Forever Knight (The Champion Chronicles Book 3) (26 page)

As soon as Berrien noticed Marik in the doorway, he turned and cried out, “This is unacceptable treatment!  I am a Taran diplomat and I expect to be treated accordingly!”

“I find it interesting that Taran has sent diplomats to negotiate some sort of peace treaty with us,” Marik said.  “And then I see that their army approach from the north.”

Berrien had already opened his mouth to give a retort to whatever Marik was saying, but he was caught off guard.  How could this man already know of their plans?  And what else did he know of?  He did his best to continue to act surprised.  “Army?  From the north?  What are you talking about?  Taran would not attack Karmon.  We have no reason to.”

“Oh?  Did you not threaten Lord Martin with just that in your discussions?”

“The discussions that Lord Martin and I had were to be considered done in confidence.  I cannot make mention of them.”

“At the first crack of light, I will be sending a patrol out to the forest.  If they happen to find even a single Taran centurion, I will have you executed for being a spy.”

“I can assure you, I am no spy,” Berrien replied.  This time he did his best to not show fear.  Any patrol that went out into the forest would find it crawling with soldiers, and then he would be executed for sure.  Whether he was truly guilty of spying or not, it would not go well for him to be inside the castle when that happened.  He just hoped that Peter and his friend Commander Roland would be able to accomplish their task and rescue him.  “I am simply a diplomat trying to reestablish a relationship between our two nations that your queen destroyed.  You can threaten me all you want, but if you really want war, then continue with your threats.  For if I do get executed, I can assure you the full might of Taran will come down upon you.  I am a representative of the emperor, and as such, what you do to me is as if you were to do to him.”

Marik walked over to one of the guards who was standing watch and drew the guard’s sword. “Maybe I should just kill you now.”

Lord Martin came rushing into the room, huffing and puffing and pushing his way past the guards who stood in front of the door.  “No!  No, no, no!  We cannot be so rash, Marik.”

“Diplomat is just a fancy name for a spy,” Marik growled, pointing the sword at Berrien’s chest.

“He is a representative of a friendly nation,” Lord Marik said.  “Taran and Karmon are friends.  We are just clarifying our miscommunication and establishing a treaty that will further our friendship into the future.”

“Call it what you will, but the queen was right to kick them out.  Tell me now, what is your real reason for being here?  To let your army commanders know when we are most vulnerable?  To open the gate so that your centurions can march through without a fight?”

“Honestly, I do not know the movements of the army.  I am not a spy.  I am a diplomat.  Even if this were the plans of Emperor Hargon, I would be the last to know about it.  My only job was to reestablish a relationship with your kingdom.  To the benefit of the empire, of course.  But that should be expected.  If I knew of any such attack, don’t you think that I would have left the castle as soon as I was able to?  Look around.  This masquerade ball of yours is the perfect opportunity for me to sneak away without being seen.  If I would have known of the approach of the army, I would have done so.  To stay here, held captive by your walls, while my empire’s army attacks would not only be foolish, it would be deadly.”

Marik did not have a good reply as the man’s explanation made sense.  But it wasn’t enough to change his mind about Berrien being a spy.

“You will go out in the first patrol,” Marik said.  “If there are Taran soldiers out there, and they attack, then you’ll get what you deserve.”

“I will do no such thing!”

“Then I can only assume that you are a spy, and you will be executed at once.”

“But I am not a spy!” Berrien shouted out.  He tried to stand up, but one of the guards pushed him back in his chair.

Lord Martin took Marik by the arm and pulled him aside.  “This is insane!  You cannot kill a Taran diplomat!  He is here on official business and to harm him would indeed be an act of war.  They would surely seek vengeance if we were to kill him.”

“You may know politics, Lord Martin, but you do not know warfare.  He is nothing.  A nobody to the Taran army.  They do not care if he lives or dies.  If he was the emperor…”  Marik suddenly caught something that Berrien had said just moments ago.  He turned his back on Lord Martin and walked straight back to the Taran diplomat.

