Читать книгу Clues of Chaos - Gary Caplan - Страница 9

The footsteps echoed as the black-robed and hooded man crossed the stone floor in a secluded section of the temple, the arcane symbols on his robe occasionally appearing to glow briefly. He wore clerical vestments and moved easily through the temple. The place was quiet. Only an occasional chanting murmur drifted from some chamber, barely above a whisper. The black-robed man passed a large room with a hearth fire, around which a few other men robed in black sat, chanting. He continued up the corridor and into a spiral stone staircase that descended to another hallway with a few rooms along it, and, at the end, he opened the door and waited in the chamber. Few, if any, had noticed his passage.

He stood and looked around. There were rune-covered sigils on all the walls and on the door, as well as on the chamber ceiling. He had been there many times before. It was a study of sorts and a meeting room and small library. Being early, he waited, and he briefly sat in one of the chairs, but at the sound of the door opening, he stood.

“Blaine,” the black-robed man said to the person entering the chamber. “The recent task to slay the mystic knights on the list you gave me has caused concern. The last knight I sent a group to deal with was a Keldon one, and he defeated the force sent against him, including Constantine.”

The fellow entering wore a robe that indicated he was a senior priest for the temple. “I don’t want excuses from you, Plonic. Just get it done. Our leader has agreed to accomplish certain things as part of the arrangement. Thinning out the ranks of mystic knights and dawn knights is part of that arrangement.”

“We already lost several assassins to the last human mystic knight before he was finally killed,” Plonic said.

“Our noble patron north of Tosca wants any dangerous or enemy mystic knights in this region eliminated; the Keldon knights are probably the most dangerous.”

The priest Plonic removed his hood. He had a small closed wound across his cheek and some visible burn marks on his neck, and his hair had also been slightly burned in places. “I did not realize it would be so difficult to deal with mystic knights, not being sure of what they can do. I had to replace the mercenaries again, and the costs will be high. Also, we lost one of the vampires that our ally loaned us and, oh yes, the Keldon eliminated the nightmare stalker as well.”

“Our leader will not be pleased,” Blaine said.

“I did not lead that group against the Keldon mystic knight, your wizard did, and that one decided to leave our employ. I had difficulty with the other two mystic knights we went up against, and I almost got killed, even though I was successful. Being the senior one in charge of our joint efforts, I have to replace those soldiers, assassins, and wizards in the search groups who were killed or just ran.”

“Do what you must. I will arrange for another night crawler or two to join the hunt, or perhaps a controllable demon. I believe that the high priest will sanction their use as the stakes warrant it,” the wizard Blaine replied. “How much of this temple have you converted?”

“We have converted more than half. Why do you ask?” Plonic said.

“Because I was seen entering this temple, and I asked for the meeting as it was urgent. Our leader will want to know about the recent developments.”

Plonic shrugged. “You need not worry. Our other plans are proceeding along well. The acolytes and monks who are loyal to our cause will not mention your arrival. I will gather some reinforcements, and you can arrange for whatever aid you believe our leader will sanction.”

Blaine said, “Good enough. I might have other business for you. It seems that the king of Gateway and three other allied rulers of lands in the middle kingdoms to the west are gathering a defensive army to repel some of the barbarians who have decided to gather on his border rather than near the Megalos one.”

Plonic said, “I thought the leader indicated that his plans required getting some barbarian tribes to head south to Tosca or to a neighboring Megalos province.”

Blaine replied, “Yes, that is the plan; however, the barbarian northmen are troublesome. Getting them riled up is one thing. Getting them to go in the exact direction you want is another. I had someone working on that, but they may have gotten killed by some barbarians, so you might be called on to deal with that…we might even get to work together once I finish with my present task.”

“Yes, I see,” Plonic said. “I have heard rumors that the king of Gateway is sending some type of military field marshal to set up war games with his neighbors in the middle kingdoms. It could be a pretext to something else.”

Blaine said, “In any case it could disrupt our overall plans if groups of the northmen strike near that readying military force in the western kingdoms instead of where we want them to strike. I need to speak with our leader about getting you some additional agents. It is good for our cause that he has more allies and agents than even I know about.”

“Yes, then I will be getting to my tasks.” Plonic replaced his hood and headed out the door.

Blaine stayed in the chamber as something he could not quite sense disturbed him, even looking with his wizardly sight. He felt a warm air current, and heard feint crackling echoes of sound for a moment from the other side of one of the bookshelves, but when he looked, there was no one there and the warmer air flow had stopped. Seeing nothing to interest him, he left the chamber to complete his tasks.