Dreamwalker

7- Wizard's Folly

Soutine always hated Laurier's palace, even when he was employed in his service. The ceilings were too high, the floors too shiny, the windows too small. Soutine would have liked the castle better if Laurier let it more natural light. Instead, the walls were lit with lanterns, giving the place eerie tilting shadows instead of carefree sunlight.

This was where he was brought after a sleepless night in the prison. Two guards in masks unlocked him from the wall and brought him through the little mountain town at dawn. Laurier's castle, of course, stood at the edge of the town on a high cliff that overlooked the mountain pass. If you stared out far enough, you could see the western kingdoms on one side and the eastern kingdoms on the other. Soutine liked that about the town. Small and simple with beautiful landscape. The only drawback was that it was lorded over by Laurier and his minions.

The guards threw Soutine in the throne room. He hit the ground hard, but scrambled to his feet. The room appeared to be empty except for the bulky guards behind him. "Hello?" he called out, hoping someone would answer. His voice bounced around the stone of the chamber, echoing into oblivion, alone and infinite all at once.

After a full minute passed of complete silence, Soutine could hear footsteps coming down the hall. "Did I keep you waiting long?" a soft voice called from the right of where the throne sat.

"Let's get this over with, why don't we?" Soutine demanded.

Laurier stepped into the light. He had a way of melting out of the shadows like he was one of them himself. His long dark hair was draped behind his back. As usual, he held a long staff in one bloodless hand. He wore violet robes, the color of royalty, almost the same color as his eyes. "It has been a long time, my old friend," he said, voice still smooth as silk.

"What do you want? You sent Piano after me for a reason."

Laurier approached the throne. It didn't even look like he was walking at all-- it was more like gliding. "You may leave," he called to the guards, and stood still until the guards walked outside again. When he was sure they were alone he continued. "We are running out of resources," Laurier explained. "You must know. You stole most of them, after all."

"Don't flatter me. They were only the king's resources, and--"

"And you deciphered them. I know. You always were a brilliant worker." Laurier sat on the throne and let his staff lean against the arm of the chair. "I will never understand why you left. You had so much promise."

"Piano must have told you."

"He did, he did. He said that it was because of Devon's little girl."

"That and other things."

"Other things? Surely you don't mean me?"

"You're twisted. You would sacrifice--"

"Sometimes," Laurier interrupted, "sacrifices must be made."

"Needless sacrifices, needless deaths, needless enslavement. You don't understand what you're taking away from these people."

Laurier gave him a thin-lipped smile. "I am giving them a chance to change the world. This mountain belongs to my refugees. What more could they ask for? They would be persecuted by society if they left."

"Because you made it so."

"I will not be spoken down to by a traitor and a thief. As you know, I want your help finishing what we started. You deciphered my father's scrolls and I want to know what you learned. I want to know what that scar on your hand means." Laurier pointed to the eye cut into Soutine's palm.

Soutine grimaced. He was dreading this since Piano came into his room the previous night. Even though he made a promise, guilt crawled in his stomach with iron claws tearing him up from the inside. "It's-- it's one of the few symbols that I understood," he explained, and held out his hand, palm-up, for Laurier to see closer. Laurier even leaned out of his chair so he could observe it better.