Grand Game 394: The Two-Fold Rebellion (Patreon)

“How long until they wake up?” Elron asked.

I shrugged. “Any second now.” Right on queue, a Game alert opened in my mind.

Your enchantment has lapsed. Your targets are no longer asleep.

The two soldiers at the door moaned while the one sitting down jerked upright suddenly, his eyes widening. He bore a captain’s insignia on his arm I noted. “Sir!” he exclaimed, hands fumbling for his sword.

“It’s alright Algar,” Elron soothed. “I’m fine.”

Algar has failed to pierce your disguise.

The captain’s gaze shot sideways to me. “But-but what about...”

I recognized him now. The officer in question was the one on duty when I’d first arrived in the city. At the time, he and Elron had seemed well-acquainted, which made sense in light of what the marshal had just told me. “Algar, isn’t it?” I asked. “You remember me, don’t you?”

In the face of my obvious lack of hostility, the captain calmed. “You’re that... player.”

“That’s right,” Elron replied before I could answer myself. Standing up he swung to face the two guards at the door. “And he is my friend, too. I trust you three will keep his visit a secret?”

The trio snapped off smart salutes. “Yes, sir!” they echoed in unison.

“Thank you,” Elron replied. “Now, leave us please.”

The two soldiers at the door hurried out, followed more slowly by Algar.

“Oh, and captain,” the marshal said, stopping him, “make sure we aren’t disturbed.”

“As you wish, sir,” Algar said and closed the door on his way out.

Striding towards the chair, Elron seated himself and faced me, his expression one of quiet intensity as he leaned forward. “Now. Tell me everything. Did you succeed? Did you find the exile?”

✵ ✵ ✵

I waved aside the marshal’s question. “We’ll get to that in a bit. I’m more concerned about what’s happening in the city. Matters in New Haven are not at all what I expected. What’s gone wrong?”

Elron’s face fell, his only sign of disappointment at being made to wait. He sat back. “What hasn’t gone wrong?” he muttered rhetorically as he sat back.

“Gamil told me the city is under lockdown,” I said. “And the guards on the wall wouldn’t let me enter when I approached.”

“That’s all Cilia’s doing,” Elron said grimly.

“Gamil said so,” Leaning forward, I planted my elbows on my knees. “We had a plan for getting rid of her. You had a plan. Did it fail?”

“It did—and spectacularly, too,” the marshal replied bluntly.

I winced. “What happened?”

“The possessed happened,” Elron answered. “It seems I underestimated how close Cilia and Castor are. My plan to unseat her from the council was going perfectly—I had the votes I needed, and the dark elf patriarchs behind me—then Castor found out.” He fell silent.

“And?” I prompted.

“And,” Elron continued bitterly, “he wouldn’t let his mistress be removed. He even went so far as to threaten to kill the other councilors if they attempted to oust her again.”

I blinked in astonishment. “Mistress? You mean Castor and Cilia…?”

Elron nodded. “Believe me, I was even more surprised.” He shook his head. “Anyway, after my failed attempt to usurp Cilia, she knew I was an enemy, and slowly but surely, she’s been tightening the noose around me. I’ve been under house arrest for more than two weeks now.”

I glanced meaningfully at the door. “Those three didn’t look like any jailors I’ve run across before.”

A bitter-sweet smile flickered across Elron’s face. “Cilia may have won the contest between us, but she has not entirely expunged my influence in the city. Even now, most of the army is still loyal to me.” He sighed. “But enough have chosen to side with her, that if I chose to contest her orders, it would come to open fighting in the streets—and I can’t risk that.” He lowered his head in shame. “I’m sorry to say, but I failed to complete my part of the plan.”

“So, to be clear… the whole house arrest is a façade, and the soldiers on the street outside are yours?”

“Not entirely,” the marshal replied. “Most of the soldiers in this district are mine. Even so, Cilia has spies amongst them. They would report my movements if I left.” He shrugged. “So, I’ve been biding my time and waiting for an opportunity.”

I didn’t say anything for a moment as I tried to understand the new dynamic in the city and the army’s divided loyalties. I recalled the dark elf captain I’d spoken with at the gate. “I bet the soldiers on the south wall belong to Celia,” I muttered. “And probably those on the east wall too.”

The marshal studied me curiously. “What makes you say that?”

I relayed my conversation with the captain on the south wall, and Elron’s face twisted in distaste. “That’s Minakawa. I should have kicked him out of the army a long time ago.”

I couldn’t agree more but didn’t pursue the matter further as something else occurred to me. “Wait… did you say you’ve been under house arrest for two weeks?”

Elron nodded.

My brows furrowed. “Then why the citywide lockdown? Gamil said the curfews only began two days ago.”

“He’s right about that,” Elron confirmed. “As for why...” The marshal shook his head. “That’s what my informants have been working overtime trying to figure out. But all I’ve managed to find out thus far is that the order came directly from Castor.”

I inhaled sharply. “Castor? You mean he’s still in the city?”

