Children of the Sun and Moon (15 page)

Although Jacob
appeared to be for the people, he was all about power. His face
would contort into the most evil grin, one that even frightened
Duke Dubar, when plans of over-throwing the king were discussed.
Dubar was quite thankful the captain was on his side.

“The Magima
have been sent back,” stated the captain.

Dubar smiled.
Of course, the captain would know they had left, that was his job.
“Yes,” he responded. “It should make planning things easier. We
will not have to meet in secret.”

Captain Moore
gave the duke a sideways look. “You are so certain they do not have
any spies inside the castle?” he questioned.

“I am confident
they do not,” came the reply.

Captain Moore
smiled back. “They never did seem to care much about the goings on
in this castle. Too concerned about magic and that prophecy.”

At the mention
of the prophecy, Selwell’s face clouded. Jacob noticed it
immediately, but was not sure as to what could be his reason.
“Something wrong?” he asked.

“I received a
letter today, telling me I would not be placed in charge. All royal
matters are going through the Order.” Dubar watched for a reaction,
and was quite disappointed that the news did not appear to affect
the captain.

However,
Captain Moore was indeed disturbed by the news and knew Dubar
wanted a reaction. He was not about to give him one. “Why?” he
asked, his voice calm.

“Because the
prophecy may be fulfilled,” spat Dubar. “Apparently Jeremy’s
children are whom the Order has been seeking all these years. They
say I will be placed in charge once all this prophecy business has
been taken care of.”

Captain Moore
broke out into a grin. Seeing the horrified expression on Dubar’s
face, he knew he had better explain himself and quickly. “This is
perfect,” he yelled, unable to contain his emotions. “Don't you see
it?”

The obviously
confused look on Dubar’s face answered his question. “The Order
will be going after the twins. This means they will be asking my
soldiers to do some of the legwork. They will want us to patrol the
near regions.” He stopped then, thinking this information would be
enough for the duke to figure out the rest.

Dubar’s face
turned red. “What is your point?” he screeched, his voice so full
of rage the captain thought Duke Dubar may order him slaughtered.
Of course, this just made Jacob laugh.

“You fool! It
means I can take my men on training exercises and practice raids.
We can say it is all in the name of stopping the prophecy. They
will never suspect it is to attack Jeremy.”

Dubar was about
to go on another rant, and stopped, letting Jacob’s words sink in.
Jacob watched as Dubar’s face went from sheer anger to joy. “This
is perfect,” he exclaimed, then turned back to the papers on his
desk. “We must come up with a plan then.”

“We must wait,”
came the captain's voice. “We cannot make plans without our eastern
friends. To do so may anger them.”

Duke Dubar sat
roughly, into his chair. “You are right. I had forgotten how
temperamental they could be. What do you suggest?”

“I will get my
men ready. As soon as we have received word from the Order we will
begin,” he told Duke Dubar. Then, he bent in closer to Dubar, his
voice lowered and his face turned into that horrible grin. “When
our friends arrive, we will be ready to take over the Central
Lands.”

Standing up, he
bowed to Dubar and walked out, leaving the duke with mixed feelings
about how the meeting went. Sighing, he decided to pen another note
to General Traug. “Offering my help may speed things along,” he
mumbled to himself.

Captain Moore
paused outside the door, took a deep breath, and then headed for
the barracks. He was not as sure as Duke Dubar that the Magima did
not have someone spying on them. Every time they met, Jacob was
sure someone was watching them. Sometimes it was just a feeling,
others he swore he would see movement out of the corner of his eye,
and this time was no exception. With the Magima gone, he knew it
could only mean they had someone inside the castle under their
control. It unnerved the captain to know he was being spied on, but
understood why. To see if anyone they spoke to possessed magical
abilities. Jacob immediately pushed those thoughts out when he
arrived at the barracks. There was too much planning to be done now
and he could not afford to be distracted.

