Sitting on the throne was an unassuming man in red and gold. A balding forehead and a small pointed beard of graying black were his most defining features. His otherwise medium build and, in my eyes, unremarkable face could have him effortlessly blend into any crowd. Going purely by aesthetic, he could have passed for a well-to-do merchant or a… well, not much else. Nevertheless, his bearing was unquestionably of royal austerity, though that too was almost betrayed by a calm, benign face.
Much less unassuming than the emperor were two heavily armored soldiers and two nine foot tall minotaurs standing at attention on either side of the plateau of steps. A hand from one of the soldiers motioned for us to stop when we came within twenty feet of their emperor. I curtsied after the messenger introduced me to her emperor, Hynjun Ashina.
The emperor, using an evenhanded tone, said, “Welcome to my domicile, Princess Astor. I hope my men and their griffins made your journey more pleasant than distressing.”
“Your Imperial Majesty’s warriors and steeds have indeed used their masterful skills to make our journey an agreeable one.”
“I’m glad to hear, but I imagine no agreeable griffin could match the grandeur of a dragon. I understand you’ve been separated from the dragon knight.”
“Yes, back in Uratama. We hope he will reach Tawahori soon.”
“In the Warriors Guild, yes? They gave you my invitation, I believe.”
“They did. However, as much as we desired to meet with you and secure any kind of assistance, we were regrettably pressed for time. We gained a lead, so we followed it. As it turned out, no amount of speed on our side could have stopped the Advent. The cultists and giants have attacked at least two major cities, the capital being one of them. I fear thousands are already dead.”
“My people in Jegeru have relayed similar sentiments as well. For the past six months they’ve been sending me increasingly alarming intelligence regarding my neighbor, including reports of King Tokkosho becoming ever more isolated from the nobility and a number of his generals. Jegeru’s internal turmoil has always carried the potential to escalate into an external one, so my forefathers and I prepared for such outcomes. I’m afraid none of us prepared for giants of legend. You’ve seen them?”
“Fought them, my lord. The dragon knight even killed a young one, though it came at a cost. We don’t know how many the Advent were able to revive from their slumber under the Vyalts, but rest assured they will each need a small army to overcome. Not to mention those they inspire to fight for them, whether from loyalty or fear.”
“You want my armies.”
“They will need to be the central force. Your proximity to the threat, your resources, your manpower and naval forces, they will be necessary to contain and eliminate the Advent’s influence. Of course, you can also appeal for aid from across Efios and Orda. I implore you to do so, for the Advent will not be content in merely occupying Jegeru. They are a threat to us all. Once they regain their power by absorbing life itself, they will seek to transform the rest of humanity into their image of strength.
“As nettlesome it may be to invite foreign armies into your domain, relying solely on your own people will surely invite disaster. To be sure, I don’t recommend striking at the Advent until we know how much support we have from other kingdoms, however they choose to express it. I myself will add my shield when the time comes. I do not enjoy the idea of waiting weeks to consolidate more allies, but we’ve no choice if we want to ensure victory without needless sacrifice. For now, my lord, it’s best to defend your borders and assist any refugees who seek asylum on your lands.”
“I admire your willingness to fight, Princess Astor. Some valkrean seemed to have forgotten why eidolons once forged pacts with our ancestors. That said, it would be reckless of me to allow the sister of a queen to perish so far from home. If, however, the Alslana dragon knight appears, then I will be more inclined to confer more responsibility over your life to him. How certain are you that he lives? No griffin could outfly a dragon. Should he not have caught up to you by now?”
“He has not yet mastered his prana, my lord. Depending on the challenges he faces from the Advent, it could yet be days or weeks before he arrives in Tawahori.”
“I see. Regardless, until we are informed otherwise, I must act as though the worst has happened.”
“I understand. I would do the same in your stead.”
