Obsidian Ridge - Jess Lebow [8]
The light from the fire overpowered even the late morning daylight coming from the tall windows. It cast the handmaiden's shadow on the floor and wooden bookshelves. Within moments the entire box was consumed, and as quickly as it had arrived, the flame disappeared.
Genevie blew the fine blackened ash out of her palm and wiped the remaining residue onto her robes. She hurried to the chest of drawers beside the canopy bed where the princess kept all of her most private things. Mariko was very protective of the contents of these drawers, and Genevie had been given strict instructions never to go inside.
Throwing open the first drawer, the princess's handmaiden pushed aside garments and magical devices. Not finding what she wanted, the handmaiden continued on to the second drawer and then the third, growing more frantic as she went.
"There must be something," she growled.
Completing her sweep of the dresser, Genevie returned to the door. Peeking out, she found the hallway completely clear. Closing the door, she secured the lock and turned her attention to the bookshelf. Moving aside each and every book, she continued her search.
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"You will never get away with this!" Pello shouted at King Korox and the rest of the royal court.
Heavy iron chains draped his arms, and a magical torque adorned his neck. The opal stone at its center generated an anti-magic field, keeping the sorcerer and his spells at bay while he stood trial.
Despite the restraint, the king had taken extra precautions. His court wizards waited on the fringes of the room, prepared to counter any magical attacks should the younger Tasca escape his bonds.
That was the problem with sorcerers. Even unarmed, they were dangerous.
The king stood and a tall, very fit blond man wearing a fine chain shirt with a white tabard over the top stepped out from his perch beside the throne. Two intertwined red wyverns-Korox's personal crest-adorned the blond man's chest. Quinn, the king's personal bodyguard. Though he was standing on the dais, his eyes searched every dignitary in attendance.
Turning his attention back to the bound sorcerer, the king raised himself to his full height and cleared his throat. Whitman, wearing formal courtly robes, dunked his quill in the ink vat, preparing to copy down the king's next words.
"You have all heard the proclamation of this court," said the king, his personal scribe scratching his quill across a piece of heavy parchment. "You know the charges leveled against this man."
Taking a long moment to glance around the room, the king scanned over many people to make eye contact with an old friend, a red-headed man with three large scars across his left cheek. The man wore well-made clothing, but nothing too fancy. His royal blue and jade green crest-a simple shield covering two crossed swords-identified him as none other than Lord Purdun, the Baron of Ahlarkhem.
Lord Purdun was Korox's brother-in-law and one of his closest friends and allies. Purdun had fought beside him and his father, the late King Valon Morkann, when Erlkazar was still forming as a nation. Korox and Purdun had been part of a fighting regiment known as the Crusaders-the elite of the elite in the then-nascent nation of Erlkazar. They had been the driving force behind the creation of this kingdom after it had ceded from Tethyr.
"Pello Tasca, you have been found guilty of trafficking in forbidden magic and potions." He stepped down off the dais and moved closer to the prisoner. Quinn moved with him, keeping himself between Pello and the king.
Korox continued on, his gaze falling upon a man in polished white plate mail, also with the king's wyverns proudly displayed. Captain Kaden, the head of the King's Magistrates. A muscular, sharp-eyed man, Kaden looked as if he had ancestors from beyond the Hordelands. His hair was dark and straight, and his skin had a warm healthy tone, no matter what time of year. After Quinn, Kaden was the next most trusted of the king's inner circle.
Beside the captain stood Senator Divian. One of the most powerful clerics in