“No one knows what they really want. Only the few who have power and education can rule competently and fairly,” Lord Mao stated to the young Undine woman walking next to him. The older man with almond eyes and dark black hair had the chiseled features of a general and the mannerisms of a king. His chin held a pointed go-tee, popular among the Hiru people. His silk robes and manicured appearance would be the perfect ideal for his people, even with the gray streaks in his hair. The only thing that marred this perfection was the grotesque red burn scar covering half his face and neck. The injury was new, only a month old, and still hurt, which did little for his mood.
The Undine woman was young, tall, and athletic. Her brown curly hair was cut short and looked almost wild. Her clothes were made from a type of black salamander leather perfect for swimming. She looked almost human except for her webbed hands and feet.
The two companions were nearly opposites in every way. She was stealthy and could easily be overlooked, perfect for the invisible movements of espionage. He was impressive and bold, perfect for demanding attention and obedience as soon as he walked into a room.
“The Goliad family is weak, a bunch of ignorant commoners who were placed on the throne because of a romantic populist rhetoric,” Lord Mao continued.
The dark figures walked down the halls of the echoing, abandoned fortress, Odemience, left over from the days of Maldamien, less than fifty years earlier. Odemience had been ransacked and pillaged but was preserved structurally as it had always been. The unlikely couple used the dim light from a candle held in the woman’s shaky right hand to illuminate their way down the dark, stone passage.
“Only a strong government can truly take care of the ignorant populace,” said Lord Mao. “The common people can’t rule themselves. They don’t have the experience, power, and breeding that the old families, like ours, possess. Left on their own, the world devolves into chaos and laziness. One would think this would be self-evident by now.”
“Yes, but why take open action now?” Arnica replied. Her brown eyes searched the darkness as they walked, expecting creatures of the night to slither out of hiding at any moment. She shivered as they passed a massive spider web, hoping the spider was nowhere near her. “Our work in controlling governments from the shadows has produced such great results. It was open action that caused Maldamien’s fall. The people like the appearance of democracy.”
“After what happened to Turrent in the shadow-side of Gryphendale, and what happened to Zedoary, Arum, and Darnel in Samodivas, we can’t continue as we have,” said Lord Mao. “Prince Timothy has the Codex. I’m sure of it. That means the royal family is going to take an aggressive move against us by revealing the ancient secrets of the Seers. We can’t wait for that. They are weaker than they have ever been at this moment. We need to move first before the Codex can be used. Maldamien’s rule lasted a hundred years with just his power. With all of us working together and in the right places to overthrow most of the world powers, we can destroy any advantage the Codex could give them in this short time and end the Seers for good.”
He stopped at a metal door blocking their path and turned to look at his companion. “Prince Timothy started this war when he interfered with our affairs and exposed our members. We have to finish it. We will call on every ally, every rogue group fighting for independence or anarchy, and every assassin for hire. We will persuade the weak-minded and the poor of the benefits a powerful government can bring them. We have been working on this infrastructure for years. It is now that we pull all our resources together. If we fight on multiple fronts, the royal guard can only help so many. Many of the armies in each country have a percentage that is allied to us. We have the advantage of both numbers and sheer power.”
Lord Mao unlocked and opened a metal door leading to a stone staircase that sunk down into the darkness. Even without light, he stepped forward to lead the way. Arnica followed with the silent stealth of an assassin, but held her head high like a noblewoman born to the wealthiest family in the river near Caongoe.
“The Codex shouldn’t change anything,” she replied as the metal door slammed closed behind her. “It’s just an old book. It’s probably not even readable.”
The Hiru stopped suddenly on the steps below her and turned to her. The flickering candle in her hand created menacing shadows on his face. “The Codex changes everything. For years we have been planning subtle moves to control governments and manipulate the world’s events. We were successful because the Seers were old and passive. They weren’t like the ancient ones, the Seers in the legends. The knowledge that the Codex holds will bring back the ways of the old Seers who knew All-magic. We have run out of time. We must kill the prince, his old Brownie guide, and the slave girl. They are the only ones who could have read it so far. Call on our contacts to raise their armies to take control of the world and stop this nonsense. The Seers just need to die and let those who will rule do so. The time for secrets is at an end.”
“But we still outnumber the Seers,” said the Undine woman. “This seems drastic. You’re talking about a world war in every country! We were trying to avoid that to give us time to stockpile our resources so that we could have an unbreakable government. We didn’t want the people to pick sides or get riled up.”
“And how many of our people did Prince Timothy defeat by himself?” asked the Hiru with fury. “His brother, Prince Nathaniel, is almost as bad in leading armies all over the place. Imagine what Prince Nathaniel will be like when he is king after his father. King Sage was born a rogue; Nathaniel has trained his whole life to lead battles.” He turned and continued down the stairs without an answer. “Prince Timothy has discovered the secrets of All-magic and is only beginning to learn what it can do. It won’t be three against him the next time. When he learns its full use, he will be able to defeat any army of ours by himself. None of us have been able to unlock All-magic with all of our research, experiments, and hoarded magic. We can’t let Prince Timothy’s knowledge spread to the other Seers.”
“But the Adder Warlocks have darkness and shadows,” Arnica replied as she glanced down at a small stone gryphon cradled in her left arm. The carved statue glowed just slightly with a green tinge. “And with the use of the great stone gryphon, nothing can stop us. Maldamien used All-magic. It’s only a matter of time before we get it too.”
The Hiru nodded as he unlocked another iron door at the base of the stairs. “War will give us that time. The royal family will be stretched thin, and we can lure Prince Timothy away from the palace.”
“What about the slave girl and the old brownie who were with him?” asked Arnica.
“The brownie is uneducated and not a magic user,” said the powerful leader. “The Codex means nothing to him without a teacher and translator. The girl… well, she is just a mute.”
“A mute who can do Dryad magic and knows our secrets,” replied Arnica.
He only grunted as the two of them entered the damp darkness of the dungeons of Odemience. Lord Mao and Arnica stopped suddenly at a lump in the middle of their path. Arnica moved her candle down to reveal the body of a dead Ogre, a nine-foot, pig-faced soldier.
The soldier was in full silver armor, and his sword was not even drawn. He had only been guarding the room for an hour. His face was frozen in an expression of terror.
Lord Mao’s reptilian eyes shifted from the massive cold corpse to the greenish glow before him. Then a smirk formed in the corner of his mouth.
“Yes,” replied Lord Mao. “The mute girl will die too. The stone gryphon changes everything.”
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