Chapter 17 #2
“Punishment,” he said, “is due. Punishment, Elias, differentiates us from the brutes. I cannot be a just leader if I cannot punish the people close to me when they falter, and you faltered a lot. I have been brushing your messes under the carpet for years at Umbrveyl, but I can’t do that in the real world anymore.
You’re a fucking liability and a fucking shit. ”
“So that’s it? I’m gonna get a trial like I’m some sort of Deathless criminal?”
“Yes,” Eldric said. “To demonstrate that nobody is above the law. It’s a pity. I would have wished that your father lived and you died, but I can’t have that on my hands. We can’t get everything that we want.”
“Fuck you, old man,” Elias said in full defiance. “Do what you wish. When this is over?—”
Eldric didn’t give him a chance to finish. He cast a spell on Elias and knocked him out. The remaining Vanguard soldiers brought him to the lounge by the fireplace.
Here, the newly elected leader of the Vanguard, Stephen Barrowhane, stood with his hand gripping his staff firmly. He had not aged at all in the past four years, and he was all too glad to be brought out of retirement.
“These two,” Barrowhane said, looking at the unconscious prisoners uncertainly.
“Need to be escorted to the Doldrum Isles almost instantaneously,” Eldric said. “We cannot travel by traditional means because the Grath Nomad and his forces are out there.”
“You leave that matter to me, Headmaster,” Barrowhane said with great joy in his voice, the same joy reflected in his eager eyes and his wide smile.
“I have taken all the measures that need to be taken. I have doubled security at the Doldrum Isles. They are expecting us. I have conjured an anti-magic shield on top of the one that already exists at the Isles, and so you will find that today goes without a hitch. And this bitch”—he said, looking at Lesya, remembering that lesson from years ago—“I knew about her from the start. You should have asked me what I thought of her before you inducted her into the Covenant.”
“I have made many mistakes recently,” Eldric said, “but I am glad that you are back once more, my dear friend.”
The two men shook hands and stood solemnly in each other’s silence, and then Barrowhane took the two unconscious prisoners and teleported to the Doldrum Isles.
It was rather unceremonious, but this was exactly what Eldric had wanted.
In another moment, he followed, along with the Vanguard soldiers, leaving the manor completely empty—a hollow carcass of its once former glory, bedrooms empty, windows stripped of curtains, no more firewood in the hearth, carpets rolled up, and the furniture—what wasn’t transported to the castle—was now covered in white sheets.
* * *
Silence lay upon this manor. Silence prevailed as the clouds gathered over it, and it was more silence that greeted Viktor Mortandagh as he entered the empty manor alone, looking for Lesya. He yelled in anger upon finding the place empty. This was a trap laid by Eldric.
He had been hiding the location of this manor with his magic, and now that he had left, he had exposed the location. Sudden sigils appeared all around Mortandagh. He raised his hand in defense.
The explosion that followed was spontaneous. It erupted from everywhere at once, enveloping the manor in flames. Mortandagh stood at the center of this hurricane of fire, absorbing it, harnessing it, and once he had harnessed all of the fire, he stood unharmed amongst smoldering ruins.
No matter, thought Mortandagh. The headmaster cannot run forever. There will be swift reckoning. If not right now, then in a few hours. If not then, then in a few days.
And with that thought, he disappeared into thin air, leaving only acrid smoke in his wake.
* * *
The Doldrum Court was a singular, long, black, windowless building, rising above dark cliffs, cliffs upon which the roaring sea splashed and surged against waves, and stormy clouds competed for fierceness.
In the middle of the sea, thunder shattered the firmament, and lightning poured from the rifts.
This was the perpetual weather of this island, the island itself, an inescapable prison.
Next to the Doldrum Court was the black fortress of the Doldrum Prison.
Like the court’s building, this fort was also windowless, with tall walls, and upon each tall wall, on each checkpost, stood ten soldiers with channeling devices at the ready, artillery and cannons pointed out toward the sea.
Around this island were invisible fields of magic, and in the waters swam bloodthirsty sharks.
