Shadow Dagger Ch. 05

Lenard swallowed. "Master...I think...I think that's Elyus and Job."

Raynolt stumbled back, almost wishing to join Morgana on the side of the road. "What...how?"

"I don't know. The only logical conclusion is magic. Ashford was gone. Evelyn Ventus is nowhere to be found."

"Ashford and Evelyn combined couldn't have taken out one of my 10th Tier Magi!" Raynolt spat.

Lenard nodded. "That's what I thought. Corman, at least, was killed by a knife to the forehead. I would be willing to bet Jon Laurent did that."

"Yes, of course, I know that! I was expecting to maybe lose one Magi tonight. But I instructed Job and Elyus to protect Corman. It should have been one of those two who died."

"I have Captain Aquanas and his men searching the city for Ashford and Evelyn. And for that guard Sophina Crews, as well. They couldn't have gotten far."

Raynolt took another breath to calm down. The guards he brought along were shooting nervous looks at each other. I am betrayed. But by whom? I can't trust anybody.

"Raynolt," Morgana said, walking back toward him. She was very pale. "It would have to be somebody very, very powerful to kill Job and Elyus. Who is capable of that?"

Raynolt frowned. "I am, of course. Boltus was already dead. The three I sent tonight were my strongest 10th Tier Magi."

"What about Daminus?" Lenard said, nodding his head at the body in the cart. "Maybe he killed those two before he was killed."

"Daminus?" Raynolt wanted to scream. Is it possible? He was my rival, after all. "Impossible!" he decided. "Elyus and Job would have laughed in his face. Besides, I don't see any marks on his body. Can I assume he died by a knife wound?"

Lenard nodded. "Yes, right in the back."

"You see? I instructed Corman and the others to eliminate Jon Laurent after he killed Ashford. It seems obvious to me that Laurent encountered Daminus at Ashford's house and had to kill him first. Corman, thinking that Laurent just killed Ashford, would have revealed himself."

"But Ashford was still alive," Morgana said slowly, talking through a rag that she was using to ward off the smell. "And for Laurent and Ashford to escape alive, they would have had to team up. So Laurent distracted Job and Elyus enough for Ashford to finish them off. Then Laurent killed Corman himself."

Lenard frowned. "But that would mean that Ashford still had to kill Job and Elyus. He wasn't powerful enough to do that, even with a distraction from Laurent."

Raynolt clapped his hands together. "Evelyn! She must have taken off from the Emporium once this Sophina Crews saved her. She headed straight for Ashford's because that's where her husband told her he would be. Evelyn and Laurent combined might have been enough of a distraction for Ashford to kill Job and Elyus. He was 9th Tier, after all, and had fought against Raves in the war."

Lenard nodded slowly. "It makes sense. But we still have to find those four."

Raynolt fell silent, his mind working frantically. "Daminus' death is going to cause problems to my plan."

"I have a solution," a voice said from behind.

Morgana and Lenard whirled around, eyes glowing silver. Raynolt only smiled and turned around slowly. "Sanje," he greeted the Magi Victus.

"I know how you can tie this whole mess up in a pretty little bow," he said confidently.

Lenard and Morgana were standing next to him, tense with fear. He held out his hands to each of them and they reluctantly released their magic. "I'm listening," he told Sanje.

As Sanje talked, a slow smile twitched at the corners of Raynolt's mouth. With this plan, he would be the Grand Master by tomorrow night.

***

A dark form stood silhouetted against a window high up a tower as the rain beat a steady rhythm on the glass. Lightning flashed, revealing a man dressed in elaborate clothes. His boots were black and lined with silver. His pants were just as dark and contained silver dragons that crawled up the pants. His tunic was black as well and made from a substance softer than silk; a material long lost to the history of man.

If the clothes made the man appear foppish, then his face disabused that notion. His face could have been cut from the very mountains themselves. His face was almost as dark as his clothes. His chin jutted out like solid rock. His nose appeared to have been broken at least once. His eyes were a dark pool that threatened death at any moment. His hair was as black as night and combed back from his head.

The sound of a door opening did not startle him. He was expecting the man who stepped inside.

"It is as you feared," the man from behind said. "Grand Master Boltus is dead. It has begun."

King Reynar turned from the window, lightning flashing down to frame his body. He grinned. "Then let it begin."