“Who is the emperor of Taran?”

Berrien did not answer immediately because he was surprised at the question, but his pause added dramatic effect.  “Emperor Hargon, of course.”

Marik turned back to Lord Martin and said, “He may still be a spy, but he may not know about the army.  When I was still in Taran, I was able to get out of the city just before they sealed it up tight.  They were looking for Emperor Hargon’s killer.  His brother Tarcious is now the emperor.”

Berrien stood up with a shocked look on his face, “Did you just say Emperor Hargon was killed?”

Marik turned his head back to Berrien and said, “Yes.  Murdered, they say.”

“And Tarcious is emperor?”

“Yes.  Is that bad?” Marik asked, sensing an obvious change in the diplomat’s demeanor.

“Tarcious is insane.  He has a crazy obsession with his arena.  He loves death and loves to see his gladiators kill one another.”

Marik did his best to hide his anger and sorrow.  The sight of Conner being killed was something that he would never be able to get out of his mind.  For a while, he had been able to suppress it, but Berrien just brought all those images flooding right back.

Berrien continued, “I knew some of the high government officials and none of them had anything good to say about him.  With Emperor Hargon ill, Tarcious ran the empire, but he was never bold enough or powerful enough to be a threat to the throne.  There were too many people loyal to Emperor Hargon.  But with him gone, they would have to support Tarcious if Tarcious has control of the army.”

“So Tarcious takes over as emperor and the first thing he does is send his army to Karmon?  Why?  What are you not telling me?”

“Look, I am a Taran and loyal to the empire, but I am not going to fall on my sword for something that I don’t know about.  I was sent here solely to reestablish a relationship with Karmon.  When I left, Hargon was emperor.  Now, you tell me that he is dead and Tarcious is emperor.  And that the Taran army is at your door…”

“We think that they are there,” Lord Martin interjected.  “This could all be a simple misunderstanding.  We do not know for sure who, or even if there is an army out there.”

“They are there,” Marik said sharply.  He turned to Berrien and said, “I do not know if you are telling the truth or not, but I can’t trust you.”

Marik turned to his guards and ordered, “Take him to a room in the lower levels, away from anyone else.  Lock the door and post a guard.  Post two guards.  No one but me will be allowed to see him.”

“Marik!” Lord Martin exclaimed.  “You cannot imprison the Taran diplomats!”

“I can and I will.  We must tell the queen.”

“No! Of course not!  This is her special night and I will not let you spoil it!”

Marik wanted to punch Lord Martin.  At one time, he had really liked him, but over the past few months, he had turned into a weak fool.  Or maybe the weakness had always been there and it was just now showing through.  The kingdom needed a strong leader, and he was so glad that this man was not it.  “Every minute that goes by, we lose our chance to gain an advantage on the army in the forest.  We must call the men of the kingdom and ready them to defend our city.  Our walls are strong and our will is even stronger.  I will get the queen myself.  And if you try and stop me, then I will put you in the same room as this Taran.  Now, out of my way!”

***

Conner marveled at the stairs, which were roughly hewn directly from the bedrock underneath the castle.  Some of the steps were so worn that they were barely a step.  A trickle of water came from the wall and drizzled down some of them, making each step an adventure.  Conner walked slowly to keep from slipping, but Glaerion gracefully descended, oblivious to the danger.

With his head down watching his steps, Conner did not see the elf standing at the bottom of the stairs and nearly ran him over.  He looked up and began to say something, but the words stuck in his throat.  The stairwell opened up to a square chamber that had two things of note.  One was a small stream that cut through the middle from one wall to the opposite wall.  The second was a man standing just on the other side of the stream, his back to them.

Glaerion already had his dagger out and he crouched into a fighting stance.  Conner was even more astonished when the man turned.

“Arpwin?”

Arpwin turned to face them.  “Hello Conner.  I had heard from Sir Marik that you were dead.  I am glad that he was wrong.”

“What are you doing here?” Conner asked.

