Herding cats

In the royal palace of Telassa, a private meeting between the royalty and members of the regulators took place.

'Majesty,' bowed the two uniformed regulators in reverence.

'Astrid and Geralt. Your names have been floating around the court members lately' The newly crowned queen of the Poem Dynasty, Mable Van Telas, granted them an audience.

'We are honored that her Majesty knows our humble names,' replied Astrid without raising her head.

'Let's stop the bllshit,' said the queen, changing her attitude. 'I know you've been pressuring a lot of people, dropping pieces of information here and there to get my attention. I also know you've known about the two courts for a long time, and you even knew about Van Ferra before he escaped. Get to the point.'

'As your Majesty wishes,' Astrid lifted up her head and used all her will to not look at the queen with hatred or contempt. 'Your Majesty is right. But what matters is not the past, but the future.'

The queen looked at her with some interest.

'It is true that Clinton escaped to the world of dragons; I saw it with my own eyes. I have known him for years; ever since our training at Liev's tower, he would not go to the world of dragons to die in the miasma. He is intelligent, cruel, ruthless, and a megalomaniac, with an insatiable thirst for power.' Astrid commented.

'Get to the point. You are not telling me anything new,' replied the queen, losing her patience.

'Well, Clinton Van Ferra will come back sooner or later; he may come back as a warlock even more dangerous than Van Vatnik ever was, and in the worst case, he may return with the whole army of the world of chaos under his control. Do you think we can face something like that?'

'I think you exaggerate your friend's ability,' laughed the queen.

'He is not my friend,' replied Astrid with some anger.

The princess smiled. 'Is that all you wanted to tell me?'

'No. I know that your spies have not yet found out to which kingdom the Vonder have fled,' said Astrid with a smile.

This drew the Queen's attention. 'It doesn't matter; we think they fled to the other side of the sea. Although our spies have not yet managed to locate them, most likely they are somewhere in the Nu Empire.'

'Wrong. They are in the southern kingdom,' refuted Astrid, smiling.

The queen laughed, 'The southern kingdom? Im lucky. Those savages hate the magicians; there's no way the De Vonder can survive there.'

'But they have. Not only that, they have conquered all the major cities; the De Vonder are the new Tahals of the southern kingdom.'

The queen got nervous. 'Are you sure about that?'

'Nobody bothered looking for them there; no common-sense magician would migrate to such a place. But the Vonder ones were never normal, so I decided to explore that possibility with great results. Not only that, I discovered something even more interesting: the de Vonders are actually four.'

'What?' asked the queen, surprised.

'The pirates who smuggled them to the southern kingdom along with all the treasure they stole from the dynasty were very clear. The de Vonder family has four members: three brothers, very powerful magicians, and Xavier de Vonder, the beloved uncle and the current leader of the family. We found out as much as we could, but the Vonder covered their footprints quite well. So far, we have only found out that the third brother operated as a drug dealer and assasin in the kingdom of Orphen; he managed to kill Garland the Red and assumed his identity for the last two years,' Astrid explained.

The queen had lost even more color from her already pale face.

'Not only that, Your Majesty, things are getting even worse.'

The queen looked at her with a troubled face.

'In just two months, the de Vonders have implemented reforms in the southern kingdom, changes in their agricultural production system, and managed to force a change of beliefs in the inhabitants; the magicians are no longer murdered, and they are even planning to create their own magic academy.'

These news were not pleasant for the queen; the last thing she needed was another kingdom to worry about. The lack of development, scarce resources, and the ban on magic had left the south stuck in the past. No one bothered to invade those fanatics of the ancient gods.

'That may be a problem in the future. We have more important things to worry about now. The death of Master Robalt has weakened us; the other kingdoms may be thinking of invading our lands,' said the queen, trying to reduce importance to the news about the de Vonder.

'Majesty, I think that's the wrong approach,' said Astrid.

The queen looked at her, intrigued.

'I repeat that the greatest threat we have is not the other kingdoms nor the de Vonder family; our greatest enemy is Clinton.'

The queen didn't want to resume that topic.

'Clinton will come back more powerful than anyone has ever been. He might bring an unstoppable army, but this time we have nothing to fight back. There are no dragons, we do not have enough titled magicians, and the armies of the other kingdoms are decimated. We will lose this war.' insisted Astrid.

'And what do you want me to do?' yelled the queen. 'If Clinton returns, we will face it at that moment; I have other things to worry about.'

'I can get the de Vonders to fight on our side. Three titled fire magicians are better than any army.'

'And how are you going to do that? The Vonder will not fight for the dynasty after all that has happened,' the queen rebuked.

'No. But they will fight for revenge. I've talked to Xavier de Vonder before; Clinton ruined his life. Now that it's known he's back, I can convince him to join us in the battle,' Astrid lied.

Geralt looked at Astrid, thinking, "That's a lie; what are you planning now?"

The queen was thoughtful. 'What do you want?'

