by Thomas Green
“The self-proclaimed bandit king, which would explain why your convoys are attacked by bandits at a much lower rate than anyone else's. This James still doesn’t strike me as someone rich enough to acquire any of my related companies.”
Jean Pierre chuckled. “How good is your army general?”
Collward’s expression hardened. “That sounds as if you were trying to sell me James to lead my armies.”
“He wasn’t always a bandit king.”
Collward rubbed his chin. It was true that James was the name of the most famous prince of the Old Kingdom, the legendary general who almost destroyed the world during The Upheaval. The thought of him still being alive did not surprise Edward, for legends tended not to die when they should have. “I am willing to give him a try and see him in Cinderwell within two weeks, in my office.”
Jean Pierre rose. “With that, I believe, our business is concluded.”
“I shall see you later, Jean Pierre.” Collward shook his hand. “We will meet at the bank.”
Once upon the streets, Edward Collward headed to the headquarters of the Union. It is time to put the headless chicken back in order.
***
Upon dusk, Edward Collward left the headquarters of the Union. The streets of Grimdawn were busy as ever, nothing other than the burned mansion stood a testament to the horrors of the last night. He headed toward the market district once more, weighing the wrapped, long black spear over his shoulder. He could not figure out why did Lucas leave his spear in the burnt cavern city, but he did, and Collward’s men found it and brought it to him.
The market was as full as ever. Edward fought his way through the crowd to reach the keeper of the beasts. After some searching, he saw what he was looking for, a tiny and devilishly cute tigress cub, no older than a few weeks. The beast looked like a small ball of soft fur with sweet little eyes and an innocent smile. He had a pink bow tied around its neck and put it into a small cage. Once he delivered the cage into his house, he covered it with a sheet of cloth and picked up Elizabeth from school.
She was beaming when she saw him and spent the entire way home singing. Once they reached his mansion, he prepared dinner while she packed her belongings. They sat at the table while the chicken he grilled oozed a great scent.
Elizabeth leapt onto her chair but kept twitching in the seat as if she wanted to run just for the sake of it. “When are we going to leave?”
“Tomorrow after lunch.”
“Finally, I can do something useful!”
“First, I have a gift for you. Close your eyes.”
She covered them with her hands.
He took the baby tigress out of the cage and put it on the table in front of her. “You can open them.”
Elizabeth screamed and hugged the little tigress. He had never seen her so happy. For the rest of the evening, she kept playing with the tiny beast and then brought it straight to bed with her. She named the tigress Niuffie.
The next day she packed all her toys and dolls, then some clothes as well when he reminded her she might need them and they were on the way. The carriage took them behind the town, up into the forests, where it stopped.
Elizabeth stared around, confused. “Why are we stopping here?”
“Come.” Edward left the vehicle, picked her baggage, and then led on a forest path up toward into the mountains looming above them. They soon arrived at a large cave.
She followed him while holding Niuffie in her arms. They entered the cavern and faced a massive iron gate. “What is this place?”
Edward put his hand onto the door. The steel wings opened by themselves. “One of my secret hideouts. There are others, all close to each city near mountains, always two hours away by horse, hidden by a high peak with a steep cliff.”
Her eyes widened. “Why?”
“You will see why, for now, remember it. You may need them one day. The door will recognize you and open by itself when you put your hand on it.”
“That sounds complicated,” Elizabeth said, “and unnatural.”
He sighed. “Remember it.”
They advanced up a spiraled ramp, finding themselves in a massive cavern. The hall was circular, had an enormous hole leading outside, instead of a part of the wall, and a giant pile of metal in the middle.
Elizabeth walked to the heap of steel. “Dad... what is that?”
Edward smiled and stretched out his hand. Golden light shone from his fingers into the creature. The metal shook, stirred, and got up. The construct was over hundred feet long, had a massive head filled with teeth, four huge wings with sharp edges, stood on four legs with claws and ended with a long tail tipped by a sharp barb.
Elizabeth and Niuffie both stared with wide eyes, the little tigress burying its head into Elizabeth’s chest.
Edward formed the most peaceful smile he could. “This is Bladewing.”
“Hi,” she squeaked.
He laughed. “It’s not alive, but a machine powered by aether. Mere imitation of what a dragon would look like.”
“Does it breathe fire?”
“It does and much more.” He put her baggage on top of the pile of bags already tied to the end of its body.
“Does it fly?”
“You will see soon. Come closer, for I need to strap you in.”
She walked forward while Niuffie kept hiding in her arms as if not seeing the machine would make it disappear. Edward gave her a while to get ready and then put her up to the back of the saddle, strapping her in. He strapped in the tigress as well, getting it tight enough to prevent a fall but not too tight to suffocate her. Then he got on the front saddle and tied himself to it as well. He pushed more aether into the puppet, and the mechanical monster moved.
“I am scared!” Elizabeth shouted as she held onto his back.
“You need not to, for one day, you will fly it yourself.”
Elizabeth gulped. “Fly?”