Sol slowly
moved back into the secret passageway behind the curtain. He was
glad when both Duke Dubar and Captain Moore stated they felt the
Magima did not care about their plans. They were quite wrong, of
course. The Magima for some reason were very interested in these
two. He had hoped his days of spying were almost done, but when he
read the parchment sent to Duke Dubar, he knew different.

Sol knew he had
to play dumb when Vernia approached him. If she found out he had
read it, she would be very upset. Of course, he was well practised
in the art of acting scared. Being only fourteen, little things
like that amused him. Sol ran down the passageway, not afraid of
being heard. These walls were magically sealed. Sol always felt
special because even Duke Dubar did not know there was a passageway
behind one of his many silk curtains. It was supposed to be used to
spirit the king away if trouble arose, leading him outside the
castle walls. This fact amused Sol too. Now he was the one
spiriting away to report what he had heard, and he knew Vernia
would be most happy to hear it.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

At almost the
same moment the twins were before the Dwarf council, General Traug
was approaching Maget Tower. The large wall was in view and of
course so was the Tower itself. The Tower was the one place he
hated going. The building was not too spectacular, completely
black, but the feeling one got once inside was quite ominous. All
of those Magima present, unnerved him. There was also the
‘impenetrable wall’, which surrounded the entire area, and all he
knew about the wall was anyone who tried to enter that way, died a
rather horrible death. Shaking the thought from his head, he
recalled the events of late.

It had been
almost a week since he put King Jeremy under house arrest and
Klayhern under martial law. It was something he still regretted
doing. The king had been his friend for a long time. The
realization he did not really know Jeremy at all perplexed him.
Olrond also wondered how it was that so many people who possessed
magic could go undetected. Lakin must have sensed it, he could
detect even the minor workings of wizards and yet Gillock had
eluded him. Something was not right with this whole situation and
that bothered him. He was brought out of his reverie by the sound
of the main gate opening in front of him. One of the guards
informed him that as soon as he had freshened up he was to see
Lakin. He nodded his acknowledgement and headed for his quarters.
As he passed by the Tower, it suddenly became quite menacing. He
decided a meal and a quick bath was in order. Maybe that would help
his thoughts to clear.

Lakin watched
as the general slowed his pace near the Tower. He could tell by his
movements the man was intimidated by it, and this amused him. Of
course, that was the point to its construction. It was supposed to
appear menacing, which made it easier to dominate all who entered
the grounds. The look on Olrond’s face, however, was something he
did not like. His expression showed his mind was bristling with
questions. With everything happening, the last thing he needed was
the general challenging anything. Moving away from the window, he
figured the general would take his time coming to see him so he
decided to go to the lower levels to see how things were
progressing.

Lakin loved
moving through the tower. Nothing pleased him more than to feel the
magical properties the Tower possessed. Housed here were close to
one hundred magic users,

not that anyone
knew this. Lakin had been building his army for the last sixteen
years. The general knew the Magima possessed magic, but Lakin made
sure he only ever saw no more than fifteen of them throughout the
tower. After seeing the look on Olrond’s face, Lakin knew it was
time the general found out the truth. Malena would not be happy, of
course, but he did not care. Soon, he would be sending for Brin.
Once she was under his control, he would not need that old witch
anymore.

As he crept
through the secret door, leading to the lower levels, a smile
crossed his face. It was going to be interesting to see how the
good general would react to what he was going to be shown. Lakin
approached the door he was looking for, and hesitated. It had been
many years since Lakin had looked in on this captive, and wasn't
certain how he would be received. Slowly, he opened the door.

Lakin had
forgotten just how large this room was. Magically done, of course,
otherwise outsiders might wonder why the Order needed such a large
room. It was magically sealed as well; it needed to be to hold a
dragon. Lakin slowly moved inside, spotting the creature against
the far wall. It appeared to be sleeping, but Lakin knew
better.

“It has been a
long time my friend,” stated Lakin.

