“Why now?” Serah asked.
“We could ask whys forever,” Regina said, shaking her head. “Perhaps they simply got bored. It doesn’t matter, though.”
“It doesn’t?” Serah said.
“Jacob’s habit of questioning everything and rebelling against authority has revealed one more layer of control to the Lawgiver and his minions. We must break the gameboard and seek a true freedom for ourselves as well as that of mankind—but it does not change that, right now, every man, woman, and child in Kerifas is counting on us. If we do not defeat Hellsword and Redhand, then they will sacrifice the city to perform some ritual to destroy us all.” Regina withdrew her sword and gestured with it down the tunnels to our enemy.
“Ironically, bringing the Prophecy of the Black Sun to truth, at least in part.” I understood Regina’s reasoning but I didn’t like it.
It was to the credit of the Lawgiver and Trickster that they’d chosen such doggedly independent as well as foolishly bull-headed champions. I could try and share this information with Hellsword and Redhand but I doubted either of them would believe me. They were as set on their course for conflict as I was with them—both of us seeing an oncoming carriage crash but unable to do the slightest thing about it.
I did have to admire the fact the Lawgiver predicted the two sides would annihilate one another with advanced magical weapons. I had used the Terrible Weapons during the Fourth Great Shadow War to great effect but the human cost of such things was beyond belief. By giving a warning of the consequences, the Lawgiver had potentially curtailed development or set his puppets into sabotaging their use. That, at least, was one area he’d failed to control adequately. Hellsword and Redhand’s ritual was every bit as terrible as the weapons I’d used and then some.
It’s a good thing we have you, then, the Trickster said. Enjoy your newfound wisdom, Jacob. If you, Regina, and Serah die here then the Nine Heroes will reign a thousand years over a land of paradise and order. Take comfort from that.
“So we just go along with our pre-ordained roles?” Serah said, crossing her arms. I noticed her staff was leaning up against the wall, half submerged in gunk. “I cannot be the only one who has a problem with this.”
I stared down at the corpses and thought about my answer. “Good and evil are just directions. One man’s hero is another man’s villain. Yet, if I cannot protect everyone, then I will surely attempt to protect those I love. I will oppose all those who seek to harm them, be they gods in the sky, kings of the Earth, or thugs on the street. I no longer care whether this makes me right or wrong, I only care that it works. The Nine are pawns in this, but we’re going to be making our own moves from now on.”
I stretched out my hand and drew on all the accumulated necromantic energy spread throughout the city. It was a large amount, perhaps as much as the reservoir Hellsword had gathered, but old and difficult to access. People had died here for thousands of years, often in terrible ways during the Five Great Shadow Wars.
Drawing on that power, I mentally reached into each of the corpses and awakened them. I funneled into their bodies my anger, despair, malice, and hope for a tomorrow where they would not be necessary. The bodies rose up, hundreds and eventually thousands strong, each of them carrying only the barest whisper of who they were.
I was no petty cultist or blood magician, though. Each of the soldiers re-attached missing limbs, repaired battle damage to their bodies, and retained a full working knowledge of both tactics as well as weapons knowledge.
They just lacked souls.
Turning to me, I saw each of them stare with cold, dead eyes.
I pointed down the sewers. “Make a distraction for us. Kill as many of the army above as you can.”
“Gods help us,” Regina said.
“We’re the only gods providing help,” Serah said, getting her staff. “I’ll make sure the Nonhuman Quarter survives until you return.”
If you return, the Trickster said. Hellsword is ready to use his weapon against you.
Chapter Thirty-One
Regina and I traveled through the dark, cold, and filthy tunnels of Kerifas. The ocean tides washed away the majority of the foulness every morning but new filth was always flowing in. Hellsword and Redhand’s agents were pounding against the barrier down here as well as above but they were swiftly overwhelmed by the horde of undead I sent ahead of us. Above our heads, I could feel the monsters rising through maintenance holes and toilets to attack the Imperial forces en masse.
There was no hope for the undead army to defeat our foes. A single dragon could eradicate the whole of them but they would hopefully hesitate to roast their own troopers alive long enough to avoid such a measure. The fact it would also potentially start a fire throughout Kerifas was something I hoped would also deter them, but they’d been willing to turn the city into an abattoir, so I wasn’t betting on it.
Regina lifted a glowing Starlight ahead of her as we pressed forward to the Palace District. It provided slightly more light than a torch and gave us a good view of the tunnels’ maze-like interior. Starlight’s illumination was also visible only to Regina and those she willed to see it.
Regina needn’t have bothered on my behalf; the darkness was as clear as day to my undead eyes. Regina had also cast a minor spell that resulted in our voices not carrying beyond our immediate vicinity, another wise precaution to preserve our stealthy approach. Her skill with sorcery had been abyssal when I’d first married her, practically nonexistent except for the few cantrips all Shadowguard knew for surviving in the wilderness, but she’d shown a remarked improvement in recent months. Almost unnaturally so.
“I’m glad you came to a decision about this fight, Jacob.”
