Nefarious Diplomacy - Chapter 5

Title: Chapter 5 – the Council
Universe: Overlord

Most of the palace tree lay silent. The elves feared speaking louder than a whisper, afraid that their voices would attract the attention of the demons that had now come to their home.
Only one place in the massive tree was full of sounds.
Voices rang out clearly through the chamber where the most powerful elves and fairies of Orntal had gathered to hold council on the crucial decision that needed to be made.
They were in the central hall of Eshaadial, which was located at the very top of the Palace Tree, between the Throne Room and the canopy.
Eshaadial was one of the oldest temples within the city of Orntal. Only the Shrine of the Mother Goddess itself, at the very heart of the city, was older still.
Legends held that when the ancient elves first planted the palace tree Yggdrasiv on top of their holy shrine, Eshaadial, or the Temple of Eternal Wisdom as it was also known, was the very first structure to be built within its branches.
The temple was also noticeably different from almost every other building in Orntal due to the fact that it was built from stone, granite and marble like the temples of Evernight, rather than the organic materials favoured by the Everlightians, a relic from a time when the two sister clans had been one.
Unlike most buildings in Orntal, the Temple of Eternal Wisdom always lay in perpetual shadow. But it was not a sinister gloom like one would find in the Dark Tower, but a hallowed, tranquil twilight.
The hall where the elves held council seemed infused with wisdom and deified gravitas. One could practically feel the ancient wisdom and ageless knowledge of countless generations of elves and fairies emanating from the very stone of the chamber.
This ethereal but beatific feel seeped through the chamber like a mist, as tangible as a breath of life against the skin.  
While small compared to that of other temples and buildings in Orntal, the council hall of Eshaadial was still grand enough to hold several dozens of individuals in attendance.
But despite this, only nine currently occupied the sacred chamber.
Beyond the leader of the twilight fairies, who was here in her capacity as a bodyguard and not an attendee, the eight members of the council were arrayed in a ring around the large table in the centre of the room. The table was perfectly round, made from a kind of wood so rare and ancient that most elves were not even sure if it existed any longer.
In the centre the table was engraved with the ancient Greenheat family crest, showing that the royal family had ruled Everlight since at least as far back as the founding of the City of Light itself.  
At the very end of the chamber sat King Fairyon.
The King of Orntal looked more tired and old than any present could remember ever seeing him.
At the audience he had showed a powerful side of himself hat few had ever suspected of him, never mind seen. But it appeared that the confrontation with the Overlord had shaken him. No one was sure yet whether this had been a wake-up call from his descent into grief or a frightful experience that would cause him to retreat further still.
Next to the king was prince Florian.
The young elf was usually perpetually arrogant and hot-headed and the first to call for action. But now he was strangely subdued, seeming unusually pensive about something. However, everyone else in the chamber was too wrapped up in the current events to notice this strange change in the boy.
At the king’s left sat the priestesses Sophira and Athelin. Both appeared very worried about the current situation.
Though neither of them were ordained as High-Priestesses in charge of a temple themselves, both had qualities that allowed them to attend this important council.
Sophira was here in her capacity as Orntal’s most accomplished diplomat. She was the priest that most often acted as mediator between the spiritual and secular orders of the elven society. She also often served as a conciliator between the Everlightian elves themselves and most foreign dignitaries or ambassadors, usually from their Evernightian brethren.
Athelin on the other hand was one of the few elves in Orntal who had studied anything regarding dark magic. Before she had been transferred to serve at the Temple of Ever-harmony in the jungle, she had been the priestess responsible for the magical section of the Library and the Reliquary, and thus spent much time studying what the elves knew of magic, both its light and dark incarnations.    
Sitting between the two of them, and taking up almost half of all the space on the right side of the table, was High-Priestess Weerona, Tender of the Shrine of Nefertiria and by extension the highest-ranking member of the priesthood of the Mother Goddess in Orntal.
After the King, Weerona was likely the most influential individual in the City of Light.  
Opposite from the priestesses, on the King’s right hand, besides Florian, were Adviser Phainor and Light-Commander Katrial.
Facing the king from between Athelin and Katrial, at the opposite end of table, was Lord Miruvos.
