Once Kadmos agreed to Elvira’s plan, the king left him alone in the chamber. The archmage needed time to get ready. He was furious at Tobias’ actions, but also happy that the man ultimately failed. And that the execution would send a powerful message to everyone else of what happened when the guild was crossed.

  While they waited, the Court Mage decided to show Varre around the facilities. The guild was a grand building, with multiple classes and rooms, capable of accommodating hundreds of students at a time. Even though it may have fallen on hard times recently, the property was impressive.

  Kadmos wanted every member of the guild to attend the execution in person. Parros had already spread the word, so while the royal entourage marched through the grandiose corridors, they kept stumbling upon lone students, frantically running around the building.

  Many recognized Elvira. Just a few months ago, she was just another one of the archmage’s subordinates. She may have been a senior mage, a position that came with many rights and privileges, but she still occasionally taught classes for some of the more advanced pupils. She also participated in many guild ceremonies and was a frequent sight in these halls.

  She wasn’t as familiar with everybody, especially the younger ones, but she made sure to greet everyone politely. Especially those that seemed to be shaken up at her presence. Or rather Varre’s.

  All wizards were nobles, but not all nobles had regular, direct contact with the monarchy. Many, notably children of poorer knights from the outer provinces, had never seen anyone above the level of a count before. They stood there, slack jawed, upon seeing their king, and Elvira wanted to bring them back to reality. Making sure that they wouldn’t accidentally embarrass themselves in front of the monarch.

  Varre wasn’t a monster either. He returned each hurried bow and curtsy with a respectful nod or polite gesture.

  The upper floors of the guild mostly contained various offices and staff rooms. Lower level mages had to share theirs, but senior ones, like Elvira, had their own. She led the king towards her old headquarters, located in the furthest corner of the corridor.

  If there were any doubts still left, Varre could now instantly tell that she never got along with Kadmos. Her room was dark, with only a small, dirty window, and clearly hasn’t been dusted since she moved to the castle. As a guild member, she still had every right to access it whenever she wished, but the archmage wasn’t going to maintain it above the bare minimum.

  The lower floors contained the lecture halls. While Kadmos’ amphitheater could hold a maximum of forty students a time, the largest one here could comfortably fit several hundred. It occupied much of the ground floor, alongside an impressive library.

  It was nothing compared to the one back at Varre’s college, until he realized that all of these had to be handwritten. By the standard of the time, the guild hosted a truly staggering amount of literature. Elvira explained that while most of the works focused on subjects of magic, there were plenty of tomes focusing on medicine, history, engineering, and plenty of other arts. Most mages were bookworms, so the library tended to be completely packed.

  The basement levels consisted of laboratories and training rooms for aspiring sorcerers. Though some of the more expensive equipment was reserved for higher level wizards only, the sheer size of the facilities dwarfed the Court Mage’s quarters back in the castle. Many of the practical classes were held down here, where thick stone walls reinforced by magic were able to resist spells that happened to go haywire. The guild also owned a couple facilities outside of the city walls, where the most dangerous and damaging magics could be tried out safely.

  By the time the short tour was over, Kadmos was ready. He stood on the stairs of the entrance hall, dressed in his finest robes. He was excitedly talking about Tobias’ terrible crimes, while a horde of students and guild members crowded in the entrance hall, listening intently. There were at least two hundred of them.

  The king’s arrival took a lot of the oomph out of the archmage’s speech as most of the wizards whispered excitedly about the discussion the two men must have had. Kadmos realized that he was losing his momentum and hurriedly finished up. He may have been arrogant and greedy, but there was only so much he could do to his students.

  Some of the mages came from the most illustrious families in all of Logres. The archmage was already playing a little close to the sun by going against the king’s demands. Their relation was purely transactional, even if today’s talks ended on a slightly warmer note. If Kadmos started angering the nobility too, he could quickly find himself ousted from his position.

  Once everyone was ready, the group proceeded towards the execution grounds. Tobias had already been taken there by a small of team of guards and they were finishing up the final preparations.

  Normally, as an aristocrat, the former Court Mage would be beheaded with a sword. This was a method reserved purely for the upper class. City folk deserved some respect, but dying from such a noble weapon was a little beyond their station. They typically got the axe. Peasants and all sorts of other poor commoners were hanged.

  Due to the disgusting treachery of his crimes, Tobias’ execution would be by hanging too. It was a final insult, and a final punishment for those nobles who dared to betray the crown. In the eyes of the monarchy, they had lost their aristocratic rights.

  A huge crowd had gathered to watch the event. Varre never understood what was so interesting in a showing like this, but he supposed it was a big historical event. Perhaps people were simply curious. Or they wanted to show their support by witnessing the death of an enemy of the monarchy. He doubted that any significant amount reveled in this cruelty. But he knew there were some.

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  While the king himself would rather miss out on the experience, he had no choice in the matter. His presence was vital. He even had to give a speech to the onlookers.

  Varre walked up on the stage and stood next to the tied up Tobias. He tried not to look at the traitor. The king knew that his decisions and actions had already led to thousands of deaths during the war and remembered that he already killed a man with his own hands. But he was no murderer. He still didn’t like killing another person if he could avoid it. Even indirectly. Even if the criminal was a literal murderer. And even if said criminal was responsible for the damned war in the first place.

  But there was nothing to be done about that now. Few man deserved this punishment as much as Tobias and so the king pronounced the man’s judgement. Then he talked to the crowd, going over the mage’s crimes again. The wizard’s foul assassination of Mikkel III, as well as much of the royal family. The plot to spark a civil war that tore the country apart. Varre revealed that the true goal of the rebels was to gain independence, and create a separate country, weakening the kingdom of Logres in the process. To score some extra points with the archmage, the monarch even talked about the traitor’s plan to create a new mages guild.

