Hemlock And The Wizard Tower (Book 1) (11 page)

His thoughts turned to the history of the Oberon for a moment.  The
wizards
laced their food with the powder and at times
,
even consumed it undiluted.  It was li
ke consuming raw magical energy–
an energy that had to be expended
,
lest it begin to stress the body of the Wizard like a trapped demon spirit.  A Wizard fully dosed on Oberon could harness
ten
times the magical power that he could without Oberon.  And the most powerful could harness
ten
times again that power for specific types of particularly powerful effects.

The
City
was rel
iant on m
agic and the
wizards
already controlled
access to the most potent m
agic in the Re
alm,
despite the altruistic leanings of well
-
intentioned
wizards
like himself.

Their plan was to use new Harvester golems to fully exploit the Oberon supply in the Witch Crags.
Some
wizards
had argued for patience in the
pursuit of the
final stages of the plan
.  Others, emboldened by
prior
successes,
favored
immediate and aggressive use of
the harvesting machines.

Looking at
this part of
the vast operation nearing completion
,
Gwineval
felt confident
that once the
wizards
perfected their new harvesting techniques
, all
magic in the
realms of the City
would
fall
under their
complete
control.  They would have enough Oberon to power detection spells that could spread for a radius of
the entire realm
. 
They would persecute anyone who used magic without direct consent of the Guild.  There were plans to
establish local enforcement networks to monitor and
quickly
react to any unregulated magic use.  All spell
casting would be
completely regulated and the real threat of enforcement would provide complete compliance
.  Their power would transcend
all other powers in the City
.  It would only be a matter of time before they
enjoyed
the full
benefits
of
magical hegemony
.

Gwineval thought of the idealistic rogue known as Safreon.  Somehow
,
this Safreon had appealed to Gwineval’s
good nature
and his doubts about the
outcome of the
Guild
’s power grab
.  Gwineval revealed certain informat
ion about the Guild to Safreon–
information that would result in his death should his
fellow
wizards
discover that it had been revealed to an outsider.  He
respected
Safreon and he wanted to encourage the little bits of good that the man obviously performed in his neighborhood.  He looked at Safreon like a little pet in a glass house with no awareness of the forces at work on the other side of the glass. 
What harm could there be in indulging his altruistic side?
  Deep in his heart, Gwineval knew that the
Wizard Guild
would rule the realm with an iron fist fortified by their
control of magic–
despite the fact that Gwineval believed
that
it was morally wrong
to do so
.  It would sadden him greatly
on
the day
he would have to
reveal to Safreon
that there was
nothing
h
e could do to stem the momentum–that
the forces were already in motion a
nd quite unstoppable
. 

Suddenly he felt an itching in his head.
 
He scratched at the back of his skull, his scales still feeling somewh
at unfamiliar as he itched. His scales
didn't itch often like human skin had.
 
The itching
then
became a dull burning and
the sensation
quickly
manifested
into a voice crying out his name
inside his mind
.

"
GWINEVAL!
"

He staggered and his subordinates moved toward him to
steady him,
yet
they
remained frightened of him and hesitated to actually make contact.

As quickly as the phenom
enon had started,
it was over.
 
He was left to revel in amazement at the power that must have been necess
ary to accomplish such a feat;
to get an audible message to him through the wards of the Tower would have been a trying task even for one of his leve
l of w
izardry.

He believed
that he had recognized the voice;
if he was not mistaken it had been that
of none other than the
charming crusader that
he had just been thinking of,
Safreon of the Warrens.
 
The mes
sage could only mean one thing;
that
Safreon was trying to initiate magica
l communications with him.

The timing was poor
,
given his current need to apprehend the
mysterious
intruder.
 
He considered whether
or not
to n
otify the other wizards of the i
ntruder's presence.
 
This idea was quickly dismissed
in his mind
; he
knew
how the Guild would react
if
they caught an intruder
.
 
There was a faction within the
wizards
known as the Crimson Order.
 
