The Great Hearts II: A Game of Gods

by David Oliver

  You would think that would be it, that a one-armed man fighting an army of Imperators would lose in an instant, but the loss of his arm barely seemed to slow him down. Instead of his hand holding a whip, a torrent of black fire burst out of his arm, as though without his hand there as a channelling point he had lost the ability to focus it into a refined form. In a building filled with flammable objects - including its denizens - it proved an effective tool, setting everything within reach aflame with wild abandon.

  As I desperately made my way out of the grasping flames I saw the two Imps fall. The guardsmen abandoning all attempts to stay out of the flames and relying on their amour to see them through safely. It worked. With the threat of the flame gone the two Imps were not remotely a match for the four bodyguards and within seconds both their heads rolled onto the floor. There was a moment’s pause and then the corpses exploded in a torrent of black fire, engulfing at least three of the fighters that had just a second before stood triumphant.

  I looked back in time to see Penye’s shield take three blasts of energy from different Imperators and then crumble as a gasping Cassius sent one last burst of power through the blade. The cutting edge of Asp’s attack was nullified by the shield but still hit him hard enough to cause bones to break. I saw movement in the entrance hall - another obsidian clad soldier - and then she was there, her blade jutting from Penye’s jugular. Even with all the speed I could borrow from Seya I could never move that fast; it was as though she had blinked in and out of existence. She blurred and then stood in front of us all, raising a hand to ward us off. Penye gurgled, his eyes rolling towards the Emperor who lay in a pool of blood and a bloody smile filled his face before flame rolled up and out in a billowing wave; consuming everything that was in its path.

  Imperators flung shields up in a shimmering haze, roaring with pain and effort as they battled the encroaching wave of black fire. I saw Rikol lend his talents amongst a number of the remaining Imps, his shield far smaller and less defined than those of the Imperators but more than I could produce nonetheless. The heat grew and the smoke burned lungs, causing Imperator after Imperator to collapse, weakening the shield even further. The black wave built, growing ever taller and more powerful whilst the Imperators struggled to survive. Dimly, in the flame filled haze I saw Simone and Merowyn side by side each fighting to contain the blaze, Scythe, Cassius and Ella unconscious on the floor and Sophia attempting to drag them outside but flame was beginning to block the way. I saw Erethea not even attempt to rise as Thosalt, one of the senior Instructors at the Academy, raised a blade high above her. As my vision began to dim I even thought I saw something that should have been impossible.

  “Enough.”

  The voice was a clap of sound. It cut through the air as a physical force, staggering everyone still standing and a foreboding pressure enveloped everyone conscious enough to feel it, building more and more until it felt like a lead weight around my shoulders. Shields winked out against the force of the voice and the black flame roared forwards only to vanish out of existence in the next moment, leaving no trace behind. As the smoke began to rise all heads turned to the source of the voice and disbelieving eyes watched as the Emperor stood tall, the once gaping wound in his chest gone without a trace. His face like stone, he scanned the room before turning to where Thosalt struggled to regain his feet.

  “Leave her.”

  Thosalt turned and bowed, moving away from the wide eyed Erethea who was scrabbling to try and stand up.

  “How?” she gasped as the Emperor walked closer, his stride shaking the room, each footfall somehow showcasing his displeasure through sound.

  He stopped in front of her and the foreboding visage relaxed. Pressure lifted from the room and I found that I could breathe normally again. He crouched down in front of her face and locked his eyes on hers. One set calm and intense, the other panic stricken.

  “Because I willed it so,” he replied softly. “You disappoint me Erethea. The others I can forgive but you? You don’t contain any black seraph...which means you serve Him willingly.”

  She started to speak but he held up a finger to her lips. “Quiet. You and I are going to have a long conversation later. The first of many.” As he finished speaking Erethea stiffened like she had been struck by lightning, her eyes rolling into the back of her head before collapsing onto the floor.

  Standing once more, the Emperor turned to look at what remained of his room, his Imperators and his Academy. With a wave of his hand the smoke swirled out of the room in a funnel and dissipated, allowing those of us still able to draw breath freely. The female guard who had killed Penye approached and knelt before him, quickly joined by another who walked in from the entrance way.

  “Geryna,” the Emperor said, acknowledging the woman in front of him. “Excellent work with Penye.”

  Geryna, where do I know that name from? I pondered. As the tall man came and lowered his spear to the floor in order to bow it hit me. These are the twins! Andros and Geryna, the ones Tyrgan said were the Emperor’s best!

  “Apologies for our tardiness,” Andros said softly. “One of our other...guests did not want to go quietly.”

  “You arrived at the perfect moment,” the Emperor replied, inviting them both to stand up. “Or more accurately I should say that Geryna did. But then again,” he gave her a wink, “you always do.”

