Chapter 41
The meeting with Maliah took place in the Labyrinth, naturally. It was the closest thing to neutral territory.
Nobody could teleport in and attempt a surprise assassination. The meeting would be unobservable by others, which was necessary given the League and the Kingdom were supposedly at war. And the ever-changing nature of the Labyrinth meant that the meeting site couldn’t be trapped in advance without being extremely obvious.
Or at least, that was the public knowledge of the meeting location.
Rys told Graem and Mave to hold the meeting close to the warp gate. They didn’t know about it, but Mave had seen Rys leave through the warded door prior. The League would also have ran into Rys’s demons raiding the Labyrinth from the warp gate in recent months, and been powerless to stop them.
It just so happened that a meeting site close to the warp gate was also close to the Gorgrian section of the Labyrinth. Rys didn’t know if the League understood what had happened to the Labyrinth recently, but Maliah had readily agreed to the location.
The day of the meeting took place at the start of February, a few weeks after Rys captured Avolar. He didn’t know why Maliah had stalled for so long. Mave’s sendings had given no reason, but he had told Rys that Grishaw remained within the summoning circle in Maliah’s tower.
Rys arrived with a small entourage, at least numerically. Grigor’s sheer size made up for his lack of numbers.
Other than Grigor, Rys had only brought Fara, a few noble demons, a succubus, and a few Ashen. Given how the Malus League treated demihumans, Rys left them at home, other than a pair of Kinadain who acted as guides—but they wore heavy armor and their nature was concealed with illusions.
By contrast, Maliah brought a small army of mages. Three separate mage towers had come, judging from the emblems on their robes.
Rys recognized the Black Sorcerers, because Graem led them. Mave and the necromancer, Yoam, were with them. Yoam commanded a unit of skeletons to stand guard at the entrance they came through, presumably to prevent Labyrinth monsters from following.
The other mages were strangers to Rys. Three appeared to be important, and one stood out from the others.
He was a dark-skinned man with bright red glowing eyes and trim white hair and beard. A ruby-crested scepter rested in one hand, emanating more magic than the demons in the room. His clothes consisted of a bulky robe covered in golden runes, simple pants, and a collared shirt. He had no distinguishable age, and he was easily the fittest-looking man from the Malus League.
Even more obvious to Rys was the sheer amount of magical power within the man. Graem and this man were almost brothers in that sense. He had clearly been the subject of human enchantment and was far beyond the strength of a normal human.
“Archwarlock Maliah Jyarvic, I’m guessing?” Rys said, eying the man.
“And I don’t need to guess who you are, King Talarys.” Maliah inclined his head and smiled. “I thought people were exaggerating when they described you. More fool me.”
Given Leth had fed back reports that the Malus League were calling Rys’s kingdom “the cock kingdom,” there was good reason for Maliah to doubt anything he heard.
Maliah gestured to the mages near him. “You already know Graem. These are Grand Magisters Harn and Yale. For now, consider them senior mages in the Malus League.”
Both mages looked annoyed at Maliah’s dismissal of them, but said nothing.
After a few moments of silence, the archwarlock openly pointed at Grigor. “And what of your retinue, Talarys?”
“Call me Rys. I rarely use my full name,” Rys said. “I’m certain you’ve heard of General Grigor, given he showed himself at the Battle of Lapisloch. Fara is my right hand. I’m sure you can guess the purpose of the rest.”
Maliah’s eyes lingered on the succubus, who fluttered her hands at him in return.
“Yes, I can,” he said slowly. “No wonder our efforts in Avolar failed so easily. Your command over infernals is far more impressive than any infernalist I have heard of, or even read about. Kushan himself would be impressed.”
Then he raised his hand and snapped his fingers.
Several mages stepped forward and began casting spells. The demons tensed, but the succubus calmed them down.
The result of those spells was the creation of an ostentatious table and chairs. A pointless show of magic, and Rys didn’t even know if Maliah was showing off or if this was considered normal for mages these days.
He sat down opposite Maliah. Everybody else remained standing.
Then, to Rys’s surprise, a disembodied voice began to talk.
“Ah, is this working? It’s always hard to get the projection working down here,” an obviously artificial and high-pitched voice said.
“We can hear you, Varian,” Maliah said. He smirked at the look of shock on Rys’s face.
“Excellent. This would have been a wasted evening otherwise. Is our good friend there as well?” Varian asked.
“I don’t know. Are you, Rys?” Maliah laughed.
