Chapter 6

Lymlock

Chapter 6

      I called a meeting of the sorcerers. We had to have order. Everybody was freaking out about the wizards’ escape.

         Oh, I should probably tell you about that. Fine.

         A little bit after we took over the castle, the rest of the wizards returned. We were expecting that. I knew they wouldn’t have any idea what was going on, which was the brilliance of my plan. So we easily intercepted all of them. We didn’t kill them yet, but rather captured them. The other sorcerers, obviously, wanted to kill them, but I stopped them. We already had enough dead, and if we could force them to help us, we would have a lot of extra power to use.

         We easily got them all and forced them into the caerthin cells in the dungeon. Convenient of them, to leave the keys with yet another wizard. Wizards think they’re all-powerful. Too bad they’re wrong.

         So anyway, later that same afternoon I went down to go laugh at them. Why not? I was better than them, after all. But they were gone, and the two sorcerers I assigned to guard them were unconscious. I will never understand why wizards insist on knocking out their enemies instead of killing them. Sure, it takes a bit more energy, but it permanently solves the problem, rather than just delaying it.

         Not that I was complaining, of course. Even though they couldn’t do their jobs right, I had a feeling I would need everyone I could get on my side.

         So, anyway, word got around that the wizards had escaped, and everyone started worrying about them coming back, trying to get control of the castle, etc., etc. Really boring stuff, and it was nothing to worry about. Honestly. So I called the meeting.

         Even as we gathered, most of the sorcerers were talking and arguing, trying to make themselves heard over the rest of the crowd. Which made them all talk louder, making even more of a problem.

         Eventually I tired of waiting for them all to shut up, and snapped, “Tieqaf!” It took them all a few moments to realize that, while their mouths were still moving, no sound was coming out. They stared at me, some accusingly, some gratefully, and some resentfully. I didn’t care what they thought.

         “Thank you,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Now, I realize that the wizards have escaped, thanks to our amazing guards down there.” I gestured toward the two who had let them escape. The rest of the sorcerers glared at them. They glared right back.

         “But does it really matter?” I continued. “It’s not like they pose a threat to us. We have almost double their number, and at least five times their strength and intelligence. If they do come back, there is no way they’ll be able to defeat us.”

         Some of the sorcerers nodded in agreement. Others still looked doubtful.

         “Linnet, you disagree?” I asked.

         He nodded adamantly and pointed to his throat.

         I relished the silence for a moment longer, then released the spell. Instantly, all of the sorcerers sighed in relief and began whispering.

         “Silence!” I ordered, and quiet fell. “Why do you disagree, Linnet?” I put a little warning into my tone, which he failed to pick up on.

         “I don’t think that they’re stronger than us, but they know this area and castle better than we do. They might be able to get in through some kind of secret passage and kill us all while we’re looking the other way or something like that.”

         I knew I had never liked him.

         “Right. Which is why we don’t all look in the same direction,” I said sarcastically.

         The other sorcerers laughed, and I smiled smugly at Linnet. Even if his point wasn’t completely stupid, I needed to have all of the sorcerers on my side at every moment.

         I broke up the meeting. There were no more skeptics among them. Of course, they were easy to manipulate, especially if you were one of their own. I knew exactly what I was doing.

         Unfortunately, I did have some things to worry about. I honestly didn’t think the wizards would be that big of a threat for at least a month, until they got their full magyk back and attempted to fight us off.

But there were some extraordinarily brave humans among the ones remaining in the castle. They were helpful, doing all the tasks that the sorcerers didn’t want to do. Cleaning or whatever. But every so often, especially on that first day, a human would come up to me with some rudimentary weapon and attempt to kill me. They were easy to kill, of course, or persuade to go away.

But they were very distracting from what I was actually trying to do, which was to figure out a way to faster spread the news about our takeover. I wanted everybody in the kingdom, and even in neighboring kingdoms, to know about it as soon as possible.

Because, after all, it was very interesting, right? I’m laughing just thinking about it now.

I walked back into the throne room, which was my favorite place to be. It was very appropriate, too, as I was pretty much the king at that point.

I heard a slight tinkle from above and glanced up. A chandelier was falling straight at my head. I ducked out of the way, cursing. I glared upwards, wondering what had caused it. There was nothing up there.

The chandelier, when I looked at it, was enchanted.

“Who would’ve done that?” I muttered to myself angrily. I knew I would find out and get revenge on whoever had done this.

I laughed darkly. Nobody could hide from me, especially when I was in a bad mood.

Which occasionally happened, especially when there were chandeliers falling on my head.

But only occasionally.

Right.