The Fenimeldiyaan: Rogue Time - Chapter 15

Ramsey was beaming. Spying again after all these years. And this time, he didn't have to use a disguise carefully crafted by one of the palace's mages. Andreas had placed an invisibility spell over him, Elspeth and Lias. The plan was foolproof. Except for one thing, of course.

"Stupid," Elspeth was saying. "Feel like I've been run over by a herd o' goats, exhaustion like this-"

"Shut it, Elspeth," Ramsey hissed. "Do ye want ta get caught?"

"He took all me energy," she shot back, "an' I feel all itchy."

Ramsey sighed, stopping so they could have a quick word without worrying about being snuck up on. "O' course ye feel tired. Andreas had to use some of our energy to magic us here. Unless ye wanted to walk, did ye?"

The old dragon wrinkled her nose, sticking her tongue out and hating the fact that her husband couldn't see the gesture. Meanwhile, Lias glanced right and left, wishing the dragons would get going again. He opened his mouth to speak but wasn't sure exactly what to say. These were the only other reptilian people he had met, and he wanted them to like him. But if they kept going on like this, they'd get everybody killed.

"Excuse me," Lias finally whispered, causing the two dragons to cut their argument short and glance in his general direction.

"Ah, sorry Lias," Ramsey began.

Elspeth snorted. "I'm not sorry. I want me energy back or I canna' be expected to help that blasted man-"

"Then go home. The border's that way," Ramsey replied, struggling to keep his voice at a harsh whisper.

Lias cleared his throat. "Which way are we headed?" he asked, hoping to change the subject.

Ramsey thought for a moment. "If I remember correctly, there be a few rooms to the east that are reserved fer magic users. Perhaps one o' them contains the sorcerer we're after."

"Perhaps more than just one sorcerer," Elspeth hissed. "We're dead meat."

"Let's go," Lias prompted, taking a few steps forward and hoping that the other two would remain close by. He was fortunate to have such a good sense of smell, otherwise it would be easy to lose his invisible companions. Not that it would be such a bad thing to lose track of Elspeth.

Upon reaching a corridor with some rather ornate-looking oak doors, Ramsey pressed himself up against the opposite wall, intending to wait for one of them to open. "Here," he hissed. Immediately he felt Lias' presence at his side.

A sudden jiggle of a nearby door's handle caught his attention and he steeled himself for a potential kerfuffle. They were too close, but since a sorcerer with such power would be able to sense their presence in the Hindustani temple anyway, Ramsey thought it best to remain nearby. That way, they could attack if the need arose, instead of becoming targets of ranged magic.

"Locked," Elspeth hissed, and Ramsey realised that it had been his wife that had caused the knob to rattle.

"Elspeth!" he breathed, reaching out until he felt the soft fabric of her robe, and tugging her towards him. This turned out to be a very bad idea, for Elspeth immediately raised her voice, thinking it was an enemy who had discovered her presence.

"Ahh! Get off, ye-"

Ramsey immediately clamped a hand over his wife's mouth, breathing into her ear, "It's me, Elspeth. Shut it!" But it was too late; the noise had attracted some of the cleaning staff from the next corridor.

"Intruders! Raise the alarm!" Ramsey heard them scream, or it could have been 'raise the pumpkin'; it had been more than a decade since the retired spy had spoken the Hindustani language. Ramsey resolved to brush up on his skills if he ever made it out of this.

"Run!" the dragon commanded, pushing Elspeth and Lias in front of him as they sprinted down the corridor. "Keep quiet!"

Ramsey could only hope that they could get to safety before one of the sorcerers caught wind of their presence. Hopefully it would not be the one Andreas had sent them to find, for surely his skill rivalled that of the Chronomage's...

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"Run! Keep quiet!" Lias sprinted beside the invisible Elspeth, snickering to himself. Of all people to say keep quiet, it was Ramsey. Maybe he did not realize it, but he was almost as loud as the hot tempered Elspeth.

