Chapter 3 Part 5

Morteous Blackheart placed another box on the shelf in his private lab. He absently tidied up the dark chamber reflecting on the day's events. He had not intended to absorb his latest victim, but the sage had seen a glimpse of the future much too accurately to be allowed to leave the citadel.

The sage had scrythed a series of unexplained disappearances of minor magic users in the area of Aspberg. Knowing that Morteous was a strong advocate of the unionization of magic users, the sage had thought that Morteous would be the logical senior magic user to notify.

Normally he would have bee correct. Unfortunately for the sage, his vision was not strong enough to identify the culprit, or else he would have sought another. For Morteous, it was a stroke of luck. He resolved that he needed to find a way to block the vision of sages who might also stumble on the same portent.

He recalled the moment of panic he had felt when the sage had begged an audience claiming that several mages had disappeared without a trace. After a few moments of interview, Morteous had been relieved to hear that the sage had shared his discovery with no one else. It was then that Morteous had invited the sage to accompany him to his lab so that they might examine the details of the mystery.

Morteous really had not intended to absorb any sages with his Darkwind form, but he really needed to eliminate the sage, and he decided that a sage's vision might be useful in the future. It was for that reason he did not simply slay the sage and forget him.

Now, as it usually was following the Darkwind transformation, wild thoughts kept pushing themselves to the front of his mind. Morteous was having to dominate and subdue a new addition to his mind. The sage's memories and thoughts were rebelling against their new master, but that would soon diminish as Morteous' superior mental disciplines vanquished the rebellion. Within an hour, the struggle was over. Rarely had Morteous required more than two hours to absorb the knowledge, and power of another person.

As usual, Morteous was hungry. The effort of the Darkwind transformation was very draining on his stamina as well as his psyche. The warlock finished his cleaning and departed the chamber, resetting the wards that guarded it as he exited.

Tyson would return soon from the Doyr stronghold in the north, he recalled. The initial indication from Tyson was that a druid had indeed been captured, apparently the mate of one of his former allies, as well as the boy. The communication was done by a bracelet that allowed a secure voice communication over great distances. Many of the Blackheart senior agents carried such devices, but they were limited to a single sequence of ten words every day. As a result they were used primarily in emergencies.

Tyson had also indicated via the word, cloud, that there was a problem. A second code word, storm, indicated that the problem was severe, but a third, horizon, meant that it was not immediate.

Morteous had conversed with Miguel and the two had decided against any immediate action out of panic. Tyson's assurance that the problem was not immediate, meant that they could await his return.

The warlock meandered through the dungeon beneath the citadel and back into the upper levels. There, the halls were busy with servants running errands or attending to their duties. The ever present guards saluted him with the traditional sword-across-the-chest tribute of the House Guard.

Morteous made his way back to his private library. Between his laboratory and his library, Morteous spent the greater part of his free time researching or experimenting. That along with his additional unwanted duties as head of House Blackheart left little time for him to travel much. It was this particular problem that had made Tyson so invaluable. The monk was unknown outside of Aspberg. He had a great deal of knowledge, most of which Morteous was certain was useless at the present, but in the future it could prove beneficial.

Morteous had not ruled out the possibility of traveling to the world that had spawned Tyson and those who had come with him. A whole world where no warlocks existed, but magical mastery on a level as exhibited by Armegon and Ultrecht would be a tempting goal. With his Darkwind transformation spell, Morteous would be like a wolf in a fold. The very idea was exhilarating.

One prerequisite to that venture, would be to consume the combined knowledge of Armegon, Ultrecht and Tyson. That in itself could prove enlightening. The spell Armegon had cast on the plains of Gly-ou-vogue had destroyed hundreds of soldiers and nearly wiped Serpent and himself out as well. He had pressed Tyson hard for the details on that spell, but Tyson only knew the general terms of the spell.

Still Morteous could make out from what little Tyson did know that the spell actually invoked very little magic. Instead the Siege Spell, as Tyson had named it, relied on a natural property of certain heavy metals. Morteous' mouth watered at the very thought of gaining that knowledge.