Phainor was the only elf that did not seem affected by the current predicament, but that was of little surprise. It was a generally accepted belief amongst the elves that the city itself would have to be in flames before the adviser’s stoic facade would crumble. Many said that when that fateful day finally came, he would face death while staying calm and collected.
Venas, the leader of the twilight fairies, stood by the wall behind her commander. Like the advisor, she was as impassive as a statue.
Katrial too did her best to remain calm, but she was having a great deal more trouble than Phainor or Venas. It was clear to see that she was agitated. Though it would have been difficult to say whether the threat of war, or the presence of the Overlord was what affected her deepest. But she restrained herself from letting her emotions reigning free.
Lord Miruvos was here as the spokesman for the elven nobles, and he had no such reservations. He made no secret of what he thought should be done about the presence of the Overlord here in Orntal. Out of all of them, he was the one that argued most heatedly for simply severing the head of the snake and be done with it here and now.
What only one of those assembled knew was that the chamber actually contained a tenth individual.
Sitting in the ceiling while watching and listening to everything that was occurring below him was Fade. And through the Possession Spell that had been cast upon him, everything that he saw and heard was clear to the Overlord as well as his advisor and mistress back in the Dark Tower.  

“I say we make an end to this evil before the Overlord has a chance to carry out his threat!” Miruvos said. The palms of both hands planted firmly on the table as he stood and addressed the rest of the Council.
“Did you not hear his threat? If we do not act now, he will surely make good on that threat; and your heard how far he is willing to go to get what he want!”
“What you propose would lead to war, regardless of whether or not we managed to kill the Overlord” Katrial reposted. “Orntal is strong, but she is hardly at her best. A war with the Overlord and the minions would at best leave us severely weakened and could very well destroy us entirely”
“Is our intrepid Light-Commander unwilling to fight the darklings?” Miruvos asked with theatrical incredulity. “And here I would have thought that you of all people would appreciate the chance to strike against the Dark Ones, Greenhaze”
Katrial gave him a scathing look.
“I am no warmongering dwarf, or, worse yet, a bloodthirsty darkling, Miruvos. It is my duty as Light-Commander to safeguard Orntal from her foes, and lead our armies in war if it comes to that. But it is not a wise elf that is eager for battle and bloodshed. It is far better to safeguard against war and do our best to prevent it, than to actively seek it out”
Miruvos raised an eyebrow in appraisal.
“I was not talking about your position. I was merely remarking upon the renowned deeds of your father, and how that greatness might run in the blood”
“My father has nothing to do with this” Katrial said quietly, she did not seem to like the way this was headed, though the warning in her voice went unheeded.
“Quite the contrary, Light-Commander, this has everything to do with Oberon. If it was not for him and his companions, then the previous Overlord might never have fallen and Everlight might even now have been lost to darkness. Evernight surely would have”
Miruvos sat back down, he leaned comfortably back in his chair as he looked at Katrial. It was clear that he was goading her.
Athelin was watching the exchange carefully, noting the noble’s barbs biting deep enough to get under the young Commander’s skin.
“Of course” Miruvos continued, “it was hardly his fault that he was preyed upon and tricked by the very same evil he thought he had destroyed, and then later murdered in cold blood by his former friend that had betrayed him and taken up the Mantle of Darkness.
The very same friend who is now coincidently threatening to destroy everything we so cherish. I am simply wondering why you feel no need to serve the Light as well as your father did and to avenge him”
Katrial’s face was impassive, but her hands were balled into tight fists.
“Enough, Miruvos!” King Fairyon cut through. “The fate of my friend and brother-through-holy-matrimony and the duty of his daughter-by-blood is not the matter of this Council!”
The members of the council fell silent. Miruvos with a rather self-satisfied expression.
But Athelin could see that whether she wanted to admit it or not, Katrial’s father's death at the hands of Drakainion certainly was relevant to her about the matter at hand.
It was a little while before anyone spoke up.
“Can the Overlord actually carry through with his threat?” Sophira asked worried. “Is the Dark Land and its armies really so strong that they could destroy Orntal itself?”
It was Phainor who answered this time.
“Of course not. Perhaps before the fall of Overlord Alcazar, but by now the Dark Domain is weakened, at the very least as much as we are.
