I agreed with Yandril that the Royal Commander could play an essential role with the mages, military, and elite among the elves. I certainly did not have the contacts or experience to sway them like he could.

  I nodded to Yandril and said, “The King is unavailable to meet with me. He has been either in another meeting, indisposed, or off-site each time I need to bring him word of these events.”

  Even when I needed to speak with him on urgent matters, he played his role to keep me at arm’s length. I thought to myself.

  Work through Yandril and the Commander. It is your only option right now. Bella advised.

  Devdan and Yandril traded significant looks. Yandril replied, “You did not part on the best of terms last night.”

  “But the security of the kingdom is at stake,” I said.

  Yandril nodded. “Yes, and as Seneschal, it is your responsibility to succeed or fail as your abilities permit. Do your duty.”

  The Commander and his son both drew in breaths at the implication that the King refused to meet with me in the hope that I would fall flat on my face, even if it meant lives.

  My face clouded. I knew it was all a ploy, but it did not mean that I was not angered by it. There were powerful, evil forces at work, and this needed to play out if we could hope to stop them. Nevertheless, I replied in a tight voice. “Then the Seneschal will do his best to protect the lives of our soldiers and the innocents of the city.”

  Yandril repeated, “Do your duty. It is all that can be asked of any of us.”

  And with that, he stood and departed without another word.

  The Commander shook his head. “I would never have dreamed.”

  “Commander, what advice can you offer to ensure the safe departure of troops and supplies?” I asked. There was no purpose in dwelling on this. I did not want his loyalty to the King challenged, but neither could I bring him into the plan if the King did not choose to do so.”

  We spoke for an hour and made plans for discussions with the Mage Council. I shared Isaac’s idea, and we added to it. I also learned that while the King would be present at Mage Council, I would lead the meeting as Seneschal. Protection was my primary duty right now.

  In that spirit, and based on our long discussion, I came to three immediate decisions. I needed advice and allies, and I needed them before we met at Mage Council. Therefore, I sent for the three mages who sat on Mage Council as shared Reeves, a kind of literal magistrate. I also sent for the Aquatic Elf and Subterranean Elf ambassadors, asking them to meet with me at a time shortly thereafter. We would need time to set up the room for them so they could not be first. And my third order was to summon a meeting with four Elven faith leaders; the choice of who was invited was by consensus with the captain and commander. That meeting was last because one of the invited or summoned guests was at the Elven battlefront.

  The first meeting was with the three Mage Council Reeves, and they arrived together within a half hour of their invitation. They sat opposite me, and the Commander who joined the meeting sat to my right. I once again sat with my back to the window and at the center of the long oval table. The captain remained in the room, but all other guards resumed posts outside the chambers.

  Fortunately for me, one of the Reeves was Grand Guildmaster Rennyn Caibalar, guildmaster of the Elven Silvercrafters. He greeted me warmly.

  Unfortunately for me, the second of the Reeves was Master Plojbil Ernengtion, guild master of enchanters, reluctant spokesman for Council in determining the king’s book present, and my erstwhile gwid mushroom bully. I remembered that I had still not offered my respects to the guild hall. He did not greet me warmly.

  The third was an elf I did not recognize, and since elf mages wore whatever they wanted and did not always follow the human traditions of robe colors, except for wizards who always wore white robes regardless of race, I had no idea what guild she represented. She was the third to greet me and introduced herself as Grandmaster Thasinia Mirajor, guild mistress of the Rune Masters Guild.

  I nodded respectfully in meeting her as I had the others, and suddenly recalled where I had seen her name. She held a shelf of books in the library of Grandmaster Horatius Henry “Hawkeye” Harper. And on inspiration, I said, “I visited with Horatius Harper recently, and he has an entire shelf dedicated to your writings.”

  She immediately laughed and smiled warmly. “Young Hawkeye. What a rascal he was when he lived among us, but that had to be a century, perhaps a century and a half ago. He is still around?”

  “Yes indeed, he celebrated his three hundred twelfth birthday recently, although I suspect he is much older. And while he has slowed down, his mind is sharp as ever.”

  The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  “Put you to a riddle, I bet.” She said.

  “Oh yes. More than one. He had agreed to help Keelwell against the goblin invasion.” I replied.

  Grandmaster Caibalar was thoroughly enjoying our exchange; however, Master Ernengtion was growing impatient.

  “Well,” I said, “I have only the rudimentary knowledge of runes, but given our far smaller numbers than the goblin horde, I thought that if we engraved exploding runes on arrowtips, and shot them into crowds of goblins-”

  She finished, “That with their lower physicality compared with humans, that you could be more effective than single arrow shots, oh, that is a good idea!” She said, nodding her head vigorously.

  “On top of that, one of our young inventors has acquired first-age museum pieces and has begun building siege-”

  “Ahem,” Master Ernengtion cleared his throat and interrupted our conversation, “perhaps we could get on with the meeting that we were unceremoniously summoned to attend?”

  The Commander remarked, “Plojbil, I sent the invitations personally, and you were invited, not summoned.”

  “Nevertheless,” the enchanter replied, “perhaps we should begin.”

  Before the Commander could reply, sensing that there was obviously some bad blood between them, I agreed. “Thank you for bringing us to task, guildmaster. Like my own masters of enchantment would often say to apprentices, ‘a keen and focused mind-”

  The guild master completed my phrase in an almost surprised tone, “leads to order, productivity, and leaves no details behind.” He tilted his head and asked, “Your masters teach this to their students?”

  “As far as I know, they have done so for many decades,” I replied. “You have heard this before?”