Should anyone decide to go for a swim or escape by way of diving in the water, giant waves crashed against the walls of the fort and against the long tower of the court.
In the midst of all this storm, in the courtyard of stone that separated the fort from the court, there was the gallows.
The court was empty except for Vanguard soldiers standing drenched in the rain. Suddenly Eldric, Barrowhane, and the two prisoners materialized, and with them also materialized more Vanguard soldiers. The prisoners, unconscious, were dragged toward the court and led in.
Within the court stood the prison guards of the Doldrum Isles, pale men wearing black robes and wielding old blades with sawtooth edges.
The very sight of them drove terror in the hearts of any who found themselves in such a place, and yet the interior architecture of the Doldrum Court was nothing if not perplexing.
Stairways leading to nowhere, winding stairways meeting halfway, and hallways of stone hanging suspended like bridges in the air.
This was intentional, for it was not meant to be a place for just anyone to wander in and find their way.
Only those who were called in for their questioning and the judges and the lawyers who presided in the courthouse were allowed to know the way, for the way changed and shifted every day.
There were judges and members of the court standing in the entrance hall, waiting for Eldric Solwyn.
“Headmaster,” said the chief judge, nodding at Eldric. “The court is ready. Are the prisoners?”
“They are prisoners, Judge Jordan. They don’t need to be ready.
Just wake them up and let the proceedings begin.
One of them I want dead right now. The other happens to be my grandson, but I don’t expect any special treatment in that regard either.
Come, let us go to your chambers, Jordan, and I shall tell you exactly what happened. ”
“Guards,” said Jordan, pointing at Lesya and Elias’s unconscious bodies, “throw them in the holding cells until the court assembles.”
The prison guards quickly did as they were told, and Eldric followed the judge to his chambers. The rest of the Vanguard soldiers stood outside the Doldrum Court, shivering in the rain, wondering what strange omens lurked beyond the veil of storm clouds and crashing waves.
* * *
Ever since the events of Lynsfeld, the prime minister of Aladria had gone into hiding upon the advice of Parliament.
These were dangerous times, and therefore the protection of the prime minister and the members of Parliament was of grave import.
He had been keeping an eye on things from behind his fortress, and he had not liked what he saw—a power struggle between Viktor Mortandagh and Eldric Solwyn.
It was as if both parties had suddenly forgotten about the existence of an already present government in the country.
But the prime minister of Aladria, Anthony Zevin, was not going to intervene just yet.
He wanted to see how this would play out.
More importantly, he wanted this war to take care of itself.
But then his own people inside the Vanguard alerted him to what Eldric Solwyn was doing, and that suddenly changed Anthony Zevin’s course of action.
He did not wish to sit on the sidelines any longer, and this gathering of the Doldrum Court felt like an opportunity to remind everyone just who was in charge.
By law, the Doldrum Court could not assemble without a representative of the government.
The judges, of course, were part of the judicial body governed by the Aladrian government, but in matters of political interest, a member of Parliament, or in dire circumstances even the prime minister, could drop in on the proceedings and give their two cents on the matter.
He had learned that not only had Eldric tortured a student, but that he had also imprisoned his own grandson. And now Eldric was trying to get some expedited justice through the Doldrum Court.
Before the events of Lynsfeld, the prime minister wasn’t on bad terms with Eldric.
In fact, he would consult Eldric from time to time on matters that relied upon his expertise in magic, for it was no secret that Eldric was perhaps one of the most powerful living mages in the country.
However, after the day that the pub exploded, killing people, injuring government officials, Anthony Zevin had realized just how out of control the situation was, and that Eldric did not have a grip on things as much as he liked to pretend.
And now, given everything that was happening with the Vanguard and the recent imprisonment of Clive Bane at the hands of Viktor Mortandagh, it was beginning to appear that Eldric was using the Vanguard for his own personal goals.
The Vanguard was supposed to answer to the government, not Eldric.
Eldric’s own Solignis Covenant was something that Eldric could control, but he had overextended his reach into the Vanguard, and apparently now he was extending that reach even more toward the Doldrum Court.