The Overlord must be bluffing. The dark forces were shattered in the battle of Eight Heroes at the Dark Tower. And though our brethren in Evernight told us that the darklings are rebuilding their forces, Katrial saw on her journey to Evernight that the minion forces have yet to regain that same power they once wielded and have been further weakened again by their fight against Khan the Wrathful and the Evil civil war that followed”
Before he could continue however, Athelin interrupted him.
“You would do well not to underestimate the dark ones, Lord Phainor. Even if the Dark Lands really are weakened as much as you believe, the darklings have proven themselves time and time again to be notoriously resilient and able to rebound from far more crippling wounds than this, as well as replenishing and growing their terrifying strength with frightening alacrity.
Like a swarm of locusts growing stronger and more numerous with each battle, each conquest, until their foes drown in a sea of claws, blades, fire and dark magic”
That proclamation left the chamber in stunned silence for a few seconds.
“Having studied more than I ever care to know about the Overlords and their history of war, blood and fire, I can assure you that this ultimatum is not hyperbole in the slightest” Athelin continued. “You would be a fool, Lord Phainor, to assume that any threat an Overlord issues is anything but the pure, honest truth”
Satisfied with the effect of her words, Athelin leaned back from the attention.
Phainor was right of course, the Dark Lands were still far from strong enough to conquer Orntal in its current state. She had been truthful as well and they would be strong enough eventually, but for now an invasion was out of the question.
In the quiet that followed Sophira redirected the conversation.
“An equally important question would be about this Abyss Stone that the Overlord demanded”
“What is this object exactly?” High-Priestess Weerona asked sceptically. “I have never heard of such an object”
“Neither have I” Athelin admitted, untruthfully. “There are no mentions of it in the lore of our ancestors. At least in our library, any tome detailing it might belong with the Everngihtians, but not with us”
The elves looked at one another, though none seemed to have an answer to the question.
It was not long before their attention defaulted to their king who seemed to be lost in contemplation while he listened to the singing of birds in the distance.
“It is a relic of a bygone era” Fairyon finally said, his voice was reluctant but steady. “An unholy artifact from before any remembered age of elves, men, dwarves or Overlords. Only the myths of the most ancient of races still speak in hushed whispers of this ancient aeon.”
The elves sat spellbound as the king recounted what he knew of this tale.
“According to myth there was once a struggle, or a war, though the myths do not specify who fought against who or what, only that the Light of Good and the Darkness of Evil were intertwined like phoenix and serpent within the tale of this conflict.
All details have long since been forgotten to times immemorial.
Though it is known that the Abysses – terrifying hell-realms that twists the nature, purity, beauty and sanity of the world of mortal and magic into cruel and perverse mockeries – came into being during this conflict, or perhaps they had always existed but were discovered in this frightful age.
Within each of these Abysses were said to be found a stone, a dark thing forged from the pure cruelty and malice of evil beyond elven nightmares or men’s darkest dreams. It is said that the very power of an Abyss lay contained within the heart of each stone and by their power could the abyss be ruled, dominated and shaped to the will of its possessor.
But one of the hell-realms was different from its lesser siblings. Within its blackened heart was said to dwell something different altogether, something ancient, forgotten and powerful beyond measure.
But this Infernal Abyss was sealed, and only by the power of the Stones of no less than five Abysses could the way into its fell maw be opened once more”
“What happened to these Abysses?” Florian asked curiously as his father finished the tale.
“They were said to have vanished from the face of the world” Fairyon explained. “The legends tell that the fell gates that led the way into these realms of nightmare, death and despair were struck from the surface of the world, never to reappear to taint the light of the world with their noisome touch”
No one said anything as the king finished his tale. The elves did not seem to know what to say about this legend.
At last it was Katrial who broke the pregnant silence.
“They have reappeared, haven’t they?” she asked in the tone of one who already knew the answer but did not want to believe it.
“When waiting for an audience with the Overlord to gain passage to Evernight” she said, “I heard some of the waiting humans speaking of dark gates to evil places that had recently appeared within the newly conquered domains of the Overlord. From the way they talked, it sounded like these gates, and whatever they led to, were already under the sway of the Overlord. Though I had no idea what that meant back then”
The king looked thoughtful for a moment.