“You brought an invisible friend?” Rys joked, desperately reaching out with his magical senses.
Fara and the succubus looked around in a panic, but came up empty. Even Graem looked shocked, but his grizzled face swiftly settled into a scowl.
Clearly, Graem had some history with Varian.
“You can think of him that way. Varian is one of the founding members of the Malus League, although history has forgotten him,” Maliah explained. “For the purposes of this meeting, think of him as somebody speaking through a sending device.”
“Even though that’s impossible down here.”
“It’s happening, is it not? A mage must be careful declaring something impossible in the realm of magic.” Maliah’s eyes glowed.
Rys leaned backward, but nodded. He doubted that Varian was truly breaching the Labyrinth’s protections. Something was up, but he had more important things to worry about for now.
So long as Varian wasn’t physically here, he didn’t matter.
“What makes him qualified to sit in on the meeting? You’re the archwarlock, and I’m a king,” Rys said. “A founding member who has been erased from history doesn’t inspire confidence.”
“You don’t need to worry about me. My participation is primarily regarding a single matter of this meeting,” Varian said.
“That still doesn’t inspire confidence.”
Maliah kept his cool, although Rys saw his expression flicker with annoyance.
“Three great mages founded the Malus League, in order to repudiate the backward practices of Gauron’s mage towers. I was one, Varian another, and the third was Elias, Graem’s predecessor,” Maliah explained.
“An infernalist that I suspect you would have bonded with,” Varian added.
Rys doubted that.
“However, while I took over the reins of archwarlock and Elias led the Tower of Black Cognition, Varian’s path was that of research, like many mages,” Maliah said.
“Like all true mages,” Varian chided. “We merely find ourselves distracted by lesser matters from time to time, or with another purpose for a brief period until we can return to our research.”
Maliah rolled his eyes. Rys covered his mouth to stop himself from laughing at Varian.
“Enough philosophy. Let’s talk business.” Maliah smiled. “We’ve finally met, and that means we can make plans for the furtherance of the archipelago.”
“The furtherance,” huh? Maliah was a politician, through and through.
“I understand you’re still interested in working together, even though I think the League is a liability,” Rys said bluntly.
The mages behind Maliah glared at Rys, but he ignored them.
“The League is a tool, but what it stands for and accomplishes is what matters,” the archwarlock explained. “If you are able to claim victory and subsume us into your kingdom, while wiping the political slate clean, is that not a victory for all of us? The entire island would be ours, the towers of New Ahm could continue their research, and soon the archipelago would cower before our combined might.”
The man clenched his fist for effect.
“You’d give up the League?” Rys asked, incredulous.
“I’d give up the name and the need to run an entire country myself,” Maliah corrected. “You are a sorcerer, and one that no doubt understands political persecution as well as I do. A place that we can be free to research what we wish, resist external pressure, and pursue the path of true mages is all we desire.”
Somehow, this left out the part that had caused the Malus League to repeatedly go to war. Because while Maliah’s attacks on Tarmouth made sense, he had invaded Gorgria. And summoning a demon lord wasn’t the sort of thing someone does out of a desire to conduct research in peace.
“That’s it?” Rys asked. “I certainly wouldn’t say no to a peaceful annexation of the League, even if there was a sham war or some other deception for the rest of the archipelago.”
He waited for the other shoe to drop.
It didn’t take long.
“There is a catch. Two, really,” Varian said.
Maliah glared at the air next to him, but remained silent.
“The first is a rather simple desire of ours: whatever happens after we join you, Queen Faeris’s head will be mine,” Varian said.
“That’s non-negotiable?” Rys asked.
“I’m afraid so.”
Rys gave Maliah a look. The mage’s expression was thunderous.
“She killed Elias,” the archwarlock ground out. “I will see my friend avenged.”
“Torfunburg?” Rys asked.
“Yes.”
He didn’t push further. The League had been the aggressors in the attack on Gorgria, and the casualty had been one of the founders of the country.
That explained the desire to continue attacking Gorgria, if not the original reason to attack them.
No, Rys realized. It did. Maliah was vengeful. He was also idealistic and driven by emotion. Gorgria had thwarted his invasion of Tarmouth years earlier, and he had held a grudge. That grudge led to the death of his friend, but rather than realize his mistake, Maliah only found more people to blame.
They were intent on summoning a demon lord to triple down on their mistakes. Impressive, in a way. Malusian would be proud.
