?”
The djinn looked at him. “Yes, you know him. He was in Freehold before the wards went up. He was with the demon that captured the knight. Am I correct in assuming that the new Master of Mount Doom is the same demon that stole mana from Tiernon?”
“Stole mana from Tiernon?” Phaestus stared at Völund. “I think there may be a few things you neglected to mention...”
“He is!” Vaselle spoke up.
The djinn looked to Vaselle. “You are a warlock, yes?”
“I am,” Vaselle said proudly.
“To the Master of Mount Doom?”
“Yes.”
“I would like to speak with the new Master of Mount Doom when it is convenient,” the djinn said.
Vaselle sighed. “Well, he’s a bit tied up at the moment. He’s trying to finish taking oaths from all the D’Orcs, and then we will have a feast.”
“Hmm,” the djinn said and then nodded. “I can wait until he is finished with the oath-taking ceremony. I will be in this corridor. Have Beya repeat this exercise to reengage dialogue.”
Suddenly Beya’s eyes closed and she started slumping to the ground. Farsooth moved quickly to catch her.
“Okay, then,” Phaestus said.
Barabus thanked Tiernon that the final meeting of the day was over as he and the others marched down the long corridor. Finally, they would get to the point of this long-winded expedition. There had been so many non-informative speeches that he no longer had any idea of what they were going to see.
Following this morning’s meetings and speeches, all of the Rod and Church members had to personally sign various legal documents to acknowledge various dangers, liabilities and other nonsense. They also had to sign something called a “non-disclosure agreement,” saying that they would never reveal what they saw here today with anyone not designated as being so authorized themselves.
He and Heron were marching side by side behind Chancellors Alighieri, Ain and Sagramn; the three chancellors who, as Barabus understood it, were the principal backers of the project they were about to see. Behind him were his three knights and his top generals. They were walking side by side with Heron’s top generals.
“So, Wing Arms Master,” Barabus asked Heron. “Have you seen this ‘Extender of the Law’ thing Chancellor Alighieri has built?”
Heron shook his head. “No, Arch-Vicar General, I have not. I have railed and ranted about its cost in countless councils, chanceries and more than a couple of committees, but I have not seen it. This shall be as new for me as it is for you.”
“Yet you know what it does? How it works?” Barabus asked. “I know we have heard many speeches on it, and I understand that it will allow Oorstemoth and its allies to extend the long arm of the law beyond anything currently imaginable. But I’m not sure how exactly it does this.”
Heron nodded. “I can understand how, after only the few brief” — he raised his eyebrow on Barabus’s side — “meetings and lectures we enjoyed last night and today, that might be. Clearly, the speeches only had time to brush upon the most salient and significant signature statistics, supplying only a circumspectly slight survey.”
Heron paused for a moment as Barabus nodded in feigned agreement. Heron then continued, “But rest assured, I have been diligent in deliberating on every detail of its design, development and deployment, not to mention cost, for the last twenty years. Poring over thousands of pages of punctually delivered, pointless papers, each with the predictable pontification. Having done so, I can most certainly assure you that I have no better idea than you as to what this damnable thing of Alighieri’s is. All I know is how much I could not spend on more useful military machinery these last twenty years.”
At long last they came to the end of the very long, wide corridor that they had been marching down. The chancellors stopped in front of large metal doors, guarded by three soldiers. While Chancellors Ain and Sagramn worked with the guards to show the approved paperwork for the people following them, Chancellor Alighieri turned to the others, smiled and prepared to speak.
“Friends, allies, colleagues, Chancellor Alighieri said, practically glowing. “As you know, I am a man of few words.” There was more than one person behind Barabus who suddenly had an urge to cough, both from his side and from the Oorstemothian side. “But on this, what I am sure will be the eve of an auspicious alliance of altruistic activist agnates and advocates seeking solely the cooperative consanguinity of a conciliatory conjoined course committed to coordination in countless endeavors to exceed the extent of justice, jurisprudence and the law beyond its current boundaries, I would like to say a few words.”
“Chancellor,” Heron interrupted.
“Yes, Wing Arms Master?”
“In the far distant lands into which we expect to extend and elevate our ability to carry out the requirements of the law, there is a saying.” Heron paused; the chancellor simply looked at him, waiting for him to continue. “Facts on the ground speak louder than words.”
The chancellor shook his head in puzzlement.
“Can you just open the door and show us what you have built? What you have spent so incredibly much money on these last few decades?” Heron asked.
The chancellor grimaced, obviously unhappy about having to skip his prepared remarks. He ran through a small gamut of facial expressions, ending with resignation and finally pride.
“As you will, Wing Arms Master. After countless committee comments questioning the commitment of cash to this carefully crafted construct, I think you will be more than sufficiently satisfied with the result.” He gave the wing arms master a tight grin. “Gentlemen,” he addressed his fellow chancellors. “Open the doors!”
The large metal double doors opened inward, spreading to reveal a very well lit, cavernous room. The first thing Barabus noted was a metal railing of about ten feet on the other side of the doors. The doors were opening onto a balcony over the cavernous room beyond.
The party stepped into the brightly lit metal and stone room. The room was enormous, well over fifteen hundred feet long and two hundred feet wide with something on the order of a two-hundred-foot-high ceiling. The huge space was filled with cranes, scaffolds and more equipment of different sorts than Barabus could even begin to imagine.
However, all of this was rendered insignificant by the room’s primary content: the thing that all the scaffolding and cranes were designed to work with. Barabus’s own mouth fell open even as he heard gasps from those behind him, including the knights. For once in Oorstemoth, no one spoke. The entire entourage was silent, staring at the vast... device? ship? vessel? that took up the majority of space in the room.