“The thought of their dreadful awakening have long plagued my dreams” Fairyon said. “I hoped the foreboding sights in my dreams to be nothing but nightmarish echoes of the growing evil of the Overlord himself. But in my heart and spirit I knew it to not be so. Four surges of dark power through the world have touched upon my mind in recent time, one closely coinciding with wise Oberon’s death, and a fifth, greater one, when the shadow of Alcazar was eclipsed by that of the current inheritor of the dark throne, Overlord Drakainion.
Even though the source of these evil disturbances were beyond the perception of even my dream-sight, I felt that this ancient evil serpent had reared its head once more”
The king gazed into the air for a few seconds before seemingly coming to his conclusion.
“And if the Dark One has already laid the claim of his fell claws upon the Stones within the heart of these Abysses the way would almost be open for him to enter the Infernal one itself”
"So the Overlord has already conquered all these Abysses save one?" High-Priestess Weerona asked aghast.
"No" Fairyon said, "only four of them"
"How many of these hellscapes are there?" Athelin asked surprised, she had thought that there were only five Abysses in total.
The king sighed deeply.
“There are said to be many Abysses. The gates of the only five known to elven history – Paradise’s Deceit, Betrayal’s Blossom, Nobility’s Perversion, Avarice’s Hubris and Infernal Memory the last also being known as the Infernal Abyss  – lie within the Old Lands. But others is said to lie hidden in the world beyond.
Ancient prophecies speaks of such arcane gates in the frozen north, in the fertile heartlands, in or beyond the mountains to the east and even within the desolation of the Dark Domain and the jungles of blessed Everlight itself. And there may be even more than that.
Of these hellish realms nothing is known beyond names such as Hellfire’s Cradle, Beauty’s Shadow, Frost’s Embrace, Glory’s Desolation, Nightmare´s Rebirth and other similarly foreboding and sinister titles”
"But, if there are many Abysses, then why did only these four open?” Sophira asked confused.
“The death of several of the Eight Heroes would have awakened them, I presume" Fairyon answered uncertainly. "Though it is entirely possible that something else was responsible. But regardless, only these four have opened. If any other Gates still lies hidden somewhere, only legends would know where”
"But you said that the Dark One needed five Abyss Stones to enter this last one, what then is he doing here?" Katrial asked bewildered. "Even if no other of these abysses have opened for him to claim their Stone, why would he think that we have the one he needs here?"
Fairyon was quiet for a long while, he gazed out through a window in the chamber, his black eyes glassed over as if he was lost in deep thought, recalling something painful from long ago.
Finally he took a deep breath and looked at each of his councillors in turn.
"Because it is here" the king said quietly.
"What!?" Weerona almost shouted horrified. "One of these artifacts of Evil lies within wonderful Everlight!?"
Fairyon nodded slowly, it was not quite a confession, but the sharing of a secret that seemed to have been a burden for him for a long time.
"Back in days beyond memory, after the sisters Everlight and Evernight separated on their conflicting quest, a legend tells that the leaders of the children of Everlight were given a sacred trust by the Mother Goddess herself. To safeguard one of these stones of wickedness. It is said that brave Greenheart walked into the depths of one such Abyss and from its dark heart retrieved this plague of evil given physical form. Taking the stone with him as he and his people set out to create their new home in glorious Everlight. There it was to lay hidden from fiends and men of dark hearts until such a time when the evil that had spawned it would be no more.
Ever since, the Abyss Stone has laid hidden within our fairest light where its darkness could not spread to touch minds and hearts of Everlight's children, and where it were kept from those who would seek to use its power"
The elves looked nervously at each other at this disturbing piece of news.
Even Miruvos and Phainor seemed ill at ease at the thought of such a powerful ancient artifact of Evil lying nestled somewhere within their fair city.
"But where is this Abyss Stone?" Athelin asked, doing her best to conceal her eagerness. "It is not within the reliquary, and I have heard no mention of it in any text of the library"
"I can't tell you" the King said.
Athelin stared in incredulity at Fairyon, their king had never refused to share anything with his councillors. Truth and openness were one of the most important things to the elves, especially those that directly helped their regents. It was one of the things that made Athelin's work here as a spy for the Overlord so much easier.