They came to a curve in the hall and nearly ran into a group of soldiers. Nearly, for Lis immediately transformed into a large snake that filled the hall. He felt the jabs of a few scimitars on his belly and recoiled as one dug between two scales, connecting to his flesh. That would not settle well.

He slithered atop the small crowd and kept going, hoping the dragons could keep up.

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Iereth fell on his knees and grabbed his face. He turned the king into a donkey! The king! The last thing he needed was another king after his head! And now he was... Iereth blinked and blinked again. Nothing. There was nothing everywhere! He was supposed to be in the throne room helping Rachel, but even Rachel-

Will appeared before him. Iereth jumped back and yelled. His voice went off in the distance without the slightest echo. "Will!"

"Hello?" a beautiful voice came from behind Iereth. He turned around, and his eyes grew into silver saucers.

The woman was extremely beautiful and dressed in several layers of very thin, colourful clothes. Her clothes were somewhat wrinkled though and her long dark hair a bit of a mess. "Who are you?" Iereth asked.

The woman's shoulders straightened and jaw tightened, extinguishing her lost puppy demeanour altogether. She spat, "Jewel Darshana. The Rani of Hindustan. Now what gives you the right to not bow before speaking to me, Albionite."

Iereth blinked. This was the Rani? Why would she be in a place like... wherever this place was? Iereth did not bother bowing and asked, "How did you get here?"

At first, the Rani looked like she could bite his head off. Then she sighed and told her tale. Behind Iereth, Will listened intently as well. So the chronomage had sent the Rani here as well. Things were not looking bright.

"Reth, where are we?" Will asked.

"First time you ever asked me for directions," Iereth grumbled although he already had a fair idea of where they were. Nowhere.

"How do we get back? Rachel's in danger!" Will cried. "Can you relocate... translocate us back?"

Iereth shook his head.

The Rani reached out and grabbed Iereth's arm. Her bloodshot eyes were fierce. "If you are leaving here, you are taking me with you."

Iereth nodded. He had to figure out a way of escape. He couldn't translocate away. But... he could pass a message on to someone who could. "Will... Jewel Darshana. Do not dare interrupt me."

With that, he took a few steps away from the couple and sat down. Breathing in deeply, he began a chant to pass on a cry for help.

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Do not dare interrupt me? Will was aghast. How could Iereth expect Will to entertain the Rani of Hindustan? Especially since Will had robbed her about a year ago. He really hoped she wouldn't recognize him from that particular incident.

Will stepped away, raking his fingers over his scalp and tugging on his hair. What sort of a friend was he to Rachel? How could he not have protected her? She could already be dead! What could the Chronomage be doing to her? Why had she sent Will and Iereth here--wherever they were--and not Rachel? How could he have failed so tremendously, and gotten all three of them in such horrible trouble?

He sat down abruptly, figuring one spot was just as good as any other. Iereth was still frowning in concentration, and the Rani's eyes were firmly on him. Will could only hope Iereth would succeed.

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Rachel fluttered anxiously in the cage. She had little control over the dove form. If she had been at full strength instead of not having slept for several days, she would have been able to break free of the dove's form. The Chronomage was weakened. But Rachel had little magic and even less energy. If she'd been able to sleep since she'd cast the spell on the Hindustani attackers when they'd snared Ramsey, things might have been different. But she hadn't, and that was showing now. In a few hours she might have been able to free herself, but now ... she was trapped.

She would have cried about what the Chronomage had done to Will and Iereth, but she didn't even have enough control over her own body to do that. It was very sad.

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Gerald stood on the execution block, a lump lodged in his throat as he viewed the hundreds of Hindustanis baying for his blood. His hands were bound in front of him by the wrists, and the executioner stood by, the massive scimitar in his hands. Morgan was held behind him, gagged with a sword to his neck. Rhami, the cursed coward, was nowhere to be seen.

