He quit speaking as quickly as he’d begun. The impact of his words struck all of us. If what he said was true, I would waste my time in Dagger. No, worse, I would be doing exactly what was placed there to confuse me. “Kondor is a front? An imposter?”
“And a trap. The rulers of Vin and Trager journeyed there before falling. What returned to each of those kingdoms may not have been the kings, but images similar to Emma. Dagger draws in the kings and there they die—as yours will when he voyages there to sign the treaty you are so insistent on presenting.”
“The bounty hunter was taking me there to sign a sham treaty?”
He nodded. “One requiring your king to briefly travel to Dagger. What returned by ship would be a double much like Emma, one destined to become ill and turn over power to mages and their appointees from Dagger. It is easier to do than making a king ill and hoping to form a council to rule for him.”
I said, “My father was ill. It was really him.”
“Yes. That is the first step, and easier than replacing him in some ways, especially if there is a confused line of succession. It almost worked in Dire, but in the cases of Vin and Trager, the real kings died in Dagger and images of imposters took their places.”
Damon said, “That all sounds too complicated. I tend to believe you, but one question remains. Why? I mean, why do all that when there are easier ways?”
The Slave-Master allowed himself a slight grin. “When we played blocks, you often deceived me into using my power to attack from one direction, and then when I was weak there, you attacked from another. You intentionally presented a weak front while hiding your strength.”
Damon nodded.
“This is the same sort of thing. Dagger is there for you to attack and defeat, but it will weaken Dire, and then the real power in Kaon will emerge to win the game.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Damon
“The real power is located in Kaon.” The words haunted us. We had been about to make a huge mistake in going directly to Dagger to try to rescue Elizabeth if what the Slave-Master revealed was correct. I looked at my sister and then at Elizabeth. The three of us shared the same expression, one of mixed belief and fear of failure.
The Slave-Master turned to me. “Damon, we played blocks, and I have a certain insight into you, and suspect you have the same for me. All I am saying is for you to think. Use that mind of yours as if this was a game. How would you defeat me if I was you?”
“You wouldn’t show me your true power while you wore my defenses down.”
“Exactly.”
The Slave-Master sat cross-legged on a fat pillow and waited. His partial smile was not what I’d term smug, but not humorous either.
I said, “We think the mages are gathered in Dagger.”
“I think you are right, as I’ve told you.”
I said, “Then, I don’t fully understand the reasoning. If they are there, we should go there.”
“The mages are like the princes and princesses of a royal family. The king is in Kaon.” The Slave-Master showed his first signs of impatience with me.
Elizabeth snapped, “What king?”
It was not the Slave-Master who answered, but Kendra. “The one behind all the attacks and controlling the mages in Dagger and elsewhere. They are not powerful enough, not even as a group to do what we saw in Emma.”
Elizabeth turned to the Slave-Master. “Are you speaking of the Young Mage?”
Kendra and I exchanged puzzled looks. We hadn’t heard the term.
The Slave-Master said, “I have not heard that name but like it and believe we’re talking about the same one.”
“He lives in Kaon?” she asked.
“He does. At least that is where he first appeared and seems to reside still.”
She bit her lower lip as she concentrated on the new information. Finally, she snapped, “What else can you tell us about him?”
The Slave-Master spread his hands in resignation. “Rumors. Lies. Conjectures. They say he is young, not yet a grown man. He craves power and puts ambitious ideas and thoughts into the minds of mages, things they are not aware that he has put there. People act on those thoughts believing them their own ideas. Some say he can make people do things, almost anything.”
“Make them?” I asked skeptically. In my experience, a person could be tricked or persuaded, but never made to do things.
He smiled and said as if I was a child. “Making a person do something they don’t want to do is as easy as providing ugly choices. For instance, a man who is afraid of snakes does not want to jump off a roof. But if he does not, the snakes he sees in his mind crawling on that roof and slithering up to him will make him jump.”
“It just takes a larger fear to convince someone to ignore a smaller one,” I said.
“Exactly,” he said. “Suppose a man does not want to sail to Dire but finds out if he does not board the ship he will face the lingering torture of the king’s dungeon—and the tide is right for sailing. He must decide now.”
I finished for him, “He gets on the ship.”
Elizabeth said, “Using that technique, the Young Mage can make almost anyone do whatever he wants them to do. The concept is frighteningly easy.”
To my surprise, neither Flier nor Avery spoke, and Anna remained quiet too. However, they all listened to every word that passed between us. Servants brought more wine. None of us ate except the Slave-Master,
Kendra said, “You refer to him as the ‘young mage.’ Why?”
The Slave-Master said, “Remember, all I’ve told you are rumors, many drawn from slaves who will say anything for their freedom. I cannot vouch for the truth of what I’ve told you, only that I’ve faithfully presented it as I’ve learned.”
“But you believe it,” Elizabeth said.
He sighed. “Yes.”
“Tell me why,” she continued.
“The rumors fit with what I know and have experienced. That’s all I can tell you.”
We exchanged more confused looks. It appeared the Slave-Master had said all he was going to. We could believe him and act on the rumors or not. He avoided making eye contact with any of us.
The temperature in the room seemed to have fallen. At the same time, I was sweating more than ever. That may seem strange if you’ve never been lost in your emotions.
Kendra had turned and looked at Anna.
Anna said, anticipating the coming question, “Touch me. I’m real.”
That summed up our conflicting beliefs. We didn’t even know if the girl who traveled with us was real or not. If she was not, and another manifestation of the Young Mage, as we called him, what would she say? Probably exactly what Anna did.
*Tell her,* Anna’s voice came to my mind.
“Anna is real,” I said, probably too loud because everyone jerked at the sound of my voice.
“How do you know?” Elizabeth asked. “I mean, how can you tell she is not like the other one? Maybe created for the exact circumstances of when Emma was discovered.”
I said as I touched a finger to my forehead, “In here. I can see inside her mind.”
Several people reacted to my statement, including two servants who rushed out of the tent in near panic as if I was going to invade their minds. The Slave-Master’s expression turned cold.
Kendra reached out and grabbed Anna in a warm hug. “I’m so sorry.”