I met with a number of distinguished elven masters.

  The three Reeves joined me early before they, too, went off to see to the guilds and our fellow mages. Grand Guildmaster Caibalar of the Elven Silver masters was beside himself with worry. Their guild, while full of mages, did not tend to do a lot of direct offensive magic work, although many were quite accomplished in their ability to construct offensive and defensive magics into their creations.

  “When the creature just came out of Master Orijor, I froze. It was unlike anything I had ever seen.”

  I had not bothered to ask, but apparently, Master Orijor was the name of the summoner shadow mage who reached too far in his ambition. Summoning a legendary shadow was beyond foolhardy, and it cost him his life and nearly that of every mage in the hall.

  Of the other Reeves, I recalled seeing Master Ernengtion of the enchanters and Grandmaster Mirajor of the Rune Lords sending offensive attacks at the giant shadow lord. Neither responded to the Elven Silversmith’s remarks, but they were both glad the ordeal was over and that the traitors had been uncovered.

  I hesitated before saying, “Masters, I hope that those were the only traitors, but there are other sources of power in the city than mages and places of darkness that they could hide.”

  “Surely not!” The Silversmith exclaimed.

  “Best we keep it to ourselves or those we trust. We managed a victory today, but given the long game our enemies have been playing, I find it hard to imagine that those two mages created all the conflict we are facing in our kingdom.”

  I nodded to them and moved on. It gave them something to think about without planting seeds of panic.

  Grandmaster Chalia Ealirel Persalor, the Arbor Grandmaster, was assisting some clerics in healing a young elementalist who had been struck by friendly fire and then knocked through a chair and into a table. It dawned on me that the chair that had been demolished had been vacated by the old sorceress at the start of the meeting.

  “Huh, maybe she knew something would happen,” I said out loud.

  “What is that, Seneschal?” The grandmaster asked as she was wrapping up the mage’s arm.

  “Oh, just thinking out loud, Arboress. There is a lot of empty space up here,” I pointed at my head, “and sometimes the echoes just sort of leak out.”

  She smiled. “Keep that attitude as long as you can. And your humor. Both will serve you well.”

  I nodded respectfully to her, and as I moved away, I noticed that two older mages had been waiting to speak with me. It was the guildmasters of both Conjuration and Summoning. I seemed to recall that neither of them nor those around them had been especially friendly to me before Council had begun.

  The Summoner, Master Dhorian Fherin, spoke first. “Seneschal, we wanted to thank you for your actions. Many of us have been reluctant supporters of yours but you truly have the protection of the realm in your heart, and we wanted to assure you that we will immediately begin a swift and thorough investigation of our respective guilds. We will not allow such corruption or division to separate us again.”

  I nodded to them seriously. “I thank you, guildmasters. Your guilds represent some of the most important among us and will continue to be vitally important to our defense.”

  “Indeed.” Said the Conjurer guildmaster, Grandmaster Ulnean Joppler. “We have heard that the Silversmiths allocated 100,000 silver toward your defense and humanitarian work in Keelwell. Our two guilds would also like to match that donation and assure you that we are working hard to assist in the king’s gifts before the deadline.”

  I bowed to them both. “Your generosity and loyalty to the kingdom and the plight of our allies are commendable, and on behalf of the children and innocents of the city, I thank you.”

  They both moved off with smiles and began to discuss how they could step up their productions and gain the support of others in the guild to root out corruption.

  I was sure the conversation was meant for me to overhear, but as long as they moved in the right direction, I didn’t care how much of it was politics and how much of it was genuine.

  I made my way over to Monsignor Bill, who was talking with some of the cleric acolytes. Even though he was human, the acolytes were all elven and were hanging on his every word.

  As I neared, the cleric bowed deeply and said, “Welcome, Seneschal, how may we be of service?”

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  The acolytes hurriedly followed their pastor’s lead and bowed to me.

  “I just wanted to stop by and thank you for the bravery of the acolytes during this unexpected adventure. We knew there was corruption, but not even I knew it had driven such darkness to our doors.”

  He beamed. “They were very brave, weren’t they?” He said with pride.

  “Indeed. I heard that even during the height of the battles, some of them were still healing the injured.”

  “All of us did it, Seneschal.” One of the younger acolytes proclaimed. “None of us hid. We all healed, and a few of us even sent a few holybolts at the shadow.”

  I raised my eyebrows. “Did you indeed? I shall have to make a note of that in the briefing to the king.” I said solemnly.

  Their eyes got big.

  “They have much to learn, but they show a great deal of promise,” Monsignor stated.

  “Study hard,” I advised. “You never know what you may learn, or how deeply you may learn something that could make all the difference someday.”

  They all nodded and voiced their promises to study.

  I remember those days. And while I tended to comment on how much I did not miss them, I have to admit that there were some good days, and the life of the acolyte, as hard as it seemed at the time, would probably remain a cherished time in my life as age and experience made their marks.

  “May I have a private word, Monsignor?” I asked.

  “Of course, Seneschal.” He replied.

  They bowed again to me as I moved away with their pastor.

  “Monsignor, how many losses did we suffer?”

