On the fifth of May the Kingdom of Taelliwey declared war against Suria and her allies among the Rhaetaii. It all began with a string of explosions throughout the centre of the city, within one of which Devin and Juliet were caught and almost killed. Had Zester Dumont not appeared in time, Louis Cole may have gotten away with more than just stealing the fire stone. Nevertheless, the sudden explosions set the people of the city into panic, and with nowhere to turn they rallied like never before beneath the strength of their king. For months now they had been exposed to propaganda pitting them against their neighbouring county, and now they had a reason to fear Suria.
Samuel Ford was present in the square beneath the king’s palace, among a crowd of thousands, he waited fervently to hear the king’s reaction. The great leader of Taelliwey appeared invincible up on his balcony, with his head held high, his gold crown and it’s jewels freshly polished, and with deep purple ribbons strewn around him, even his old age did not seem to stop him. But Sam had a sense that the king was afraid. He had heard the rumours around the palace that the king’s health was receding, and it was only a matter of time before the news reached their enemies. He had also heard that a secret resistance movement had already been established within the city, no doubt supported by Surian loyalists. The reason Sam now stood outside the palace rather than within was due to the discovery of a highly organised network of spies that had found their way into the king’s presence, which led to an attempted kidnapping of the royal princess. The spies were promptly apprehended and executed and the king declared that everyone who was not part of the new council or a specially selected member was to be removed from the king’s presence. It appeared that times were growing dire.
Pressed into the thick of the crowd, and with the late noon sun bearing down on them, the square began to grow hot and muggy. The pervasive stench of perfume seemed to cling to Sam’s body and gorge its way into his nostrils; no matter where he turned he could not seem to escape it.
When at last the king spoke Sam was finally distracted from his discomfort. The king raised his sceptre issuing the crowd to silence. “People of Taelliwey, loyal subjects, I will not deny to you that a great storm is upon us, that which wishes to sweep away not only our lives, but our homes, our children, our way of life. May our hearts go out to the victims of the cruel and merciless attacks that ravaged our great city last night,” he paused and let the people dawn on the events of the night; Sam felt that he could still hear the fire crackling away.
“Let me assure you that this will not go unpunished! We are Taelliwey! We do not bow our heads before our enemies! For centuries we have been the might of this land, and for centuries to come we will stand tall and strong, our walls will not be broken, our spirits will not be tamed by the heartless invaders who we once called our friends. The Surian tyrants have failed to listen to reason, and henceforth a declaration of war has been issued. Fear not, my loyal subjects, for soon we will have peace again, we will emerge from this storm unstained, and we will be prosperous!”
The king’s speech continued for some time, however Sam became distracted by other things. Beneath this talk of going to war, the king’s interests were in league with Grey Skulls – they both wanted Ludovic and it was too likely that they would work together to get her. Once again Sam could place no trust in anyone still loyal to the throne.
He needed to find somewhere safe, for he suspected that Grey Skull had caught onto his little game. He decided to hide in one of Christel’s old safe houses – a flower shop with a hidden underground room – it seemed that even on the other side of the country his friend was still helpful. Somewhat calmed by the blissful fragrance of a full stock of flowers Sam gathered his thoughts and sent word to Devin’s task force. As far as he knew Devin was still bound by the crown, but given that at least one of the thieves at St. Arial’s Basilica was an anomaly, he believed the excuse would work well enough to obtain their help.
In fact, his plans for going up against Grey Skull largely depended on Devin and Arlandra, so Sam was appalled to finally hear tidings from other parts of the city while he was away with Bernard. Devin had been reassigned from the task force in order to study something called a Fire Stone. On the night of the supposed Surian attack, Devin, Juliet and many of Sam’s old comrades among the freedom fighters had fallen victim to the blast, but to his relief no one had been killed. Meanwhile he learned from Arlandra’s mission report that Jacob Payne had been assassinated and the gang thrown into disarray, however an accomplice named Louis Cole had escaped and was loose within the city.
