Nicholas

  Nicholas thinks fast. Either Ionith doesn’t have any proof that it was Nicholas who opened the portal, he doesn’t know, or he both knows and has proof and wants to see how the lord will respond.

  Fortunately, Nicholas has already considered all possible options – while he has done his best not to worry too much since the summons arrived he has certainly been using the time wisely to consider contingency plans. And with the revelation of the detection by the network, his mind quickly flicks through the options open to him.

  After a moment of thought, he determines that the best choice is honesty – to an extent, at least. Denying that it has anything to do with him only works if Ionith has no proof and never finds out in the future. Given his new heir’s disposition and the sheer differences between the way he thinks and the way everyone else does – something Nicholas clearly didn’t fully consider when he decided to embark on this endeavour – Nicholas cannot be sure that no suspicions would be raised in the future. And ultimately, the King has ways of finding the truth. He might not be using any of them now – Nicholas would be able to detect if they were working on him – but that is out of courtesy, nothing more.

  He also briefly considers asking for Elia to be allowed into the room, but he decides against it for now. Though the Skills she brings to the table are powerful, he hasn’t yet actually been accused of anything. Demanding to have an orator to represent him risks him putting himself into the shoes of the accused. It would work far better for Nicholas if this remains as a discussion, and not an interrogation – the consequences are far more likely to be lesser for the former than the latter.

  He can always call for Elia later if necessary. For now, he will trust in his own words alone.

  “There was no rift,” Nicholas tells the group calmly. His words are received with confusion and several frowns. Torrent opens his mouth, no doubt to say something scathing, but Ionith is still controlling the sound in the room so Torrent’s mouth just flaps uselessly – not that that is any different from normal.

  Ionith’s brow is faintly creased, but he waves at the Grand Sorcerer to speak.

  “Ah, Lord Titanbend,” the mage begins, slightly hesitantly, though he gains more confidence as he continues to speak. “The readings from the magical network were rather plain. One of our mages alerted me to the signal and I made sure to verify the information personally before speaking to his majesty. There was definitely a rift in Azaarde. Closer investigation proved it to be to the west of Axebridge – where your country seat is registered to be. Did you not see or detect any indications of it?” He sounds honestly inquiring. Nicholas almost feels pity for the man – what a time to take on the position of Grand Sorcerer. And not only because of the current situation but because of the competition in general. His predecessor’s death was almost certainly an accident, but if this man isn’t careful, his won’t be.

  “There was no rift,” Nicholas insists, but this time he continues before anyone tries to explain again why there most definitely was one. “However, there was a Gateway.”

  Even if Ionith wasn’t still controlling the sound in the room, Nicholas suspects that he would have heard a feather drop.

  “A gateway?” Ionith muses thoughtfully. “Redan, what do you know of gateways?”

  “Ah, little, your majesty. That is to say, I know of them, but no text I have ever read has indicated how they might be created or what their limitations might be. In fact, very few books I have read or mages I have spoken to indicate that they are anything more than purely theoretical applications of magic.”

  “To do what?” the King inquires, a little sharply. The mage jumps at the slight bite in his voice – he’s definitely new to the political scene. What has he been doing in the last few months? Hiding away in their tower?

  “To travel between worlds, your majesty,” the mage yelps quietly. “It is theorised that a pair of Gateways might provide a relatively secure means by which living beings can step between worlds. However, it is a theoretical exercise because to open such a passageway, one would need to have two Gates – and one cannot open a Gateway on another world without having traveled there first.”

  Ionith doesn’t look as convinced of the ‘theoretical’ nature of these Gateways as Redan clearly is. Nicholas reflects that sometimes too much academia can get in the way of clear thought – one becomes so dependent on what one knows that one starts to forget what one doesn’t know.

  “Lord Titanbend?” Ionith asks levelly.

