The Great Hearts II: A Game of Gods

by David Oliver

  The walking became almost pleasurable in a strange and weird way. There was no sound aside from the wind, resulting in an eerie but relaxing experience as Cassius and I toured the deep of the north. At one time we thought we spotted a couple of skyren roaming the grounds but they were gone in a flash and didn’t come back so we kept on moving. Torrential rain and roaring winds kept us in a small hollow for three days, eating up our limited food supply and removing all potential tracks in the immediate area - potentially both a blessing and a curse if the skyren were on our scent. They don’t tell you this when you sign up for the Academy, but rather than spending most of your time fighting monsters or people as an Imperator, each mission inevitably ends up more about fighting the weather. And that fight is always very one sided.

  Nature’s a bitch.

  About a week after we left the Scourge team to their victory Cassius began acting strangely, or, more accurately, more strangely than usual. His face took on a paler hue which was worrying enough for a mountain born and his veins appeared to have a black tinge showing through his skin. He began to walk to the north west and only stopped for sleep, each step seemingly more of a struggle, his eyes and veins getting darker step by step and mile by mile. I had never seen such a thing and could only guess that it was to do with a concentration of black seraph in the area somehow calling to his own. It was a more comforting theory than wondering if he had been controlled by the Enemy. The gold-plated prick of an Emperor had promised that couldn’t be done, but he had said many things over the years and I had long since stopped trusting anything that came out of his mouth.

  Either way, Cassius was far too big and strong for me to stop and it seemed like as good a direction as any. We strode on and Cassius looked less like a man and more like some kind of demonic shadow wraith every day. The iris of his eyes became a swirl of black interlaced with gold and were somewhat terrifying to wake up to when he loomed over me in the morning.

  Two days later he stopped on the rise of a large hill. It was a good vantage point and so I thought some part of him might have been taking the lay of the land but he was looking straight down as though he could see into the rock below. Intrigued, I walked to the crest and realised that the hill wasn’t rounded, the far side of it ended in a sharp drop off. Much more interestingly was that when looking over the cliff I could see tracks on the floor emerging from the side of the cliff, and not just sets of one or two. Hundreds. Maybe thousands. The floor was so heavily pitted with the marks of boots and wagons that no amount of bad weather was going to erase it. I cast out my senses, trying to penetrate inside the mound but I didn’t get anything back. Getting down to the tracks was easy enough and there didn’t seem to be anything remotely fresh that would indicate that the inside was occupied, but I knew better than to trust my luck. With a hand on my sword I stepped forward and entered the gloom of the cave.

  Immediately it became clear that it wasn’t a natural cave. In fact I quickly became certain that the entire hill was man made. A gigantic set of metallic doors were just inside the cave and I fully expected our journey to stop there but Cassius just strode forward and the doors silently slid apart. Inside was a vast chamber filled with equipment that reminded me far too closely of that within Ash’s complex. Row upon row of vats filled the room, each one empty and open. A set of stairs down and another row of vats. Another set of stairs and another. And another. There were thousands of the things, each of them empty. Each of them open. And I had a sneaking suspicion of where and what their occupants were.

  Thyrkan.

  I couldn’t confirm it, but the thyrkan had come out of nowhere like a wave of death. The Academy hadn’t heard of anything remotely resembling a thyrkan before their sudden appearance. Perhaps they had been created and grown in places like this?

  Before I lost myself in thought I realised that Cassius hadn’t stopped moving and was continuing to descend, heading further and further into the deep. I hurried to catch him and together we made our way to the very bottom of the complex, guarded by another set of thick metal doors. Once again Cassius stepped forward and once again the doors opened, sliding apart to reveal a sight that left me simultaneously ecstatic and horrified.

  Cassius looked almost as stupefied as I felt. Strapped to a large table and only able to weakly move its head to glare in our direction due to the sheer number of tubes extending from its body was a scene from a nightmare.

  My nightmare in fact. The one I relieved every night where my entire village was slaughtered to feed a hungry demon.

  On the table was the red eyed skyren.

  Chapter 29

  Shenanigans

  Anatha sat in the dewy morning sun, wrapped in a thick cloak and inhaling a pungent cigar as though it was the last thing she would ever do.

  “One of life’s finer pleasures,” she coughed as we walked over, the map given us by Borza’s night-time misdemeanour a crude replica of Anafor complete with a big cross marking where we were to meet. “I’m glad you managed to find this location. I wasn’t sure if you would manage it, what with your puny brain and all.”

  I held up the map and read off the other side, “A map of Anafor for the idiots in the Sinking Ship. Dawn. Don’t be late. Idiot.” I grinned and gave her a mocking bow. “Glad to know that you think so much of me.”

  A snort. “Don’t give yourself airs boy; you know I don’t think much of anyone!” She cocked an eye at Cassius who was demurely standing to the side with his arms folded. “Including you, young Cassius. Yes that’s right, I know who you are, don’t get your panties in a twist about it.”

