Spirit Speaker

"Lukas, what are your thoughts on this?" The king asked, handing me a document. 

It had been scrawled and scribbled on so much that it was barely legible, but I made do. 

"Twelve people on the council, including Her Majesty and yourself. I'm to be named royal advisor, and will lead the council when Her Majesty and you are unable to make it."

I shrugged. "It's a good idea sire, though I wish I wasn't the royal advisor."

"Shut up, Lukas, you're the best choice, and you know it." The queen said, "But that's not the part we wanted you to see. Look further down the page, near the bottom."

"The members of the council are to be selected by the royal advisor?" I shook my head. "No, this won't work. It's giving the royal advisor too much power. The king and queen should select the council members, and give the royal advisor provisional powers, so that in the event that the king or queen can't perform that duty, then, and only then will the royal advisor be allowed to select council members."

The king sighed. "Told you he won't go for it, Tila. The man is allergic to power."

"I see that." The queen tutted. "Very well then, but you're going to select them this time. We'll give you a list of names to choose from, and you'll make your decision from there."

I opened my mouth to object. "Uh, uh, one more word and I'll have you clapped in irons until you agree to it." The queen said, her eyes ablaze. 

The king chuckled. "I could never get away with that." He then turned to me. "I've arranged a meeting between you and the royal spymaster. You said you needed information? He should be able to give you what you're looking for."

"Thank you, sire," I said, bowing deeply. "Where will I be meeting him?"

"The same place you met him last time." The king grinned, and I sighed.

"Sire, The hangover last time knocked you out for three days!"

"I won't try to match you drink for drink this time." The king shrugged. "Come on, Lukas, I've been dying to visit the pub, but Tila says I can't go unless I take you with me. Apparently, you're a good influence on me."

"I didn't say that, Elyathan." The queen said, "I said that if you're going to go to the bar, take Lukas with you. Maybe a few drinks will help him loosen up a little."

"Same thing." The king smiled, grabbed his wife and pulled him towards her, kissing her firmly. 

I looked away, politely.

"When are we leaving?" I asked.

"I'd say in about an hour and a half? Maybe two? Meet me in front of the gates, and wear your grubbiest outfit, you're too famous these days, especially after walking butt naked to the temple district with a corpse floating behind you."

I coughed. "Sire? You heard about that?"

"Heard about it? You jumped out the window of your bedroom. I was concerned and sent a few people to watch you." He leaned forward. "Did you really blow a hole in the wall of your own apartment?"

I nodded. "The wallpaper offended me." 

"Right…" The king laughed. "Oh well, you can tell me over a couple of beers. I'll meet you out front in an hour."

I bowed again. "As you say, sire."

*

"So, let me get this straight." The king said, after draining his glass and ordering another. "You had a bad dream, and that dream sent you flying to your apartment in nothing but your nightclothes. You broke through your front window, dashed up the stairs, and incinerated two thieves?"

"That's about it, Mr.Shipley."

The king laughed. "One turned to ash, and the other you dragged burnt and bound through the city to the temple district."

"Sure did. You left out the part where I was butt naked, and covered in ash, soot and blood."

"Oh yes, that's true. How did you survive that, by the way? There's not a scar on you."

"The Weaver's a very powerful healer," I said evasively. 

"I'll bet." The king raised his glass and began to sing with the bard. 

He was nowhere near as good as Salea, but he made up for it with the filthiest jokes I'd ever heard. 

"Whatever happened between you and the singer?" He asked. 

"She travels a lot Mr Shipley, sir, and is only ever in town for a few weeks a year. We've agreed to meet up then."

"Same time next year sort of deal?" The king shook his head. "You sir, are living quite the life."

"Sir?"

"You're flying around town, blowing up buildings, catching thieves, bedding beautiful maidens, and from what I hear, you even took the Board of Directors to task."

"You have eyes and ears everywhere sir."

"I have a good spy network." The king shrugged. "There's hardly anything that goes on in this city without it crossing the desk of one of my agents."

He smiled. "I do miss the occasional plot from the nobles outside the city, but that's what I have you for. You'll just blow them away with a fireball."

I bowed. "As you wish, sir. Though, maybe not a fireball. Probably a whirlwind, slightly less destructive."

"Lightning would be a good choice too." 

"As you say, sir."

The king looked at me for a few moments and drained his glass. "There you go again, Lukas, hiding behind that mask."

"Sir?"

The king shook his head. "Doesn't matter Lukas, but whoever taught you royal etiquette needs to be hanged."

"Yes sir." 

The king glowered at me. 

"You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, sir."

"It's not good to mock your king, Lukas." 

"Yes sir."

The king chuckled. "Heads up, here he comes."