Elron’s brows furrowed. “Of course. Where else would he be? Since the lockdown began, he and the other possessed have been holed up in the lower levels of Cilia’s fortress. I haven’t managed to figure out what they’ve been doing there either.”

Rising to my feet, I began pacing. I’d been wrong. Castor and the others had not been recalled. Either Adriel had failed to get her message through to Farren or...

Or the liches had betrayed me.

I shook my head. Don’t be a fool, Michael. The very notion is ridiculous! There was no way Adriel and Farren would do that, not after all we’d been through.

No, the answer had to lie elsewhere.

Two days, I mused, reflecting over the timeline again.

Two days ago was when the archlich had been killed—the same time Castor had put New Haven in lockdown. It could not be a coincidence. Avery, I remembered, was in the lich’s court and, by his own admission, able to speak to Castor across the dungeon.

Is that it?

Had Avery told Castor about Loskin’s death? Probably. But even if he had, so what? The possessed’s existence was dependent on a lich’s goodwill which bound them—willing or unwillingly—to Farren and Adriel.

Unless…

Was Castor attempting a rebellion? Was he making some sort of play against Farren and Adriel?

But that idea was nearly as ludicrous as the notion the lichs had betrayed me. Without Farren and Adriel there would be no more possessed. Castor’s continued immortality depended on a lich rehoming him when he died. That fact alone would ensure the failure of any attempted revolt.

Unless Castor thinks he has a bargaining chip.

I froze, considering that startling possibility. What sort of—?

I swung back to the marshal. “You said Castor and the possessed are in Cilia’s castle, correct?”

He nodded.

“Have you managed to get a precise fix on their location?” Before he could answer, I went on, “Could it be that they are not in the fortress itself but in the underground tunnel between New Haven and the lich’s court?”

The marshal’s eyebrows rose. “They are in fact holed up just inside the tunnel’s entrance. How did you guess?”

Things were starting to make sense. Not answering Elron, I continued to ponder the slowly unraveling mystery.

“You know what Castor is up to,” Elron cut in, less statement, than question. “Tell me,” he demanded.

I met his gaze. “I do. Castor is holding the city hostage.”

✵ ✵ ✵

The marshal’s face scrunched up. “Hostage? But against who—”

“The archlich—the new archlich, I should say.” I resumed pacing. “This is a power play.”

Bowing my head, I thought it through. The last time we’d discussed the tunnel, Elron had told me it was easily defensible, that a small group could hold it against an entire army if needs be. That being the case, it was not inconceivable that Castor might try to cut off Farren from the possessed’s only source of new bodies.

He had miscalculated, though.

The new archlich was nothing like the old one. Farren wasn’t interested in new bodies. That era was over. From here on out, the possessed were going to be as mortal as everyone else. But Castor didn’t know that. Not yet.

“New archlich,” Elron said abruptly, interrupting my musings again. “You said new archlich.” When I swung around to face him, he added, “Does that mean what I think it means?”

I smiled. “If you’re asking, did I succeed in finding the exile, then yes. If you’re asking if the old possessed leader is dead, then yes too.”

Resting his arms on the side of his chair, Elron pressed his hands tightly together until the white of his knuckles were showing and stared at me with unwavering intensity. “There’s more. I can tell,” he said, his eyes shining.

I laughed. “You’re right. There is. Both the exile and the new archlich—they are siblings by the way—have allied with me. I won’t go into all the details right now but suffice to say there will be no more ‘bodies’ harvested from New Haven, and the city’s populace is free to exit the dungeon whenever it wishes.”

A single tear ran down Elron’s face. “You did it,” he whispered.

I nodded mutely, giving him time to savor the moment, then added, “There’s more.”

“More?” he echoed.

“The breach in the dungeon’s barrier has been repaired, the harbinger has been defeated, and the void tree has fled.”

The marshal’s face went blank as he struggled to comprehend the enormity of what I was telling him.

“In simple terms, what all this means is the void is no longer a threat. New Haven need not fear the nether anymore. I can’t tell you everything, but I’m certain that for the next few centuries at least, the void will never return to Draven’s Reach. The city it’s safe.”

“Safe,” Elron repeated.

I nodded solemnly. “Stay or leave. The choice is now entirely in you people’s hands.”

The blank look left Elron’s gaze and he slowly lifted his eyes to mine. “And this is all you’re doing?”

I grinned. “I had help. Lots of it.”

The marshal uncoiled and, skipping forward jerkily, gripped my hands in his. “Thank you,” he said fervently. “On behalf of—”

“No thanks are necessary,” I said, cutting him off. My smile faded. “And truthfully, my actions were not purely altruistic.”

Elron did not back away. “You want something.”

“I do,” I replied. “It’s a big ask. And dangerous too.” I held up my hand, stopping him from speaking. “But it is an ask only. New Haven will be free to deny me if it so wishes.”

“What do you need?”

Breaking free of Elron, I stepped back. “We’ll get to that in good time. Right now, we have a more immediate matter to attend to—figuring out how to deal with Cilia and Castor.”