  Cassius stared at the old crone; his expression perplexed enough for me to laugh in delight. “This is just the way she is,” I chuckled softly. “She’s a bullish, annoying egotist with a complete lack of manners and even bigger lack of ability to care.” I could see a small grin starting to form on Anatha’s craggy face and pushed on. “But for all her flaws - and they are many - once you get past her hard exterior you realise that,” I eyed Anatha with a wicked grin, “there is a soft and loving centre deep within.”

  Anatha’s expression was one of pure shock. “Soft and loving?” she barked. “Where on earth did you get that impression?”

  I shrugged and indicated Cassius who was nodding as though he understood the deeper meaning of my words. Anatha turned pale as he stepped forward and turned his hand out for a shake.

  “I’m Cassius,” he said sweetly, “it’s an absolute pleasure to meet you…?”

  A pregnant pause.

  “...Anatha,” she finished somewhat disheartened as her eyes did their best to inflict the fear of god into him. Cassius took no notice, his chivalrous nature ensuring that he would disregard all attempts at driving him away in a vain effort to get Anatha to reveal her true self. Of course, he had no idea that there was no real soft centre to Anatha - she was granite through and through - but one has to have their little victories every now and again, even if Anatha’s eyes promised retribution.

  Once I judged her sufficiently annoyed by Cassius’s heart-warming attempts to get to know her I stepped in again. “Sorry to interrupt you two but we have a mission to get done. Anatha, what do you know?”

  If looks could melt I would have been a puddle on the floor.

  “The Sunfa clan are a tribe that few know even exist,” Anatha began in a bored voice. “They have lived in the Ellendar swamps for aeons and the swamps are inhospitable enough that only those who have reason to go there would do so. And unless that reason is to hunt swamp turtle then it’s safe to say that not many have been. Fortunately for you idiots, I have.”

  “So you hunted swamp turtle?”

  “Yes actually,” she mused. “Surprisingly tasty. But not the reason I went in the first place. The Ellendar swamps are a strange place. The land there is broken. Within and around it are remnants of some great war. Withered husks of metallic objects that the Sunfa use as shelter. When you arrive you will find that the ground is deceptive - what looks like
sturdy grass will inevitably be a bog that will attempt to drag you down to your doom. The trees are the most useful way of getting about, they are strong and sturdy enough to take the weight of most creatures and are the primary method of transportation that the Sunfa use.”

  Her eyes narrowed in recollection. “The closer you get to the clan, the more that the overgrown, vine encrusted things you will be climbing on will actually be metallic. They have a habit for collecting them, you see; anything metal is of value to the Sunfa.”

  “So these old objects,” I said slowly, organising my thoughts, “are we safe to think that they are from before the Cataclysm? That they might have some kind of active power device that can be used for the seraph detectors?”

  Anatha nodded her head, her expression suggesting she was stunned at how slowly my brain had collated this all together. “That is the theory, yes. When I was there they had a number of cube like devices, some of which faintly vibrated when touched. The Sunfa didn’t use them - not that I think much of anything that has been exposed to the humidity and toxicity of the swamp for that long would work anymore - but they collected them as they do all things of unknown origin. The Emperor believes that those cubes are a power source; one that can be used for any number of things but that yes, Calidan, can be used to power the seraph detectors.”

  “Seraph detectors?” Cassius asked.

  Anatha gave me an approving look. “Seems like you can keep secrets closer to your chest than I had thought boy. Good. Imperators should guard their tongues; even to their closest friends.”

  “You gave me fairly good reason not to talk,” I replied drily, trying not to see the hurt in Cassius’s eyes and failing miserably.

  Cassius looked at Anatha with renewed interest. “Who are you?” he asked, his expression intent.

  I looked at Anatha and she gave me a tiny nod. “Anatha is…one of the Emperor’s Great Heart bonded,” I said quietly. “She has been training Seya and myself to become better partners.” I could see that he had a host of questions and held up my hand to stop him. “I’ll explain everything properly later, but know that she is second to practically only the Emperor himself. In short there is a potential threat at the Academy. One that involves black seraph.”

  Cassius visibly paled at those words.

  “Anatha thinks that someone higher up at the Academy is being controlled. Apparently the citadel has a seraph detector, much like what Ash used to determine what types of seraph we each had, but it has ceased functioning. Hence the hunt for this power source.”

  Cassius looked like he had been on the receiving end of a boxing round with Adronicus; his eyes wide and distant. After a moment he shook his head, as though trying to dislodge cobwebs, and refocused on us.

  “Got it,” he said simply.

  “Got it?” I replied, surprise evident in my voice.

  “Yep, got it,” he answered again. “We’re most definitely going to be talking about this further, but for the time being the short version makes sense. So,” he turned his attention to Anatha who regarded him curiously, “how are we getting to Port Cambal with Seya?”

  “The same way Borza and I went last time,” Anatha replied, eyes twinkling. “Bribery.”

  ✽✽✽

  It turned out that the Imperator Academy had a number of sea captains in their payroll. Captains that ranged from those who were passionate about the Andurran empire to those with unscrupulous morals who wanted an extra pay check. Of course there were Imperator owned ships as well, however these were kept aside for missions of more import, such as war. Of course, the Academy had to know that the captain for each mission was trustworthy and so each was carefully vetted before being put on the payroll. This meant that the captain of the Twisted Sister, the ship that transported us to Port Cambal, was paid handsomely for his troubles and would swear blind that no large crate had ever passed through his hold that at times sounded like there was a giant cat inside.

