The Sword of Retribution

The Spies - Part 6

     Tragius and Franklos, the wizard who’d acted as Tragius’s aide during the council, didn’t need to use the Fellowship’s teleportation network to return to Lexandria Valley, since they were able to teleport straight back under their own power, directly from the Grand Hall of Truth and Justice. They couldn’t teleport straight into the University buildings, though, since the entire area was surrounded by an impenetrable globe of magical force as a protection against their many enemies, so they materialised in a sunlit, wooden glade about a mile away and went the rest of the way on foot.

     It was a pleasant stroll through the light, open woodland, with the yellow sun peeping through gaps in the overhead canopy and throwing dappled patterns onto the bracken and bluebell covered forest floor. Tragius often came out here to relax after a hard day’s conjuring of outerplanar creatures and harnessing of arcane powers. A fawn looked up at them as they walked past, and some small animal rustled around in the undergrowth nearby, looking for the last of last autumn’s nuts. Birds sang and twittered merrily overhead, and from somewhere just out of sight came the happy laughing of a group of young apprentices out looking for spell components, or possibly just larking around during a rare moment of free time. Lexandria Valley had one of the few forests in the world where young people could go and play without needing an armed escort. Dangerous, evil creatures weren’t allowed in the valley, since the wizards put far too much time and effort into training their apprentices for them to be gobbled up by the first wolf or troll to come along.

     They walked in silence for a while. To all outward appearances the elder wizard was deep in thought. In fact his whole attention was focused on his companion. All day long he'd been carefully planting seeds in the younger man's head, nurturing them with the occasional cryptic comment and subtle hint. If those seeds were going to bear fruit it would be now while the two men were alone with nothing to do for the next few minutes but talk.

     Franklos turned his head to look at his older companion and Tragius forced himself to give no sign of noticing. The younger man was trying to work up the nerve to speak, to ask the questions that would be buzzing inside his head. Tragius silently willed him his encouragement. If they arrived back at the University buildings without the conversation having taken place, days of planning would have been wasted and he would have to spend more days making alternative plans. It was vitally important that Franklos be the one to start the conversation, though. To stop him from becoming suspicious.

     “What did you mean," Franklos finally said "when you said we might be able to send a spy into the Shadow? Who did you have in mind?”

     Tragius felt himself growing tense with stress. He should have felt relief, but now that it came to it he found himself reluctant to proceed. He got a grip on himself and looked at the younger wizard thoughtfully as if the question had taken him by surprise.

     After his previous assistant had suffered a fatal accident, he needed another wizard to replace him. Someone able to see the realities of the situation. Someone who wasn’t too fanatical about following the University’s rules to the letter and who knew how to keep his mouth shut. Now that the moment had arrived, though, he was suddenly full of second thoughts. By giving him the information he'd asked for he’d be placing himself at the younger wizard’s mercy, and if he’d misjudged him he could find himself facing an immediate impeachment with who knows what consequences for the rest of the world. Most of the University’s senior wizards were rigidly set in their ways and followed the rules as though they were natural laws. If they found out what he was up to, it would be the end of his career as a wizard, and possibly the end of his life.

     Do I dare take that chance? he wondered anxiously. Do I dare not? The fact was that he needed a new assistant, and that person would need to know what he was doing. He’d chosen Franklos from all the younger wizards in the University, studied every tiniest aspect of his habits and personality until he thought he knew him better than he knew himself, and the one thing more than anything else that had brought the shifty eyed young man to his attention was his ambition. Tragius was hoping that the prospect of advancement would tempt him to enlist in his conspiracy, but what if he thought he could advance faster by betraying him to the Director? That, more than anything else, was the thought that was gnawing away at the senior wizard now, but the fact was that he trusted everyone else even less! If Franklos wouldn’t do, there was no-one else who would do better. Either I tell him, he said to himself, or we abandon the whole idea and leave it all to Darry’s vampire.