The dragon
opened its eyes, and stared at Lakin, deep purple eyes seething
with hatred. “You do not know the meaning of friend, Lakin dragon
slayer,” came the reply.

It took a
moment for Lakin to compose himself. He had forgotten, as well, the
effects a dragon’s booming voice could have on a person. “Do you
know where your mate is?” asked Lakin.

The dragon
ignored the wizard and closed his eyes as if to go back to
sleep.

“The prophecy
is about to be fulfilled,” continued Lakin. “Soon, magic will be
returned and my abilities will be restored to their full power. I
will find her, and she will also become my captive.”

The dragon
snapped its head around, meaning to devour the wizard. Lakin had
been expecting this attack and had erected an invisible protection
wall. The dragon’s head bounced off it, not coming anywhere near
its mark.

“You will not
win. Even if you find her, we will not give you what you desire,”
the dragon growled.

Lakin just
stared at the dragon. The sheer beauty of the beast always
overwhelmed him. His dragon had been a black, like his heart, this
one was blue.

“Your mate will
be found and will be my captive as well,” he stated again, and this
time he saw fear in the dragon’s eyes. He smiled, thinking the
beast was finally being broken, but he had one more card to play.
“Gillock lives as well.”

This news
caused the dragon to sit up straight and glare at the wizard. “You
lie,” it hissed.

Lakin knew he
would not believe him, so he had already begun casting a spell. A
mist appeared and started to swirl. The dragon was stunned when
Gillock’s face appeared in the centre. “It cannot be,” the
bewildered beast whispered.

“But it is,”
Lakin replied. “All this time he has been alive, and not once did
he come to rescue you.” As soon as he spoke the words, Lakin knew
he had made an error. The dragon reared and spewed forth his
breath. The room was designed to stop dragon’s breath from doing
any harm, but it took a moment for the magic to dispel its fire.
That moment was enough to burn someone where they stood, but
Lakin’s shield spell was still in effect. The dragon howled when he
saw his mark unharmed. Lakin decided to take his leave, and without
another word, left the dragon.

Although he had
been in the lower levels for over an hour, the time delay spell
made it so he had only been gone for a few moments. Lakin knew
Traug would not be much longer. He could tell by the look on his
face earlier that the general had many questions to ask him and
figured although Olrond did not want to come and see him, his
curiosity would get the better of him. Olrond was not the first
general to question things after a time, and Lakin was hoping his
reaction would be different from his predecessor. The last thing he
needed right now was to have to promote a new general. He walked to
the front hallway, and informed the two Magima positioned there to
escort the general to his sitting room as soon as he arrived. Not
waiting for a response, he went straight to the room to prepare. If
things did not go well, Olrond Traug will cease to exist and that
type of spell takes a bit of time to prepare.

Olrond tried to
take a bath, but was too preoccupied to let its relaxing effect
happen. Sighing quite resoundingly, he got out of the tub. He had
wanted to take his time, but had too many questions which needed
answers. Slowly, he got dressed and headed over to the tower. It
still had an unnerving effect on the general, but he brushed it
aside. Too many questions. The moment he was through the front
door, the two Magima posted their told him where he was to meet
Lakin, and escorted him. Normally, this would not bother Olrond, he
was quite used to Lakin’s eccentricities, but with all his
questions, it felt a little odd. The Magima opened the door for
him, and motioned him to go inside, closing the door behind him. He
noticed

Lakin off to
the side, sitting behind his odd-looking desk.

“We need to
talk,” he said, motioning the general to take the seat across from
him.

“Yes we do,”
answered Olrond as he sat.

Lakin stared at
Olrond, as if trying to read his thoughts. After a few moments of
silence, Lakin spoke. “You are wondering how it is I let so many
who possessed magic go unpunished,” he stated, surprising the
general.

“It’s odd that
so many went undetected for so long,” Olrond responded after a
composing himself.

“I need to show
you something. It will help you understand a great many things.
Will you come with me?” asked Lakin.