  “You are all aware that I have had difficulties in finding an heir,” Nicholas started, knowing that despite his efforts to keep such things discreet, it’s unlikely that it has gone unnoticed by his peers. Sure enough, the lack of surprise he sees on anyone’s faces almost confirms it – apart from Goldmine and the King, his peers’ emotional control is not that good. Goldmine can be more impassive than anyone else when she tries. Still, above everyone else, she’s the one Nicholas would put money on having already known – merchants get everywhere and she’s the silent queen of them. Were it not that her heir is far less competent than she is, Nicholas might consider the competition for the throne already over. As it is, she will still definitely be one of the biggest players to watch out for.

  “Is this relevant to the matter at hand?” Ionith asks neutrally.

  “It is,” Nicholas replies firmly. The King gestures for him to go ahead. “I sought out advice from one who I was assured would be able to give it to me: the Oracle.”

  This time, it’s clear that Ionith has relaxed his control over the sound in the room as several cut-off noises of surprise ring out. Still, none of Nicholas’ peers start making demands – they’ve clearly taken the warning of silence to heart. Ionith himself frowns very slightly, a crease forming between his brows and cracking the mask for the first time.

  “The Oracle. The true one?”

  “The one and only,” Nicholas agrees. Though there are many soothsayers of all sorts – mostly charlatans – there is only one true Oracle at any particular time. He’s intrigued by the look in Ionith’s eyes. Is that…fear? Or something else. Whatever the emotion is, it is gone almost as swiftly as it arrives, the King clearing off all traces of emotion on his face.

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  “So you sought out the Oracle for advice. Did she give it to you?”

  “She did,” Nicholas agreed, not mentioning the price the Oracle had extracted from him in return. “She determined that the heir I sought was not in Moriax; not on this world at all. And with her help, I was able to make contact with the potential candidate.” He nodded at the Grand Sorcerer. “You are right that a Passageway between worlds requires two Gates, and that each Gate must be opened from its own side. However, the candidate acted as the conduit for the ritual, allowing me to act through him. Thus, there was no rift; there was a Gateway. A stable portal which was opened between two predefined points in the material world.”

  There’s silence for a long moment as everyone digests what Nicholas has just told them. He doubts that any of them were expecting his story. At most, they might have suspected that he had somehow discovered how to provoke a natural rift to open ahead of time to gain an advantage in the competition – while rifts opened to the Between are dangerous, natural rifts can be highly profitable at times. Perhaps they thought he had managed to pierce into one of the rift bubbles to seek its treasures.

  “It’s forbidden to open rifts,” Flameform starts with a degree of hesitancy. “Highly forbidden.”

  “This was not a rift,” Nicholas emphasises. “It was a Gateway. As you have heard from Grand Sorcerer Redan, it has previously been considered a theoretical magical exercise. With the guidance of the Oracle, I was able to discover a way by which I could practically apply that theory. There are no laws which cover this situation as it has never been done before.”

  “If we take your word for it that it wasn’t a rift,” Torrent sneers at him. “And that a ‘gateway’ doesn’t have the same consequences of a rift. Was there any chance of a creature-from-between-worlds making it through this ‘gateway’ of yours?”

  Nicholas curses at him mentally – the water-mage is always making his life harder. That was a direct question he has been hoping wouldn’t be asked. Still, perhaps he can answer it without lying or destroying his own case.

  “As I said, it was the first time this has been done. I did my research ahead of time and deemed that risk to be very low-”

  “Which means there was a risk!” Torrent interrupts triumphantly. Nicholas ignores his interruption and continues talking over him – maybe he should have brought Elia in. An orator’s Skills ensure that they are heard without interruption, regardless of how much others might shout or scream.

  “-And there was no indication during the ritual that the creatures-who-live-between-worlds had any idea about the existence of the portal. As for your comment, Lord Torrent, may I remind you that there is the risk of these creatures appearing even during natural rifts? I highly doubt that the risk of you encountering one of them was increased any more due to my actions than to yours.” He does his best to sound scathing, referring to an incident a few years back when Torrent had ignored several natural rifts which had formed in his territory, to disastrous consequences. Although a creature-between-worlds didn’t appear, several of the natural rifts had burst and released all of their living contents on unsuspecting villagers before anything was done. In the end, the clean-up for that particular event had been far more costly than just clearing the rifts – what Torrent was supposed to organise – would have been. He was sure his peers hadn’t forgotten the incident.

