The Thirteenth Watcher: Epilogues(Cont. V)

Secrets

Forte marched down the hall, checking his time-piece and noting that the hands had struck the midnight hour. Everyone would be asleep, even his father who rose before the sun. He moved through the halls quietly, cautiously making his way to his private chambers, sliding two keys into place and whispering the binding spell’s password. After several seconds, the door opened slowly. His room was absolutely black, almost no moonlight was able to filter through the blue-tinted windows. Nevertheless, Forte could sense that someone was in the room besides him.

“Right on time,” came the voice.

“Of course.” Forte slid into the room and let the doors slowly shut behind him. He moved slowly to a safe chair and sat down, staring out the window, the figure doing the same in the opposite chair. “I would have thought you would have been more speedy in your payment. After all, there was much more involved then what you originally said.”

“I told you that I would reward you for any extra problems in doing what I asked.”

“Yes, well I’m sure you already know how much more I’m going to ask. After all, I did not expect to have to go to Al-Khara and deal with that to keep things on the right path. I didn’t charge anything for the wound I incurred, I did that out of personal favor to my brother. As much as I do not trust him or like him, he is as much blood as one can be without being blood,” Forte said, rolling the sentence over in his head again. “Anyway, just give me the money and all will be fine.”

“I must thank you again for your services. Existence must go on, for all those things that….don’t exist.” Forte knew the tone, it was the tone he always used when discussing the Black Lotus. “Your perceptions are absolutely phenomenal, and have I any other business, I’m sure I will turn to you. Just one question, how is it that Baen was unable to detect who was trying to steer the thoughts of the ‘heroes?’ It has bothered me. We know that you were hired by Baen as well as I, but how was it that he did not catch on to Maximus interfering with the minds of Adelia and Gobudo?”

“It’s simple. We took Baen’s contract and purposefully lost our first warriors. I then made sure to engage the enemy by using vague terms so that Baen’s telepathic searches would do nothing more than reveal confused and clouded intentions. As for Maximus’ interference, that was why I went to Al-Khara, you see.”

“I do not follow.”

“As you know there was an accident within Al-Khara and the chamber of time was used. I was the one who risked death to do so. I then wound through time and reality and road the coattails of Maximus’ every transgression. As he opened his rifts I would step through time and follow him, as I’m sure he expected me to, for he obviously knew that we were on his side. Anyway, since I also bear the color red as my trademark, Baen felt my presence and didn’t think for a second that the thought patterns were far too strong for anyone just going about their secret business. I conned him into thinking I was trying to hide my thoughts from him. Then I had Ermine stage the sequence on Azurat.”

“How was it that you knew Ermine would be the one to survive?”

“I didn’t know for sure. I knew Shaw would since I gave him specific instructions to interfere with Baen’s plans. If push came to shove, he would have wounded me. Instead, Ermine survived and all had instructions to strike me down when the time came. Quoral just happens to be far better than the others, since he was the only one to realize the true nature of the Seph girl. But have we chatted enough, just give me the money, that is the arrangement. The money and the item.”

The figure sighed and handed over a small golden box, sealed shut by several sturdy locks that glistened with magic. The keys were tied to the top of the box. In the other hand, a large chest of golden coins was revealed, each surrounded by diamonds. These were Talimans, the most valuable and rare coin in the world, and there were at least a hundred. Forte’s eyes shined for a moment as he took the box. “It was a pleasure,” Forte said at last.

The figure rose and marched for the door, turning back at the last second, “Did you have any idea it would turn out this way?”

“I had an inkling. Genetics, you understand.”

The figure hesitated longer, “What do you plan to do with…..”

Forte’s hand silenced him, “That is not for you to know, nor to speak of ever again. You will, if you are smart, forget that you gave such a thing to me. Let it pass from your mind and not from your lips. For doing so would make me upset, and then you would never have existed at all, and that would be a tragedy, for existence is very precious.” The words were filled with daggers and poison; the figure was amazed that Forte would threaten someone such as him, but then he knew that the man he saw sitting in the chair had never been without four backup plans and was able to think far further into the future than any other man he had met. For once, the figure was frightened.

“Good evening,” the figure said.

“Good evening.”

The figure disappeared into the night, dragging his cloak along behind him. Forte watched him leave and smirked to himself, “Even now they’re all watching me and you, they do not know what I have planned, and that is the way it all shall stay.” He glanced to the ceiling, seeing through to Cion Sky, or so he perceived. “Stare all you like, but perhaps my shadows and tricks stretch deeper. Who was that man? Who knows…..and what do I intend? Have I spoke it or hidden it or left it for you to find somewhere where you’ll probably ignore it?” Forte laughed and tossed the small box into the air and concealing it in a small glowing field beneath a tile plate. There were spells around that box now that no wizard could break.

“To existence.”