Astrid smiled. 'Arcane magic study material, I want all the notes of Van Vatnik and Clinton that the dark court has in its possession.'

'Why do you want that?' asked the queen.

'The only way to deal with a warlock is with another warlock. I know a talented, experienced, hard-to-kill man who hates Clinton as much as I do,' Astrid lied again.

The queen denied with her head. 'If this information falls into the wrong hands, we would have a few Van Vatniks running around the continent. We already have warlocks in the dark court.'

'The magicians of the dark court have demonstrated their incompetence more than once; if we rely on them, we will all die, and you know that, Majesty.'

The queen emitted a sigh of defeat.

'Bring your friend, and the members of the court will train him,' offered the Queen.

'He won't come,' said Astrid.

'You won't get what you want then,' said the queen.

'Then we shall all die,' said Astrid, shrinking her shoulders.

'You seem to forget that I am the queen. Remember who you are and what could happen to you if you annoy me.'

'I am perfectly aware, Your Majesty. But it doesn't matter. Soon, Clinton Van Ferra will return, and the whole continent will be consumed by fire and darkness. You know I'm right; I know that the court magicians have been studying Clinton's previous work, and although much information is missing, it's obvious that Clinton might have found a way to control the miasma. He's been modifying and studying Van Vatnik's spells all these years, and you know it; otherwise, we wouldn't be having this conversation,' Astrid warned.

'How do you know that?' asked the queen, with some alarm.

'Is that important? We are against the wall, Your Majesty, and you know it,' replied Astrid. "Things in the palace are so divided that anyone agrees to be a spy for a few gold coins. No one trusts a queen who murdered her own father; things have not gone as you planned, princess. Without the support of both tittled masters and a huge part of the nobles frightened by the possible revenge of the De Vonder, your throne hangs from a thread».

'Can you really bring the de Vonders to our side?' asked the queen.

'I give you my word,' replied Astrid, bowing down.

'All right, you will have what you want,' said the queen.

That same afternoon, Astrid and Geralt were leaving the royal palace with a large collection of secret and forbidden documents.

The princess saw them leave from her window. "If it weren't for those de Vonder, I'd have you executed."

'The de Vonders didn't want to have anything to do with Clinton, nor do we have good relations with them. Why do you need all that information about arcane magic? What are you planning, Astrid? If the queen finds out that you cannot keep any of your promises, we will both be beheaded,' asked Geralt, frightened.

'Calm down, Geralt; these documents will be our doorway for negotiation with Master Delfin, and then we will use Delfin to attract the De Vonders,' said Astrid smiling.

"Delfin? How're you going to use him? The de Vonders hate him."

'You're crazy, you know?' said Geralt, still confused.

'Thanks.'

A few months later, inside the Larimal forest in the kingdom of Orphen, a man with a hood approached a wooden cabin with the catch of his hunting and traps. Some of his prey were still alive.

'You are a hard man to find, Master Delfin,' said a voice from inside the house as soon as the man opened the door.

'Astrid. What do you want now?' asked Delfin. The man had a long and unkept beard; he was skinny, dirty, and even a little smelly.

'To help you,' said Astrid, pointing to the documents that were distributed on the table. 'I know you've been learning arcane magic for the past year.'

'How do you know that?'

'I've only lost trace of you for the last two months, Master.'

'Don't call me that!' yelled Delfin.

'Alright, Delfin. You've been very careful and discreet, so don't worry; only my most loyal informants and spies know about your activities. As I told you, I want to help you.'

'Why?' asked Delfin.

'Clinton Van Ferra...'

'For the last time, I am not interested in your personal revenge, little girl,' Delfin interrupted her.

'It has nothing to do with me this time,' Astrid hurried to clarify. 'Clinton fled the royal palace; he fooled the dark court and escaped to the dragon world. He spent years modifying and perfecting his spells, opened a door, and entered the dragon world that is now full of miasma. He'll come back, Master; he'll return stronger than ever.'

This caught Delfin's attention. "So what? Perhaps we should let him come back and put an end to that rotten dinasty." ′

I don't see how that's my problem.′

'I know you, Delfin; I know that you will not let him get away with this; besides, you can take advantage of the situation to teach a lesson to the dynasty. Why else would you seek the power of arcan magic? Many innocent people have died because of the actions of Clinton, the crown, the dark court, and the masters of the tower. It's your chance to make things right,' said Astrid, smiling and pointing to the table.

'What is this?' asked Delfin, recognizing material for various arcanic spells.

'A few helpful things. Some came from Van Vatnik, some from Clinton, some are the works of members of the dark court, and some I gathered from my misions as a regulator.'

'How did you get all this?' asked Delfin, looking at the papers and partially understanding what they were.

'Taking a great deal of risk. The princess is desperate; she has few allies and many enemies. I have made a very dangerous pact.'

'What do you want in exchange?' asked Delfin with a frown, while Astrid smiled.

'Tell me, Delfin, would you like to be a master of an academy again?'