"I am sorry, but that secret is a burden that only the King and Queen of Orntal will ever have to bear" His words were said with a finality that brokered no arguments, even Miruvos seemed to know better than to question it.
"That makes things more difficult" Katrial said. "The artifact is here, and it seems that somehow the Overlord knows that"
The Light-Commander sighed deeply before casting a smouldering glare at Miruvos.
"Despite how much I might detest the notion it seems that war appears to be the only way out of this dilemma" She said.
"On the contrary" Phainor said, "there is a far more practical solution"
Sophira nodded, her diplomatic nature asserting itself.
"Indeed, though it may gall the morals and pride of most of you, there is the valid option of delivering the Stone to the Overlord. As Miruvos pointed out, the alternative is for him come and take it by force, which could leave Orntal in ruins"
"We can't just give an artifact of evil to the Overlord!" Miruvos protested hotly. "If there really is some cataclysmic power within this Infernal Abyss then the Overlord would just return and destroy us when he has taken it, that would be even worse than going to war now!"
Katrial nodded reluctantly. Athelin could see that no matter how much Katrial disliked Miruvos she was slowly coming around to his viewpoint.
"We do not know that" Athelin said. "For all we know the Overlord could very well turn his eyes to other realms to conquer than Everlight. There are so many other lands closer at hand which are much more suited for the Overlord and ripe for conquest. However much I might dislike giving a creature of darkness even more power, I believe it is better than seeing thousands of innocent elves lose their lives to our stubbornness"
"You cannot trust a creature of darkness to do that, they would always seek to destroy those of light magic whenever they could, even if we made the Overlord promise to let us be if we gave him the stone, he would break the promise at first opportunity" Weerona said.
At these words Athelin noticed that Katrial shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Athelin was almost sure that the young commander realised that what her priestess said was not entirely true, Drakainion had after all let her go, twice over even, to keep his end of the bargain. Though Katrial did not mention this. Athelin assumed that she did not want to add another reason to turn that kind of power over to the one that was not only a sworn enemy of Everlight, but her father's killer as well.
King Fairyon did not say anything to this discussion, but it was clear that the situation vexed him deeply.
But no matter what persuasive arguments were laid out by his councillors, Athelin doubted that the Light King would ever deliver the Abyss Stone to the Overlord, he had made that very clear in the audience. It seemed to the darkling elf that their king was not looking for opinions on which course to take as much as hoping that a third option would present itself or be given voice by one of his fellow Everlightians here.

As he stood and observed his companions' work Tot's head was filled with visions of his triumphant return and the grandeur of the glory that his fellow gnomes would head upon him when this quest was fulfilled.
He imagined the parades that would cheer his name and the songs that would be written to commemorate his great deeds.
Then he saw in his mind's eye the statues that would be raised of him, he made a mental note to make sure they were made in gold, he had never liked silver much, or perhaps fairy-gems, yes that would do, it would surely not do to have statues of something as mundane as mortal metals for such a glory and honour that would be his when he returned successful from this quest.
Oh, before he forgot he also made a mental note to have a few small stone busts created to honour his companions, after all his humility would not let their contribution to his triumph go unnoticed.
Tot's mind returned to the matter at hand.  
Knowing that the two small minions, the green and the red one, were the masterminds behind the evil ones - after all, smaller equaled smarter and better, one just had to look at the gnomes compared to all the other races to understand that simple truth - Tot was certain that winning over the dark ones required the death of those two minions.
Tim had explained to him that the best possible plan would be to lure those two minions away from the rest of the group so they could attack them alone.
Tot was obviously no coward and was not at all afraid of taking on the whole minion horde if that was required (and he would win of course), but even so, he had his companions' lives to consider and as a wise and compassionate leader Tot knew that he had to keep their lives safe rather than simply risk everything for glory.
The majestic gnomes sighed, sometimes it was hard having so many virtues, humility, wisdom, courage, talent and fantastic looks could be a burden sometimes.
But it was a burden that the royalty of the gnomes had to carry on their well-build shoulders.
"Squeak, squeakie squeakies squeak squeak, squeakiideies!" Kas reported in his posh voice.
Tot nodded his assent, they still needed to figure out how to lure the two minions away from the rest, but Xus, Lil and Min was now well underway with preparing the trap. The minions would not know what hit them when they arrived.