Arlandra was the first to answer the summons – he arrived with Ashley and they were all happy to see each other again. Sam felt something peculiar upon seeing Ashley again, they had spent so much time together during the war, trying to bring Garn Pallerii down, but when it ended they both went their separate ways. Despite their connection she was as mathematical as ever, in her usual polite sort of way. “Ash, it’s good to see you again.” Sam glanced over to Arlandra. “It’s good to see that you’re both safe. When I heard about the explosions I feared for the worst!”
“We’re fine, Sam,” Ashley remarked. It appeared she had in fact put aside a little amount of resentment for Sam after he left her so abruptly to establish his freedom fighters. Still, it was unlike her to be so emotionally unstable, and she made no further comment, however her eyes told enough for Sam to know she was displeased with him. “Perhaps we should wait for Devin to arrive before we exchange information, but you’ll be glad to that we may have found you another lead to Grey Skull. Have you heard from Devin? I saw him in the hospital on the night of the attacks. He was unconscious, and his burns were awful, but Juliet said he was going to pull through.”
On the night of the attack Arlandra had returned to Roland Smith to file his mission report, and then began planning his investigation of Louis Cole. He was shocked when he learned that Juliet had been caught in the explosion as well, so much so that he destroyed his desk by accident, and he had to run all the way to the coast and meditate near the ocean, where no one was around, to get his power back under control.
“Devin is up and about,” Sam said, gesturing for Ash and Arlandra to sit down. “He and Juliet are on their way now to meet us. I have learned terrible things about the organisation called Grey Skull…”
“Why did I have a feeling you were going to say that,” Arlandra remarked.
Sam couldn’t help but smile at his tone, even though their situation was hardly a laughing matter. “It’s as we feared. This is all a lot bigger than we thought.”
“So what are we dealing with?” said the assassin. “Another Garn Pallerii?”
“Maybe,” Sam shook his head. “I don’t know. It could be worse, I mean, Garn was just one man. Now with Grey Skull, we don’t even know what their leader looks like!”
They came a knock on the door, loud and sudden in the dead of night. Devin emerged walking on crouches through the doorway, some of his messy hair had burnt away and his face was so red that it seemed as though he had spent a week in the desert. Bandages covered his arms and legs, his torso and his forehead, and he stooped heavily.
Arlandra stood up. “Geez! You look like hell!
“Thank you,” said Devin, “I certainly feel like I’ve been there. Sam, it’s been too long! I regret that we never had time to catch up.”
Sam opened his hands. “We’re here now.”
Juliet stepped through the door, and they saw that her condition was not nearly as bad as Devin’s – a few minor scrapes and burns, was all. She smiled lovingly at Arlandra and the assassin was forced to meet her eyes. He was glad to see her again after so long, but he couldn’t deny that he had been avoiding her. The scar on her cheek was too painful to witness, and even though she had forgiven him, he was yet to forgive himself. They didn’t speak to each other for most of the meeting.
The meeting was drawn out as each party filled the other in on recent events related to Grey Skull, and even though they sat and talked for a long time, it was all very concise. Sam began by describing his chance encounter with Johnathan Bernard; he told them about Grey Skull’s leader Josiah Avenberch, and how the man once knew Bernard. It all made sense then, when Arlandra told them about Louis Cole and the false evidence designed to name Bernard as the supplier of the bombs that started the war. “This Avenberch character must still see Bernard as a threat,” said Arlandra. “When those documents are found the whole of Taelliwey is going to want his head. Sam, I know Bernard is a scoundrel but he doesn’t deserve this, we have to warn him!”
Juliet raised her eyes to Sam. “Bernard? You mean the crime lord?”
“Hardly a crime lord anymore,” Sam explained. “He’s the Phantom King now. Look, I still think he’s a righteous bastard but you have a point, and for now he’s an ally in this fight.” It was agreed that Arlandra was still in contact with many of Bernard’s men, and a message could be carried to his camp through them.