Edward didn’t answer and had the puppet dragon jump through the large window of the cavern off the ledge. Elizabeth screamed. He let it fall for a moment before he spread its wings as the updraft hit him. Their flight turned into a swift rise.
A few minutes later, she tired of screaming and stared in silence. They were already up above the clouds. “Dad… is this for real? I keep pinching myself, but I am not waking up.”
“This is our aether manifestation, the Puppet Master. We attach strings to objects and make them move with our will.”
“What are you talking about dad? Can you use the aether? I can’t!”
He chuckled. “Does it look like I am not using aether?”
“No… I think I’m still asleep and will wake up soon.”
“This is real, Elizabeth,” Edward whispered, “one day you will have it too.”
“How do you know I can do that? I can’t use aether!”
“You will learn it.”
“But it won’t be like yours. Everybody’s aether manifestation is different! That’s what they taught us in school!”
“It will be the same as mine. Talents for aether manifestations pass from the parent to the child so you will use the aether the same way I do.”
Elizabeth apparently didn’t find the strength to protest and admired the scenery for a long while. She tried to touch the fluffy clouds as they were flying straight above them but was disappointed to realize they were wet and nothing else. “Will I be able to use aether, dad?”
“Yes. You will learn how to prepare your puppets, how to control them and how to conceal your strength.”
“Why would I hide it? Using aether is great!”
He sighed. “Because I had done bad things to bad people and the other bad people will not want it to happen again.”
“Why did you do bad things, dad? We shouldn’t do bad things, not even to bad people!”
“Some I had to, some I wanted to, some merely happened by themselves because of me.”
He shrugged. “I have done no bad things, so why would they p
unish me for what you did?”
“Because they are afraid of me and my power. When they see you have it, they will remember the fear.”
“That makes no sense!”
“One day it will.”
***
“Hold tight,” Edward said after a lengthy discussion. Elizabeth did. He made the dragon’s wing retract to plunge into the cloud. She screamed. They dove fast. The dragon spread the wings to stabilize, turning their flight straight once more. They flew among the peaks of mountains, faster than any animal, quicker than the wind itself. She could barely breathe as they were maneuvering between the cliffs, only meters above the tops of the trees below. They whirled, and then the dragon straightened and stopped midair with a thunderous boom, close to a mountain. He turned the fight into a glide to land on its side.
“We have arrived.” He leapt down the mechanical dragon and unfastened Elizabeth and Niuffie. She took the tiny tigress with her hands and tried to wake it up. She succeeded soon, and the tigress greeted her with a meow that melted even his heart. As they got off, he grabbed the wrapped spear from the dragon and made the construct go inside the cave.
She played with Niuffie in the meantime. “Where are we, dad?”
“In Zaraguza Highlands. I need to handle something, so you stay here and protect Niuffie.”
“Protect her… from what?”
He shrugged, faking concern. All the time he had spent with his daughter had soaked Elizabeth with his presence, which was more than enough to deter any animal from ever attacking her. “Mountain cats, eagles, whatever else lives around and would love to snack on a baby tiger.”
Elizabeth’s eyes widened. “I can’t do that. A mountain cat would eat me!”
“Not if you fight it off.” Edward unwrapped the spear, handing it to Elizabeth.
The weapon was longer than she was tall. She could barely hold it with both hands. “I can’t use this!”
“You can if you try. Niuffie is too young to defend herself yet, so do it for her until she grows up.” He smiled as he ducked in front of her. “Don’t worry, things will be all right.” He hugged her and kissed her on the forehead before he rose again.
Elizabeth gulped, grabbing the spear with her knuckles whitening. “Okay.”
He felt her fear so clearly it broke his heart. Yet he still reached with his strings to his puppets on the dragon. The baggage stirred and two identical women clothed in plate armor and wrapped in black cloaks slipped out of it before they walked to Edward’s sides.
Elizabeth shook her head as if to make sure she didn't imagine it. “Who are they?”
“The Twins. They are puppets, ones created to be weapons I use when I go somewhere dangerous.”
She frowned. “They are people!”
“No. They are only made to look human.”
“Why? Why young women?”
He shook his head. “Because men feel bad about fighting young women. The sole purpose of a weapon is to kill. Anything that serves that goal makes it efficient, and the Twins are extremely efficient.”
“This is insane!” Elizabeth shouted.
“Take care of Niuffie.” Edward waved as he embarked on the road leading down the mountain.
***
He descended the mountain path until he disappeared out of Elizabeth’s vision.
He reached for his aether, making it erupt out of his heart, filling his veins, powering his muscles, strengthening his soul. Edward broke into a sprint. The air boomed around him as he passed through the forest, faster than death, the Twins at his sides. Voidspire, the city of the Sil Haen stood a dozen miles away from where he left Elizabeth. He reached its gates within minutes.
Edward stopped out of sight, cleaned the squashed flies off his face, sat down by a rock and pulled out a sheet of paper, an envelope, a vial of ink, and a sharp quill. His heart sank into his stomach, but he had to do this. He knew once he steps into Voidspire, once he asks to meet Zerae Hellwind, there would be no way back. He would convince her. It didn’t matter how, but for Elizabeth, for his only child, he would succeed. He put the paper down, dipped the quill into the ink, and started writing.