And again, in a very conspicuous black cloak, Thomas, the royal spymaster, made his way through the tavern, dodging and weaving through the crowd. 

"I wish he'd take that cloak off," I muttered, taking another drink from my tankard. 

"Believe me, I've tried." The king shook his head. "It seems I'm cursed to be ignored by my best advisors."

"Ho, Shipley! Lukas! Good to see you!"

"Thomas." I nodded, "Yes, though I wish we could have met elsewhere."

"And miss the opportunity to drink this swill?" Thomas held a finger up to the innkeeper. 

"I could do without it."

"See, what I have to deal with, Thomas?" The king sighed. "The man has no sense of fun."

"I don't know sir. From what I've heard, the Royal Tutor knows how to party."

"You walk down the street naked one time."

Thomas grinned. "Well, there's that too. Anyway, what do you need, sir?"

"I need everything you know about an organisation that calls itself The Abyss."

"The Abyss? Have you got anything more for me?"

I shook my head. "Just the name."

The spymaster sat back. "Okay, I can do that. Any particular reason why you want this?"

"An Abyss agent recently infiltrated and enthralled the Board of Directors at the Academy. I dispelled the curse, and in the fighting, the agent got his back snapped, his arms torn from their sockets and his neck twisted."

The king raised an eyebrow. "That's a second body in your wake, Lukas. Third possibly."

"It was in defence of the realm, sir, I assure you. Though I wasn't responsible for the agent. The Academy herself stepped in to do that."

The spymaster shrugged. "And the Necromancers couldn't pull anything from him?"

I shook my head. "The weave had been torn from him."

"Hmm…There have been reports of weaveless corpses popping up around The Kingdom. It's driving the Inquisition deathspeakers out of their minds."

"I'd start there, then sir." I suggested. "But, be careful. This man was able to puppet the thirteen most powerful mages on the continent in seconds."

The spymaster nodded. "My agents will be fine, Lukas. We've all undergone intense mental conditioning. Our weaves are nigh impenetrable." He leaned forward. "Go ahead, Master Mage, try read my thoughts."

I shook my head. "I believe you, how long do you think it will take before you've got some answers?"

"Depends. I've never heard of these guys."

Neither have I, in both lifetimes.

"Oh, right, I understand the princess is accompanying you to the Elven Forests?"

"You heard about that?"

"Lukas, you've had spies on your tail from the moment your name was put forward by the Headmaster, last year."

The king coughed. "Thomas, he doesn't know about that."

"Oh, right. Sorry sir."

"You've been watching me, sir?" I asked curiously.

"You seemed a little too good to be true, Lukas. I wasn't going to entrust my daughter to just anyone."

"And now?"

He shrugged. "To be honest, Lukas, I called off the spies six months into your stay, they've been watching Anna now, you just happened to be caught in the crossfire."

I didn't know about this. 

"I don't mind, sir, I just wish you would have told me. If I caught anyone following Anna, I might have incinerated them."

The king chuckled. "I see that now. You've repeatedly told me that your loyalty is to the princess first. I was a little worried you might have told her."

The king, in private, was always an amiable, agreeable soul, so much so that I had forgotten what a ruthlessly efficient leader he was. 

This just served as a reminder. 

"So? Are you taking the princess on your trip to the Elven Forests?"

I nodded. "Yes, Thomas."

"Would you mind taking one more person with you?"

"Who?"

"An academic, you might know him, Severen the third son of the Ilyas noble family. He's currently in Count Dreth's lands surveying the land, looking for new resources. Things are odd up there."

I shook my head, "Name doesn't ring a bell, but I understand why a surveyor was sent up there. A new land spirit emerged a few years ago, it's making things interesting."

The spymaster grinned widely. "Count Dreth has his work cut out for him then."

"Why do you need me to bring this surveyor along?" I asked, taking another deep drink from my tankard.

"He's been nagging me to get into the Elven Forest. This might be a good chance for me to get him off my back."

"Okay, and the real reason?" 

The spymaster clutched his chest, his face plastered with an expression of pained innocence. 

"You insult me, Master Mage."

I raised an eyebrow. 

"Just tell him, Thomas. Lukas won't let this go." The king said, raising his hand to the bartender. 

A plump, red-haired tavern maid brought another drink. "Here you go, Mr. Shipley."

"Thank you, Beth." The king said, taking the drink.

"He's a spy, Lukas, an assassin to be more specific. There's war brewing between the clans, and the Clan Assembly are looking for a way to head it off."

"There's always war brewing between the clans, Thomas, what makes this any different?"

Thomas drummed his fingers on the desk, his face troubled. "It might actually lead to something this time."