Princil's Magic Ch. 12 Weakness

It was not her place to say anything on the subjects of Charlerion's counsel, but Charlerion did talk to her about matters of state sometimes she found. He might not have appreciated her true opinions, but he could not have been surprised by them.

"I heard you mention the name Aribor, the sorcerer," she ventured.

"Yes I did, Remzain. What of it?"

"I know Aribor. He was the sorcerer who found me. They forced him to give me up to Guthelm."

"I take it he did not wish to hand you over," said Charlerion, all interested now. "I don't blame him! So you were captured by this sorceror? I would like to locate him. He may be of help in our attempts to act against Guthelm." The King looked thoughtful. It may be that you could be of some use in our discussions with him, if needed.

Remzain knew that she had meant much to Aribor. Charlerion probably did not realise just how much she had meant to the wizard, but Remzain knew. She had seen it in his face at the point of the wizard's orgasm, more than a few times, and even more in his face when he was forced to give her up to the Great Sorceror Valdark and his cruel master King Guthelm. That night and day after her capture by him he had been unable to stop his lust for her. The more she acceded to his demands the more he desired from her. He had given himself up completely to his lust, until she had felt that she had far more hold over him than he had over her. Never had she known such devotion and she had actually enjoyed the demands he had made of her, after her initial fears had begun to recede and the strength of his obsession became apparent. Charlerion was not under the same influence, because although he evidently found her irresistible, and loved the power he held over her, he did possess a natural charm and charisma which won him many ladies, wives from amongst the ranks of his closest followers, as well as servant women whenever he desired, in addition to his wife and three concubines.

Charlerion wanted her assistance to reach Aribor, but had little inkling of her likely influence over the sorcerer.

"What do you want of him?" she asked.

"The time has come to do something about King Guthelm! He is a liability to Pelancir, as he is a destroyer to the people and land of Shalirion. I have been unable to persuade him to act more sensibly. His armies are restive, and so are his vassals in Grumandria. It is time to replace him with better leadership."

"With yourself as King?"

"That is the strategy I am considering, or possibly someone who would make a better ally if we cannot find support for my own candidacy."

"Charlerion you are ambitious, but your plan could cause war and untold deaths," Remzain suggested.

He shrugged his shoulders, "Guthelm's survival will cause untold deaths, has already done so. I don't know why I am explaining these matters of state. I merely explain so that you may understand what we attempt to achieve. I may need your assistance to bring Aribor around to our view. Is he a strong loyalist to his people? He cannot be, I perceive, because he intervened against Guthelm and his fellow sorcerors of Grumandria to protect your people of Shalirion.

"He protected my people of Shalirion?" she asked. "What do you mean? What did he do?"

"Remzain it was your wizard Aribor, the one who captured you and was forced to give you to his King, who helped and saved many of your people in Bricas. He was the wizard who turned traitor to his own King in order to save the Shalirionites of Bricas!"

Charlerion managed to locate and contact Aribor with his spies in Bricas. He realised the wizard broke with Guthelm to save Shalirionites and he thought he might use him to fight Guthelm. Remzain had told him who Aribor was and related the story of her capture by him, without revealing the extent of her brother Princil's magic, or the manner in which his magic was created. She told him she believed her family had escaped the city, and was pleased to find that Charlerion was not too interested in the details. He was focused on approaching the Wizard to secure his services against Guthelm. Charlerion approached Aribor through intermediaries, but was rebuffed.

Charlerion perceived the influence Remzain had enjoyed over Aribor, who had perhaps become embittered towards Guthelm by being forced to give Remzain up. He asked Remzain to summon Aribor or intercede with him. She was not clear that she had influence, or that she should intervene, but Charlerion had been good to her and she felt obliged. She also hated Guthelm so felt the temptation to resist him in some way.

"Please my lady Remzain," said Charlerion. "I want this wizard. He is powerful and can do great damage to Guthelm. I thought you said you hated Guthelm for his actions. This is your chance to do something against the monster."

"What do you wish Aribor to do?"

"I do not know yet. I only know that he can be useful to our cause. I would like you to send him a message."

"How? I do not know him so well. I was his prisoner remember." She was not at all keen to renew her involvement with the big wizard. She knew that she had some power over him, sexual allure at the least. But what was that worth in this always changing world!

Surely Aribor had experienced further adventures after his sexual excesses with her. She was pleased to hear that his conscience had developed, perhaps because of his anger in losing her, so that he turned against his King and helped to save the innocent citizens of Bricas. But why should he want to enter Charlerion's service? He owed no allegiance to Pelancir or its King.

Remzain did not see why she should work for Charlerion's vision. She knew he wanted to control Shalirion. He might work with its people, and protect them more than Guthelm, but he could not deny that he wanted to control and exploit them. She hated Guthelm, but she did not wish to see Charlerion conquer more of her homeland.

Charlerion saw a way to persuade Remzain. He ordered his officers to report Guthelm's crimes to her. They revealed the rough numbers of citizens of Cromilil who had faced execution in the Trials which Guthelm had used for entertainment after the conquest of the city. The length of time it had taken for some of the victims to die under torture of slow death had been found recorded. Her face whitened when she heard her father's name and time listed.

"How did you get this?" she asked.

"Someone favourable to our cause copied them down from the books of Guthelm's trial judges," said one of the Pelancirian officers.

There were estimates of the dead Cromililian bodies found on the streets after the invasion in the different quarters of the city.There were reports from the war some years before when Guthelm had invaded Pelancir, of the cruelties he had inflicted upon the people of Pelancir. There were even some stories of retribution handed out by Guthelm's soldiers in their own land in recent times, of example killings, retribution for disloyalty, examples of unjust accusations and sentences from Grumandria. None of these were a surprise to her, but with these stories in her head she found it impossible to resist the feeling that Guthelm should not be allowed to keep his throne. Somebody, anybody, should act against the brute who presided over such inhumanity. Although she blamed the Pelancirians for their crimes and for being the allies of such a monster, she could not see how any other authority than Charlerion's might be able to punish Guthelm and take his throne away from him. The crimes angered her, renewing her desire to act against him in some way. She said she would meet Aribor if the wizard agreed.

"Strike Charlerion," demanded Remzain. "Bring his evil to an end. Reform his Kingdom and set it on a better path!"

And Charlerion did pledge to do just that, one way or another.