Chapter 22 - Service to the Crown
The Light flared inside Edwynn's eyes and he opened his mouth to scream. No sound came as his chest convulsed and spasmed. As quickly as it began the light faded and the young rogue gasped for breath. He panted, taking deep lungfulls of air. His heart thundered in his chest and his skin tingled. He was alive... again.
"That was a little better." Lord Tony Romano wiped the blood from his long knife. Edwynn's blood. Just seconds earlier the blade had been buried to the hilt in Edwynn's chest. The wound had been mortal, like nearly a half dozen before it. Edwynn had been helpless as his life literally slipped away before his eyes. Then the blackness closed over him. It was a disquieting feeling, kind of like drifting off to sleep against one's will. The pain and the noise quickly diminished as though coming from a vast distance away. Only a quiet darkness awaited. This most recent time had been a bit different. This time there had been an odd sensation of buoyancy, like swimming or taking a bath. Edwynn recalled feeling like he was floating upwards, drifting towards something. The faintest of glows seemed to penetrate the darkness, coming from above.
Then came the light and the pain. Electricity and arcane energy ripped through his body as the doctor and his infernal machine resurrected him. Edwynn had thought the little gnome was odd the instant he laid eyes on him. When Lord Romano had led the young rogue down to the training room, the doctor had followed, twiddling his fingers gleefully. One entire wall of the training room consisted of a large bank of whirling gizmos that glowed and blinked constantly.
Edwynn coughed and sat up. Two wires led from his bare chest to exposed metal leads on the machine. One was painted red, the other black. Lights were blinking rapidly and the machine was emitting a regular chirping noise like a wounded bird.
"What's that sound?" Edwynn asked. "It wasn't making that noise before."
"Not to worry, not to worry." The doctor turned a small wheel below one of the readouts. This resulted in a shrill whistle of steam from a pipe. The doctor swiftly reversed the knob and the noise stopped.
"Are you sure you know how to work that thing?" Concern etched Edwynn's voice.
"Don't be ridiculous." The gnome answered. Abruptly all the lights on the machine turned off and it became very silent.
"Ignore him." Romano had finished toweling the blood off of his own chest. All of it was Edwynn's. In over a week of training the student's blade had never touched his instructor's skin.
"Um... shouldn't we wait for the machine to start up again?"
"Why?" Romano asked. He casually strolled to a nearby weapons rack and picked up a short mace.
"Hey, I appreciate all that you've taught me, really I do. But don't you think you should go a little easier on me if the machine isn't working?"
"I've got a better idea." Romero answered. "How about you get your head out of your ass and try not to die for once?" The teacher dropped into a fighting stance. Edwynn looked desperately at the doctor. The little gnome was polishing some of the crystals on the machine, completely uninterested in the outcome of the fight.
"Hold!"
Mathias Shaw descended the staircase and entered through a doorway. With a single glance he assessed the room and everything in it.
"Duty calls gentlemen. Edwynn, I want you upstairs and showered in five minutes. Ms. McCoy has laid out some new clothes in your room. Get her help putting them on. Then meet me in the main hall as soon as she declares you presentable.
"With respect sir, we're not done here." Romano said to Shaw. "He's not horrible, but he needs a lot of work."
"It will have to wait." Shaw gave Edwynn a look filled with equal parts concern and pity. The boy didn't like the expression at all.
"What's happened?" the young rogue asked.
"Edwynn DeTeems. You have been summoned, by name I might add, for an audience with the King of Stormwind."
Thirty minutes later Edwynn and Mathias emerged from a secret tunnel into one of the storerooms of Stormwind Keep. The passage had been dark, dry, and surprisingly quick. Once with the storeroom, Mathias extinguished the lantern he had been using to light the way and turned to examine Edwynn.
"Stop fidgeting. You look like a six year old at Sunday mass."
"I'm sorry sir. It's just... I can't believe anyone would willingly dress like this. I don't' think I've ever worn so many layers in my life."
Shaw's cryptic statement earlier about needing assistance getting dressed had been correct. The shirt had buttons in the most inconceivable locations. A deep blue sircoat was worn over this, with two long tails hanging down lower than his old cloak did. The shoes were soft leather, with hard soles at least two inches thick. Around his neck was a silk sash that Ms. McCoy had twisted and knotted in some serpentine fashion that had been impossible to follow. Finally Sloan had pulled his hair back into a rough ponytail.
"There." She had said before he left. She smiled briefly and pushed aside a lock of his hair. "You look rather dashing, after a sort." It had been the only compliment she had ever given him.
"I feel like an idiot." Edwynn confessed to Shaw.
"Well you look fit to attend the king's own Greatwinter feast. You could probably have used a shave, but it's too late now. Let's get this over with."
