Well, if we added the dragon into the equation, I guess it made nine of us. Not exactly a motley crew to be feared, but neither was it a force ready to invade Kaon and destroy the Young Mage. Yet that was our intention.
The dragon was the tipping point in our favor in my opinion. The Young Mage had indicated he was scared of it, but with the help of the Slave-Master, we’d decided that perhaps it was not the last dragon in the world he was really afraid of, it was the possible presence of more dragons entering the world and ruining his plans. The eggs in the Waystones were the keystone to his power—and we controlled that with the dragon.
Armed with that information, we needed a plan of attack.
Anna started the new turn of conversation in a trembling voice, “He’s the strongest mage in history. We think he is young, but we really don’t know anything about him or his powers. All of you are just guessing.”
I looked at my sister and said, “She's right. The information we believe we know is all speculation, rumor, and conjecture. Before we go any farther, everyone here should understand and think about the apparition of the ‘Emma’ child he conceived and that lived with us for weeks without detection. The image of Emma had been so perfect, none of us had ever suspected she was not a real girl. Consider what sort of powerful mind could do all that.”
Avery said, “Don’t forget to factor in what that mind can do in the future as it matures. I can’t even imagine what else the Young Mage can do in ten years.”
The evil smile on the Slave-Master’s lips drew my attention. He’d had several important insights today, and I respected his abilities in planning and locating a foe’s weaknesses. I set my gaze on him and said, “What are your thoughts?”
All eyes turned to him, and his corpulent reclined body. As usual, he was again eating, a loaf of bread in one hand, the leg of a bird in the other. A mug of wine was in reach. “I think, and mind you it is only my opinion, a hundred Kaon warriors cannot defeat your enemy. He wants that sort of direct approach from you, that sort of attack on his stronghold. A thousand warriors will lose to him.”
“It went from a hundred to a thousand? You talk in riddles,” Princess Elizabeth snapped, clearly angry and tired.
I spoke quickly because I liked and understood the Slave-Master better than her. If not, at least I had more experience with him. “If not a thousand, then how many?”
“Ah, you’re learning Damon. Your deviousness is admirable and thus your name, indicating you are a tricky one, as all damons in mythology are. Now, my point is simple. The Young Mage expects a direct challenge, and he is prepared for it, possible even wants it. He’s trying to force you to do it. He spent weeks with a few of you while pretending to be a little girl, and while there, he watched and listened to everything. I repeat, everything. You unwittingly informed him of all he wanted and needed to know about you—and more. He knows your strengths and weaknesses, and how to defeat you.”
“Don’t stop now,” I said with more feelings of dread than intended.
The Slave-Master’s eyes flicked to each of us in turn. “I’m sitting here with people ready to leap on their horses and charge into Kaon, people who will swing their swords wildly above their heads ready to slay any who stand in their way—and that is both admirable—and stupid.”
*Don’t get angry at him,* Anna warned me in a burst of thought inside my head.
I saw the same anger rising in the others. Anna was right. He was provoking us for a reason. Before their anger could erupt, I said, “Everyone, calm yourselves. The way a message is delivered isn’t important, it’s the content.”
The Slave-Master gulped down his entire mug of wine and held it out while a slave refilled it. Then he said, “Any direct attack on Kaon will fail. Therefore, we must do it another way. I believe the princess over there already said it best. He’s young, ambitious, and what else was it? Overconfident?”
“So, what do you believe we should do?” I asked in a demanding tone.
He rolled his eyes in mild disapproval that we hadn’t guessed, then relented. “The Young Mage wants us to invade Kaon. Demands it. He’s taunting and inviting us. Therefore, we do not go there.”
A silence slipped over the group as lightly as if a silk sheet had softly drifted down from the night sky.
CHAPTER TWO
“He’s right, you know,” Avery said as he stood and paced. “The Young Mage is doing all he can to draw us into Kaon, right down to kidnapping me and taking Flier’s family hostage so we will seek revenge. He knew you’d discover Emma was an apparition at some time, and he probably influenced the Slave-Master to search the mountain pass where you crossed for new slave captives, even though nobody had crossed those mountains in a year. He wanted you captured and transported to Kaon in chains as his first option.”
The Slave-Master had the grace to nod once and agree that most of us had been fools in one manner or another. The Young Mage had manipulated us from the beginning—and was still doing so.
I watched Princess Elizabeth and Kendra as they started to believe that Kaon was the last place we should go to. The stern set of Kendra’s jaw told the whole story. Flier was already convinced. The others were coming around. But at least nobody was still acting ready to charge ahead to Kaon without more discussion.
I said, “Right now, the Young Mage has all the control, made the rules, set up the coming confrontation in a way guaranteeing he wins, and that’s what it’s all about. With a little luck on his side, the king of Dire would have died in what looked to be a natural occurrence, and the crown prince would have had a fatal accident soon after. Circumstances would have placed a King’s Regent on the throne of Dire until the next prince was prepared to rule, but of course, something would have happened to the prince to take his life. So, the Regent would have appointed a ‘temporary’ committee to help him rule. A council, like the Council of Nine that rules Kondor after their king died, would rule Dire.”
The Slave-Master said, “That plan of his was all but completed. The various pieces of the game were played, and all he had to do was settle back and wait but he miscalculated with the power of one piece. He didn’t count on Kendra freeing the dragon.”
I said, “He used the same design for taking over Vin and Trager. Dagger was the same too—when you think about it. Only the details are different. He already ruled Kaon from behind the scenes, so Dire was the last piece to fit his puzzle in ruling all the kingdoms in the north.”
Elizabeth said, “In my mind, I can see it all on a map. The entire northern part of the Great Sea would be under his control if he took Dire, including the sea itself. Every ship, every port.”
“What about the Brownlands to the south?” Kendra asked.
“No need for him to bother with them,” I contributed. “There are so few people living in them it doesn’t matter. The Brownlands to the east of the sea are so dry and hot, even plants don’t grow. Just bare rock and sand. Few, if any, ever cross them. West of Kondor is much the same. They present a natural barrier to protect the north from the kingdoms to the south.”
The Slave-Master noisily gulped down another mug of red wine and said, “Nobody has ever ruled an area that large. And if you think his ambitions to rule ended with the northlands, you are mistaken. South of Kaon and the Brownlands, and across the sea, is the Kingdom of Fairbanks, aptly named because of the banks on the many rivers. It is an overgrown farming community without much formal rule. South of there is the kingdom of Landor, another small kingdom the size of Dire with a small standing army. An army comprised of a few soldiers from Kaon, Kondor, and Dire could sweep those two under his rug in days.”