Maledictus Terra Book 3: Vetitum Nemus Part 86
Introduction
Welcome back to Maledicturs Terra. This is a Chain Story between myself and @lex-zaiya, meaning that we each write the parts alternatively.
Its been a while... real life can be like that and make us ridiculously busy! Anyway. I hope that you enjoy this installment.
If you have not read Maledictus Terra Book 1: Mortis Custos yet, it starts HERE at Part 1 and ends at Part 101 HERE. At the end of the Part 101 post you will find links to all 101 Parts!
Maledictus Terra Book 2: Sanguifex started HERE with Part 1 and ends at Part 111 HERE
The previous part by @lex-zaiya can be found here!
Part 86
Mary waited in her small antechamber. The castle was full of people these days, Magna was presiding over some small matters in her stead in the throne room. As part of the arrangements, Gorma and Letulah were nearby in the throne room, like a mixture of ladies in waiting and bodyguards.
The thought made Mary smile. So many strong warrior women. She did not know what some of her neighbouring nations would think of that. Not all of them were progressive about women in leadership and the military.
She had no clue where the rest of the various important denizens were but she supposed that Derrick and Mortis would not stray far away from Magna.
There was a knock at the door.
"Who is it?" She called.
"The Prince is here to see you, Your Majesty." One of the guards at the door said.
"Send him in." She commanded.
Prince Adrian walked into the room and shut the door behind him. What Mary saw in an instant made her very concerned. Adrian looked haggard and exhausted. Whatever he and Adiran had been up to had taken a lot of energy and they had not slept much in that time.
"Good morning, mother." Adrian said. He then merely stood and waited for Mary to speak.
"You need sleep."
He held up a hand. "I know, I know. I am exhausted." He confessed meekly. "We needed to push through with the procedure and now that it is done, I will rest after this."
Mary felt annoyed. One way or another, even if he was agreeing with her, she did not feel like the answer was satisfying. "What was the result of the procedure?"
"Well... first we needed to make sure that Barakus did not have some sort of special powers that we do not know about and whether or not he would be able to escape. We are satisfied that he can do nothing other than talk." Adrian said deadpan.
"He seems to be able to cause a fair amount of mischief with that ability alone." She said.
Adrian smiled wanly at this. "Indeed. Thus, we created something of an enchantment to prevent him from speaking when either Adiran or I wishes it."
"And what is the catch?" Mary knew that there was always some sort of drawback.
"Well, we need to be awake and near enough to the head to be able to affect it with the enchantment. Also, we need to be paying attention to what he is talking about of course. He doesn't just stop speaking when he says things we don't like. We need to make it so that he does not speak."
Mary nodded. It all sounded reasonable, yet she still felt uneasy about the whole situation. It was too sudden and she could not help but feel like Barakus had played himself into this situation too freely and easily.
"So we cut through the nonsense and started the negotiations." Adrian continued. "That took quite some time to break down. Seems like the old bastard really likes to show off in front of an audience. He seems to want nothing more than to negotiate and deliver his terms in the throne room."
"Sounds about right if I can believe the stories about him." Mary said. It was a humorous thing, but she purposefully did not smile. She felt that to make light of the ancient wizard's mania was to slip into underestimating him. "So?"
"He can help us with two of our problems. But the way we negotiated, we focused on what we wanted as a primary. He wants something in return, but it also benefits us."
Mary nodded.
"So it is confirmed that the Goddess Mitulah was in the custody of the Seventeen. They had taken her and used her as a source of power and trying to use her specific gifts to augment their own, much as they had done with Vitex. He will lead us to the place where she was last held and if we do not find her there, we will apprehend one of those Wizards and learn her location."
Adrian paced a bit, to go look outside the window. "In exchange, he wants the man that Letulah was looking for. It is the man whom she has sworn vengeance, but Barakus wants him alive. This man is also in league with the cult that we wanted to investigate. So I don't see much of a drawback in us pursuing and capturing the man. Whatever we can do to slow down a death cult, the better."
"Has their allegiance been confirmed?" Mary asked.
To this, Adrian turned toward her and frowned. "Barakas says that he does not know. Despite all of our compulsion placed on him, he would not divulge this information. This is the one thing that makes me doubt our hold on him."
"And what do you think?" She asked.
"He is not capable of lying to us. But there is something he is not telling us."
"I mean... what do you... feel?"
Adrian's face clouded over and he grimaced. "I have a bad feeling about it. I think it is best to believe that this Temple is exactly what we fear it to be. At minimum, it is evil. At worst case scenario... we are looking at another war with the dead."
Mary stood and headed towards the door. "Then we must act as swiftly as possible. To let it root and fester would be a mistake."
Over to you Lex!
Thank you for reading!
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Vetitum Nemus
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Enjoy!
I love how consistent you and @lex-zaiya have been with this series. Honestly, If I get involved in reading, it's like your writing styles have become almost seamlessly similar, with a few hints, if you know @zakludick and @lex-zaiya! It's also awesome how you leave eachoher on cliffhangers and set traps for each other. What a fun way to write! Well done on your consistency and I look forward to what your writing has in store for the future!
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