The Final Redemption by Michael Manning (novels in english .TXT) 📗

He snapped to attention as heresponded briskly, “Investigating a sudden noise,Captain!”

The illusory disguise I had chosenmade me look like Carl Draper, the captain of my castle guard andthe most senior non-knight. I had picked him because no one elsewould bother him with questions, unless I ran into the man I wasimpersonating. I might have chosen one of my knights, but myillusion had limits and trying to pretend I was wearing full platearmor would have been problematic, one random moment of contactwould have given me away.

I spent the next minute or two givingJerod hell. I should have felt bad about it, but it was the mostengaging conversation I’d had with another human being in quitesome time. The biggest challenge was not grinning at him while Idressed him down verbally.

Once I felt he’d had enough I left,giving him one final warning not to let me catch him off his postagain. After that I headed directly for my first destination, myworkshop. As I went, I scanned the castle environs carefully,watching for any sign of Walter, Elaine, or George. I had yet todetect any of them, and my hopes rose. If they were absent I’d havea much easier time moving about.

Lady Luck decided to bekind for a change, and I encountered no one on my way to myworkshop. It’s about time. She’s beennothing but a bitch to me lately. Dead, exiled, even burned—if Ididn’t have bad luck I’d have none at all, I observed silently. I did spot Gavin Traylor, the smith Ihad hired, but that was to be expected since my workshop was veryclose to the smithy. He was busily hammering away at his latestproject, so if he noticed my passing it was onlyperipherally.

Having reached my shop, I made sure noone was observing me before I entered. It might spark somecuriosity if the guard captain was seen entering my workshopwithout a plausible excuse. I put my hand on the door handle andpushed. It stubbornly refused to budge.

“Sonofabitch!” I cursedunder my breath. I had forgotten the door enchantment. To deter thecurious, particularly some of the village youths, I had enchantedthe door to only open at the touch of certain people. Much like thedoor in Albamarl, this one no longer recognized me.And this is why you should have set it up with apassword instead, idiot!

Of course, no one expects to die andreturn as an undead life-drinking monster. I could probably beforgiven for not anticipating that eventuality. Reaching into oneof the pouches I was still awkwardly carrying I pulled out myenchanting stylus. Using it as a simple rune channel I created athin line of power with it, cutting the door from its hinges. Ihadn’t bothered to set up serious protections for the rest of thedoor or the walls, the lock enchantment had simply been adeterrent.

I tried to make the damage asunobtrusive as possible. I would have to put the door back in placeonce I was finished, and I didn’t want anyone to know I’d beeninside, at least not in the immediate future. The door fell outwardas I cut the final hinge, so I caught it with one hand and held itin place until I had stepped inside, pulling it back into positionbehind me. A few quick words and I created a temporary spell tohold it in place until I was ready to leave.

Once again I lamented theloss of my abilities as an archmage. While they were dangerous touse, in the past I might have simply used them to move through thewall without damaging it or the door. Nohelping that now, I thought, turning mymind back to the task at hand.

Rummaging through the odds and ends onmy worktable, I was caught by the memories of my many projects. “Somuch of this will go to waste,” I said to myself, “No one will havea clue what these things were made for.” I spotted a heavy leatherbelt and used it to replace the one that had held my magicalpouches. Then I began adding things to them.

My hand came to rest on a set ofrune-inscribed diamond cubes, each of them measuring two inches ona side. While the material they were made of was of incalculablevalue, it had been easy for me to obtain. I had asked, and theearth had supplied—much like the iron I had used to construct theIron Heart Chamber. I had used diamond because while the cubesdidn’t store power when at rest, when in use they would have tohandle enormous quantities of aythar. Iron might have been adequatefor the task, but I wasn’t sure.

When in doubt, make it better than youthink it needs to be. Royce had taught me that, and while it wassometimes a pain in the ass, it had always served me well. Ofcourse I wasn’t sure this project was really usable. I had designedthe cubes with the God-Stone in mind, as a possible method forusing its enormous power, but then put them aside as impractical.The Iron-Heart Chamber had been a more reliable trap, and the WorldRoad, a more productive use of the God-Stone’s power.

I still have access to theGod-Stone if I wanted to use it, and a short detour here would makethe same possible with the Iron Heart Chamber. I glanced down at one of my pouches, the one I never opened.Making an impulsive decision, I picked up the twenty-seven diamondcubes and placed them in a different pouch. I didn’t have a lot tolose anymore and the meaning of ‘risk’ was changed entirely whenyou were already dead.

Straightening up, I beltedon my pouches. If I had a mirror I’d lookhilarious. Buck naked and wearing nothing but a belt and some rattyboots. Naked wasn’t the problem though; Icould cover that with an illusion. What I needed was something thatwould hide my nature from magesight, something that wouldn’t arousesuspicion.

Walking across the room I opened alarge footlocker that had lain undisturbed for a number of years.“Never thought I’d see a use for this,” I observed. Within thechest lay a suit of full plate armor, similar in design to thearmor