The throne room of the royal palace was cut from white-gray marble mottled with veins of yellow and silver; it was a long rectangular hall, with huge gold-leafed iron double doors that opened into it at one end, and a massive golden throne at the other end. In between, pillars of white marble proudly rose up to uphold the ceiling above, which was coated in fresco paintings depicting scenes from the history of the Imperium, most of which featured a king leading an army into battle and defeating an enemy. While Sylis, Kylus, Rose, Nathan, Yarid and Glorissa were marched down the hall at sword-point by Royal guards, they passed by row after row of Royal soldiers standing at attention. Does the King really need so many men with swords to defend him? Sylis wondered. I guess if he’s rich enough to afford them, why not have them. The six rogues were brought to the end of the hall and roughly shoved forward, to stand alone before the King of the Imperium.
The King was a very old man with a white, freckled, wrinkled face and a thick brown mustache and beard; the beard was curly and big, so that it covered nearly his entire chest. He wore purple royal robes lined with purple-dyed fur over a pale light-purple shirt whose collar and cuffs were frilled and puffed at his neck and wrists. His royal robes were draped all the way down to his feet, but the toes of purple leather boots poked out from just below his robes. Gold and silver necklaces and bracelets danged from around his neck and upon his wrists, and his fingers glittered with many gold rings, all of which were bejeweled with precious gems. A large golden crown perched upon his head. The crown was made of a gold ring that formed a rim around a purple cloth cap, with golden wires that crisscrossed over the cap and held the bezel settings of a variety of multi-colored gemstones. The crown held so many diamonds, sapphires, emeralds and rubies that the King’s head sparkled like a rainbow in the torchlight of the many torches set in the walls.
Prior to them being presented to the King, the royal court wizards had healed Yarid and healed Kylus’s leg, and a Red court wizard had loaned Rose a new Red wizard-mask, so she was now wearing a red mask again. But the six of them were tired, sore, bloodstained, and had no idea if they were about to die.
“Kneel before his Majesty,” a squire commanded. The six rogues looked at each other and then knelt on one knee, and they bowed their heads to the King.
“So you are the six rogues who tried to steal the Crystal of Light,” the King said; he said it as a statement, not a question. His voice was deep, intelligent, and, to Sylis’s surprise, strangely familiar—it sounded not unlike his own.
“Yes, Your Majesty, but we can explain,” Rose said. Her voice became fast and precise, as if she was launching into a speech that she had spent time mentally preparing. “You see, we were hired as part of a scheme that was actually orchestrated by the Star Knights, and it was for a good cause because there was a dragon—”
“Silence,” the King said, and Rose’s voice cut short abruptly.
The six waited. The King looked at them.
“When you killed the dragon, the magic of the Ancient Crown ended,” the King said. “I know everything that happened; you have no need to explain it. While I was being controlled, I was aware of exactly what was going on, but I was powerless to do anything about it because the Ancient Crown was upon my head. The very instant the dragon died, I plucked that accursed thing off my head and threw it into a fire in a fireplace. The moment I was myself again, Wote and Shome gathered their followers and fled the Royal Palace. I am free—and it is entirely thanks to you six heroes. I owe you a great debt of gratitude, as does the entire Kingdom of the Imperium.”
Sylis breathed a sigh of relief, and he also heard his friends exhale as their tension left their bodies.
“Your Majesty, if I may… may I ask you a question?” Sylis said.
“Yes, you may,” the King replied.
“I am Sylis Karth,” Sylis said. “My mother was named Flora Karth, of Blue, previously of Black. I was in the Temple of Light during our, well, I mean to say, I stumbled into the Hall of Kings and, somehow, the spell didn’t kill me, so that must mean I, at least I think it does, have royal blood? Do you, well… know of me?”
The King’s gaze upon Sylis was serious and stern. “I had feared that I might meet you one day, because that would force me to explain to you my actions with respect to you,” the King said. “And I am not proud of those actions. You are my bastard son.”
The words hit Sylis with a force of shock that was stronger than he had been expecting. He wobbled and almost fell to the floor, but he fought to keep his balance, and he stayed in his kneeling posture.