  The revelation drew angry, appalled cries from the crowd. The people hated seeing their nation grow weaker, at least here in the capital. Such a move was seen as an opportunistic power grab by a greedy, megalomaniacal noble. No one saw it as some heroic attempt for people to earn their freedom. Such a concept, didn’t even come to anyone’s mind. Whether they were ruled by Varre or Clement, nobles would be nobles, and serfs would be serfs. The only thing that changed would be the color of the flag when they went to war. And the power of their army during that conflict.

  Once done with the speech, Varre returned to the prepared viewing platform. Most of the council was already gathered there, along with archmage Kadmos as a special guest.

  The commoners got one last chance to jeer at Tobias and throw some rotten vegetables at the criminal. Varre considered looking away, but decided to watch the entire execution. If he was the one doing the sentencing, then he should be the one to look too. At least to witness and understand the results of this decision.

  The former Court Mage died quickly. The executioner did his job well and the wizard dropped, breaking his neck. Future historians would argue whether the man felt regret or hatred, but no one found out for certain. Tobias hadn’t said anything the entire day, perhaps too resigned to his fate.

  Kadmos audibly cheered together with the crowd. And so did a few of the councilors. Some hated the mage. Others were simply happy to see a traitor punished accordingly.

  “Good riddance,” the archmage said, turning to the monarch with a smile, “thank you for stopping this awful criminal, your majesty. I’m happy that justice reigns again.”

  “So am I,” Varre replied, a little more curtly than he intended to, “I hope we can keep working together in the future.”

  “Indeed,” Kadmos shook his hand, “ah, what an excellent start to a friendship!”

  -*-*-*-

  The king returned to the castle, but the day wasn’t over just yet. It was early October and the sun was starting to set, but Westbridge had enough torches to go around. He went to a familiar training courtyard, where Kerryn the adventurer, his personal coach, was already waiting.

  “Your majesty,” the brown-haired man said as he bowed slightly, “we have a lot of progress to catch up on.”

  Kerryn had traveled with the army during the campaign and often stood alongside Varre as yet another line of defense in case the worst came to pass. During Clement’s desperate charge, he personally dueled and defeated one of the rebel knights that attempted to kill his liege.

  The king tried to keep up with his training while on the road and did some exercises whenever there was time for it, but opportunities were limited. There was little he could do while travelling and evenings were spent on going through reports and using communication magic to discuss matters with the capital. He had maybe a half an hour each night, just enough to enhance himself and get some simple exercise in. Even then, he couldn’t fully exhaust his energy either. He needed to save some in reserves.

  The only available time for training occurred during sieges or days of rest, but those were few and far between. And even when they did happen, he was often too busy with other tasks.

  Still, he did the best he could and continued to imbibe his daily dose of elixir to maximize the effects of his training.

  “You handled yourself well out there,” Kerryn complemented, “I watched you closely during the battle with Langogne.”

  “Clement wasn’t exactly a dueling expert,” Varre protested.

  The retired adventurer shook his head. “I’m not talking about him. I’m talking about the initial charge. You fought against one of the enemy knights and held your own. I saw it.”

  “If it wasn’t for Jury, I would have lost,” the monarch insisted.

  “You would have. But you’re a king. You do not fight alone. You only have to defend yourself long enough for help to arrive. And you did,” Kerryn bowed slightly, “perfectly, in fact.”

  “I suppose so,” Varre gave in, “but fighting from a horse is so much different than I expected.”

  “It is,” the trainer agreed, “and I’m just a simple adventurer. Knights spend their entire lives training for mounted combat, you know?”

  The king raised an eyebrow. “You’re a commoner? Sorry, I should have asked. It’s just that I know that most adventurers are nobles.”

  “They are,” Kerryn nodded, “but they retire early. Many of our members are second and third sons who can’t inherit. If they’re lucky, they can make a name for themselves and earn enough coin to buy their own village somewhere. If they’re not, they die,” he shrugged, “commoners like me cannot do that, so we stay for longer. That’s why seniors, like me, are regular folk.”

  “I see,” Varre said after a moment, “I’m glad your guild is a little more… meritocratic than the mages.”

  “You mean we’re not stuck up bastards?” the adventurer chuckled.

  “You said it, not me,” the king laughed.

  “I’ve learned a thing or two about fighting from horseback over the years, but if you want a real expert, I’ll need to find one for you,” Kerryn explained, “but for now, we still have work to do when it comes to regular dueling. On the ground.”

  “Hey, I came pretty close last to beating you last time,” Varre said, “you had to use both arms!”

  “It was decent. But I was still in my base state,” the adventurer reminded him, “you’ve still got a long way to go before you can match me enhanced.”

  “You’ve had decades of training,” the king teased, “but it’s just a matter of time till I reach your level.”

  “That’s the plan,” Kerryn smiled, “now, before we begin, have you gotten the new talent check from your Court Mage? I want to see how far you’ve come during the last two months.”

  Varre nodded and unfurled a scroll from his vest.

  - - - - -

  Status:

  Varre of Logres

  Energy: 28/28

  - - - - -

  Attributes:

  Strength: 14 | 35

  Dexterity: 12 | 18

  Speed: 12 | 17

  Toughness: 12 | 26

  Power: 7 | 11

  Aura: 10 | 15

  Luck: 25 | 25

  - - - - -

  Abilities:

  Strange Mind

  - - - - -