Someone grabbed Gerald's shoulders, forcing him to kneel as they tied his hands to a link in the boards of the block. The crowd started to hush, watching. Gerald tried to breathe to calm himself. Never had he come so close to being executed before. The back of his neck itched where the blade would hit when it fell. I never thought it'd end like this.

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Rhami stiffened. He felt great power in the palace, not far from him. Using his magic, he telepathically warned his men that there were Albionite dragons loose in the palace. They would be eager for the hunt, and they were prepared with more of the nets. As long as he kept them informed of the dragons' locations, they would be able to hunt them with no problem.

In the meantime, he had to finish off Joshi. No need to let the man ruin anything or get any fool ideas of saving his two compatriots--again. Hurrying to the room in question, he opened the door and stopped. A red-haired Albionite sat next to Joshi, staring at the man's face intently. His gaze turned to Rhami, and they looked at each other.

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Elaine snatched Andreas's hand when she saw them force Gerald to kneel. "Andreas, they're going to kill him!" she cried, trying to control herself. How could she tell Elsa that Gerald had been executed in some far-off world? She could see the look of horror on Morgan's face as he watched the executioner step towards the mercenary. Gerald had his eyes squeezed shut, his bloodied and bruised face pale.

Before anyone could do anything, the executioner had raised the scimitar over Gerald. That was when Elaine saw River, finally separated from Callum, shoot a bolt of pure energy at the executioner. He went flying off the platform just as alarm bells started ringing. "Albionites!" people screamed.

The Hindustani guards started charging at River as she stumbled. Elaine tugged on Andreas's arm. "Come on!" she exclaimed. "They'll tear her apart if we don't help!"

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Anwyn held up a hand, stalling the young and enthusiastic Carpathian boy who was reciting the Code of Honour for her. “Sorry, Mario, I’ve just received an urgent distress call. I can’t ignore it. Ye were doing really well so far though. Why don’t ye go and take a break while I find out who be trying to contact me?”

Mario gave her a respectful bow and left her office.

The distress call had emanated from an unknown location which did not appear to exist in real time and the caller’s mind signature was unfamiliar to her. She got off her chair and sat cross-legged on the floor, closing her eyes and tracing the pathways back to the mysterious caller. When she was certain that she had tracked the correct pathway, she sent a telepathic transmission back. “Aye, I hear ye. Ye’ve reached the offices of Scalani Associates. What can we do for ye?” It was a standard message, giving nothing away, for Scalani Associates had several offices in various cities on Varathusia and Viria.

Iereth almost collapsed in relief, for he had not been expecting a reply. However, the communication pathway had been established, making it easier for him to transmit back, using far less energy than he had the first time. “Er … my name’s Iereth Rivensteil. You don’t know me but myself and my companions need help to deal with a rogue Chronomage who has been causing trouble. I was sort of hoping to find someone who knows Andreas”.

The response was the telepathic equivalent of a laugh. “Aye, I know Andreas very well. In fact, I be married to him. Lady Anwyn Lyandra Menehari-Cesario at yer service. So what has me husband got to do with a rogue Chronomage?”

Iereth proceeded to explain what had transpired, to the best of his knowledge. There was still a great deal which he did not understand, but Andreas’s wife seemed to accept everything he said.

She transmitted again. “Alright, first off, I’ll contact someone who can get ye outa there. Tis a temporal prison of sorts, from what I can tell. Afore I do that, I’ll need to know where ye want to go. Don’t try to tell me in words, just think of what the place looks like and I’ll get ye there. Twill take a few minutes. Tell the others with ye that help be on the way. Wind turns green and the Goddess smiles. Everything will be the right size”.

Iereth’s immediate thought was of Rachel and how he had let her down. He knew that he ought to be concentrating on what the castle looked like, but he realised that he had not taken much notice during his brief visit there.

“So a person rather than a place” Anwyn acknowledged. “Tis good enough. I’ll get a message to Lady Andric too”.

Iereth then conveyed Anwyn’s message to the others, leaving out the mysterious part about wind and smiling Goddesses.