  He sighed. “In addition to that, poor soul consumed by corruption, we lost two guards, a master wizard, a master elementalist, and three clerics.”

  “Any acolytes?” I asked hesitantly.

  “None, thankfully.”

  “Please send their names to my office when you are finished with your work.”

  He rested his hand on my arm. “Gwydion, if you had not had so many clerics present, the number would have been far higher. We healed dozens of mages, some were dangerously close to death and would have done so even with magical healing if our Holy Lights were not present. The creature had an area of effect that drained life as a damage over time effect that was canceled by Holy Light. Without them here, I shudder to think what the consequences may have been.”

  “Thank you for that insight. I will share that as well, and we may want to include clerics in some of our more important teams and patrols.”

  “I will pass that along. We are increasing our lessons for the more talented acolytes, and we have a recent group of journeymen who were not present tonight so as not to tip our hand. But they are also well prepared to face the darkness.” He stated.

  “Thank you again. If you need anything, you know how to reach me.”

  He smiled. “And thank you for your support of Lady Venstina, your Keelwell Ambassador Rothilion Venstina’s wife. She is working up quite a list to present to you in the very near future.”

  I returned his smile. “I am glad to hear it. Tell her I said not to be too conservative. Think big. Give me realistic needs and I will do what I can to see them fulfilled.”

  I felt a bit like the Duke or Jonathan, encouraging me just a few days ago to do the same.

  I made my way back over to the Speaker’s Stone and the exit.

  One of the younger wizards approached me and bowed. “Seneschal, I have a message from Wizard Iolas. The grandmaster would like to meet with you in your offices at your earliest convenience.”

  “Thank you. I will send word as soon as I know my time is available.”

  He bowed and departed, his message delivered.

  Leomys, who was never very far from me, had walked over, sensing that I was ready to return to my chambers. Before I could say anything, however, he bowed and took a step back from me. The other protectors around me did the same. I turned, expecting to see the king’s father, Yandril, but I was mistaken.

  Standing before me, and slightly taller than me, I realized now that we were in close proximity, was the ancient-looking sorceress who had switched seats before Council began.

  The Steward was also still nearby, and sensing a moment, he took a step forward and said, “Seneschal, this is Princess Deandra, Grandmaster Sorceress, Grandmaster Seer, cousin to the king of the Aquatic Elves, and Cousin to our King, and is matriarch among us. Great lady, this is our Seneschal.”

  I immediately saw that her fingers, while very old and wrinkled, were webbed, which spoke to her mixed heritage, as did her brilliantly cobalt blue eyes. I did not know exactly what was meant by “matriarch among us,” but she could be one of the oldest living elves in the realm. I had met a few of those lately.

  I decided that the matriarch title might be of greatest note as it was presented last, and so I greeted her with it.

  “Matriarch, it is my honor. What can I do for you?”

  She raised her right hand and lifted her pointer finger, which was abnormally longer than her index finger, toward the ceiling. I wasn’t the only one who looked up briefly before our attention was once more captured by her eyes as she spoke in a scratchy, dry, and slightly halting voice…

  Go to your sorrowful tree

  Alas, bark tearing branches bending leaves departing

  Investigate and see beyond looking

  After only a brief pause, she raised her shorter index finger to rest next to the first finger, also pointing upward. And suddenly I found myself rooted to the spot, unable to move other than breathe. She continued, reciting in the same dry voice…

  Go where battle loses ground

  Sons and daughters pruned short of life

  Treachery knows and remorse follows

  After another brief pause, she raised a third finger, and I felt a growing tension in me that caught my breath and seemed to freeze all but my mind…

  Eyes watching mind wanders confused

  Blood light seven alight life is dimmed

  Ever old becomes new renewed

  She nodded her head to me slowly, turned, and walked away.

  As soon as she left, my senses exploded and went haywire. For a few moments, I seemed to see, hear, and taste static. I don’t know how else to describe it.

  When my vision and hearing came back to me, and I barely refrained from sticking my tongue in and out of my mouth to get rid of the bizarre aftertaste, I found that my protectors and half a dozen soldiers had surrounded me and faced outward.

  I had been utterly vulnerable, and they took action. Only Leomys stood in front and facing me.

  The captain asked, “What do you need to do, Seneschal?”

  Based on the quick glances by those around me, they all seemed to be anxious and awaited my next words.

  I spoke without thinking. “We need to investigate the tree where I was ambushed.” I paused. “The rest comes after.”

  “Now?” He asked.

  I nodded. “I sense real urgency.”

  “Well, we couldn’t be better prepared.” He proclaimed and went off to secure transportation for us.

  He was right. Even though we did not expect to combat a legendary boss, we had brought with us every weapon we were capable of pulling together. A few soldiers even had some potions that I never saw used, but maybe they were too far from the shadow monsters that got summoned.

  In less than five minutes, Leomys, Sir Daeqen, my wizard protector, Roland, a cleric protector who simply went by her first name, which was Alicia, and a half dozen soldiers were on our way to the Shadow Tree and the scene of the earlier assassination attempt on me. A few children met us on the way out of the Lodge, but Leomys navigated us through them quickly, and we were in a troop transport wagon in moments.