The Dou-Jin Apprentice of Monsters and Men In the Beginning

Journey to the Dou-Jin Temple part 2b

into a crowd and be lost within seconds, but as far as magical power went he was second only to Christar.

The door to the chamber swung open and a shadow elf guard dressed in black ring mail with leather allowed Christar to gradually make his entrance into the room.

Everyone stood up at attention when Christar entered the well lit chamber, even those who hated him and wanted him dead. They respected the power that Christar possessed and they wanted that power for themselves. The person that killed Christar would claim his powers. That's how the evil magical world worked. They gained their power through the art of assassination and debauchery.

Christar appeared easy to kill, they all did, but with the demons possessing them they were ever alert to danger. They could sense a thief in the night, a dagger in the dark, a drop of cyanide in their drinks or on their food. Their demon was ever watchful twenty-four seven.

Christar walked with a crooked oak cane that clicked with every other step on the floor and his pace was extremely gradual, but it was all a façade. Anyone who knew Christar, and actually only a select few did know him, knew that he was nearly as agile as someone in their fifties. The ancient mage made his way to the head of the table. It took the wizard near three minutes to get to his padded seat. He loved pushing the limits of his underling's patients.

A steward that stood in the corner of the room pulled the chair out for Christar and allowed Christar to situate himself before pushing him up to the table. The servant poured the sorcerer a glass of wine and asked Christar if he needed anything else, but the aged mage just waved him away.

"I have you all here to discuss an exceedingly important matter." He said in a fake frail voice that came out just above a whisper that was shaky as well as quiet. "We have men working on getting us the prodigy Dou-Jin as I speak and soon will attain the Orb of Solomon, the Dagger of Luciferous, and the Trident of the Roda-Ki. Having all three of these items will give us what we need to strike the albino fortified city of Vorderchen'Strauss and then set us up to attack the Dou-Jin capital of Lost Vargas"

Two people stepped out of a deep dark corner, probably from a globe of darkness that shadow elves were known for, but only the male was shadow elf. The female was human.

The shadow elf male was "The Dreaded" Clifron Zeldonus he was advisor to Christar and one of the chosen few that knew about Christar's secrets. He was about five and a half feet tall and was as bald as an egg. He was an expert with magic and fighting as well. He wore strange octagonal glasses with sapphire lenses. They were lenses of true seeing and he could see anything and everything.

His wife, also an advisor to Christar, Marriott-Suzze Zeldonus was about five and a half feet tall. She had lengthy tresses of straight blonde hair that hung down to the middle of her back and she was a large bosomed lady at that. She was an excellent priestess and a sorceress.

"What do you have to report Clifron?" Christar asked kindly. The aged mage was only kind to the people that knew him. He made sure that the people who knew him well were taken care of properly so that they would never stab him in the back.

"According to Brady Tunage he failed to obtain the boy." Clifron informed his master. "He said that three Dou-Jin showed up just before he apprehended the boy. He said he tried to kill the boy, but the boy moved with such snake like grace that he couldn't kill him."

"Should we send Roda-Ki shadow elves?" Rebecca-Lynn suggested in a light airy voice.

"No." Christar answered flatly. "He was supposed to have two other men with him. Where were they?"

"Brady thought he could handle it on his own." Clifron answered. "But he says he'll intercept the Dou-Jin and get the boy back."

"I don't have as much faith in Brady as Brady does in himself." Christar said with a growl and then had a fit of coughing as though he had been speaking too much. "If Brady fails he knows the price he'll have to pay for his arrogance and stupidity." Christar finished after he was through coughing. A few spots of blood appeared on his handkerchief. The blood was fake, but he had to keep up appearances and hope for his audience.

The people around the table had thoughtful looks upon their faces. They were wondering if Brady's plan that he had brought to the council would work or would it just cause the Dou-Jin to dig in and reinforce their troops?

"So we let Brady possibly fumble another attempt?" Carrio said in a deep menacing voice. "He could mess up everything we've worked so hard to put together. I didn't like this Roda-Ki from the start. He's too wild and unpredictable for such a sensitive mission."

'Most Roda-Ki are, that's why we pick him." Christar said. "They're so wild and unpredictable it makes it hard for the Dou-Jun to keep track of them. We need that edge to get that boy, not to mention the other items."

"Do we have our cleric of good Spirit?" Christar asked Shandor with a tinge of despise in his voice.

"Yes." Shandor replied just as icy. There was no love lost there. "I have her and her family as hostages to make her cooperate to use the Orb."

"That is all then, unless anyone has new business." Christar asked, but no one said anything and everyone excused themselves from the area with Christar being the last one to leave the chamber.

He admired the artwork that was upon the walls of the great room. He had picked out all the pieces himself and he gazed upon all of them fondly before making his way out the door with Clifron and Marriott-Suzze.

The rest of the mages backed their chairs out after Christar had left. Shandor stayed behind to talk to Carrio. Shandor lowered her voice to just above a whisper.

"Have you spoken to Richardo?" She asked in concern.

Carrio gave her a dangerous glare. "Why do you insist on talking about these things so close to Christar? He's our leader for a reason. If he even knew that we were talking about Richardo he would have us killed and rightly so."

"Well have you?" Shandor insisted with a look of worry upon her dark face.

"My agents haven't gotten back to me yet. So no." Carrio answered with a look of regret on his face. He wondered how Shandor ever found out about his relationship with Richardo. Shandor wouldn't leave it alone. He had thought abut telling Christar more than once about her, but that would implicate him and he didn't want to get into that web of spiders right now.

"Now leave me alone. I let you know when I know anything." Carrio rushed out of the room before Shandor could do or say anything else.

Shandor stood in the chamber alone her brow furrowed deep in thought and disappointment. She had hoped that Carrio had contacted Richardo.

Richardo Sorrenson was nearly as power if not as powerful as Christar, but he lived in Central Tektara. He was the great uncle of Carrio and Shandor had found out by doing a lot of magical research on all the people in the underworlds magical hierarchy. Carrio had been surprised that Shandor had even known about his great uncle. She wasn't going to let Carrio slip through her pudgy fingers and ruin her chance at becoming the leader of the magic society of the Crimson Sanhedrin.

She had plans for Carrio's great uncle and she thought that she might know how to seduce him into helping her attain her goals. Richardo liked big voluptuous women and she was perfect for him. She just had to get Carrio to do some work for her.