  “But, Lord Titanbend,” Redan’s voice piped up, his nervousness transformed into curiosity. “How did you contact the person in the first place? And how did you manage to use them as a conduit?”

  “As it turns out, a spiritual projection across worlds is far easier than a physical movement,” Nicholas tells him simply and honestly. It was still highly costly in Energy, mana, and various other ingredients for the ritual, but less than creating the Gateway itself. He decides not to complicate matters by speaking about the interim world or how he managed to create a shorter-range, one-way transporter by using theories that are usually only used for transporting goods and not people – fortunately for Markus, the Oracle’s word had proven absolutely trustworthy as Nicholas hadn’t been certain that it would work for a living being. He decides not to mention that to Markus any time soon. “As for how to use them as a conduit, that was indeed something that was difficult to solve, but I succeeded in the end.” He refused to just give them answers which had cost him blood, sweat, and tears to find.

  “This is fascinating, my lord,” Redan tells him eagerly. “You must visit the mage’s tower and allow me to make a record of your achievement. Oh! And your heir! Do you think he would be willing to give an audience where we could speak about the differences between this world and his original?”

  “I will have to ask him,” Nicholas answers diplomatically, privately not keen on the idea of sharing House secrets with a group of mages who answer first to the King, and second to the country.

  “You won’t be asking anyone anything!” Torrent scowls, though Nicholas can still see the triumph gleaming in his eyes. “Opening a rift is a capital offence – and I have heard nothing to indicate that a ‘gateway’ should not be classed as a rift!”

  “How can they be the same thing?” Flameform argues. “We all know that when someone opens a rift, it opens into the Between. From the sounds of this, a Gateway opens in two different worlds. It’s more like a natural rift, if anything, and there are no consequences for opening a natural rift.”

  “Because it’s not possible to do so!” responds Torrent snidely. “That’s why it’s called a ‘natural’ rift! And you heard him – he couldn’t even tell us that there was no risk of visiting a creature-who-lives-between-worlds on our unsuspecting population! Maybe it’s never been done before, but why did he do it? For personal gain! Because he wanted some sort of special heir!”

  “Lord Torrent does have a point,” Goldmine muses, entering the conversation for the first time. In comparison to his choleric one, hers is cool and calm. “Were the discovery made for some great end, we might be able to forgive it. Lord Titanbend, however, has confessed that it was purely for self-serving motives – because he cannot find an heir he likes in Moriax.”

  Maxence is conspicuously silent – perhaps he’s considering what his future might be like with the lord and heir of House Titanbend both executed. Still, Nicholas won’t let Goldmine’s and Torrent’s last points stand since they risk steering the discussion in the wrong direction.

  “And why should those be self-serving motivations?” Nicholas demands. “Would you say that the King is acting in a self-serving way because he has announced a competition which sets all of our heirs against each other in an attempt to become his heir? Or would you agree that by doing so, he finds the person the most suited to become our next monarch and thereby does the country great good? Our positions as Great Lords and Ladies might not be as important as the position of monarch, but would you tell me that they’re not important at all?” he challenges, knowing that none will argue with him on that. After a beat of silence, he continues. “So yes, I went to the Oracle to have her advice on who would make a good heir for me, because I have a duty to the population of Azaarde to ensure that their next lord will lead them well. And I have a duty to the people of Moriax to ensure that the next voice for House Titanbend in the council of peers will have their interests at heart.”

  His impassioned words seem to have taken several of his peers aback. Nicholas is actually surprised at how genuinely passionate he became over them – it might work to his advantage or against it, but either way it’s done.

  “It seems that we have a decision to make,” Ionith muses, cutting through the silence. “Should opening a Gateway – now and forever – be considered a crime on the same level as opening a rift? Or should it be classed as a different beast entirely? Let us vote.”

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