“During my youth, I spent time in the Northern Empire, at the court of the Emperor,” the King said. “From him, I observed the practice of his use of concubines, female wizards in his harem who served him and were loyal only to him, and whom he used both for their magic and to act as his agents at court for their skills of seduction and manipulation as courtesans. When I returned to Imperia, after my father died, and ascended the throne as King, I entered into a political marriage with one of the many daughters of the Emperor, but it was a purely political marriage, devoid of love, and my bride had neither intelligence nor skills nor magic for me to make use of in any way. The Noble Houses of the Imperium are fierce, and a King must fight with every possible tool to maintain power, even if he intends to use his power only for good, as I did.
“To that end, I met two female wizards, and took them as mistresses, in return for their assistance and loyalty, after they pledged to serve me with their magic and with their knowledge and skills in the royal court. One of those two women was your mother, Flora, who was a daughter from one of the oldest and most respectable Noble Houses, House Lotus. Flora served me well, and in time, I grew to love her.
“The other one of those women, a female wizard of Black, was named Esmereld; she was from a family that had amassed vast wealth and power through the merchants, a family whose name is Druzilch. Flora and Esmerald vied with each over who could be most useful to me, and I encouraged this competition, because I felt it brought out the best in each of them, with each trying to outdo the other in how great and useful their services could prove to me. I used them both as tools, and they helped me maintain power over the Kingdom, but the truth is that I did love them, I loved both of them.
“Two and a half decades ago, Esmereld became pregnant with twin boys, who were mine and hers. At that time, I had only been given two daughters by my legal wife, and no sons. According to the laws of the Imperium, only a male heir may inherit the throne. Whichever man married my eldest legitimate daughter would become king. Neither of my daughters have yet wed, but they have suitors, and I predict that in time I will arrange suitable men for them to marry. My daughters are docile, obedient and submissive, and I believe both would be happy to marry a man to fulfill their duties as princess and become a queen. But Esmereld’s twin boys do have some distant, remote chance to inherit the throne, if both of my daughters were to die before marrying men, although the Imperium’s laws about who would become king if that happened are murky and not at all clear.
“Not to be outdone by Esmereld, your mother Flora invited me to bed, and we conceived you, Sylis. I do not know where the name Karth comes from, but your real name is either Sylis Lotus, if you choose to take your mother’s name, or else your name would be Sylis Imperial, because Imperial is the family name of the Kings of the Imperium. You, my twin sons by Esmereld, and my two daughters by my wife, are my only living children.”
So I’m really Sylis Lotus, Sylis thought. I will always honor Stepdad’s memory, but it’s time to take Mom’s name. I’m Sylis Lotus!
“Esmereld saw the slight outlier of a chance that her boys would be king as a more concrete and tangible dream than I realized or expected,” the King said, “Her friendly competition against your mother turned into a deadly and murderous jealousy and desire to supplant her, so that her sons’ claim to my throne would exceed yours, Sylis. Esmereld concocted a scheme to have you and your mother assassinated by undead creatures whom she had created using her Black magic. She asked me for my blessing and permission to do this thing. She promised me that the Druzilch family would compensate me with vast riches and undying loyalty were I to let her do this. In a fit of greed and stupidity, I agreed.”
“Really?” Sylis asked, and the word was out of his mouth before he could stop himself.
“Yes, but as soon as I did, I regretted it,” the King said. “I changed my mind, and told Esmereld not to do it, and informed Flora of what I had done, and of what Esmereld had been planning. Flora viewed my actions as an absolute betrayal of her trust, despite the fact that I had a change of heart and stopped Esmereld’s plans. Flora was absolutely horrified, and she became disillusioned with all power and all politics, so much so that she even changed her color, from Black, which she associated with the quest for power by means of politics, to Blue, which she viewed as representing a more enlightened journey towards truth by means of quiet contemplation. Flora never felt safe at the royal court again and no longer felt she could rely on me to protect her; in truth, I suspect she feared I might change my mind at any time and allow Esmereld to murder her and our newborn son.