Devin now told the group everything he had discovered about the Fire Stone and its potential power, as well as the king’s orders to have all five recovered. He explained how the man who attacked him and stole the Fire Stone sounded an awful lot like Louis Cole, and the man who saved him seemed quite like this Zester Dumont character Arlandra had described. “Can we trust him?” Sam asked, hoping to pick up on another of Grey Skull’s enemies.
Devin of course drew back. “Absolutely not! Trust me, that man’s more slippery than shaved weasel covered in apple sauce! Likely he’s just as powerful!” Everyone other than Ashley appeared very confused. “Alright, let me explain. When the Anomaly Task Force was founded Ashley and I took a stroll through the finest asylums this city has to offer. We were studying the prevalence of energy mutations among the insane, and examining the rate at which new anomalies were appearing. We visited the asylum and were there during the escape.” He bunched his hands into fists and shook his head. “We heard screams that night so horrible that my skin crawled. Mr. Dumont may be powerful, but he’s mad and unpredictable. We can’t trust him.”
Suddenly eager to change topic, Devin explained how he had uncovered a connection between Grey Skull and the stones. “When I learned that Mr. Cole worked for Grey Skull I knew that it was no coincidence that he took the Fire Stone. I had a look over those sacred texts of yours and…”
The realisation slowly spread over Sam’s features. “It’s a summoning stone,” he murmured.
“Precisely! I don’t know if your friend Ariana is watching, but it seems like divine providence that I stumbled upon the stones in the first place!”
Arlandra, being the only anomaly among them, knew that he shared some kind of connection with the stones, and he told them, “Providence or no, Grey Skull needs all five stones in order to complete their plan. Our next move seems obvious – all we have to do is obtain one of the stones and halt their schemes long enough for us figure out a way to stop them.”
This became the focal point of their discussion, and it lasted long into the night. Arlandra pointed out the discovery made by Devin that when an anomaly is placed in the presence of one of the five stones, not only are his powers enhanced, but he can then sense the presence of the other four stones. Of course, they only needed one for now. They knew that the Fire Stone was currently in the clutches of Louis Cole, and thus possessed by Grey Skull, and Devin was certain that the reaction of the Fire Stone in the presence of the crown jewel was no accident. They all agreed that if the king was an ally of Grey Skull then the second stone was already lost, and they had no intention of risking their lives trying to get their hands on it. “That leaves three stones,” said Devin, nudging his tired eyes with the back of his hands. “If they haven’t already been discovered, then their locations are bound to be hidden away in the scriptures.” No one wanted to mention that Grey Skull had access to the Sacred Texts before they did. “We’ve been through enough to get the gist of what’s going on, now it’s time to read the fine print. We have to know everything if we want to succeed.”
Sam was just as tired as the rest of them, and he rubbed his temples as he spoke, “Devin, you know as well as I do that half of those texts are encrypted and the rest is written in riddles. It took us long enough to find out what we already know, which is little enough already. It’ll take us weeks to decipher the rest…”
“Then we better get started,” Devin reaffirmed.
Now Juliet stood up and suggested, “What about Ariana, and the goddesses? Ludovic is their creation, should they not be the ones to deal with it, or at least help, like they did with Garn?”
Devin, though identifying as a man of science, had actually studied many ancient scriptures in the past, in order to scientifically comprehend the incomprehensible. He reminded everyone at the meeting that the goddesses dealt with Ludovic when they sealed her away thousands of years ago, and that Grey Skull trying to release her now was a human issue. “It’s like Garn Pallerii all over again. They will not directly intervene in problems created by us; in other words, whether we live or die is our decision to make.”
In the end, the original plan came through. They had to find one of the stones as soon as possible. Of course, there was an awful lot of reading to do first. It was near dawn when the meeting was concluded.
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