  He sat up straighter, “My boy, I wrote it!”

  I sat up straighter and smiled widely. “Then thank you, master Ernengtion. Your words are shared often and sometimes, much to the chagrin of a lazy apprentice.”

  He looked mollified. “Well, I really had no idea. I agree, of course, but I had not realized it had spread to the other Halls.”

  What little time I had between my last meeting and this to look up some of his writings paid off. It is true, it is used in our halls, but I may have exaggerated its importance a bit. But now it was my turn to eat some pride.

  “And I owe you and our Elven enchanters an apology,” I said.

  He looked surprised. “How is that, Seneschal?”

  “I have not come and paid my respects to our guild hall as a visiting guest.”

  The Commander shuffled in his seat and looked like he was about to defend me, but the enchanter said first, “Seneschal, you are an elf and of highest standing. You are not required to visit the hall and identify yourself.”

  I nodded. “I thank you for your kind words, guildmaster, but we both know that when I entered our city, even as an elfkin, it was my duty and privilege to visit and record my entrance. And for that oversight, I ask your apology.”

  Apparently, elves did not apologize to each other often. The entire table looked surprised, and I saw a smile flirt around Grand Guildmaster Rennyn Caibalar’s lips. He had watched me carefully for many hours and knew my personality better than the other two mages.

  “Consider yourself formally introduced, welcomed, and forgiven for your momentary rudeness.” The guildmaster stated.

  I bowed to him respectfully again. I looked up at the others, “Then, following the enchanter’s wise words, let us get started. We have a grave and unheard of threat in the city that needs to be addressed.”

  I faced the royal commander, “Commander, could you please bring our colleagues up to speed on our best military intelligence to date?”

  “Of course, Seneschal.” And the commander launched into a description of the attack on me in Keelwell and the following attack in the commerce quarter. When he mentioned the Slayers, all three mages flinched. They knew the horrors of shadow magic and shadow creatures.

  Several clarifying questions arose, one of them by Guildmaster Caibalar. “Why did you depart from our bank to return to Keelwell after our meeting?”

  I was not sure if he truly wanted to know or wanted to make known the generous donation. Probably both. So I responded, “Given the generous support of the guild, I wanted to return to put it into action. I also needed to retrieve a staff used to create a large, stable portal that will allow for instantaneous transport of the entire army and supply wagons.”

  “What staff is this?” Master Plojbil asked.

  “Its magic is beyond me. It is a pair of twin staves the Archmage created for use in a previous goblin war that opens two ends of a portal. It is like a portable version of the homestead gates we use.”

  They were all impressed. The master enchanter replied, “To work across such distances and to be mobile is a work of magic that is beyond our eldest mages.”

  The Commander said dryly, “That is probably why he is called the Archmage, then isn’t it?”

  Forestalling another argument between Commander and enchanter, I asked. “Our concern is not in traveling, it is in securing the area from sabotage attempts to prevent the union of a human, dwarven, and elven alliance that the enemy fears.”

  “How do we know they fear this?” The rune master asked.

  The Commander answered. “Before he was able to secure an alliance with the dwarves, his work at defending the city must not have aroused interest or concern. But his defense of the city against the goblin sneak attack, successful alliance with the dwarves that resulted in soldiers and magic, and now with a union with the elves, has become a serious threat, and he is now a primary target. It is only their underestimation of his powers-”

  “And the brave sacrifice of an Elven officer, that I am alive today.” I completed the Commander’s explanation.

  They all remained silent.

  Finally, Plojbil said to everyone present. “The officer who saved the Seneschal’s life was my sister’s youngest son.” He turned to me and asked. “What do you seek from us, Seneschal?”

  I did not know that and couldn’t hide the surprise on my face. I nodded to him again, respectfully.

  We discussed plans for around an hour. I walked away with pledges from their three guilds, and that they would bring this to immediate discussion with specific guild leaders before Mage Council convened in a little under three hours' time.

  After they had departed, I asked the Commander, “Did you know that the officer was his nephew?”

  “I did not. Plojbil and I go way back. There is a lot of dirty water between us. But in this we are of one mind.” He stood. “I will depart and pay my personal respects to the families of the fallen.”

  “Perhaps I should-” I began.

  “No, this is my duty. I will inform them that you asked to accompany me. That will mean a lot to them.” He answered.

  “Devdan,” I said, using his first name. “I appeared in the home of the officer’s family. I used his only means of escape. What can I do to help?”

  “Honor him.” He said simply.

  “But Devdan,” and I couldn't help myself as I teared up. “I do not recall his name.”

  The old soldier put his hand on my shoulder and said gently in his rough, deep voice. “His name was Sinahdt Valdithas. He was a newly promoted lieutenant and the third son in a family with two additional older sisters. He favored archery over spear practice, was secretly a craftsman in carving wooden figures of animals in motion, and died as he lived in service to his people.” He withdrew the figurine of a prancing deer from his breast uniform pocket and placed it on the table before me. “He had this with him in his pocket. I am certain he would want you to have it.”

  I let the tears fall quietly.

  “Thank you.” I finally said.

  “It is my honor to serve, Seneschal.” And he departed, ordering none to enter the room until summoned.

  Leomys opened the door to my private chambers and ran some water in the sink until it was warm. Then he moved aside so that I could wash my face and say a silent prayer for Sinahdt and his family.

  I was not permitted to make the rounds I had intended to check on progress, but guardsmen went to each working guild and assured me that we were on pace. I felt like I had just turned a corner and started a new arc, one far more dangerous than all the others combined.

  All I could think was, What comes next?