Chapter 4367: Court Justice (Part 1)

Acting normal wasn’t hard for Jorl. Waiting for Orpal to notice Salanoth’s death and preparing himself to act shocked at the news, instead, was one of the hardest things he had ever done.

He constantly checked his amulet, afraid that Lith might expose him and doom his rebellion to end at the hand of the Dead King. All of Jorl’s careful plans and preparations were one mistake away from falling apart.

Little did he know that Orpal had discovered the disappearance of the Ring of Space’s communication rune for a while now. He had said nothing to study the behavior of his generals when they thought no one was looking.

’Salanoth was as nigh-immortal as we are. Killing her required a power that only someone with a mage tower like us possesses.’ Orpal thought. ’Yet just because my so-called allies lacked the power to kill her, they might have easily found someone who did.

’Cursed objects are universally despised, and even though Divine Beasts don’t bother hunting them down, they wouldn’t hesitate to destroy Salanoth if given the chance.

’Yet this still doesn’t make sense. Salanoth didn’t call for help nor did she leave a message before she was destroyed. Moreover, anyone powerful enough to kill her would have also interrogated her and tried to learn about our whereabouts.’

’Indeed.’ Night replied. ’We’ve stored everything important in our pocket dimension and kept Moonlight at the ready for an attack that never came. We waited for over 24 hours after Salanoth’s destruction yet nothing.

’Divine Beasts and white cores don’t need so much time to prepare. My mother would have come here with her Firstborns and my sister, while Divine Beasts wouldn’t wait for those slowpokes of the Council.

’They would just swarm us with numbers and slaughter our minions.’ She looked at Erion and the many Upyrs who went on with their day, blissfully ignorant of the alleged storm that threatened their existence.

Jorl and Akhton acted suspiciously, but that was their baseline. Night was aware of her generals’ ambitions, and never let her guard down around them. She suspected her generals to plot against Orpal even when they left for the restroom.

’Where is Uragar?’ Orpal wondered. ’He’s gone missing almost at the same time as Salanoth. His rune is still on, but he’s been unavailable since he left the fortress with her. Can he be the culprit?’

The answer came around sunrise, when the Book of Knowledge sounded the alarm, and his locator beacon appeared at a great distance from Tle’ket.

Orpal donned his equipment, activated the defensive arrays of the fortress, and mobilized his army before answering the distress signal. He followed protocol by the book, as Uragar expected him to do.

"What happened?" Orpal Warped thousands of kilometers away with Moonlight before calling the Book of Knowledge so that its signal couldn’t be traced to Tle’ket.

"The Suneater!" Uragar said with visible panic on the features of his host. "He killed Salanoth and may be coming for me. I need to disappear for a while, or we are all dead. I can explain everything to you now or in a few weeks. Your choice."

"Meet me at site 147." Orpal replied.

There were actually only twenty agreed-upon meeting places, but their codename used a higher number to fool whoever might be listening.

The Dead King and the Book of Knowledge met at the convened spot after they both performed a deep scan of the area as far as their abilities allowed them.

"Give me your hand. We don’t have a second to lose." Uragar formed a mind link that showed Orpal only the parts of the fight involving Tezka and the two cursed objects.

Orpal listened to Salanoth’s origin story and understood why only the Book of Knowledge had come out of the encounter alive.

’What rotten luck!’ Orpal gritted his teeth so hard that his jaw popped. ’And you ran away like that, leaving our sister for dead?’

’Wouldn’t you?’ Uragar scoffed. ’Salanoth didn’t want to fight. She just had no other choice. Also, I didn’t abandon her the moment Tezka showed his muzzle. I fought until we had a ghost of a chance of victory. I’m neither a hero nor suicidal.’

The Horseman of Night couldn’t refute the Book of Knowledge’s reasoning and asked only one question. Everything else was painfully obvious.

’What were you doing in that cave?’

’Looking for magical resources.’ Uragar’s thoughts couldn’t lie, and he didn’t need to. ’We couldn’t wait for you to find the Adamant for a full suit of equipment. Salanoth and I knew that if we told you about the storage, you’d use the Adamant for yourself first.

’We would have split the loot equally, instead, and crafted our equipment before coming back here. You would have gotten angry, but we didn’t give a damn. You can’t kill us nor can you afford to.’

’True.’ Night begrudgingly admitted. ’Is Tezka still after you?’

’He’s after all of us.’ Uragar shared with her the memory about Tezka claiming he would slaughter all the Upyrs as payback for Orpal’s attempt to murder the Vastors. ’It’s the only reason I’m here. I needed to warn you.’

’Thanks.’ Orpal replied. ’And thank you for waiting for so long before contacting me. If the Suneater were still after you, you would have faced his wrath alone to protect the rest of us.’

’Don’t flatter yourself, boy!’ The Book of Knowledge retched at the idea. ’I hate losing, and if I had to die at Tezka’s hand, the last thing I wanted was to give him my life and everything he wanted.

’It wasn’t about protecting you. I only cared about pissing him off.’

More truth and the characteristic selfishness of the cursed object dispelled the suspicions Orpal still had about Jorl.

’Now go.’ Uragar said. ’You fly and I’ll Warp. This way, if the Suneater is spying on us, he’ll have to choose, and he can’t trace you if you don’t use dimensional magic.’

’When will you come back?’ Orpal asked.

’As soon as someone spots Tezka anywhere on Mogar.’ The cursed book replied. ’Beware, kid. He hates us all because of you. Be smart and stay away from Vastor. Don’t make yourself Tezka’s priority.’

The idea of giving up on his revenge made Orpal’s blood boil, but he nodded in understanding.

’I hate that fat pig, but he’s not worth losing our immortal life. Not now, not ever.’

***

Garlen Continent, City of Valeron, Royal Palace, later that day.

It wasn’t the first time the Royal Court had assembled to discuss that same issue, and King Meron doubted it would be the last. Queen Sylpha, instead, had bet against the discussion going anywhere.

As too often happened, their Supreme Magus caused as many political problems for them as many wonders he performed. Bringing Elfiam’s murder to justice was a noble act, but destroying the magical formations of a noble household in the process had left the Royal Court aghast.

On top of that, everyone knew that Lith had set up countless contingency measures in Lutia to keep his family safe ever since he was a boy, but no one expected him to have the magical beasts of the Trawn woods, their Kings, and a Hydra at his beck and call.

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