Return to Jorgaldur Volume IV: Reunion

Final conspiracy

It hurt Elsa's son to do that. He was infatuated with the princess, who was locked in her chambers in the palace. There were also some of his friends there, and for some time, he had been ogling the building with desire. If everything went well, after marrying the princess, they could maneuver to take over the kingdom. However, now he had to destroy that building that almost counted as his.

Despite this, he never doubted his mother's words. Elsa's son had stood there prepared for the worst of possibilities. At a signal from his mother, he would have entered the palace as if he had been there all the time. Unfortunately, now, they had to make a drastic decision.

With this, they would cause a great earthquake in the kingdom. They would eliminate many nobles and royalty, which would weaken it. That would leave them exposed to attacks from enemy kingdoms, but there was no other solution. At least, their dukedom would retain all its strength intact.

Twenty mages specially chosen for that mission advanced to the edge of the forest. They had been hired from other kingdoms, and paid handsomely for all kinds of underhanded jobs, of which no trace could be left. If someone had captured them, they wouldn't have been able to discover who was behind them. The mages themselves wouldn't have known.

What they would never have expected was to be drugged little by little, until they became slaves to an addictive substance with which their owners controlled them. Now, it could be said that they were the property of Elsa and her son. They only had to promise them the drug, so the mages would do what they were told without questions.

With her face contorted in pain, the duchess imbued mana into the same strange artifact she had used to escape. It had taken her a lot of effort to make a copy of the magical patterns from the palace's staff of command, which the queen usually carried with her. She had been copying them little by little, at every opportunity, over the years, with many failures in between.

The artifact in her hands contained said patterns. It allowed her to control some of the palace's functions, such as opening the tunnel through which she had escaped. Now, she was deactivating part of the palace's outer shield.

"Begin," she ordered.

"You've heard her. I'll give you an extra portion if you do a good job," her son promised.

With their eyes reddened by the offer, all of them began to chant long and powerful spells that were to impact the palace on its master pillars. That way, it would fall under its own weight, thus burying the queen, the nobles, Eldi Hnefa and everyone inside. With this, the reading of the Book of Judgment should also stop.

"Sister, there's something suspicious by the lake," the goshawk warned.

With Visual Link, the elf briefly distracted her attention from the Wind Staircase to see what her sister was telling her. What she saw alarmed her, but Goldmi couldn't stop what she was doing.

"Elendnas, by the lake, there're some mages doing something very suspicious. We have to stop them," she asked her husband.

He turned around to look in that direction with Hawkeye. Without wasting time, he aimed his bow and started shooting towards the mages. It was evident that they were planning to cast powerful spells against the palace, and that couldn't be good.

However, his arrows were stopped by a powerful barrier. The palace defenses were activated at that spot, the work of Elsa and her artifact. They weren't something that could be overcome in a short time with a couple of skills or spells, even at level 100.

"That barrier is too strong. Ted?" he turned to Lidia's son.

"I've warned some rebels, but they'll take a while to arrive," he reported.

Ted was carrying binoculars that Goldmi had lent him, and he had seen the same thing as them. Besides, the half-elf had recognized Elsa and her son, so he was sure that whatever they were planning, it could only be disastrous.

They felt frustrated and scared. It didn't seem that they could stop them in time from carrying out their plan, of which they were beginning to fear the worst. There wouldn't be enough time to evacuate the palace either. Therefore, they looked at Goldmi.

"Sister, in front of the lake, towards the forest. There're twenty-something enemies doing something dangerous. You have to stop them," the druid archer asked.

"Understood. I'll do," her sister answered.

The goshawk was flying over the lake. On its surface, some waves were beginning to form as a result of the accumulation of mana by the mages a few meters away. Although it wasn't this accumulation that caused the water to begin to move with more and more intensity.

A huge shadow appeared underwater, although only the albino bird was able to appreciate it, in addition to Ted and Elendnas. Also Mideltya, when she took the binoculars from Ted.

As if it were a huge explosion, a large amount of water was expelled in all directions. At the same time, a huge figure emerged. The mages and the nobles barely had time to react when four long tentacles pounced on them.

They swept from side to side, knocked them down and interrupted their spells. This caused the mages to suffer the explosion of their accumulated mana, thus damaging themselves considerably.

The kraken's four Enlarged tentacles grabbed Elsa, her son, and a pair of helpers. While coming back into the water, the tentacles dragged the defenceless mages with them, who were unable to put up any resistance. The explosion of mana from the interrupted spell had not only injured them, but also stunned them. Not to mention that the drug that controlled them also diminished their ability to react.

Elsa and her son tried to fight back. Nonetheless, their improvised spells only damaged the tentacles, but they failed to free themselves. After all, they were facing a powerful aquatic monster, the terror of the seas.

Generally, she couldn't help much while on land, where she couldn't move her huge body. Therefore, the kraken had to limit herself to a smaller version there. However, in the water, she could even take on a dragon.

She dragged them into the lake, into its depths, where their enemies would no longer have any chance. Their only opportunity would have been to avoid being dragged, to stay on the ground. In the water, the kraken was the empress. Although without a doubt, she preferred salt water. The lakes' one seemed a bit lacking in substance.

"Thank you, sister," the kraken thanked.

Although the cuts and burns on her tentacles weren't serious for a being her size, they itched a little. They would end up healing naturally, but a Life Link undoubtedly helped reduce the discomfort.

"Thanks to you. You've been amazing," the elf congratulated her.

"Great job water sister!" so did the goshawk.

The lynx, on the other hand, said nothing. She hadn't seen it, and she was too busy.