“As soon as you were born, Sylis, your mother knew that she loved you, and she knew that she valued your life more than she loved the pursuit of politics. She was a great courtesan and a master of political intrigue, but she desired to be your mother, and nothing more. And she felt that your life was at risk to Esmereld while she lived in Imperia. So Flora asked my permission to leave Imperia and take you away and raise you in the rural back country, the land of the farmers to the southwest, outside of the Imperium, so that you would never be king and would never learn of your royal bloodline. She believed that this would cause Esmereld to no longer view you as a threat, which would increase your safety.
“I agreed, but Esmereld insisted that I apply one condition: that Flora be subjected to a magic spell, cast by the court wizards, so that she could never tell you the truth about who your father was, or her own past. Esmereld promised that she would never come after you until and unless you grew to adulthood and came of age, if Flora would agree to that spell. Esmereld even agreed to be bound by a curse cast by the court wizards to force her to leave you alone, if Flora would agree to be subject to this spell so that you would never learn who you were.
“So I told Flora that she had to agree, to be given leave to retire to the rural farmland hills to raise you. She agreed, the spell was cast on Flora, the curse was cast on Esmereld, and Flora left with you right after you were born, and I never saw Flora or you again. I have not set eyes on you, Sylis, since you were a little tiny newborn baby, until today when you stand before me. You look like you have become a fine young man, and I am pleased that you are my son. It looks as though you inherited your mother’s gift for magic, which pleases me greatly. She was a powerful wizard, and I sense that you are, too.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Thanks… Dad?” Sylis said, a note of hesitation in his voice at a word he had never spoken before.
“Do not be so full of thanks yet,” the King said. “The twin boys of which I spoke, my bastard sons by Esmereld, are none other than the two dark priests, Wote and Shome. Their mother raised them to believe that the throne rightfully belongs to them, although the laws of the Kingdom never in any way gave them a clear claim to the throne. When Esmereld died a few years ago, her two sons became obsessed with gaining power, and they have worked tirelessly in the royal court and among the Noble Houses, and within the orders of Black magic, to gain followers and consolidate control. They were allies of the dragon and served as the dragon’s puppet-kings when I was subjugated by the Ancient Crown. As I had said, when the dragon died, Wote and Shome packed up and fled, but they still covet the throne. They very much view you, Sylis, as a threat to their ambitions, because your claim to the throne is roughly equal to their own. They want you dead. Indeed, they had been forcing me to send my Royal assassins after you, and to also send Renard Shass to hunt you down, while I was under their control. Now that I am free the threat to your life is lessened, but you will never be free from danger while Wote and Shome live.”
“I will take care to guard myself and stay protected, Dad,” Sylis said.
The King gazed at the six rogues, and the King frowned, deep in thought, as if thinking about something he disliked. Then he stopped frowning, and his face was clear, its wrinkles relaxed.
“There may be a more proactive way for you to take steps to counter the two dark priests Wote and Shome,” the King said. The King’s words were slow and careful. “When Wote and Shome left, they ransacked the royal vault in the Royal Palace, stealing numerous treasures and taking those treasures with them as they fled. The loss of one treasure in particular is very damaging to me. It is a magic mirror called the Mirror of Souls, and it played an important role in the founding of the Kingdom and in the history of this nation, and is a national treasure. If it were to be returned to me, it would be worth a lot to me—and I am very much able to measure that worth in gold coins, or, potentially, platinum coins. You six have proven yourselves to be among the best rogues in the realm, to have broken into the Temple of Light, a citadel though to be impregnable to any attacks. If I could hire you to go after Wote and Shome, steal the Mirror of Souls, and bring it back to me, I would compensate you handsomely. If you steal the Mirror of Souls from Wote and Shome, I believe it would symbolize a total loss of power on their part, and their followers and supporters would begin to desert them. Are you interested in such a job?”
Rose spoke before Sylis could answer. “How much? What’s the fee?”
The King did not smile but he also did not look annoyed. He merely answered with businesslike efficiency. “I could pay each of you one thousand platinum coins. The Mirror is worth that much to the Kingdom.”
Yarid gasped. “That’s what the Dark Wizard was going to pay us! I could raise an army to reclaim the fae realm from the goblins with that amount!”
“Can you please tell me what the Mirror of Souls is?” Nathan asked. “And why Wote and Shome stole it? If this is a magical item we are discussing, I need to understand it to evaluate my ability to steal it. The money you offer intrigues me, but I can’t take a job unless I think I can complete it.”
