Forest Kingdom Trilogy 1 - Blue Moon Rising

All our fault.'
    'How?' said the High Warlock. 'How is it your fault?'
    'We were the ones who first summoned the Demon Prince back to the world of men,' said King John.
    For a long time, nobody said anything. The Astrologer looked almost pathetically defiant, his eyes darting from face to face like a cornered animal's. The King looked tired and defeated, but still his dignity hung about him in scraps and tatters, and he didn't flinch from Rupert's horrified gaze.
    'Why?' said Rupert finally.
    'The Barons were out of control,' said the Astrologer. 'They were ruining the Kingdom with their endless intrigues and jealousies. They had to be brought back into line. It seemed to us that a single, big enough
    threat might be sufficient to unite the Barons in a common cause, and bring them back under the central authority of the Crown.'
    'That was the plan,' said the King. 'We thought that if it didn't work out, all we had to do was reverse the spell, and we could send the Demon Prince back to the darkness he came from.'
    'You fools,' said the High Warlock. 'You bloody fools.'
    'Yes,' said the King. 'Old, frightened fools. But we were younger then, and we thought we knew what we were doing. It all went wrong, right from the start. We drew the pentacle, and Thomas set the wards.
    I lit the candles at the stars' points, and he set the holy water at the vales. I can remember it all so clearly, even after so many years. We said the words, and summoned him by name, and then the darkness fell on us like a ravening animal. I couldn't see, couldn't breathe, but I could feel something moving close at hand, something awful. And then I heard Thomas screaming, and I tried to get to him, but I couldn't find him in the darkness. Finally I passed out, and when I awoke the darkness was gone, and poor Thomas lay unconscious at my side.
    'The years passed, and there was no sign of the Demon Prince. We thought we'd got away with it, and that he had simply returned to the darkness from which we'd summoned him. And then, just recently, demons appeared in the Tanglewood, and the Darkwood's boundaries began to spread.'
    'Wait a minute,' said Rupert. 'When exactly did you summon the Demon Prince?'
    'Thirty-two years ago.'
    'But, that was when ...'
    'Yes, Rupert,' said the King. 'That was when we lost the South Wing.'
    'I was away from Court, that summer,' said the High Warlock. 'I always wondered why you were so evasive about what you'd been up to in that South Tower. Why didn't you talk to me first? I could have warned you . . .'
    'You would have talked me out of it,' said the King. 'And I didn't want to be talked out of it.'
    'Figures,' said the Warlock. 'All right, where did you and the Astrologer get the kind of power you'd need for that kind of summoning?'
    'We used the Curtana,' said the Astrologer. 'I teleported John and myself into the Armoury, John took the sword, and I teleported us out again. Nobody ever knew we were there.'
    'I didn't know you could teleport,' said Rupert.
    The Astrologer smiled coldly. 'There are lots of things you don't know about me.'
    'So you took the Curtana,' said Julia. 'No wonder the Seneschal couldn't find it. You sent us on a wild-goose chase!'
    'No,' said King John. 'That was the problem. Thomas and I returned the sword to the Armoury before we left the South Wing, thirty-two years ago. It should still have been there.'
    Rupert and Julia looked quickly at each other. 'Then who's got the sword now?' said Rupert slowly.
    The King shrugged. 'Once I'd broken the protective wards, anyone could have taken the sword. Darius must have been in and out of the South Wing all the time, using those damned tunnels of his. He probably took the Curtana as insurance, in case his schemes came unstuck, and then forgot where he hid it in his madness. And now that Darius is dead, the odds are we'll never find the Curtana. It could be anywhere in those tunnels, anywhere at all.'
    'Perhaps it's just as well,' said Rupert. 'The Curtana never brought anyone anything but grief.'
    'We seem to have strayed from the subject,' said the Astrologer. The point is that John and I have to go with you. Since we summoned the Dark Prince in the first place, he can't be banished or destroyed without our co-operation.'
    Rupert glanced at the High Warlock. 'Is that right, sir Warlock?'
    'I'm afraid so, Rupert. That's what the legends say.'
    'Legends,' muttered Rupert disgustedly. 'It always comes back to bloody legends.'
    'I have a right to face the