Shaw slowly pulled open the door and stepped into a deserted office. From there they moved to a hallway filled with more well dressed people that Edwynn had ever seen in his entire life. The spymaster than led him through a maze of ballrooms and hallways. Up and up they traveled, ascending broad stairways and ramps.
"Sir, has something happened? Everyone seems so preoccupied."
"We're about to find out."
Shaw led them up a final sloping hallway towards a set of elaborate double-doors. Two guards out front stood a grim watch. When they saw Shaw and the boy approaching one turned and knocked twice. The guard then slowly opened the door and addressed Shaw.
"She's expecting you."
"She?" Mathias's mood darkened.
The guard swept them inside and closed the door behind them. Inside was a grand office, intricately furnished with works of art and gifts to the king from foreign lands. A large desk strewn with papers occupied a central area against the left wall. To the right, the wall of the room was composed entirely of glass panels, and outside it a balcony supported a breathtaking view of the entire city. And beyond its gates, the green forests of Ellwynn stretched to the horizon. Standing with her back to the door, the silhouette of a woman gazed out the city.
"Mr. Shaw. It's about time you got here. Is this the man I asked you to bring?" The woman turned to face them.
The air caught in his throat the instant Edwynn saw her face. The woman was impossibly beautiful. Her face was perfect, as if cast from marble by the world's greatest artist. Her skin was almost pure white and not a single blemish or wrinkle marred its surface. Her dark hair fell like silk across her bare shoulders. Even from across the dozen paces to where she stood Edwynn could smell her intoxicating perfume. But it was her eyes that captured and held the young rogue's gaze. There was something about them. They did not seem to reflect the light properly. They were dark, cold, and somehow... inhuman. Looking into those eyes, Edwynn felt like he was again slipping into the abyss of death. He felt at once captivated and terrified of her.
He vaguely heard a disgruntled Shaw talking to the woman. "The summons I am here to answer was made in the name of the King."
"That is correct, Mr. Shaw. The king is indisposed at the moment. He has empowered me to act in his stead."
"Indisposed? Where is he?"
"That is not your concern. Your duty is to the crown and that means that until the king says otherwise you are to do what I say when I say it. That also goes for everyone in your organization, and this entire kingdom for that matter. Now leave us, I have questions for this young man."
"You go too far Katrana..."
"I am not of the habit of repeating myself Mr. Shaw." She cut him off. "Guards!"
The door opened immediately.
"Mr. Shaw is done here." She addressed the guards as they entered. Two men took up flanking positions on either side of the spymaster. One of them moved to grab his arm, but Shaw slipped out of his grasp.
"I'm not sure what your game is yet, but the king shall hear of this." Shaw turned to leave. He paused at the doorway and glanced quickly back at Edwynn. "Good Luck." He said. The young rogue simply nodded in response. Then, as quickly as they came, the guards were gone and the door was closed. Edwynn was alone with the beautiful woman.
"By the Titan's breath, I cannot believe how exhausting you people are!" The woman muttered loudly to herself. She stepped gracefully to the table and began shifting through the papers on the desk. Edwynn didn't know what to do, so he waited patiently for the Lady to address him. But she continued rifling through the papers, apparently looking for a particular one. After a while, Edwynn cleared his throat.
"What?" The woman looked up at him in anger.
""Umm..." Edwynn felt himself withering under her gaze. "You... you wanted to see me?"
The woman's eyes narrowed and a palpable wave of heat seemed to emanate from her. Edwynn thought it was his imagination, except he could feel his overcoat shift from a spontaneous breeze.
As quickly as it had come, the heat wave passed. The woman turned back to her searching. However, this time she began to speak.
"Do you know why you are here?" She asked. Edwynn blinked in silence. He was here because she had summoned him, but he felt that to say as much might invite some terrible consequence. Luckily the lady did not wait for him to answer.
"Of course not. You have not idea why you are here. None of you do. Only the trolls know why, and they're not telling. No, it is simply beyond your grasp. You go about your daily business of eating and sleeping and fighting and dying without any consideration of what it's all for. You are too impatient. You seek knowledge without considering what you would do with it. You conquer lands without developing the lands you already occupy. You slaughter your enemies, but spare their women and children. And then, when the Horde escape from their internment camps and raise an army against you, you find yourself surprised."
Having exhausted the supply of papers on the desk, she opened one to the drawers and continued her search. "My father warned me about you. He said your ambition knew no bounds. You would not stop until someone rose to stop you. And even if you could be defeated, it was your spirit that could never truly be crushed. This is something my brother fails to see."