“You make a valid point, necromancer,” the King said. “The Mirror of Souls is a magic mirror enchanted by an ancient spell of unknown color. Because of the magic spell, if you look into the mirror, your body becomes a match of whatever image of yourself you hold in your mind. In the Kingdom’s history, Kings of the Imperium have used it to transform themselves into mighty warriors before important battles. The magic does not merely change your outward appearance the way an illusion spell does. The very physical substance of your body, your flesh itself, transforms itself to match the picture of yourself that you hold in your mind, or in your soul, about what you truly look like.
“As to why they stole it, I have two theories. They might intend to sell it on the market for stolen magical items and use that money to raise an army with which to attack me. Or else they might want to use it to cure their condition. You see, Wote and Shome are a Gemini. They have hated and resented that fact about themselves since their birth. There is no known magic that can change being a Gemini, although they might think that the Mirror of Souls could change them in some way.”
“Ew, gross, a Gemini,” Nathan said. “Gemini are so weird.”
“Excuse me, what is a Gemini?” Sylis asked.
“A Gemini is a type of magical human mutation that happens at birth when twins are born,” Nathan said. “It is rare and does not happen to most twins, but it is not unheard of. The Gemini is born as twin humans, except that only one soul is born to go with those two bodies. So a Gemini is one soul that shares two bodies. Most Gemini refer to themselves using singular pronouns, such as he or she, and refer to themselves as one person, with one given name. It is strange that I have heard most people speak of Wote and Shome as if they were two distinct people with two names.”
“Wote and Shome speak of themselves in that way, in the plural, and they have always required all others to speak of them in the plural as well,” the King said. “They are not normal Gemini. They have always despised the fact that they were born that way—even though all Gemini are born with special magical powers, which Wote and Shome have, in abundance.”
“And where are Wote and Shome? Do your spies know where they have gone?” Nathan asked.
“My spies and military scouts believe they fled to Kalin, a small kingdom to the southwest,” the King said. “Wote and Shome have a castle in Kalin. Kalin is ruled by an order of necromancers, so I suspect Wote and Shome, who are dark priests of Black, found ready allies in the rulers of Kalin. But my spies do not know much more than that. I cannot tell you where their castle is, nor how to break in. You will need to do the work to scout out the theft and plan the heist yourselves. I have no plan or idea for how you can do it. I do not have detailed plans or maps of Kalin or of the Gemini’s castle. I cannot even tell you whether the mirror is within Wote and Shome’s castle, because they might easily have hidden it at some other location.
“I believe a small, nimble team of elite rogues, who have experience and a track record of success, will stand a better chance to infiltrate Wote and Shome’s defenses than a massive, clumsy army, which is why I choose to send you, and not my own soldiers and agents. Indeed, part of the problem is that I do not want to risk the rulers of Kalin interpreting this as an action by the Kingdom against Kalin and have Kalin march to war against me. So, when you go in, if you are captured or discovered, I may be forced to disclaim all knowledge of you, and let you fend for your lives by yourselves.
“Make no mistake: I expect Wote and Shome to place many rings of defense around that mirror to protect it. It is highly valuable, and they know it. You will have your work cut out for you. When I pay you each one thousand platinum coins, you will have earned it. Now that you understand the job, will you take it?”
“I mean, I guess I’m up for it, Dad,” Sylis said. “I don’t feel like it’s safe for me to go back to my farm in Tamm if Wote and Shome are just going to send more and more killers back to my farm until one of them kills me. And this quest, or heist, or whatever you want to call it, seems like my best chance to do some damage to Wote and Shome, and maybe weaken them to the point where they can’t attack me again. I have nothing to lose, everything to gain, and nowhere else to go.” Hey, Dad called me an “elite” rogue! Maybe I’m getting good at this whole stealing stuff thing! Why not try another heist?
“I will also take the job,” Yarid said. “My fae honor continues to demand that I raise the money to fund an army of mercenaries to fight the goblins and retake the land of the elves. You offer the price that I need for that purpose. I must agree, as an honor-bound fae, so there is no question for me as to saying yes.”