“What is the second catch?” Rys asked.
“The entire reason that I am here. You have proven yourself to be a highly capable infernalist. What do you know about infernal pacts?” Varian asked.
Rys sat there in stunned silence. They were seriously asking him this before agreeing to an alliance? Did they not understand what pacts were? Did they think he was some sort of idiot?
Or perhaps they were dumber than he had thought?
No, he refused to go down that path. Underestimating Maliah had gotten him into this mess to begin with. If they had a demon lord in Maliah’s tower, it’s possible they might not care if Rys joined them or not.
He had to assume this was a test. If Rys reacted negatively, they would know that he would oppose them and immediately leave.
As such, he did his best to mimic his honest reaction when he first heard about the pact from Mave.
He squared his shoulders, sat up straight, furrowed his brow, and leaned over Maliah.
“I know about pacts. The question is: do you? Because anyone who knows much about pacts wouldn’t talk about them so openly,” Rys said, his voice almost deathly quiet.
The chamber fell silent. The grand magisters from the League looked at each other in confusion, save for Graem. His face became grimmer, if such a thing were possible.
“Aha! Such a genuine reaction,” Varian exclaimed. “Perfect. Utterly perfect. It has been far too long since I’ve heard such a cautionary tone when talking about infernalism.”
“Yes. It takes me back,” Maliah said, leaning back with a small smile. “Elias always got pissy when we didn’t take infernalism seriously enough.”
“And? Are you just fishing, or do you actually want to know about pacts?” Rys asked. “Because I sincerely doubt you need or want the power of a pact if we work together.”
“No, we will,” Maliah said. “As much as I hate the bitch queen, she leads the Royal Gorgrian Kingdom. It’s the most powerful nation in the archipelago. With a pact, we could crush it beneath our heels and hear the bitch squeal before we feed her to the pigs.”
“Indeed. So that is the second catch—I desire everything you know about pacts,” Varian said.
Rys sure as hell wouldn’t agree to that, so he shrugged instead. “I think this is something that needs further discussion. Like I said, I don’t think you understand what a pact involves.”
“Well, why don’t you—” Varian began to say.
Maliah cut him off. “Perhaps we can discuss that detail later. For now, know that it is non-negotiable that we destroy Gorgria.”
“With a pact. One that might draw the attention of Gauron and Pharos,” Rys said.
“They’ve never cared about us before. Even when we invaded Tarmouth, they ignored us.” Maliah’s eyes flashed again. “And if they do come for us, then all the more reason to have the pact. Gauron’s towers drove us out, and if they believe that their power will last forever, then I will happily put them in their place.”
Rys remained silent.
On the one hand, Maliah’s deal was appealing. Rys could claim the rest of Kavolara without a fight and get access to an entire nation of mages. Sure, those mages might have some gaps in their morals, but Rys could iron the worst problems out.
That leap in power would enable Rys to swiftly explore the Labyrinth, regain much of his sealed power, and conquer the rest of the archipelago.
The cost?
At a minimum: scaring the continents into sending crusades to destroy him; alerting Hell to his revival; and almost certainly alienating many of the Kinadain he was slowly winning over despite his infernalism.
But the real problem was Maliah himself.
He was an idealist. Rys had initially described him as a politician, and that was true, but Maliah’s politics were driven by emotions and ideals.
Perhaps there was a true sob story behind Maliah. It sounded like there was, given how Graem had talked about things.
Vallis described mage towers like nobility, and they had immense power. Human mages were the most powerful collective on Harrium, and the strongest of them could fight demon princes and lords. They even ran Gauron’s banking system, apparently.
If someone pissed off the mage towers on Gauron, then their life was ruined. Rules set by such a wealthy and influential collective could surpass even governments, and their influence effectively ran unchecked.
Maliah might be right, and his reasons to start the Malus League correct. Even if he had gone off the rails at some point.
But the problem with this was the same as with Compagnon—Rys didn’t care about the sob story. He cared about his own objectives.
Maliah Jyarvic was an idealist mage who held grudges, hated the status quo of the most powerful collective of an entire continent, and was thought of as a supervillain by most people.
He was a liability.
“I brought some refreshments. If we agree on the principles, we can discuss the details over—” Maliah began to say.
Rys stood. The room fell silent, and Maliah’s muscles tensed.
“No, I’m afraid we don’t agree,” Rys said.
Then a dozen magical lances ripped through the rear ranks of the Malus League mages.