Tim sped through the dense foliage that filled much of the interior of the elven home here in their palace tree.
As the rest of the gnomes were busy enacting the plan that he had presented to stop the minions, he ran towards the chamber that Florian had given him directions to.
For a long time now he had helped the elven prince in hopes of eventually being given access to that particular chamber ever since he learned what was contained within.
And finally, the information he had recently gained by eavesdropping on the Dark Ones had made Florian honour his end of the deal.
After searching for long minutes Tim located the large doors that were the only thing blocking his way into the chamber he sought.  
The elaborately carved doors in front of the gnome were engraved with a gigantic image of a tree, which instead of fruits had large magical stars hanging from its branches. On the left of the double doors the background was ivory and the tree and magical stars were ebony, while the right door the colours were reversed, displaying the duality of magic that in all of Orntal could only be found behind this very door.
With a bit of climbing, Tim reached the key hole and inserted and turned the crystal key he had been given by Florian. Then, with a huge effort of his modest magic, he led the door swing open just enough for him to be able to slip inside.
The chamber was huge and vaguely dome-shaped, with a enormous tree in the centre. Unlike almost all other trees in Orntal this one did not bear any leaves, it was also twisted and gnarled beyond anything Tim had seen before, the various branches snaking wildly around the chamber at various heights, making it look almost like it was supporting the doom-shaped roof on its own. However the tree was not dead, its bark was fresh and supple, and small green buds showed where new branches were growing.
However, far more interesting than the tree itself was what were placed on it. Each of the branches, both the large central ones and the smaller ones growing out of them, ended in leaf-shaped naturally grown platforms of various sizes.
Each of these platform where the resting place of some of the most important objects of Orntal.
This was the Elven Reliquary, where the elves kept all the magical objects and artifacts that they had created, found or stolen through their history.
However there was something even more special about this chamber than the fact that it contained magical relics, something that was hidden to even the vast majority of the Everlightian elves themselves. Namely the fact that not all of these objects shone with the blessed light of the Mother Goddess, some of them were of a considerable darker origin. For this chamber did not only hold the trinkets and tributes of Light magic, but several object that the elves had found or stolen which were of Dark magical nature.
For all their hypocrisy Tim knew that at least a few elves were smart enough to try to understand at least something of their evil foes.
But he also knew that compared to some of the dark artifacts in the world beyond, most of these were nothing more than mere trinkets. Wasting no further time, Tim hurried towards the tree, passing a colossal gate of stone that practically seemed to radiate malevolence, he climbed quickly up the tree and ran along the branches towards what he sought.
Halfway up he stopped to take a little detour. Running out to the end of one of the smaller branches he found a very special object.
To an elf it would be no larger than a heavy gauntlet and probably resemble nothing more than a miniature set of armour for an oddly proportioned doll. But to Tim it was far more than that. He ran his hand longingly over the black plates of the armoured gnome suit before admonishing himself.
Not yet.
Now was not the time for that.
Casting a last glance at the glorious armour he sped further up the tree until he found one of the largest platforms.
His eyes widened in anticipation as he laid eyes upon the large glowing stone upon the branch.
It was large and fairly flat, heavy enough that it would take no less than four grown elves to even hope to lift it. The stone glowed with a soft blue light that was at once both soothing and powerful, much like the magic he had seen emanating from Florian's sister.
Florian himself had obviously tried to use the spellstone, several times, without success. But Tim had a feeling that he would have more luck, after all, as princess Fay had shown, the spell-stone did not grant magical power to those lacking it, as much as further unlocking the potential of those who already possessed it.
With a tingling of anticipation throughout his body, Tim gingerly placed a hand on the edge of the stone.
Then, with an almost burning sensation, he felt power surging through him, awakening what magical power lay buried within him.
Then, with a blast of blue light he was cast backwards several feet. Rising unsteadily to his feet, Tim the Enchanting looked down at his hands that momentarily glowed with a faint magical light.
He squeaked excitedly to himself. First step of the plan was completely. Now over to help Tot and the others prepare for the grand finale.
Then, concentrating hard, Tim unleashed some of his new power and disappeared in a little mist of blue magical light.