“I have something worth fighting for, I always did. I just had to come to terms with that fact.” We would figure out a way to liberate the world from the Lawgiver and Trickster’s tyranny. That was worth going to war for—I had to believe that.
Just keep lying to yourself, the Trickster said. You’re good at it.
That I am.
“I’m not sure whether or not to be insulted you didn’t think you had something worth fighting for before.”
I snorted. “That’s not what I meant. You were always worth fighting for, you and Serah. I just have seen enough of war to last a lifetime.”
Regina stared forward. “You know, whenever you talk about war, I feel like a fraud.”
“What?”
“I was born in the Northern Wasteland, like so many of the Shadowkind I was raised to kill. Joining the Shadowguard was considered the last, best opportunity for young noblemen seeking adventure and my father was one of them. My mother had been a crofter’s daughter but she was a low sidhe and that made her worthy as a spouse for a nobleman.”
“I will never understand the fascination rich humans have with elves.”
“They live for centuries, look beautiful, and have an inborn facility with magic?”
“Well, put in those terms—”
Regina sighed. “I grew up in a drafty fortress not too dissimilar to Caer Callig. Thugs, murderers, rapists, thieves, pickpockets, and every single one of them would have defended me with their life. You’d think a child would have been vulnerable in such company, but they were my family.”
“This doesn’t make me think you’re a fraud, Regina.”
“I wasn’t…then. My father raised me with the values of Whitetremor. Honor, pride, and sacrifice. We were the descendants of Eric the Great’s second son and a lineage of heroes who protected the weak as well as defended the poor.”
I grimaced. “I—”
“You knew Eric personally as a complete fool who was nothing more than Jassamine’s puppet. He also crushed Fireforge’s kings and converted them by the sword, which makes him a fool, puppet, and monster. It sickens me to know I have his blood.”
“He had an excellent singing voice,” I offered. “So there’s that.”
Regina snorted. “When my parents were killed
and the castle overwhelmed, the Formor let us retreat back to the empire. There, I joined my uncle’s family in Whitehall and I was exposed to the grandeur of what being a noble was really like. Singing, dancing, embroidery, gossip, music, and learning to use what fork with which plate.”
“You start with the one on the end and work your way in.”
Regina rolled her eyes. “You could have saved me so much trouble telling me that as a child. I hated learning things like that. Gewain and Ketra made life just barely tolerable, but this wasn’t the life the stories promised. We were a line of heroes, and yet we spent our time resolving petty disputes of peasants as well as hosting balls.”
“Which is the life of the noble, last time I checked.”
“Yeah,” Regina said. “I rejoined the Shadowguard when I was twenty-one. They assigned me to administration.”
“Administration?”
“My home, Caer Tythol, had been the last castle in the North. The Shadowguard was now as much an ornament as anything else. I wanted to be a hero and I ended up being just another painted noble with delusions of grandeur. When the Nine destroyed the King Below, it was like fate had cheated me out of the destiny I felt was mine. The Fifth Great Shadow War and I didn’t even get anywhere near the front lines. Then…Whitehall fell and you came into my life, a legendary hero and a soldier and…I wanted to be you.”
“Gods,” I said, faking horror. “What is wrong with you?”
“Stop it, don’t make me laugh. The thing is, I was not a soldier and I don’t know what starting a war is like—but I knew I wanted to stop the Nine. I just worry, sometimes, that I’m pretending to be a hero instead of actually trying to be one.”
“Oh Regina, that’s all any of us can do.”
“I know that now.” Regina stared, all mirth gone from her face. “I’m not playing at war anymore.”
There was nothing more to say.
Regina and I continued onward into the darkness. I could feel the magic running through the tunnels of the city, capturing all the death and destruction above our heads. I saw several glyphs carved into the walls and briefly considered destroying them.
That would do little to affect the larger spell, though, and I suspected thousands of them were carved throughout the city. Instead, I memorized each of the glyphs I encountered and pondered how the magic worked. It was being prepared for something, I could tell that, which meant we were running out of time.
Whether we had hours or minutes, though, I couldn’t tell.
“Do you ever wonder about the other gods, Jacob?”
“Other gods?”
“The Trickster was the only God Below and all of the others were just masks for him, but what about the Gods Above? In addition to the Lawgiver, there was the Great Mother, the Weaver, and the Peacebringer. We haven’t heard anything about them.”
“What brings this up?”
“Just trying to figure out a way to win this without fighting.”
“Now you sound like a leader.”
“Not yet, but I’m trying. I also know we’ve got plenty of fighting left. The Great Mother was one of the Gods Between, wasn’t she?”
“Yes. She helped the Lawgiver destroy her fellow gods and took place as the Lawgiver’s consort.” At least according to the Codex. I was starting to consider that book as trustworthy as the official Imperial histories that depicted the emperors as an unbroken line of civilized champions of justice.
“Do you think we should try and talk with them?” Regina asked, shaking me from my thoughts.
“The other Gods Above?” I paused, contemplating that. “That’s…an odd suggestion.”
“Is it? Perhaps the Gods Between can be restored to life too.”
“How do you figure?” I asked.
“The Trickster isn’t exactly leaving us alone either. The enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
“And I thought you were the idealistic one.”
