Banquet

Jin

I walked into the dining hall. Erinara swiftly departed with another person.
“Jin Eaglecrest, welcome”, Ebiron said, waiting behind a chair at a massive table, “You must have many questions. Please, have a seat.”
I approached the chair opposite to his. It seemed to be carved from a dark red wood unlike any I’ve seen in the kingdom.
Ebiron sat down as well, speaking up first: “Allow me to introduce myself properly. I am Ebiron, a lord of magic, or as you would call it a warlock. You are currently a guest of my citadel. In a couple of minutes food will be served.”
His hair was black, but much longer than during our battle. It was bound into a bun at the back of his head. I also noticed that his ears didn’t have any jewels in them, nor did it look like they ever did in the first place. Nothing seemed right, even the atmosphere around him felt different than before. Not only that, but I was in his home turf too. I had to be ready to defend myself at any moment, taking in any potential threat.
“Did the nausea from teleporting wear off? I do hope so, the meals prepared by Kayon are magnificent.”
He clearly waited for me to respond to him.
“It has. Erinara was so kind to lead me here.”
“You need not be so tense.”
“Pardon me, but I don’t think that’s a possibility. I’m currently sitting right across the person I am supposed to combat. Instead of protecting my kingdom, I’m talking with my very enemy.”
A brief pause befell the room.
“Then why haven’t you struck me down yet?”
“I am who knows where in enemy territory, in a stronghold nonetheless. I also don’t know what the situation is yet, how many enemies there are, or even what abilities you actually have.”
“A very tactical approach. Very well then. I swear on my honor that you will not be harmed during this interaction, will that help?”
“As a knight, honor is of utmost importance to me. While I have reservations, I will accept your statement in good will.”
If anything, the situation felt even weirder now. Admittedly, I didn’t know how much the people of the land of warlocks value their honor, but I realize Ebiron was trying to make me feel more comfortable.
To fill the silence, I asked: “Might I ask why you’re trying to show consideration to me?”
“It would hardly be a good conversation if we try to get each other’s throats the entire time.”
“That’s the next confusing part of this entire situation. We genuinely were locked into combat to the death just a moment ago. You clearly outclass my abilities by a lot.”
The door to the dining room opened. Erinara and the person she had left with entered with trays of food.
“The banquet, master”, the man said.
“My thanks Kayon. Please pay them no mind, Jin. Continue.”
“Uhm. Sure. As I was saying, your power is far above mine. I can’t tell the extent of magical abilities, but you carry yourself differently than during our battle. On top of that, I was certain I had killed you then. How are you even in front of me currently?”
As I was talking, various meals were placed in front of both me and Ebiron.
“Erinara, could you explain that? Oh and Kayon please fetch two more sets of cutlery for Erinara and yourself. Thank you.”
Kayon bowed and swiftly exited the room. Ebiron motioned to the chair next to mine, which Erinara sat down in.
“About the simulacrum? Should I really explain this to a…”, she paused, “… crest?”
So at least one person here realizes I’m an enemy. Good to know I haven’t fully gone insane. Ebiron remained quiet.
“Right, okay. So the thing you’ve fought was a simulacrum. Basically magic made to imitate a specific blueprint, in this case Ebiron. The Ebiron sitting across from you hasn’t raised a finger in the actual combat.”
Was magic seriously able to be used to such an extent? It overshot everything I learned about spellcasting during my lessons. It could be possible that the warlocks made bounding leaps in magic, but this seemed impossible to believe.
“So what I fought was an artificial life form?”
“I wouldn’t necessarily say life”, Erinara explained, “once its magic power would have run out it would’ve ceased to exist. But as long as it had power it would be able to think and act according to its blueprint.” Then under her breath, almost entirely inaudible, she muttered: “With a whole lot of mistakes to be fixed still.”
“I have another question then. Ebi-, I mean, the simulacrum cast a spell without using reagents, how did it do that?”
Erinara excitedly slammed her hands on the table. “It did?! Finally!”
Relief briefly washed over me. So the information of reagents being required still held true after all.
“It took so long until a simulacrum finally managed to imitate free spellcasting! I had to create so many rules for it to follow.”
The relief was short lived.
“Did you say imitate?”, I asked.
Erinara remained quiet.
“You can use magic without reagents?”, I elaborated.
Erinara raised her head, still fully cloaked by shadows to look in Ebiron’s direction. He nodded slightly. In the next instant, five shadowy tendrils appeared from the tips of her black glove. They attached to a piece of bread, carrying it toward her.
I hadn’t managed to spot any reagents being used, the tendrils didn’t even have a scent and made no sound. Nothing like this should be possible. The kingdom was in much more danger than I originally assumed. Magic like this alone would be a massive threat, undiscernible until it was too late, but on top of that they can create soldiers that in turn also use magic?
“That will be enough”, Ebiron said. The tendrils immediately ceased existing, though not before flinging the bread toward Erinara which she caught with her right hand.
Kayon returned, placing one set of silverware in front of Erinara, and one next to Ebiron, where he took his seat.
“Do you have any further pressing questions, Jin Eaglecrest?”, Ebiron asked me.
Hundreds, easily. The more information I could gather, the better I could prepare the kingdom against them. If I managed to get back alive that is. I kept my mouth shut however, shaking my head.
“None? In that case, let us eat.”
Kayon placed various foods onto each plate. I hesitated to take a bite. If I did something to disrespect them now, they could end me at any moment. But if this was poisoned, I’d have even less a chance of escaping. I decided that logically speaking, these warlocks could take me out in a simpler fashion than poison if they wanted, so a minute after they began eating I joined in. The food tasted extremely unusual, containing flavors I never could have imagined. That being said, it was delightful.
I tried to sneak looks at the others at the table, just in case I could discern a threat before it happened. Kayon and Ebiron were quickly and quietly talking to each other every time they weren’t actively eating.
Erinara kept silent, due to her face being cloaked in shadows I was unable to discern what she could be thinking about. She could potentially be the most threatening, as I could not predict what she could do at all. The only thing I could consistently notice was that the food seemingly disappeared every time she moved it close to the magical darkness of her hood.