“I’m in. I want the money. Still need money to pay off the Death Otter’s contract on my life,” Rose said.
“I also consent to joining this heist,” Nathan said. “That sum of platinum coins should nicely pay off my debt to the Smiling One. Each day that passes in which I do not pay him makes it more likely that he will send creatures of darkness to come after me and extract his payment from my blood.”
The party looked at Kylus and Glorissa.
“So this Mirror of Souls, you say that if you look into it, it transforms you into your soul’s vision for yourself?” Kylus asked. “So, like, if a man who was born into a woman’s body at birth looked into this magic mirror, it would transform his body and he would become the man he always knew he was?”
“Yes, I believe so, if that is how he truly views himself in his mind,” the King said.
“And, your Majesty, if we were to steal the Mirror of Souls, would you, I don’t know, say for example, maybe let me use the magic on myself before we gave it back to you?” Kylus asked, as if slyly trying but failing to hide his excitement and enthusiasm from the King.
“The magic in the Mirror of Souls cannot be used up, so there is no limit to the number of times it can be put to use,” the King said. “It makes no difference to me if any of you choose to use it, once you steal it, before you return it to the Kingdom.”
“Yay!” Kylus said, and he jumped for joy, a beaming smile on his face and the light of hope in his eyes. “This is my shot, Sylis! This is what’s going to save me! I am in! I am so in on this heist it makes me want to cry!”
“That leaves you, Glorissa,” Rose said. “Will you join us, or go back to the Star Knights Academy? You never graduated, and they never kicked you out. I am sure they would let you back in.”
Glorissa had a serious, intense, determined look in her eyes. “I have not forgotten how the Star Knights used me and sent me to my death, by means of that Dark Wizard puppet,” she said. “And I have not forgiven them for it, either. I can’t go back there. I miss my friends a ton, but they are all loyal to the Star Knights—and I no longer am. I also can’t go back to my family, because they will be furiously angry when they learn that my sister Leigh is dead, and I just cannot deal with that right now. I think it’s time for me to strike out on my own and begin my adult life! And that means I need to get a job, right? You are offering me a job, and I think it’s one that can pay my bills. I will take it!”
“Then that’s it! We’re all set!” Rose said, a smile on her lips. “The heist of the Crystal of Light is over, but the heist of the Mirror of Souls is just beginning!”
“You may now leave my royal presence,” the King said. “My soldiers will escort you out of the Royal Palace. The Kingdom will provide you with whatever resources you require, within reason and under a budget of course, but my ability to assist you will largely end at the border of Kalin, and the task itself is up to you. You will do it without any of my men to assist you.”
The team stood up, turned, and began to walk away, but Nathan stopped and turned back to the King for one moment.
“By the way, Your Majesty, I recommend that you collect the dragon’s corpse and dissolve it in acid,” Nathan said. “Such dissolution will prevent any necromancer from reanimating the dragon as undead, if you fully destroy its body. Destroying dragon flesh may prove difficult, but it will be worth the price. With Wote and Shome running free, and they are both of Black, I am sure the idea of bringing their master back to life will cross their mind.”
“Your advice is well taken, necromancer. I shall instruct my men to do so,” the King said.
As they walked away, Sylis stopped and took one last look at his father the King, sitting on his golden throne with his bejeweled crown upon his head. The King and Sylis exchanged a look, and Sylis nodded, and the King nodded back to his son. Then Sylis turned and raced down the floor of the throne room to catch up to the rest of his team.
Nathan leaned over to Sylis as the team walked out of the palace. “You know, this is good,” Nathan said to Sylis. “I never got the chance to say a joke when you died, because you never died. But on this new mission, who knows? I still have not thought of which joke to say, but with more time, I will have a good one ready!”
“Oh my God,” Sylis said. “Wow, I just realized that I just agreed to go on another heist with you and the others. Maybe I should have thought about this more before I said yes. What was I thinking?”
Nathan laughed. Sylis shook his head, but Sylis was smiling underneath his blue wizard’s mask, despite himself.
And with that, the six rogues walked down the throne room hall, made their way out of the Royal Palace, and emerged onto the streets of Imperia, ready for their next heist.
THE END