In his mind
,
the Crimson Order
embodied
all of the
negative attributes of the Guild that gave him reason to think
that the tremendous power that the Guild was about to obtain was morally wrong.

In Gwineval’s opinion, t
he Crimson Order took every eccentricity and flaw
of the wizards
and magnified them
to an extreme.
 
They were violently xenophobic, ravenously ambitious, viewed non
-wizards
as little more than farm animals, and considered rogue
wizards
to be
dangerous extrem
ists who should be dealt with quickly and
with deadly force.

Gwineval led a fragile alliance of non
-
Crimson Order
wizards within the Guild,
and they had been able to contai
n the influence of the Crimson O
rder
in recent years
.

But an incident like a
n intruder in the Wizard Tower
w
ould be a flashpoint iss
ue that could quickly give the Crimson O
rder an opportunity to exploit paranoia and fear among the other
wizards
in order to
gain
full political
control of the Guild.

He had to
try to contain this situation and
deal with this intruder
himself,
before the Crimson Order discovered
them
.

But he was equally intrigued by the evidence that this seemingly harmless Safreon was a
rogue
Wizard of great po
wer,
able to contact him even within this magically
shielded
stronghold.

Emerging from his line of thinking, Gwineval
cast a reassuring glance to his subordinates and
gestured for them to remain behind; he
continued to walk down the hall
toward his chambers
.

He decided that he
would quickly
init
iate communications with Safreon, for he suspected that the two very unusual events that had just transpired could be related
.
 

His
chambers
were on the way toward the
third
floor stair
,
where he
had
intended to
try to
pick up the trail of the intruder.
 
A few moments of conversation
with Safreon would
not
, in his estimation,
compromise his search
for the intruder
and
could provide him with critical information about the situation, if Safreon knew something about the intruder.  Plus, it would
satiate his intense curiosity about how Safreon had contacted him so invasively.

A
s
he
reached the
door to his chamber, h
e slipped in quickly and moved through the artificially humid room to a corner where a thick ivory pedestal sat
supporting a
large half clamshell on top of it
.
The clamshell held
a pool of dark water.

Gwineval’s eyes flicked closed and his head lolled forward as he reached the small pool.

A strange mist
emanated
from the
water
in an instant
,
and as that mist cleared Safreon’s distorted features were visible
through
ripples in the water’s surface.

"
Gwineval – thank all greatness
! Y
ou received my message
,"
said
Safreon abruptly.

"
Y
essss, we must speak about that–and quickly–
for I
have business to attend to here," r
eplied Gwineval urgently.

"
I trust
that
our communications are private
?"
asked Safreon.

"
Yes, the Tower has innate protections and I have taken extra
precautions, given my position here,"
r
eplied Gwineval.

"I believe that my associate–
a girl of pr
omising yet undeveloped talents–
is planning to
enter the Wizard Tower tonight."

Gwineval did not reply immediately and Safreon waited, content that his message had been
received without being misunderstood as a jest
.

Gwineval considered what Safreon might truly be,
and
whether this could be an indirect move
against him
by the Crimson Order.  If
Safreon
was
part of
a plot to undermine him, it was being perfectly executed.

Gwineval looked hard at Safreon
’s distorted features in the pool
.

"
Yes, you have a decision to make my friend
,"
spoke Safreon after a time.
"
I can appreciate what must be going through your mind.  Can I explain the background of the situation?
"

"
You must be brief – I detected your associate not minutes ago and she may soon be detected by
others!" replied Gwineval
.

"She’s young and
headstrong, but she’s with u
s;
she
fights for
justice and fairness.  Her sister is sickly
–
normally
aided by magical alms–
but the faltering magic in the Warrens is weakening her.  The girl is named Hemlock
.  Can you
try to save her
for me?"

Gwineval weighed the merits of the story. 
It seemed internally consistent and he judged that
Safreon might be telling the truth. 

But what of Safreon himself?  What is the source of his power?  Is it the Crimson Order?
Gwineval wondered to himself.