  As she stood, Geryna sheathed the twin sabres that she was carrying. One of them looked to have a number of stones encrusted in the hilt. The way she moved...I’ll bet anything that is a tyrant blade, I thought whilst coughing up the black smoke out of my lungs. But it has to be something more than just increased speed. Tyrgan had that and I was able to outmatch him. So what is it?

  A mystery for another day.

  Of the four guards who had assaulted the Imps, two were standing. Of the two on the floor one was definitely a corpse - from the scent in my nostrils the flame had managed to get inside his armour. The other was wheezing through burnt lungs. The Emperor walked amongst them speaking softly and knelt beside the wounded man, peeling aside his armour with minimal effort and placing a glowing green hand on his chest. Moments later the man’s wheezing eased and I could sense that the workings of his body were starting to get back to normal. He wasn’t fully healed - being able to heal back to full health in moments was meant to be a myth. One that Erethea had informed us over and over again. Even with my affinity for green seraph, forcing my body to heal at such a pace was meant to be inherently dangerous, something that Seya agreed with.

  But apparently not the Emperor.

  How did he do it? I wondered as he made his way over towards me, smiling his beatific smile. I’m sure she had him. How did he heal if unconscious? And that quickly? With a start I realised that the Emperor had been talking to me and I had missed it.

  “Calidan,” the Emperor said again. “How are you feeling?”

  “Better than my friends sir,” I replied, indicating the others who were still struggling to cast off the effects of the smoke in their lungs. My green seraph and Seya’s healing were making it easier and easier to breathe with every passing second. “And good to see you on your feet,” I added.

  His eye twitched, though whether with amusement or memory of a near mortal wound I didn’t care to guess. “Good to be on them,” he replied drily. Raising his voice he spoke again, “Doctors will be here momentarily. I’m afraid that not even I have enough seraph to treat this many wounded.”

  A lie, as it turned out. Though I can sympathise with wanting to keep his seraph ready in case Erethea wasn’t working alone. In an assassination it is always useful to have a backup for the backup plan.

  Before long a rush of feet echoed in the hallways and squads of the Emperor’s elite soldiers and white robed doctors flooded into the room, the doctors barely stopping to take in the smouldering view before heading to the nearest wounded, quickly identifying the most seriously injured from the dead and organising stretchers to take them to the infirmary
. Scythe, Cassius and the others were taken to be treated for smoke inhalation but I waved the doctors off, knowing that my wounds would heal fast enough on their own.

  Chapter 34

  Rewards

  “So, how do you think that went?” the Emperor asked, pouring three cups of water and sliding two to Anatha and myself.

  “About as well as it looked,” replied Anatha drily. “So terribly.”

  “He got me good, I’ll give Him that,” the Emperor mused. “But I wouldn’t say it went terribly.”

  Anatha’s eyes narrowed. “Three Imperators and eight Imps dead, another fifteen so wounded that they aren’t likely to recover to any semblance of normality and two of your guards killed. Oh, and you nearly died. So would you like to tell me how that isn’t terrible?”

  “Because I am still here,” he replied simply. “Not to mention that we’ve uncovered that the Enemy doesn’t just rely on control via black seraph - he must have known that at some point I would root out those who were corrupted - and removed at least one major player within the Academy. For that, I would say that the cost was worth it.”

  “She had the drop on you,” insisted Anatha. “If her attack had been any more powerful then you could have-”

  “-I assure you that her attack was powerful enough,” the Emperor replied, rubbing a hand over his chest. He had taken off the broken armour and now wore a silk shirt in its place. He had changed in front of us in the study, as though to prove that he was unhurt, and all that remained of what should have been a gaping hole in his chest was a tiny scar. “I just have more tricks up my sleeve than she could account for.”

  Her voice turning more hostile than I could account for Anatha spoke again, “I know full well the cost of what happened here today Melius, it isn’t something that you should be taking lightly.”

  The Emperor fixed her with an outwardly pleasant gaze that held steel undertones. “I allow you many liberties, Anatha but you presume too much. What is done is done. Instead of arguing as to how it was achieved you should better spend your time looking to the future.” The warning in his voice was unmistakable and the temperature seemed to plummet as Anatha fought to hold his gaze. After what seemed like a lifetime she broke and looked away, grief evident in her features.

  I held my breath, not wanting to be the focus of the Emperor’s ire. Anatha’s reaction seemed overblown to me - yes the Emperor had been delivered a seemingly mortal wound but he was here and seemingly fine, surely Anatha should be happy rather than distraught? These days I know full well the cause of her grief and I share in her sorrow.

  Thankfully when the Emperor turned to me his eyes no longer held any of the ice that they had when speaking with Anatha. Instead he gave me a warm smile and an approving nod.