Edwynn simply gave up trying to follow her conversation. She seemed like a crazy person. Edwynn was sure that her father must be a lord, or a prince of some kind, and that he would remember if he had met him. Yet apparently someone was speaking highly of him. Maybe her father worked at the network with Mathias Shaw. But even then, her words simply did not make sense.
"Ah-Ha!" The woman gave a little cry of victory and pulled a sheet of parchment from the drawer. She took a long feather, dipped it in a nearby inkwell, and began to write.
"Edwynn DeTeems, formerly of Northshire. For services to the crown of Stormwind, exercised with great valor and in a matter befitting the highest standards of his majesty's military, you are hereby awarded the title of Viscount of Westbrook. You are entitled to the properties and fealty of the peoples of that land. You will govern in the name of the king, and are responsible for the prosperity and well-being of those under your rule." The woman stopped writing and smiled at the page. "But honestly, who really cares about the little people."
Edwynn stood speechless, his heart hammering in his chest. Him, a noble? Elevated from running boy of Crownguard manor to a viscount? It was impossible. More than impossible. It was a dream.
The woman had already risen from the desk and was approaching him. "Yes, I can see I was right about you. Someone who recognizes opportunity when it presents itself. Well young man, I have a little job for you. A quest, actually. And here is your reward. Land, subjects, wealth, and power. All at once and all within your grasp. I have but to place the king's seal upon it and this writ becomes law. Do I have your attention?"
"Yes. Yes mame. Yes, my lady!" Edwynn half-saluted, then stopped and gave a clumsy bow. The woman rolled her eyes but didn't criticize.
"Follow me." His hostess led Edwynn towards the balcony. The noonday sun shone brightly outside. Opening a sliding glass door, they stepped out to the edge, overlooking the keep below.
"Ahh, I love this view." She purred. Edwynn followed her gaze down to the central courtyard. A gallows had been constructed there, and a crowd was gathered, consisting of perhaps a hundred of Stormwind's citizen's and guards.
"A hanging?"
"Yessss..." The noblewoman practically hissed and her eyes held a hungry look. "A criminal was captured just before dawn. Some city guards found him half-dead in the mage district. They had some fun with him before turning him over to the Chief Justice. He was sentenced rather quickly to be strung up at noon."
As if on cue a roar rose from the crowd. A bundle of guards were half carrying a body forward through a sea of people. Even at this distance, the blond hair contrasted sharply with black skin and glowing eyes.
"Brogan?"
The noblewoman smiled. "Ahh, good. So you do know him. I was worried for a moment that I would have to find some other way to attain my goal. But you would still have been useful. Hangings always stir my appetite."
"They can't... He hasn't done anything. I know him. Whatever he's accused of, I'm sure he's innocent."
"He is your friend? You care about him? Good. Because his fate and yours are now linked."
Watching the jeering crowd screaming at Brogan drove all thoughts of riches and nobility from Edwynn's mind. "What is it you want from me?"
"A mystical artifact. A book. It came to the city a little more than a week ago, just as you and your friend did. I had almost convinced the elves to part with it, but then those incompetent tree-lovers had it stolen right out from under their noses. Now a man holds it in secret location here within the city. Within my city!"
The woman's eyes narrowed and again Edwynn felt a hot wind. Several of the guards along the battlements cried out at the sudden gusting.
"The man who has the book is called Necrodamus. His true identity is a secret, as is his location. All of the members of his coven are under a powerful gias. It is a potent, ancient magic. My father once used one on Korialstraza. Brogan knows where Necrodamus is, but cannot speak, write, or communicate this information in any way. However he can be convinced to take someone he trusts back to the secret coven. Someone who would not betray him."
Edwynn did not like how she phrased that last sentence. Looking back down at the gallows, he saw the hangman placing the noose around his friend's neck. The executioner looked up and the noblewoman held up her palm.
"Halt!" Someone in the crowd yelled. "Lady Katrana Prestor has stayed the execution!"
Lady Prestor turned to Edwynn. "Now, you listen to me young man, and you listen carefully. I want that book. I want it desperately, and as you have seen I am prepared to be most gracious to the one who brings it to me. Others want it as well. Some will try to kill for it. Other will attempt to bribe you with riches, or women. But a title, a change of station, this is something no one but I can offer you."
"You have twenty-four hours Edwynn. If Brogan or anyone else tries to stop you, you will have to deal with that using the methods Shaw teaches in that little school of his. But if you fail me...if you dare fail me..." The woman stepped closer to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Edwynn was suddenly aware of how tall she was, how long her nails were, and how hot her breath felt on his skin. It was not a pleasant sensation.
"Truly Edwynn, you have no idea how powerful I am, or how far I would go to punish someone who displeases me. Fail at this task, and there will be nowhere on Azeroth that you will be safe from me."