“It sounded like a war was being fought above us. The personal bodyguards of the Emperor—a detachment of Teshlors—were fighting off the Gilarabrywn, protecting the Emperor as they fled down the stairs. I saw groups of elves throwing themselves at the creature, dying to protect our emperor.”
“The elves were?”
Esrahaddon nodded. “I was amazed by the sight. The whole scene is still so vivid to me even after nearly a thousand years. Still nothing the knights or the elves could do stopped the attacking beast, which seemed determined to kill the Emperor. It was a terrible battle with knights falling on the stairs and dying upon the wet steps, elves joining them. The Emperor ordered us to get Nevrik to safety.
“Jerish grabbed the boy and dragged him out of the tower kicking and screaming, but I hesitated. I realized that once outside, the flying beast would be able to swoop down and kill at will. The Art could not defeat it. The creature was magic and without the key to unlock the spell, nothing I could do would alter that enchantment. A thought came to me and as the Emperor exited the door, I cast an enchantment of binding—not on the beast, but on the tower trapping the Gilarabrywn inside. Those knights and elves still inside died, but the beast was trapped.”
“Where did it come from? What caused the thing to attack?”
Esrahaddon shrugged. “The elves insisted they knew nothing of the attack, and that they had no idea where the Gilarabrywn came from except that one Gilarabrywn had been left unaccounted for after the wars. They assumed it destroyed. They mentioned a militant society, a growing movement of elves within the Erivan Empire that sought to incite a war. It was speculated they were responsible. The elven lords apologized and assured us they would investigate the matter fully. The Emperor, convinced that to retaliate or even make the incident public was unwise, chose to ignore the attack and returned home.”
“So what’s this about a weapon?”
“The Gilarabrywn is a conjured creature, a powerful magic endowed with a life of its own beyond the existence of its creator. The creature is not truly alive; it cannot reproduce, grow old, or appreciate existence, but it also cannot die. It can, however, be dispelled. No enchantment is perfect; every magic has a seam where the weave can be unraveled. In the case of the Gilarabrywn, the seam is its name. Whenever a Gilarabrywn is created, so is an object—a sword, etched with its name—it is used to control the beast and if necessary, destroy it. According to the elves, at the end of the war they placed all the Gilarabrywn swords in the tower per Novron’s orders. At that time all the swords were accounted for and all but one was notched to show their associated beast was destroyed.”
Royce got up to stretch his legs. “Okay, so the elven lords held one of their monsters back just in case, or this militant group hid one to cause trouble. The elven leaders tell you all the swords are in there. Maybe they are, or maybe they aren’t, and they just want—”
“It’s in there,” Esrahaddon interrupted.
“You saw it?”
“We were given a tour when we first arrived. Near the top is a sort of memorial to the war. All the swords are on display.”
“Alright so there is a sword,” Royce granted, “but that’s not why you want in. You didn’t come here to save Dahlgren. Why are you really here?”
“You didn’t allow me to finish,” Esrahaddon replied, sounding every bit like the wise teacher letting his student know to be patient. “The Emperor believed he had prevented a war with the elves and returned home, but what waited for him was an execution. While we were away, the church, under the leadership of Patriarch Venlin, planned the Emperor’s assassination. The attack came on the steps of the palace during a celebration commemorating the anniversary of the Empire’s founding. Jerish and I escaped with Nevrik. I knew that many of the Cenzar and the Teshlor were involved in the church’s plot and that they would find us, so Jerish and I came up with a plan—we hid Nevrik and I created two talismans. One I gave to Nevrik and the other to Jerish. These amulets would hide them from the clairvoyant search the Cenzar were certain to make, but allow me to find them. Then I sent them away.”
“And you?” Royce asked.