Darkness and Hellfire

Chapter 47 Keep Reading.

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Izen Von Arbencroft leaned forwards in his chair and interlaced his fingers when the door closed behind his two most recent ‘problems’. He set his chin on his knuckles and furrowed his brows in thought.

The guard captain, Tim, took a step towards him and spoke: “My Lord, me must deal with this problem, his insolence knows no bounds. Someone who treats you in such a way in your own halls should be executed, not rewarded.”

Izen ignored him and kept trying to figure out how he was going to handle the situation. The magistrate, Gio, also took a step towards him and said: “They are too dangerous to be left to roam the city. We should create a punitive force to deal with this problem as soon as possible.”

The court mage, Alexander, raised his hand before voicing his dispute: “He is much too powerful to attempt to kill in such a way. Did you feel the mana he wielded Sir Gio? The quantity of mana being used as a chair of all things was frightening. A man with that kind of power should be aided or at the very least left to his own devices. I can’t imagine the fallout of a failed attack on him. The king should be made aware of his existence.”

Izen finally acknowledged one of his advisors upon hearing the mention of the king. He sat up and turned to look at Alexander. “The king? He is that powerful?” He looked down in thought for a moment. “Actually that brings some things to light. I have never heard of someone having a V’Nova as a bodyguard. At first I assumed he was lying but then…”

Izen’s voice trailed off upon seeing his door thrown open and a guard ran in holding a sheet of parchment. “My liege!” The guard called out and quickly closed the distance to hand Izen the parchment. Izen nodded to him in thanks and took the parchment.

After reading for a while in silence he handed the parchment to Tim. “We will go with Alexander’s suggestion. I will write a letter to his majesty. Until then they are both to be treated as valued allies and with respect.” He commanded all in the hall.

Tim started reading, at one point he started reading aloud. “Only one body could be identified… heavy necrosis and disintegration… eyes still open in shock… almost his entire head was gone, reduced to rotted flesh and black dust?!” He looked up and met Alexander’s eyes. “What matter of magic could have done this?”

Alexander paled. “Nothing short of a seventh level spell.” he replied quietly but loud enough for them all to hear.

“Keep reading.” Izen commanded.

Tim nodded and continued. “Nothing but black dust and degraded bones remained buried inside a set of chainmail that was still in perfect condition…” He looked to Alexander again.

Alexander just shook his head. “I don’t know…”

Tim steeled himself and continued. “Cell one A, where the woman known as Lady Lenna V’Nove was said to have been restrained, was unlocked by a key to allow the entry of three guards in question. Cell one B, where the man known as Lord Isaac Wexler was said to have been restrained, was still locked. The cuffs were also untampered with and still locked. When questioned, the guard who locked him in the cell stated that he had made sure to lock him up properly…”

Gio cleared his throat. “We need to remove this problem before it gets even more out of hand.”

Alexander took a step towards Gio. “That final feat would have taken teleportation of some degree to pull off Sir Gio. If he is not killed in an instant he would escape and based on his final victim I do not doubt his ability to cast spells that even I am not aware of.” He looked towards Izen and met his lord’s eyes. “Please my liege, don’t risk angering this… this monster…” He took a deep breath. “No mortal should be capable of the power he has shown today.”

Before Izen could respond Gio cut in: “You are forgetting the other problem!” His voice rose with the last two words of his declaration. “There cannot be a drow noble walking our streets! She must be removed!”

Sera, who had been sitting and listening quietly, spoke up. “Sir Gio. I ask that you remember where you are. Alexander, you have proven to be well versed in all forms of magic, and your advice has never once been incorrect, however I believe it may be too soon to annoy the king with this matter.” She rested her hand on her husband’s arm. “Dear, if they want to be adventurers then why stop them? If they are truly as dangerous as you all say, then why not let them use their strength to help the people of the realm?”

Izen was inclined to agree with her. No one in Safeharbor liked their neighbors, the drow empire, but Gio was zealous in his belief that they should be purged. His bias was clouding his judgment. Tim had been chosen as the guard captain because he was the only man Izen truly trusted to be unbribable and for no other reason. After thinking for a moment longer he sighed and rubbed his temples.

Izen leaned back in his chair and looked towards the ceiling. He searched the shadows above for another answer but found none. He looked down and met each of his advisors’ eyes one by one. “We will leave them be and honor our agreement. If this Lord Wexler wanted to, he could kill each of us in our sleep. You all watched him disappear like I did, now we know that he can teleport. There is a chance we could kill them yes, but the risk of failing, and its resulting consequences, are too high. That is my final decision.”

Sera smiled contentedly to herself. Alexander breathed out a deep sigh of relief even if he did believe it would be best to let the king know of this extremely powerful entity. Tim nodded in acknowledgement, his spirit had been crushed by the news and resulting discussion but he would trust in his lord. Gio ground his teeth and fought back a snarl.

“If that is your decision, I will handle it myself.” Gio declared.

Izen’s gaze shot to him. “You will do no such thing.”

“My oath is sworn to the crown not to you Duke Arbencroft.” Gio reminded him.

Izen rose to his feet. He was a few inches shorter than Gio and in much less imposing attire but that mattered little to him. “I will have you removed from my city if you put it at risk. Can you even fight either of them?”

Gio took a half step back and averted his gaze. “I would manage.”

“No Gio. You would not. If you can not tell me honestly that you can be sure that you could win against either one of them, then what chances do you have against them both? Return to your duties and leave those two be.” Izen commanded his assigned magistrate.

The reality of dealing with the drow noble had finally set in. It took the duke spelling it out to him but he realized that he, alone, would not be able to remove her. He nodded to the duke in understanding. “I will excuse myself.” He said in a deflated tone and turned to leave.

As Gio walked away Izen stared at him. “I will add a warning to the letter to Celeste. I can’t stop Gio from moving secretly but I can warn them and hope that they will only enact any repercussions on those that mean them harm.”

“I think that is a good idea.” Sera told him.

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