“Oh yes, that! Well after I showed my credentials from the chapter in Verningham the brothers were kind enough to put me up at the temple here in Albamarl and from there it…”
“Credentials?” I interrupted.
“A letter of introduction from Abbot Simon in Verningham,” he clarified.
“How did you get that?” I questioned.
He sighed audibly, “I forged it Mort. Are you going to keep interrupting every time I get going? It really drags the story out.”
“Sorry,” I apologized. I also made a note that Marc still had talents I had yet to discover after all our years as friends.
He glared at me for a second, then opened his mouth as if he were about to speak. When I said nothing he finally went on, “So from there I went to the temple of Karenth and presented myself as an itinerant scholar and gained permission to search the archives.”
I marveled at his brazen accomplishments, but I had come to expect surprises from Marc over the years. Before I could ask another question he went on, “So I began my search and I quickly discovered that the damned place is a maze of books and moldy scrolls. It would take most of my lifetime to search that place and I still might miss the information we’re looking for, so I sought out expert advice.”
Rose swallowed the piece of burnt sausage she had been idly nibbling at and broke in, “You mean you began sleeping with people.”
Marc gave her an indignant look, “Marissa is not people. She is a promising ‘light’ in the church of Celior, not to mention an accomplished scholar of history.”
Rose rolled her eyes but said nothing.
“Anyway, I met Marissa in the stacks, and it turns out that not many men share her interest in ancient church history. She was very pleased to share her knowledge and to help answer my questions as they arose,” he said somberly.
“If you were in the Karenthian archives, what was a priestess of Celior doing there?” I asked.
He pointed at me, “See! Now you show your ignorance. The archives are a resource shared by all four temples. The Karenthians are simply the ones in charge of managing it.”
“So what did you find out?” I asked impatiently.
Marc frowned. Obviously I was ruining his hard won tale. “Well if you want me to shorten things up, Marissa helped me do some research on the city’s early days, before and immediately after the events of the Sundering. Unfortunately there was very little of practical use recorded about Moira’s battle against Balinthor, other than the usual, she summoned a colossal giant of earth and stone that battled and eventually overcame Balinthor. Although she won there is no mention of her afterward, so I’m assuming she died during or shortly after the battle.”
I nodded, “That’s essentially true.”
He looked at me oddly. I hadn’t gotten around to telling anyone about my ongoing conversation with Moira Centyr, not even him. As it was I didn’t want to spoil his efforts, it had been hard enough for him to find a purpose after his depression. “Do you know something about that?” he asked me.
“Not much, but what you found agrees with what I’ve read,” I told him. Now there’s a perfect example of the subtle use of rule number two in lying, I thought to myself.
After a moment he continued, “What I did discover of importance, was that during the chaos of Balinthor’s war against humanity the Illeniel family moved something here of great importance. Something they didn’t want falling into the hands of strangers, or malevolent gods.”
I leaned forward. I was all ears now, “Go on…”
Marc smiled, “Apparently the early churches were all watching the remaining wizards carefully, particularly after the war was over. There are several missives detailing their activities, especially those regarding the Illeniel family. From what they could piece together it was suspected that something called ‘Illeniel’s Doom’ was moved to Albamarl.”
“If that were true then the most likely location for it today… would be here, in this house,” I noted.
“Assuming they didn’t have a secret storehouse somewhere,” Rose pointed out.
“True,” I agreed, though I personally doubted they would let something that important be kept away from this house. Usually the best protection a wizard can provide is his own presence. “What else did you discover?”
“The early clergy believed that Balinthor was primarily after Illeniel’s Doom, and that his attempt to wipe out humanity was merely a secondary goal of revenge.”
That was news to me. Moira had barely known of its existence, much less thinking it could be the dark god’s primary motivation. I would have to question her more closely later, for it appeared the priests of that ancient time had known more about the doings of the Illeniels than their fellow wizards had. “That will deserve a lot of consideration later, anything else?” I asked.
“Well I’m not sure if this is important, but it is certainly interesting. It seems the Iron Brothers keep a secret compound in the woodlands to the northwest,” he replied.
Rose spoke up, “How secret?”
“So secret that they’re hiding its existence even from the other churches,” he answered with a roguish smile.
“How did you find out about it?” I said.
“Purely by accident,” he replied. “If I hadn’t decided to stay with the Doronites I never would have known a thing. As it was I just happened to hear someone complaining in the dining hall one day and it piqued my interest, after that it was mainly a matter of paying attention.”
“Any idea what they use it for?”
“Not a clue,” he admitted. “They send a small load of supplies and sundries every few weeks and apparently those chosen for duty there find it exceedingly boring.”
I took a deep breath, “Well if that’s all your news I suppose I should bring you up to date on matters back in Lancaster.”
“Good, I’m tired of wondering what you and Rose have been so tense about,” he said mildly.
I glanced at Rose for support but her expression told me that this would be my tale to tell. I took another breath and jumped in headfirst, “Things went badly after I left Penny and Dorian in Lancaster last week. They were ambushed in the guest room they were given. Miriam was stabbed and she and Penny were both abducted.” Marc’s eyes grew round as I spoke, but he made no move to interrupt.
“Dorian gave chase and saved Miriam. I believe he nearly saved Penny as well, but they were surrounded in the forest by a large group of shiggreth and overwhelmed. He and Penny, along with almost all of the kidnappers are now dead, or worse than dead,” I finished.
True to his upbringing my friend kept his calm after I had finished. When he finally spoke it was to ask questions, which I answered as best I could. Over the space of a half an hour I related what had happened after I had found out, omitting my near destruction of everything and focusing on my rage and near murder of the surviving witness instead. I told him about Walter and my thoughts about his possible future usefulness.
When he had run out of questions and I had run out of things to add we both sat silent for a long while. Rose watched us from a short distance away. She had remained quiet the entire time. My guess was that she didn’t trust herself to speak on the topic yet.
After some time had passed Marc leaned back in his chair and looked at me, “You know what this means?”
I had some inkling what he would say next, but I simply nodded.
“There is a certain king that needs killing,” he supplied.
Rose leaned in, “Yes!” It was the first time she had shown any enthusiasm in the conversation.
I stood up and my nervous energy set me to pacing. “I agree with you, though he isn’t the only one, nor should he be the first.”
“The shiggreth?” he said questioningly.
I nodded, “They were already on the list but now they will be first. I want to save Edward for last.”
“Why?” he asked.
“Because someone is talking to them,” Rose interrupted. “They should not have known that the King’s operatives would be escaping with fugitives on that particular day, and in that particular place. That means either
