Rune Mage [Fantasy/Adventure | Book 1 +2 | Complete]

Chapter 82: The King's Summon

Maura Woodbead crashed into Kommora Haigh's office without so much as a knock.

"Woodbead. How kind of you to visit," said Kommora, gazing out of the window, her hands clasped at leisure behind her back.

"I think the time has come, Kommora," said Maura, her voice tight. "After what happened in Acrise--"

"I'd watch your words if I were you, Woodbead," Kommora said, turning around and raising an eyebrow. "My office is runed against eavesdroppers and external magic, but I can't promise your words won't get you into shit."

Maura hesitated, meeting her eyes. Just like her brothers', a brilliant mix of cerulean and emerald, rimmed with thick black lashes, but Maura's were much less expressive. She knew the cost of being too honest with one's feelings.

"A king that threatens his own people is no king," she said, clenching her fists.

"It's good I don't know which king you're talking about, then."

"I see your aides are no longer with you. My sources tell me they've been... indisposed. But I trust you can be counted upon in times of need?"

"There are only two types of people that don't deserve help: traitors and those too dumb to save their own asses. I hope you're neither of those, Woodbead."

Kommora raised the message she'd received several hours earlier that day.

"I trust you will not be missing the king's summons."

Maura's jaw was set. She looked just like Edgard Woodbead in his prime: proud, merciless determination on those trademark too-young Woodbead features of blue-green eyes and a no-nonsense fire.

"I know where I stand, and I'm not alone."

"What you're looking for is in the bottommost floor of the sealed dungeons beneath the Council of Mages."

She nodded, once, marching forward to clasp Kommora's outstretched hand before exiting without another word. The door slammed shut and Kommora was left alone in her office. She fingered the piece of paper, eyeing the cursive words, and slipped Maura's gift into her pocket.

The Council of Mages hereby summon all state mages to the hall of declarations as a matter of state urgency.

And so it's begun, thought Kommora, tearing it up and fastening her cloak around her neck. Liore's information and Ash's influence had prepared her for this day. She had the names. The rustle of rune paper in her concealed pockets was less reassuring than she would have liked. She made her way, alone, towards the Council of Mages. Outside, the people hustled as usual, oblivious to the chaos that would come. If any of them had sense, they would escape.

The arrest of Seiren Nithercott and Rowan Woodbead meant the rebel mages were here, in Benover, too. No doubt they would have caught wind of this state-wide summoning. And Kommora was prepared. When she set foot inside the eerily sterile marble building of the Council, she met fellow state mages, people she would not normally cross paths with, for they were stationed far and wide. Some she hadn't seen since Pollin's coronation several years back. Others she'd actually forgotten existed -- and a few she was disappointed to find were still practising magic, or even alive. Some made it there through sheer hard work; some via making connections with the right people, and some must have been too dumb for even death to take. She made polite chat, clapping a hand on the shoulders of people that made her consider gouging her eyes out and hugging the slimeballs whose conceit and selfishness were more evident than Seiren Nithercott's permanent scowl. But it needed to be done.

The group migrated to the hall of declarations, where all mages swore their allegiance to Karma on the day they were granted full practice. The place hadn't changed since Kommora swore her own allegiance over twenty years ago: at least five or six storeys tall, bathed in an ethereal glow, tall speckled marble pillars holding up the domed ceiling, and the peripheries bathed in shadow due to its sheer size. Sky windows allowed streaks of dusky sunlight through from above. A small balcony sat up above where King Pollin would observe as each mage laid their hands on the registry of mages.