‘Elizabeth, my dearest daughter,
I have spent my entire life building an empire, but I didn’t create it for itself. I built it to achieve something, and I did. Out of all my achievements, one stands out above all others. You stand out, for you are the greatest achievement of my existence.
Yet now, my sins have caught up with me. I will face them, fight for as long as I have breath within me, to whatever end awaits me. I will do so for years, decades, centuries, for as long as it takes. And to protect what I hold the dearest, to protect you, I must let you go.
This is where we part ways so I will fight a war in which you must not participate. The Daughters of Dreams, the Sil Haen, have lived free in these lands for over a century, they have, and they will stay away from my battles. Live with them, learn how to live in freedom, for that is something I could have never taught you, something more precious than what I could ever give you, something I have never had.
As the last gift from me, you will find a black leather bag among the baggage. It contains books with all my knowledge of our aether manifestation, of our art. Learn it, master it and it will protect you when I cannot, when nobody else can. To that end, I leave you the two greatest weapons I have, Bladewing, my strongest puppet, and the Phantom Spear, the weapon once wielded by the king of hell himself. There is nothing these two weapons cannot kill.
I was born in the Void beyond the sky, and from there, I shall forever watch over you, no matter what happens.
With love,
Edward Collward
also known as
Puppet Master’
Carefully, so his tears didn’t drench the paper, he slid it into the envelope. He put the letter into his pocket.
He wiped his face clean with his sleeve and stepped toward the city, walking to the nearest guard. “I am here to meet Zerae Hellwind.”
19
Lucas
Lucas had returned to the Palai barracks, covered by ashes and stinking worse than a morgue. He spent hours searching for his spear in the ruins of the cavern city. Without any result.
As he passed through the stone hallways of the building, Miranda intercepted him, her crimson hair glistening in the flame of the nearby oil lamp. “Look who’s shown up.”
He arched an eyebrow in her direction.
Merewen’s voice echoed from a turning behind Miranda. “Now this will be fun.” She walked to Miranda, blocking the other half of his path while we-need-to-talk shone in her eyes.
They have been waiting for me. I suppose I should have told them something. Lucas sighed. “I guess you two want to talk.”
Miranda pierced him with a glare. “What was your first hint? Amuse me.”
“Yes, entertain us,” Merewen said, “I am sure you there was a good reason to let Collward walk away instead of ending his life.”
Lucas kept an impassive face. “Without him, the slavers would scatter into disarray, and we would spend decades hunting them down.”
Merewen’s expression remained but a mask of icy rage. She kept her voice calm though. “How does letting Collward live stop them from doing so, anyway?”
“The Slaver Union is his life’s work, so he won’t allow it to splinter into fractions, because that would be his loss without us doing anything.”
Merewen’s gaze did not yield. “What makes you think he won’t go for this scenario where we both lose rather than face us head on?”
Lucas stretched his neck, his joints popping. “With his daughter out of the picture, the only thing he has to fight for is the empire he has built. He will fight to his last breath to keep it.”
Merewen sighed. “This is still the riskiest approach we could take. I see the logic of letting them gather and form an army to fight us, so we wipe them out all at once instead of hunting them all over the continent for years. Yet we are
taking the path of the maximum resistance.”
“Getting cold feet, general?” Lucas scoffed. “There are eight demon princes, so we can’t spend decades killing one.”
Miranda’s eyes narrowed. “Are you sure Collward is a demon prince? Would be a shame to do all this to find out he wasn’t, wouldn’t it?”
He nodded.
Miranda formed the most poisonous smile he had ever seen. “Well, that makes it easy. I will visit him tonight and end this war.”
This is why I didn’t want to tell you. He raised his chin, peering down on her. “No. To kill a demon prince is pointless for as long as he has any living champions. We have killed one so far, but I expect there to be two more.”
Merewen’s eyes narrowed. “Care to elaborate?”
“For a demon prince, the body is a vessel while his champions are the spares. Even if you behead the prince, he will take over a champion afterward,” Lucas said. “And yes, locating these champions is what I’ve been working on. Anyway, Miranda, go intercept the archbishop and ease him up into what happened here.”
Miranda’s cheeks flared up as she drew a sharp breath. “He didn’t know, did he?”
“Of course not.” Lucas smiled. “Merewen, head out for Cinderwell and set the grounds for the next battle. I expect a similar deployment of forces from the slavers.”
Miranda and Merewen straightened their backs. “Sir, yes, sir.”
Lucas’ face twisted into a slight smile. “One more thing before you go. Have you seen my spear?”
Merewen’s posture relaxed while her voice became mocking. “Your spear? Did you lose it?”
I don’t like this tone. His face hardened. “Where is it?”
An evil smirk split her face. “I am not sure, but I saw a long black spear falling down the abyss in the cavern.”
Lucas’ brows furrowed. “Say, what?”
Miranda exploded into laughter so sharp he wondered if it wouldn’t cut him.
These two… Lucas gave her a glare that froze her smile. “What happened to my spear?”