“Then you will also understand that your advice, while valuable, will need to be discussed among my council as we collect more information. I would also like for you to consult my advisors on how to best fight these giants when I convene them tomorrow morning. For the time being, I invite you and your companions to stay in the palace and take the opportunity to rest. My servants are at your disposal. Is there anything else you would like to discuss?”
“Nothing that can’t wait until after my companions receive their well-deserved rest.”
“As you wish. Please follow my men to your quarters. Unless notified otherwise, please restrict any roaming to the guest wing and the throne hall.”
I bowed, as did he.
The emperor’s men guided us to the southwestern arm of the palace. His messenger came along as well, who described the palace’s layout and the decorum around Wregor nobles. They offered each of us our own room near the end of the wing. My room, while not large, provided a wonderful view of a garden and tower from its two small windows.
After the soldiers left us, Gerard and Clarissa came into my room straight away.
Almost whispering, Clarissa asked, “So, do I have to ask the obvious question?”
“The answer doesn’t seem so obvious,” said Gerard. “What do you think, Odet?”
I looked out the window. “I think the Advent would not have ignored Wregor. Does that mean the emperor is compromised?” I stared back at my friends and shrugged. “It’s possible. It’s also possible he is and does not know it. There are too many possibilities to settle on one. I do know he could have ordered our imprisonment when we were under the mercy of his soldiers back at the border.”
“We may essentially be imprisoned now.”
I nodded.
“Gods, what do we do if we are trapped here?” asked Clarissa. “Can we escape on the griffins?”
“Doubtful,” I said. “Palace guards will surround us the instant someone sees or senses an unsupervised summoning. Sneaking out on foot will also be impossible with every exit being watched. But let’s not assume we need to escape just yet. For the time being, we need to keep in mind that the emperor has not been openly antagonistic. The fact that he has not attempted to cage or kill us away from the eyes of his people says that it’s unlikely he’ll order our assassinations in the heart of his empire.”
“Still,” said Gerard, “it might not be the emperor who we need to worry about. It could be someone from his council. It could be a random guardsman.”
Rolling her eyes, the vampire said, “Great, I feel a lot better. I hope Mercer comes soon. He won’t allow the emperor to keep us cooped up in here. Do you think we can at least train?”
“I think it’s best to stick with our least aggressive training techniques for now,” I said. “In any case, it’s best to conserve our energy in a place where we may have to fight off an Advent assassin, the emperor himself, or if one of us decides to join the Advent.”
“Are you trying to be funny? Because you failed.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know what I was trying to be, honestly. Come, let’s invite the riders to the baths before other guests crowd them in the evening.”
I would have preferred to take a nap first, but the idea of soiling my guest bed seemed rude, so to the baths we went. The baths happened to be under the dome of the guest wing. Unlike those in the Diamond Palace, the baths here consisted of many smaller pools clustered near one another rather than two or three larger ones. They could still fit four or five people at a time, but I was disappointed that I could not swim in them.
Despit
e this not being the prime hour for bathing, there were still several nobles enjoying the waters warmed by servants and fire from the floor below. It was a couple of attendants that took our clothes to be washed, and who instructed us on how and when to use the available oils and clays to their best effect. Adding to the cleansing atmosphere were two women plucking away at small, harp-like instruments. I would have to take a few of these ideas back home.
I noticed that Eu-Sook still refused to remove the black cloth over her nose and mouth while bathing in the steamy room. Through the course of our journey I learned why her mask was more than an accessory. She was usually careful not to have it flap in the wind, but sometimes it would loosen and briefly reveal red burn scars incurred from a battle or horrendous accident. Yawen’s white cloth only appeared to be worn out of solidarity for her commander, so hers came off during the wash.
In a similar vein, Clarissa, while known as a vampire, still hid her vampiric paleness by keeping most of her body below the surface, though she seemed to be having fun producing bubbles with her pulsing, pursed lips. We laughed freely for the first time in days when I too blew bubbles at her effervescent creations. The war of bubbles! If only every conflict could be so innocent.
