All Chapters of Forgotten Embers: Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

Zephyr had ordered the mage-royal to the roof of the spire, a defensive position at the palace center from which they would cover the area in magic, surrounding it with a constraining barrier and thereby cutting off the escape of the officials and Caliphus. Additionally, he had called a meeting of the ten to be held in the chambers of the High Court.  Blackridge had sent Dehnhardt ahead of him with Kallida and now made his way alone through the empty halls of High Palace. He went quickly through the royal bedchambers patterned in red and gold, into the hidden passage behind the wardrobe,

In the chambers of the High Court of the King were gathered nine of the ten ruling sages. They stood each in his place before the judgement seat where Zephyr sat. Kallida stood in the place of the second with Dehnhardt standing close behind him. There was an emptiness to his left.  "Where is Blackridge?" Kallida inquired in the form of a harsh whisper directed toward the young man standing behind him. 

He felt a pain pierce through his back and deep into his chest, nearly knocking him from the blue roan horse he rode. He grunted as he fell forward, one arm grabbing at his aching body and the other at the horse's muscular neck.  'Mm... that should have been me, shouldn't it?' He steadied himself, centering back on the borrowed saddle. 'Well, Marcus, I would have liked to have more appropriately thanked you, but I will do my best to satisfy your request.'

"They're back!" Kypher announced excitedly from his place at the window.  "It's about time!" Justice responded with his usual curtness, though unable to mask his obvious joy. Kypher laughed. "Justice, if this were a funeral, you'd be mad at the man for dying! Just be glad h

"How about a speech there, Webber?" Vanguard called out from his place behind the camera to their left. "Absolutely not!" Eliezer responded, turning his attentions to the room. "And you all should know better than to ask that of me, anyway! I don't give speeches, and what's more... I'm tired."  

'It's no good: all of this death, all of this hurt. I won't allow it any longer. How long will this darkness prevail?’ He stood alone in the library hall. They were all gone. They had left him according to the words of his request. There was only the stairwell, a clever means of slipping away into an underground world, which remained open to him. This had been his home, and those whom he had loved as family and cherished as friends he had hidden away within its walls, held in the safety of its depths.

There was a strange silence, broken only by the clacking of his boots against the stone portico as he apprehensively approached the doors of the large building.  He had seen a group of men on horses leaving High Palace in pursuit of the officials following their escape. The troop had been headed by Zahaynei, and Kelvin was with them. He had lamented the boy's involvement, but some decisions could only be made by a man and not his friend. They were, however, being led by Kallida's birds, which made him uncomfortable, and he had seen the six men returning whilst he traversed the wood, whic

'Ben...'  She sat on her heels with her back against the wall and her eyes watching the ceiling. Kypher stood across from her, leaning against the wall with his face serious, arms crossed, and head down. There was a door to her left through which Justice had entered and behind which Eliezer still slept. Ellis and Mira had gone to make ready some provisions for their eventual, seemingly inevitable journey to somewhere, and Avera had elected to assist the Wellses in their preparations, which both Dorcus and Kypher had agreed was probably for the bes

The room was dark when he opened his eyes. He blinked, his mind adjusting back to reality. The dim lighting suggested it was somewhere past dusk, but whether it was the time after dusk or the time before morning would be difficult to determine with surety. He sat himself up, throwing his legs over the side of the bed. He put his hand to his face, pressing it against his tired skin, and stopped for a moment, staring at the blurred shadows in front of him.  'Well... here we are.' 

They were talking in the hallway about a place she had heard of but never been, a town called Elkshire. Sometimes referred to as the "Kingsmen Capital", Elkshire was a forest town and the most prominent of the eastern region. The town itself was relatively unremarkable with two notable exceptions. The first: that the Council of the Kingsmen was seated in Elkshire and from there they judged the Kingsmen from throughout the empire. The second: that Elkshire was itself a city-state, entirely independent of Altruon and its government.  It was vital that Altruon and Elkshire should remain in