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Rachel’s wings fluttered and her tiny heartbeat increased. An unfamiliar female voice spoke inside her mind. “Lady Rachel Andric? I know ye can’t reply to me in words, but if ye think yer answers, I’ll understand them. Ye know a sorcerer named Iereth Rivensteil?”

“Yes! Yes!” Rachel wanted to scream but all she could manage was a frenzied cooing noise. “Iereth’s a good friend of mine. Who are you?”

Anwyn introduced herself then projected a reassuring message. “Don’t ye worry, Lady Andric, I know where ye be and I can see the spell-forms trapping ye. In a few minutes, ye’ll be restored to yer human form and ye’ll be reunited with Iereth and Will”.

“You found Will too?” Rachel could not project the words fast enough.

“Aye, me Lady” came the reply. “They be in a temporal prison, along with the Rani of Hindustan. I’ll send her for Andreas to deal with. He’ll know what to do with her”.

Rachel had no idea what to say to that, so she merely projected her thanks.

“Tis an honour to be helping ye, Lady Andric” Anwyn returned. “Wind turns green and the Goddess smiles. Everything will be the right size”.

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Jaek returned to the guest room which she had previously used. Her powers were drained after sending Iereth and Will off to a temporal prison and transforming Rachel into a dove. She had no idea how long the donkey spell would last but she did not want to be around when the King and his guests returned to their human forms.

She lay down on the bed and cancelled the transformation spell, relieved to be back in her own form again after spending so long as Rachel Andric. She closed her eyes, hoping to drift off into a restful and restorative sleep.

However, she found herself in the midst of a fierce battle. Soldiers in armour fought all around her and she had to constantly dodge out of the way of their swords, axes, scimitars, arrows and shurikens. She recognised the opposing armies to be those of Albion and Hindustan. Albion seemed to be gaining the advantage, for she could see what looked like thousands of Hindustani warriors laying on the ground, either dead or close to death.

An arrow whizzed past her head and she barely managed to avoid a huge, red-bearded Albionite wielding a massive battle-axe. He chopped the scimitar-wielding arm off the nearest Hindustani and gave a loud roar of victory before running headlong into the next wave of defenders.

“I’m not sticking around to see who wins” she muttered to herself, trying to focus on the image of the guest room where she had stayed in King Randolph’s castle. However, she could not effect the translocation and she could feel her powers being drained even further. She felt weak and insubstantial, like a leaf being blown along by the wind.

“How does it feel to be helpless and alone?” a mocking voice spoke inside her mind. “Witness the results of yer mischief. What price would ye put on boredom? Can’t ye just watch a movie or play a game like most people?”

She was no longer at the battlefield. In front of her, she saw the parade ground where the Hindustani legions had assembled. The sorcerer Morgan aimed his rapier at the Rajah and it plunged into him, knocking him to the ground.

The voice spoke again. “Ye tricked an innocent man into murdering someone who had never done him any harm”.

The parade ground vanished, to be replaced by one of the guest quarters in the Rajah’s palace. The Carpathian Spy Master lay on the bed, apparently close to death. A red-haired young man sat on the bed, watching over him.

“Ye caused me husband to be poisoned” the voice accused. “What harm had he ever done to ye? Ye’d never even met him afore ye started yer stupid war games. Boredom has a high cost and ye’ll find out soon enough what that means for ye”.

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Rhami turned around, sensing another presence in the room besides himself, Joshi and the red-haired man. It was a young woman with white hair and impossibly white skin. Joshi’s voice spoke within his mind. “I be innocent, Lord Rhami. Not that it matters, for yer poison will soon carry me into the Beyond. But afore I go, I’d like ye to meet the one responsible for causing the war betwixt Albion and this holy land. The Chronomage Jaekatha Urnost. She also be indirectly to blame for the death of our honoured Rajah, for twas her who manipulated the foreign sorcerer into assassinating him. Read me thoughts, for ye’ll find that I be telling the truth”.

