The Divided Knight - Chapter Seven

Atraxos the Black was impressed with how well Galgana had done when he'd enthralled King Devin Lyrian. Even now, as Atraxos met with the man, it was almost impossible to tell where Galgana's spell ended and the king's true emotions began. Of course, this would make King Lyrian that much easier for Atraxos to use, and that much easier for him to mold – in the end, when Atraxos crowned Lyrian emperor of a reformed Torvaran Empire, it would seem to Lyrian that what had transpired had been his idea all along.

“Destroying the Order of Catharzen seems a dangerous prospect,” Lyrian said. “Theirs are renowned as the best Healers in the known world, and, now that the Conclave is no more, no one knows more of ancient lore than they do. Though I've never had any dealings with them, myself, it is said their monks have perfect memories, and are able to recite scrolls, and even entire books, after only reading them once.”

“Destroying them is, indeed, a risk, Your Majesty,” Atraxos said. “However, not destroying them would be an even greater one. They know things that no one but people like you and I should, things that could topple everything we've started to build. And, as for their Healers, my order is far more skilled. We are not afraid to look beyond death, Your Majesty. We are not afraid of anything.”

Lyrian was silent a moment, studying Atraxos with his emerald gaze – an emerald gaze that, while calm and calculating, now, Atraxos knew hid a spark of madness within its depths. “You fear the monks of Catharzen,” the king said, at last, a touch of amusement in his voice. “Else you would not be so vehement in your desire to see them destroyed. And what of the Conclave? Did you not fear them, as well?”

“If I did,” Atraxos said, “it was obviously unfounded, as we destroyed them utterly.”

Lyrian raised an eyebrow. “Utterly? Didn't one of their Holy Knights escape? The one you ordered my guards to be on the lookout for?”

Perhaps Galgana's spell hadn't been as effective as Atraxos thought. That didn't matter, however. Despite his questions, Atraxos knew the king would not back out of what they had started. Not now. “One escaped knight does not mean our destruction of the Conclave failed. He will be found. And, even if he isn't, he is not a mage, which means he will never be more than an annoyance to us.”

“Perhaps. In any case, I take it that you want me to personally oversee the weeding out and destruction of the Order of Catharzen. Is that correct?”

Atraxos nodded. “It is, Your Majesty. Your guards will be needed, as well.”

“Who will hunt for the escaped knight, then?”

“My men can handle that from here.”

“The people won't like that. Your . . . men . . . are rather fearsome, to say the least.”

“No need to worry about that. My men will hardly be noticed.”

Lyrian sat back, steepling his fingers. “And what of you? Where will you be? I already suspect you will not be present to see the monks' destruction.”

“You are correct, Your Majesty. I will be traveling eastward with some of my men, over the Ivory Spires to Eltara.”

“To Eltara? Why there? It's been a barren wasteland for centuries.”

To seize what has always been mine by right, Atraxos thought. “There are things there older than even the empire we seek to resurrect, Your Majesty. Things that will allow us to have dominion over the entire world.”

“Like the Eltarans in the old legends? Ruling all the lands east and west of the Spires?”

Atraxos smiled. “That, Your Majesty, and more. Much, much more.” He lowered his voice until it was only slightly louder than a whisper, something which wasn't necessary since they were the only two people in the room, but which he knew would heighten the effect of what he said next. “We would be as gods.”

Lyrian's gaze had grown unfocused. “Gods . . .”

Atraxos left the royal palace a short while later. As he began his solitary ascent of the path leading to the High Fortress, he felt supreme satisfaction at what he had done to King Lyrian. Galgana's enthrallment spell had been a promising beginning, and would have been more than enough on its own, but Atraxos had wanted to go one step further, had wanted to make Devin Lyrian – the last true king of the last true kingdom west of the Ivory Spires – a true kinsman to the Order of the Crimson Serpent. And so he had Twisted the king's soul, which was a thing Atraxos hadn't done to another person – another human, those pathetic beings who always thought of themselves as being so noble – in more than a thousand years.