Interruption Eight
Present Day
The Former Lord of Grimnight’s Evil Lair
Confronting a Villain
The cloaked figure tilted his head to the side. “What is my evil plot, exactly?” He didn’t bother with the bluster and bravado of an evil mage. Instead, he spoke in a calm tone that was almost more irritating.
The Good Wizard—it was wonderful to shed the false name and use his own title again—waggled his finger disapprovingly. “Don’t play coy with me, young man! I know everything! You intend to destroy my Kingdom Defense Spell and conquer the Desolated Lands!”
“That was my master’s plot, not mine. The Desolated Lands can rot in their little bubble for all I care.”
“Perhaps I do not know thedetailsof your plot, but I know what you have done!” The Good Wizard patted down his sleeves and pockets, hoping Cyril could not steal what he didn’t know about. “Created an unregulated,unstablepocket dimension! Kidnapped thousands of citizens to become your unwitting puppets in this sham of a world! Altered time intwodimensions! Altered the fates of royalty when you had no right!”
“And only Good Wizards are allowed to do that?”
“Exactly! I mean, no! Whenwedo it, it is only ever to serve the greater good!” His hand finally closed around the second imprisonment crystal he’d brought, but he didn’t reveal it yet. Cyril didn’t know about this oneand he couldn’t risk the mage’s evil instincts interfering with the plan. “Now, will you come quietly, or will you force my hand?”
The apprentice was quiet for a long time, as if contemplating The Good Wizard’s offer, before asking, “What will happen to my dimension if I go with you?”
‘If’ he said, like he had any power to prevent it. It was not a matter ofifThe Good Wizard captured him—good always triumphed over evil—only a matter of how many resources The Good Wizard would waste to succeed. Still, the apprentice had not attacked yet, so The Good Wizard humored him. “Your pocket dimension will be dissolved. The people inside it will be returned to their homes. The timeline will need be reset to avoid chaos—”
“How far back?”
The crystal almost slipped from the Good Wizard’s hand in his surprise. “What?”
“How far back will you reset the timeline? To before Brutus Arnulf ever sent his son to the Desolated Lands?” A note of hope sang beneath the apprentice’s calm, measured tone.
Resetting time more than a few months or a few years was tricky business. Setting it back a decade … the ripple effects alone would feed chaos for generations to come. That was the kind of mess the council wanted toavoid. “To the moment of your pocket dimension’s creation.”
“You’d allow Treasure to die.”
Francesca gasped. “What does he mean?”
The Good Wizard shot her a look, urging her to silence. They did not need her outrage added into the mix. “Unfortunately, yes. He sacrificed himself to break a great and terrible curse upon the land, an honorable death—”
“Honorable?” the apprentice’s calm shattered, and he stormed toward The Good Wizard. “You would use his death to fuel your precious defense spell, and you’d call thathonorable?”
The Good Wizard scrambled backwards and fumbled the crystal out of his sleeve. “Better to die good than to live a life of evil!” He stopped and thrust the crystal out in front of him. “Enough! You will come with me and face judgment for your crimes!”
This crystal was different from the one holding Brutus Arnulf. It was so black that it absorbed all light. The magic inside of the crystal awoke slowly, unfurling into long tendrils, reaching for its prey and latching on to the most powerful evil in the room.
The apprentice fell to the ground, an invisible lasso wrapped around his ankle pulling him toward the crystal prison. The two guards nearest him lunged forward and grabbed each of his arms, struggling against the magical force.
As the magic within the crystal spread, Cyril’s feet also began to slide toward it. “What are you doing?” he shouted in outrage. “You’re not supposed to arrest me!”
Lucinda tightened her hold on her husband’s arm. “Good Wizard!” she snarled in warning. “If you try to take him from me, you will not leave this dimension alive!”
“I’ll give him back later,” the Good Wizard snapped, focusing more of his energy on the crystal, until both guards were caught in its gravitational pull. The other two guards threw themselves at the pile. No matter how much weight they added to it, they all steadily moved forward.
The prison would be quite crowded by the time he finished.
A pink whirl flashed in The Good Wizard’s peripheral vision, and suddenly the crystal was snatched right out of his hand. The moment he no longer touched it, the magic stopped pulling everyone forward.
The Good Wizard whipped his head around searching for the minion who had interfered. Once he finally spotted the thief, he gaped in shock.
Queen Francesca held the prison crystal aloft. “What did he mean? That Treasure would die?”