While I could not swim in the little pools, sitting in the warm, snug embrace of the waters untied the knots in my brain, muscles, and nerves one by one. The mush my body was becoming wanted to float on the surface and abandon all thinking for a long time. Alas, two nobles in one of the surrounding pools were intrepid enough to speak with me and Clarissa using a passable form of the shared tongue. We talked about the enemy we were here to defeat, but we did not wish to dampen their spirits or our own too much in this den of relaxation, so we avoided clarifying the severity of the situation.
When an appropriate opening in the conversation presented itself, I excused myself and dried off. The others took that as their cue to do the same. My clothes would not be ready for another few hours, and since etiquette dictated that I not offend my host by insisting on wearing armor in his home, I accepted the garment the attendants helped me get into.
The gold and white one-piece dress of silk gently hugged my body from neck to knees. Like the pair of red satin flats wrapped around the sides and bottom of my feet, it was warm and breathable at the same time. Clarissa and the riders were given similar attire. In a less trying time I would have accepted the attendant’s offer to style my hair, but all I wanted was to rest in my room, so I declined and left my hair unrestrained.
An old servant outside the baths invited me to join the other palace guests for dinner when the time came. I told him my companions and I would be delighted to dine with the other guests. However, it irked me when the brazen messenger explained that the Jegeru riders had not been summoned to the same dinner. In the same way I would be wary of sharing a meal with Voreen soldiers, I understood why Wregor nobles would not feel comfortable socializing with Jegeru’s fighters. Still, it signified that my vouching for them meant little.
Anyway, a few minutes before I needed to head down for dinner, there was a knock on my door. Opening it revealed Gerard out of his armor and in a long-sleeved white shirt under a kind of thin, black jacket that used strings to tie each side together. A black skirt-like vestment ran down his legs. A little oil in his hair made it slick and shiny. We both must have looked like different people in these new clothes and unsullied skin. Kissing him now could bring a different type of thrill. However, his expression was severe. No kissing yet.
Closing the door, I asked, “What’s wrong?”
Gerard pulled out a rolled-up piece of paper from under his sleeve. Handing it over, he said, “That was in my boot when my armor came back just now.”
I unfurled it. It read: Princess Astor, in the knight’s room there is a trapdoor under the bed. Please meet me there at midnight, alone. It is of utmost importance that we speak.
“No signature,” I said.
“Someone is worried about being caught.”
“Is there a trapdoor under your bed?”
“There’s a rug under the bed, but I lifted part of it to see what could be a trapdoor near the headboard. I’ll need a little help moving the bed so I don’t make a ruckus… You’re going to take them up on their invitation, aren’t you?”
“Of course. Ruse or not, it will help expose who our allies and enemies are in this place.”
“Maybe, but the ‘alone’ part concerns me. Why would an ally limit your protection? An enemy would flee if they saw you bring more than yourself, while an ally should only be annoyed. It doesn’t make sense for you to go alone.”
“I agree, but we all can’t go in your room. That would surely bring attention from the guards, and who knows what they’ve been told to keep an eye on. Only you and I will go down the trapdoor, but tell Clarissa and Ghevont to check your room after half an hour. If we haven’t surfaced by then, they should follow after us. Good enough?”
“It’ll have to do.”
So with the trapdoor in the back of our minds, Gerard, Ghevont and I went to the dinner hall near the entrance of the guest wing. Clarissa, not wishing to alienate herself around clueless strangers who might wonder why she was not eating, did not come with us.
For the next three hours we ate and conversed as best we could with thirty Wregor elite. Instead of serving a main dish to feed everyone, many smaller bowls of various foods had been laid out before us. One could fill their plate with smoked meats, steamed fish, boiled vegetables, hot noodles, white rice, soft rolls of bread, and a dozen more cuisines and their variations. To my surprise, the ambiance of the meal was quite informal, and it wasn’t as though most people gave the impression that they knew one another for all that long. It was simply expected that the lords here would unwind during a dinner.