“I’m still a strategist. Anyway, I was thinking about this because of our own family issues. You shouldn’t have kept the prophecy from me.”
“You’re right, I shouldn’t have,” I admitted.
Regina shook her head. “But despite this, I want to have a family with you and Serah after this is over. I think…I think the only reason we couldn’t was because I wasn’t ready. I wanted to get my revenge on the Nine Heroes first.”
That was a too-easy-sounding solution. “And now?”
“Now I have more people to hate and kill. Which is no excuse to stop living.”
“I suppose that is the case.” I paused. “Do you still hate the Nine?”
“I don’t want to, but I saw a lot of dead children above.”
“Children die in war no matter how much you don’t want them to.”
“Kill me if I become someone who does that.”
“I could never harm you but you aren’t that kind of person.”
“And you are?”
“Not as long as you’re there for me.”
Regina paused again and turned around to embrace me, putting her sword up against my back as she pressed her lips against mine.
I kissed her back.
“I love you,” Regina whispered.
“I love you too.”
Our embrace was interrupted by a man clearing his throat. “Ahem.”
“What the hells?” I said, pulling away from Regina.
Down the tunnel, coming from an intersection was, of all people, Rose. He was holding a lantern in one hand and behind him was a small collection of nonhuman children, husbands, and wives.
“You!” I said, stunned.
“Uh, hello, Lord Jacob,” Rose said, looking somewhat embarrassed. “Queen Regina.”
Regina turned around and looked surprised. “Hello, Rose, I’m glad to see you’re still alive. I thought you’d died battling the Ice Demon.”
“No, he survived.” I glared at Rose. “But I thought you’d decided to do something else.”
Rose looked back to the civilians behind him. “Well, after our conversation, I thought about my situation and the merits of a good cause.”
“Good cause,” I repeated.
“Is there an echo here? Yeah,” Rose said, smiling.
I frowned.
His smile disappeared. “If a man isn’t doing something good with his life, then he isn’t doing anything worthwhile at all. So I decided to use my skills at spycraft to see if I could smuggle as many children from the Nonhuman Quarter as possible.”
“And Serah let you do this?”
Rose frowned. “She seemed more annoyed with you than anything else.”
I felt my face. “I see.”
I was going to catch hells for that.
“You didn’t think to smuggle everyone?” Regina asked, surprising me with her priorities.
“The others have faith in you,” Rose said. “Both of you. More than they ever had in Gewain. They don’t want to risk their children, though.”
I stared at Rose, trying to gauge his sincerity. I was surprised to realize I believed him. Not only was he simply attempting to do something to help the helpless but he was doing so because I’d inspired him to do so. It had been such a long time since I’d seen something done unambiguously good that I was momentarily at a loss for words.
“We are venturing to the Palace District to defeat Hellsword and Redhand as well as liberate the city,” Regina said without a trace of irony. “Your actions to preserve the lives of the innocent are not necessary but I appreciate the thought. It’s men like you who are going to help build a better tomorrow.”
Rose looked at her then me then back at her. “You remind me a lot of Gewain. He talked that way too.”
“We’re getting him back,” Regina said confidently.
Rose paused, a look of deep regret passing across his face. “When you catch up with him, please pass along my regrets and my hopes for the future.”
“I will,” Regina said. “Gods’ blessings upon you.”
<
br /> “You would know.”
Rose and his ramshackle crew walked away from us and I soon found the tunnel system that led directly to the Palace District. There were guards posted around the entrances and several places containing grates but none of them were difficult to deal with. Regina even showed considerable foresight by letting me check for alarm wards and barriers to keep intruders from passing underneath. Either way, we were soon in front of a wall that I believed would take us directly into the Governor’s Palace basement.
I was about to smash through the wall when Regina put her hand on my shoulder. “So you spared Rose’s life?”
I looked up. “What?”
“He’s a spy for the Imperials,” Regina said.
“You figured that out, huh?”
“It wasn’t that hard. The whole planned uprising required them to have an insider, and the lover of the leader is a traditional one.” Regina chewed her lip. “I noticed all the discrepancies in his story as well. I figured only he could have arranged for the trap for not only Ketra but the nobility we met with.”
I nodded. It was much the same as the way I’d figured out the truth. “I went to confront him after the Ice Demon. He admitted to all the actions you just mentioned and more. He wanted to die, I think. The sight of what his masters were capable of broke something inside him.”
“You did the right thing.”
“I did?” I hadn’t expected Regina to agree, given Rose’s betrayal of her cousins.
“The only people who need to die are Hellsword and Redhand.”
I wasn’t sure it would be that easy. “Let’s hope.”
“Now let’s say hello to the bastards.”
Regina sheathed her sword before stepping in front of a large, plain brick wall. Clenching a fist, she took a deep breath and slammed it against the stone. The stone crumbled before her like a child’s building blocks.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Regina punched through the side of the stone masonry separating the sewers from the cellar of the Governor’s Palace. It required a couple of kicks to create a hole large enough to pass through, but her strikes were stronger than the hardest hammer blows.
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