The dimly lit, circular tower room held only a table and four chairs near the room’s center. There were two doors. One simply led downstairs, while the other was a glass door that led out to a balcony with a view of all of Moss—all the way to the faraway Lake Above the Clouds.
The crystal ball in the center of the table could allow the wizards to see even further than that. Manipulated correctly, it could show any place in Lodoss.
“What’s your plan? Will you go out and crush them?” Wort asked, mouth pursed like he’d bitten into something bitter.
Karla let out a bewitching laugh. She’d used her magic mirror of truth to find out Parn’s group’s next destination. After finishing her business in Moss, she’d made her way to the tower a full two days before their arrival to wait for them and now, at last, they were finally here.
“You make that sound easy,” she said, “but they’re surprisingly shrewd—especially that wizard. He may be young, but he’s quite capable. I might have been careless, but they’ve still outwitted me twice now.”
“With five hundred years’ experience at your beck and call, that makes them quite an impressive band of adventurers. I hope you won’t kill them before I’ve made their acquaintance.”
“Does that mean I can kill them after?”
“Somewhere out of my sight,” Wort replied, his piercing gaze locked on Karla’s face.
“Is there anywhere on Lodoss you can’t see?” Karla asked with a laugh. “As long as you have this crystal ball, that won’t be possible.” With a hint of laughter still on her lips, she turned her cold eyes to meet the old man’s. “All right, Wort. I won’t kill them out of a personal grudge. That just isn’t my style. At any rate, my work in Moss is done—so as long as they leave me alone, I won’t make the first move. But…” Karla paused, letting her gaze fall back to the crystal ball. “Will they forgive me? And if not—if these travelers want a fight—I will be allowed to defend myself, won’t I?”
“I wouldn’t be able to stop you.”
“Don’t worry—I’m not seeking a fight. I like them; I’d much rather they joined me. Still, I’m sure they’ll try to defeat me again. That young warrior hates me from the bottom of his heart.”
“What are you thinking?” Wort asked with a stern expression.
“Hmm, what indeed?” she said. “What do you see when you look at them? He’s just like you or Fahn back in the day—guided by destiny, overcoming deadly obstacles, rushing headlong toward his goal. One day, I’m sure they’ll face me as deadly foes.”
“Huh…”
“I’m sure they’ll ask you where I am. You can tell them. You know where I live, don’t you?”
“Of course,” Wort answered glumly. “I’ll keep my promise. I won’t assist Fahn—and in exchange, you’ll sever ties with Beld. If we got involved in this battle, it would just mean far more casualties on both sides. But our agreement doesn’t include them.”
“Are you going to attack me for the sake of complete strangers? That goes against everything you believe in, Great Magus Wort. You’re the only one who knows just how futile it is to fight me.”
“I do…” He had thought that he was unbeatable in a magic battle. But he could not vanquish the witch, because doing so would mean his own destruction—and not even Wort knew how to neutralize her without killing her.
“It’s a shame,” Karla said, rising from her chair and giving the adventurers in the crystal ball one last look. She then stroked the crystal ball’s surface lovingly, and the image faded into darkness, leaving the ball a black glass sphere once again. “Now then, I should get ready. I’ll prepare some drinks and a light meal—they’re my guests too, so there should be nothing odd about me cooking for them. Let me know if there’s anything you’d like to eat, Wort—my culinary skills are quite impressive.”
“Not yours. Those skills belong to the woman you’re controlling,” Wort spat.
“Exactly—but this body belongs to me now. Leylia, the Marfa priestess, is gone. Body and mind, I am Karla.”
Wort avoided her gaze and activated the crystal ball once more. This time, it showed an image of Beld’s face—unchanged since they had gone together into the Deepest Labyrinth to defeat the Demon King. The demonic sword he bore had kept him young. He was only a few years younger than Wort, so he should have been an old man, but he was frozen in time by a curse—the same curse that bound him to become the overlord who would unify Lodoss.
In the final battle against the Demon King, a Pharis priestess sacrificed her life to save Beld. She had entrusted him with her final wish: eternal peace on Lodoss. The only way to achieve that was for a great king to unify the island.
Beld was trying to fulfill that wish.
The priestess was called Flaus, and she, Wort, and Beld had travelled through all of Lodoss together. Beld’s heart had died with her; his soul still wandered the eternal abyss in the depths of the labyrinth. All that remained of him was a shell, acting only to realize her last words through conquest.
Fahn also tried to realize Flaus’s dreams—though in a different way. Beld and Fahn both wanted the same peace for Lodoss, though the paths they took to get there couldn’t be more different. And the dream remained elusive.
“Such tragic folly.” Wort felt anger bubble up inside him, toward the grey witch who had let herself into his tower with not the slightest shame. This woman, sole survivor of the ancient kingdom, had cleverly manipulated his friends’ genuine emotions just to maintain a balance in the world—the triumph of not black nor white, but the grey in between. Wort could almost see the outcome of the battle to come. He had no way to change it and Karla knew that, so she’d come to stop him from trying to intervene.
And Wort had agreed to her terms. The witch stood in the shadows of history, using brave heroes as pawns in her game. Her existence was why a unified Lodoss had never been achieved since ancient times.
Wort continued to gaze at the Emperor of Marmo, pity in his eyes.