Mage Cell, Lomar urged them all to keep absolutely silent.
‘This level is full of guards,’ he whispered after they had passed the sturdy entrance. ‘After Samuel’s previous escape, they’re not taking any chances. I hope your illusions fool them long enough for us to do our work.’
‘My spells will hold,’ Samuel whispered back. ‘The rest has done me wonders. As long as they don’t ask us any questions and they expect us to actually do nothing but sit and look blankly at each other, the illusions will fool anyone.’
‘With luck, our escape will not be noticed,’ Master Glim said. ‘The councillors will all be busy with the ceremony and the guards won’t be bothered to ask us about anything-I hope.’
After they had descended several more flights of curling stairs, Master Glim stopped and put his ear carefully to an ornate door. After a moment he turned the brass handle and ventured in. ‘In here,’ he whispered.
They crept inside the small chamber, which seemed to be someone’s living quarters. There was a large bed set against the wall, and some black robes hung on a stand by the door.
‘This is Lord Irshank’s chamber,’ Master Glim informed them. ‘I presume he is in the assembly room now, so we should be able to talk here uninterrupted. But first things first. I’ve got to get out of this ridiculous tunic.’ And he scowled again at Samuel.
‘So what do we do?’ Goodfellow asked, as Master Glim and Samuel began looking over Irshank’s enormous robes.
‘We have to keep Rimus from taking possession of the Staff of Elders,’ Samuel stated.
‘Yes,’ Lomar agreed. ‘He’s made us all out to be traitors and set himself up to be Archmage. We have to stop him.’
‘Can we ask the councillors for help?’ Eric questioned.
Master Glim shook his head. ‘No. They may have been planning this with Rimus all the while. Either that or they’ve been fooled by him. As Eric said, we don’t know whom, if anyone, we can trust.’
‘But Rimus is waiting for the ceremony, so all the councillors can’t be aligned with him, or he would just have them undo the Manyspell around the Staff and hand it to him now,’ Goodfellow said.
‘True,’ Master Glim responded, ‘but any one of them could be with Rimus, and we don’t know which ones. Once we act, our advantage of surprise is lost, so we’d better get this right first time.’
‘We could just find Rimus and kill him,’ Eric suggested. ‘That would solve a lot of our problems.’
Master Glim nodded. ‘We could, but we need to ferret out all the conspirators from the Order once and for all. Rimus could be just another pawn and, if we simply killed him, we may never find the true masterminds behind all this. It’s all become very convoluted and I cannot believe Rimus has orchestrated all this alone. No, we need to know where the Grand Master and the Empress are and we need to find Dividian and Master Ash. Once we do that, we can finally finish this sorry mess.’ He had slipped on one of Irshank’s robes and was securing it with cords-for it was far too big for him. ‘But first, we need to stop this infernal ordination.’
‘Wait,’ Samuel said. ‘What happened to Captain Orrell?’
‘After we returned to the city, he went to speak with General Ruardin,’ Lomar responded, ‘but we have not heard from him since. Who can guess what has happened?’
‘So what do we do?’ Goodfellow asked of those around him.
‘We must hurry,’ Samuel suggested. He had begun to rummage through Irshank’s drawers and had found a faded old cloak that seemed almost the right size. ‘The ceremony is about to begin. Rimus will be Archmage and he will have his hands on the Staff of Elders. Whatever he has been planning will be that much closer to him and our task will be much more difficult. I say we go in there now and confront him while we can.’
Master Glim eyed Samuel back levelly while he contemplated the idea.
Eric nodded. ‘I agree. The room will be full, but it may be the last chance we have. The Lions will support us at the very least.’
‘If we’re lucky, we can reveal Rimus’ plans for what they are and there won’t be any need for violence,’ Goodfellow put in.
Master Glim looked at Lomar.
‘I think we have little choice,’ the tall man responded.
Master Glim looked unconvinced and he chewed the thought over for a few moments. ‘Our plans seem based on hunches and hope. I was hoping for something a little more sound.’
‘If we can at least make our accusations before the entire gathering, it will grant us some time,’ Lomar said.
‘Then let’s go,’ Master Glim finally declared. ‘We have precious little time, but let’s take care-be prepared for anything.’
They all agreed and cautiously left the room, with Master Glim and Samuel in their borrowed, ill-fitting robes.
They reached the bottom of the tower without passing a soul and entered the palace proper, nodding to the busy servants they met there. They walked the many long halls without incident and crossed over to the High Tower. They began up its stairs towards the assembly chamber, where small events and meetings could be held. Guards were hurrying all about, but they paid the group no heed.
When they reached the third level they branched away from the stairs towards the assembly chamber, following the long rolls of red carpet. Two armed men met them at the wide single door to the room.
‘Strange to see such men at an Order ceremony,’ Samuel noted.
‘That’s to ensure Rimus’ plans all go to plan-so to speak,’ Master Glim replied. ‘This is
The two men seemed to recognise the group for who they were and were reaching for their swords when they both slumped to the floor, put to sleep with a flick of Master Glim’s wrist.
Samuel stepped over them and led the way into the assembly chamber. It was an imposing room, easily able to seat two or three hundred people on its long rows of benches. The chamber was full of magicians who were buzzing with talk but, luckily, the ceremony had not yet begun. Most of those gathered were younger Masters, while the minority were many of the old magicians who had missed the slaughter in the palace and had now come to Cintar to witness the new Archmage being appointed. Some stood in the aisles and talked in small groups with each other, while the elder mages sat soberly in their places, waiting patiently. There had not been a new Archmage in most men’s lifetimes, so the event was cause for quite some interest.
The Staff of Elders stood in the centre of the staged area, held upright on an ornate stand of polished, curved wood. Samuel could see an intricate web of spells around it-five spells from five different people, and they were tied in a marvellous way-simultaneously cast to be intertwined and interdependent in an ingenious knot of magic. Each spell would need to be removed simultaneously in order to get at the Staff. Given time, Samuel was sure he would be able to defeat such measures-as when he had dispelled the Emperor’s protection spells-but he doubted that anyone here would be willing to give him the opportunity.
The councillors were seated in the front row and, as Samuel looked down, Lord Vander, shortest amongst the men, turned and spotted him. The man’s eyes opened wide and he began alerting the other councillors at once. Samuel leapt down the stairs and the others followed, but the councillors had already stood up to intercept them.
‘What is the meaning of this?’ Lord Hathen boomed up at them, standing in the aisle and blocking their path with his hefty frame.
Lord Vander put his hands on his waist and cleared his throat. He glared at Samuel and looked set to explode. ‘You people are wanted felons! You should not be here!’ he stated angrily. ‘And you!’ he looked directly at Samuel, ‘have escaped
‘Hold a moment, Lord Vander,’ Master Glim urged with a raised palm. ‘We had nothing to do with the Emperor’s death, or that of the Archmage. That was plain for everyone to see and we have no idea of what has happened to the Empress.’
‘You are a disgrace, Master Glim!’ Master Irshank bellowed, making his drooping chins wobble about furiously. He then looked about the room. ‘Somebody go fetch some more guards.’
‘Such nerve!’ Lord Butler said from behind, adding to the other councillors’ disdain.
Samuel noticed two cloaked figures quietly stand and approach from the side of the room. Their auras spoke of power and they were readying their spells. Samuel looked around, hoping to spy the five Lions, but the celebrated