  Anatha had mentioned bribery as the primary motivator, and I’m sure that a large part of it was, however I also know how the Academy works and examples must have been made of captains in the past who didn’t respect the secrecy of their Imperator cargo.

  Thankfully the trip was short. Seya made it well known how much she disliked the sea, her crate and life in general for the six hours we spent under sail. I was too busy throwing up over the side to agree. For a mountain boy from the arse end of nowhere I had at this point in my life seen a surprising number of things both amazing and terrifying, but the ocean was on a whole other level. It just went on and on, succeeding in making us feel infinitesimally small and insignificant. Powerless to do anything but cower in the face of its majesty and vomit up lunch, then breakfast, and then from the feel of it, my lower intestines.

  Suffice to say none of us were happy. Well, except for Anatha. Surprisingly she said that she would be joining us on the trip, that she had been given the orders to do so by the Emperor in an effort to continue my training and evaluate my skill. The vision of her wrinkled face flapping in the wind as she hung in the crow’s nest was something that I do not believe I or any of the dumbfounded crew will ever forget. Sadly Borza didn’t get to experience the same joy and instead spent the trip in a crate next to Seya’s.

  By the time we reached Port Cambal, Cassius and I were swearing off the sea forever; much to the amusement of the crew. We stumbled off the ship, waited for the crates to be delivered to a non-descript individual who Anatha seemed to know and then walked into the seediest, most disgusting and most brilliant city I have ever known.

  Port Cambal is a place of culture. Not refinement; its denizens would laugh in your face if you told them that, but wild and varied culture. I have often found that ports are natural melting pots of humanity, places where people from all over the world meet to trade, find work, eat, drink and be merry. Port Cambal is not the biggest port in the world but it is one of the most populated and as a consequence in a short walk through the cobbled roads Cassius and I encountered more cultures, languages and food types than we had the entirety of our lives to that point. To say it was eye opening would be an understatement.

  Strangely, having Anatha with us didn’t detract from our experience whatsoever. Perhaps surprisingly to those watching the ancient grandma, she seemed eager to live life to the fullest and revelled in haggling with market stall owners, holding sordid and lascivious conversations with prostitutes and giving cackling tirades with enough colourful language to quite figuratively make sailors blush. Like a tiny tornado of activities she pushed us forwards, encouraging us to try new foods, new drinks and to get into as much trouble as possible. One might think it strange that someone so close to the Emperor should be so keen to enjoy a place like Port Cambal, but looking back it is easy to see that she was closed off within the citadel - something she had repeatedly complained about - and was thoroughly enjoying the opportunities at her disposal. Which is why after four bars, three kisses, two brawls and a fight with a peacock I found myself stabbed.

  Only minorly stabbed mind you, but the bastard had promised me that he had never failed at Five Finger Fillet. Considering that the bastard was Cassius I couldn’t complain too much. His lack of a Great Heart bonded meant that alcohol hit him much harder than it did for me or Anatha (not that it stopped us from trying), but he had promised me, promised, that he could do it.

  I might still be a little salty about it.

  Thankfully I healed quickly so the knife wound that stuck my middle finger to the table beneath didn’t stay around for too long. It didn’t help that Anatha goaded Cassius into doing it again however, her expression one of pure joy as he drunkenly skittered his knife around, across and through my hand.

  Definitely still salty.

  It turned out that whilst Anatha had a passion for life that I have yet to be seen rivalled, she had a burning fire for gambling. Her need to roll the dice, show the cards, flip the bones and make inane wagers on practically anything put Rikol to shame. It was
the games of pure chance that brought her the most joy. I think it was due to that frightening brain of hers. She could outplay anyone - and I mean anyone - in the five gambling dens we visited in our one night in Port Cambal. Whatever the game, even if she had allegedly never played it before, if it involved strategy more than luck she wouldn’t lose. And she used all the winnings that she gathered through those games to fund our drinking and blow it on wild games of chance where the sheer anticipation and delight in her eyes made every loss worth it.

  I woke up the next morning in a plush silk bed with a bandaged hand and a throbbing headache. The room was draped in coloured hangings, a blinding kaleidoscope of colours for my jaded eyes.

  The mewling cub is awake I see.

  It took me a few moments to gather my thoughts. Morning Seya, I groaned eventually. Where are you?

  Anatha’s agent dropped Borza and myself off at a small copse of trees on the mainland and told us to wait there.

  I pursed my lips. And so where are you?

  A paw batted the window open and she flowed in like liquid. Enjoying the sights and smells of this place. Obviously.

  You know that if someone sees you then they’ll-

  -be happy to have seen the majesty of a creature like me, Seya finished with an air of finality. Besides, it isn’t like I came alone. And in a place like this who is going to believe rumours of giant animals and actually believe them? Practically every sailor comes ashore and starts drunkenly spouting stories of kraken and giant turtles.

  Giant turtles?

  I’m not saying they don’t exist. Quite possible that they do. But my point stands.

  True enough, I yawned. Did you have fun?