Much of the conversation consisted of Ghevont trying to learn the Wregor tongue from our nearest neighbors. I believe there was some mocking going on based on the laughs evinced after Ghevont repeated several phrases they wanted him to say, but it sounded like good-natured ribbing overall. Once again, even if I desired to break the mood, the jovial nature of the room made it difficult to convince anyone that the Advent were anything more than a new cult using ancient stories to scare children.
Having another couple of hours before midnight struck, I shut my eyes for a while on the biggest, comfiest chair in my room. My eyes were closed so securely that Gerard had to pry them open with his voice and a tap on my shoulder when the time came to go across the hallway to his room. With prying eyes staring down the hall, we casually walked into the knight’s chamber. Did they know about the trapdoor? How many would know about it?
Like Gerard noted earlier, the stone frame of the bed was too heavy for him to move without dragging it and tearing the thin rug underneath, something that may draw attention from the guards. So I helped Gerard lift one part of the bed a little at a time to uncover the stone trapdoor surrounded by slightly lighter stone. Gerard had his sword drawn as I lifted the not so heavy trapdoor. No sound or sight came out from the five foot deep shaft. Holding a candle in his non-sword hand, Gerard stepped down into the shaft. I tagged along behind him a moment later.
A tunnel going north extended out from the shaft. It dropped a couple more feet after a few steps, giving us room to uncurl our backs. We stepped lightly and prudently for a minute. Then, some twenty yards up, a little light sparked to life. At first it seemed to be floating on its own, but as it came nearer, it became obvious that a woman in blue was holding a candle. Gerard and I took a few steps toward her, but we mostly let her do the work of closing the distance.
A short, pudgy woman in her late thirties or early forties crossed into our light. Poor woman bared a large mole under her left eye with a brown birthmark oozing around it. She did sport a beautiful head of lush black hair that almost reached her waist. Much of that hair was tied in an updo bun while the remaining strands hung in front of her as a pair of long braids.
Seeing that I was not al
one, the woman stopped in her tracks and frowned. “Lady, I mean, Princess Astor. I hoped you would come alone. Are there others behind you?”
“No. I know bringing more would draw attention, but I also could not risk coming alone in a place that lacks my trust. I hope you understand.”
“Um, yes, I suppose I do. Of course I do. I heard what you’ve gone through, which is why you might be the only person I can trust now.”
“And who are you?” asked Gerard.
“Oh, yes, forgive me. I am Princess Ikumi Ashina, youngest sister of the emperor. Pleasure to meet you.”
“The pleasure is ours,” I said. “I assume your brother does not know you’re meeting us in this manner.”
“No, no he does not. He is a good man, but I fear he will not do everything he can to fight the Hoic-Dro.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because I’m one of the few people in the palace that know how far the Hoic-Dro’s influence has spread ever since they were first mentioned in our history texts. I’ve always enjoyed reading about history rather than participating in it, and now that I’ve learned the Hoic-Dro are involved in Jegeru, I’ve been able to connect them with more recent events.”
“Such as?”
“For one, my brother has been secretly sending coin to at least one organization in Jegeru for the past few years, no doubt in an attempt to undermine the kingdom from within. Now I believe he indirectly helped fund the old cult. I swear it was not on purpose. To him it was simply a group of prominent merchants who could compromise Jegeru’s trade deals. I wouldn’t be surprised if he feels guilty about abetting them.”
“Guilt should be no reason for him not to help now.”
“I’m certain he’d agree, but it’s what happened nine months ago that will make him hesitate to aid you or Jegeru. You see, every year or two my family seeks a retreat in one of our out-of-the-way manors by the sea. They’re wonderful. They’re one of the few times we come together and act like a regular family. However, our last retreat turned into a terrible affair for many of us. As well as a dozen servants and guardsmen, several members of my family fell ill with the desiccation disease. The emperor was not infected, but both his sons were. The empress, her eldest brother, and my sister and her youngest daughter were also stricken by it.”
The Dragon Knight and the Light Page 18