Rhami stared at the young woman. She turned away from him and tried to open the door, but it was locked with several layers of sorcery wards. He knew that she lacked the power and the knowledge to break his codes.

Ignoring Joshi’s plea, he cast an immobilising spell on the young woman, then initiated a mind merge. He rifled through her memories, not caring how much it was hurting her. Anger boiled within him when he saw how she had influenced the Albionite King into declaring war on Hindustan. He learned that she had done similar to his late master. What made him even angrier was the fact that she had managed to impersonate one of the Rajah’s other trusted advisers, as well as the Jewel Darshana, the Rajah’s eldest daughter and named successor to the throne of Hindustan.

He had seen enough, so he broke the mind merge and shoved the immobilised young woman, making her collapse to the floor. He then returned his attention to the ailing Joshi. He still did not trust the man, but he trusted the white-haired young woman even less after the disturbing images which he had seen in her mind.

He stood and opened the door. “Guards! Arrest this young woman and have her taken to a secure sorcery-proof cell. She is to be kept under constant watch until I have time to deal with her. If she escapes, your lives will be forfeit. Two of you must stay in the cell with her, plus another four on the door”.

Two guards picked up the limp figure of Jaek and led her away.

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Power surged through Andreas. He recognised it as belonging to Anwyn and several of the Vyrdigaan Masters. Without moving from his position, he immobilised the guards who were converging on River.

Elaine was the first to reach River, with Dorrie following closely behind, moving surprisingly fast, despite her bulk. It was several more minutes before Callum caught up with them. They were relieved to see that the young girl was unharmed, although rather dazed after her attack on the executioner.

Andreas leaped up onto the execution block, sliding a dagger out of the sleeve of his robe. He sliced through Gerald’s bonds as if they were made of paper instead of steel and rope. “Go with Elaine and the others” he directed.

He then dealt with Morgan, pushing away the man who had held the sword and using his dagger to slice through the gag.

“How did you recover from the poison?” Morgan asked.

“I didn’t” Andreas replied, giving his friend a sly wink. “Now, let’s get to the throne room. I understand that the rightful ruler of Hindustan has been restored, thanks to Iereth and some other very good friends of mine”.

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The Rani Darshana sat on her green crystal throne, listening to the little man in the black robes. He had introduced himself as the Inijinn Haresh Joshi and had spoken the correct secret word to her, as well as answering all her intricate security questions accurately. He was in the process of informing her about a rogue sorceress known as a Chronomage, who had provoked war between Albion and Hindustan. She listened patiently to his report, her eyes widening in horror as she learned of the extent of the sorceress’s meddling and the devastating results.

She pondered for a few minutes before replying. “I have no wish for war, nor did my honoured Father. He was a man of peace and he brought all of his children up to embrace peace and harmony. Is there a way of contacting the Albionite King? I wish a private audience with him”.

“I’ll arrange it, Yer Eminence” the Inijinn said, bowing low before her.

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King Randolph got up from the floor, wondering why he was on his hands and knees beneath the banqueting table. He looked around, noticing that all his guests were in a similar state. “Must have been something in the wine” he muttered, shaking his head. “Rachel, my love, are you alright?”

Her chair was empty and there was no sign of her amongst the courtiers and soldiers in the banqueting hall.

He was about to go and look for her when a messenger arrived, bearing a scroll. “It’s from the Hindustani Rani, Sire” the man said, bowing and handing it over.

Randolph dismissed the messenger before unfurling the scroll. He noticed that it bore the genuine seal of the Royal House of Yadav. Its contents were even more astonishing.

“From Rani Darshana Yadav to King Randolph Celden. I request a private audience with you alone. I wish to end this war in a peaceful manner and I am prepared to make whatever restitution you consider necessary for the loss of life of your faithful warriors at the hands of my legions. I am prepared to meet you alone at a place of your choosing and will travel to your castle if you so wish it. Please reply urgently”.