“I should be asking you the same.  And you brought a friend.  How did you find this place?”

“We have come for the Ark,” Glaerion said, still holding his dagger in a threatening manner.

Arpwin took a moment to look over Glaerion.  “Are you an elf?  So the myths of the elven-kind are true, then.”

“We need the Ark of Life,” Glaerion said.  “I can feel it is here, but I do not see it.  There is also strong magic in here, but it is not from you.”

“I cannot let you have it,” Arpwin said with a slow shake of his head.  “It is safe here.  Is that why you came, Conner?  To take the Ark?”

“It is not safe here,” Conner said.  “The Deceiver wants it and he is sending the Taran army here to take it.  We need to take it farther away.”

Arpwin closed his eyes for a moment and let out a long sigh.  “My time has come to an end, then.  I have been guardian of the Ark of Life for so many years.  Too many, I would say.”  A smile crept across his face.  “It really is good to see you alive, Conner.  The queen was so distraught at your death.  Does she know you are alive?”

“She still thinks I’m dead.  Maybe that’s for the best, though.”

“Oh?”

“If I’m going to take the Ark into hiding, it would be best that she does not know where I am.  And if she thinks I’m dead, then that is so much the better.  For her safety.”

Arpwin nodded, suspecting that there was much more to his story.  But he had been serving kings for many, many years and he was accustomed to not knowing the full story of events around him.  He was a patient man, and in time, he knew all would be revealed.  He said, “Of course.  Where will you take the Ark?”

“The elves will take it and protect it,” Glaerion said.  Finally sensing that Arpwin was no threat, he sheathed his dagger.  “We should have been the guardians in the first place.  We are the stronger race and it would not be threatened if we had it from the beginning.”

Arpwin shrugged and replied, “The Creator always has his reasons.”

Conner looked around the perfectly square chamber.  All the walls were perfectly smooth with no obvious doors or places where the ark could be hidden.  “Where is it?”

Glaerion pointed to the wall directly across from them.  “It is there.”

“You can see through the wall?” Arpwin asked.

“I can feel magic,” the elf replied.  “It is one of our senses.  It is a perpetual spell, a very powerful spell that hides the tunnel that leads to the ark.  I cannot see through it, but I know that it is there.”

Glaerion hopped across the swiftly flowing water and marched right up to and through the wall.  As soon as he stepped through, the wall sparkled and then disappeared.  When he caught sight of the Ark in its place in the wall, he slowed his pace.  The small wooden box was so finely crafted that he could barely contain his excitement as he reached out to touch it.  He could feel its power as he gently took it into his hands.  With the Ark finally in his grasp, he turned to face the other two, a smile on his face.

It was the first time that Conner had ever seen him truly smile.  “That’s it then?  That is the Ark of Life?”

“No,” Arpwin said. “That is just a wooden box.”

Glaerion raised an eyebrow.  “I can feel the power of it, though.  It is flowing through the box.  This is surely the Ark of Life.”

“Open it,” Conner suggested.  “Let’s look at it.”

Glaerion touched the box and carefully pulled back the top, exposing the many faceted black oval stone.

“It’s a stone?” Glaerion asked, looking up at Arpwin.

“A perfect stone,” Aprwin replied.  “One of a kind.  Cut from the matter that makes up the universe.”

Glaerion reached for it, feeling an incredible amount of power emanating from it.  It was a feeling that he had never felt before.  He had always sensed magic and could feel it around him.  But the power that was coming from the stone flashed out in waves, as if it were an ocean that was sending wave after wave of water at him.  His fingers touched the stone and then his hand wrapped around it.

Pain exploded through his body.  Every inch of his body burned with an unbearable searing sensation.  He wanted to keep holding the Ark, to feel its full power, but the pain was so much more than he could ever have imagined.  His desire to feel the full power of the stone overcame his instincts to drop the stone.  His fingers clenched the stone turning his knuckles white from the force that he used to squeeze it.  Finally, it overcame him and he felt his knees give out.  Blackness overcame him before he crumpled to the ground.