  “Well done Calidan,” he reverberated. “That was a difficult mission but you and Cassius performed admirably.”

  “We didn’t really do much,” I muttered, abashed.

  “Nonsense,” he replied, “you held off Penye and did it without receiving significant injuries. That allowed my guards to close and remove him from the equation. Without you and Cassius stepping in it is likely that there would have been much more death.”

  I coloured slightly at his words, praise from the Emperor was a high thing indeed. “Cassius deserves the praise, his use of Asp kept me alive. All I managed to do was succeed in shattering my sword,” I said, tapping the broken hilt that lay in my sheath forlornly.

  “Yes, his ability to wield Asp is very impressive, he certainly saved many lives with what he has learnt - I’m sure Adronicus will be proud,” he replied. “As for your sword, I’m sure that something can be arranged, courtesy of myself of course.”

  I started to fluster, unused to gifts and he held up his hand to stop me. “I reward those who serve me well Calidan, you broke your sword going up against someone that by rights you should not have survived against. Particularly with the powers that the black seraph had provided Penye. Your knowledge of seraph is not remotely good enough to break through a master’s shield, even with your prestigious strength, so it was unsurprising that your blade failed. I am just glad that you did not.”

  “What about the others?” I asked suddenly.

  “Others?”

  I gestured wildly. “The other Imps and Imperators! Those that were hurt during this. What will you tell them?”

  “It’s safe to say that the Academy will be under even more scrutiny from this day forward,” the Emperor replied after a moment’s thought. “Complacency is what allowed someone like Erethea to get into the position that she was in. Any budding Imp brought in will have to be thoroughly questioned until all senior authority members are satisfied. Imperators will ever be the trickier proposition however.” He rubbed his chin in thought. “I assumed that my Imperators would never turn against me due to the loyalty that I believed I instilled. I wholeheartedly believed that the only way that they could be turned would be through use of black seraph.” He chuckled softly to himself. “That overconfidence nearly got me killed today.”

  Turning back to me he gave a wink. “Just goes to show Calidan, that you’re never too old to learn something new. I thought I was untouchable in my citadel and dared Him to prove otherwise. He managed it and through a method I had thought impossible; brilliantly done really, though He did lose a particularly well-placed tool in today’s attempt.”

  I couldn’t hold it any longer. With a voice trembling in a mixture of frustration and excitement I blurted out, “Who is this enemy? You act as if you know him. What is he to you?”

  The Emperor looked at me in mild surprise, as though I had asked something that he hadn’t even considered. He considered me for some time, pursing his lips in thought before shaking his head. “No, not yet Calidan. You know many secrets and many things, but this is not one that should be divulged just yet. Just know that there is one foe above all others that is a threat to this Empire. He - for the threat is a man, although more than a man in truth - has been known to me for a long time. Longer than anyone in fact. When you know someone for that long, even as an enemy, you begin to understand them; they become dear to you in some strange fashion.” He gave a wry grin and shook his head again. “No, no more on that subject for the time being. When you’re an Imperator then we can consider talking further about this. Not until then.”

  I nodded and sat back, taking a long drink of water. It tasted delicious through my smoke-caked throat. “So what now?”

  “Now?” he rumbled. “Now you go back to the Academy and continue your training. I’m going to need you to train hard and learn fast Calidan, I need you now more than ever before.”

  Anatha coughed into her cup at that and looked at the Emperor sharply but he ignored her, continuing unabated, “Rest assured that changes will be made to mitigate the threat of the Enemy. Some of these changes you will see, others will be enacted in secret and only known to those that need to know.” His gaze became more grave as he continued, “The Academy will need to become more secretive than ever. Those that train there will have to be under constant watch. If you notice anything different about your fellow Imps and in due course Imperators you will need to let it be known without raising suspicion. Understood?”

  I nodded, mind filling with dark thoughts. I didn’t notice anything untoward about Erethea so how would I know? Anyone could be working for the Enemy.

  The Emperor must have noticed the discomfort on my face for he stood and nodded towards the door. “Come,” he reverberated. “Let’s go get you something to fit your scabbard and then get you back to the Academy. I’m sure that you are eager to check on your friends.”

  Nodding, I joined him and together we left a scowling Anatha in the study. As soon as we left the room four guards fell into place around the Emperor - and by extension, me - and we walked around the circumference of the citadel before coming to a stop before a thick metal door. The two guards on either side of the armoury saluted and quickly moved to open the door, its we
ll-oiled hinges allowing it to swing silently open. The guards checked the room and then filed out to stand aside, protecting the Emperor from all external threats. The Emperor gestured for me to enter and I gasped in awe as I stepped inside.

  Row after row of weapons were stacked throughout the room. Weapons of every different type imaginable and of such quality as to make Adronicus explode with delight.

  “Welcome,” the Emperor said jovially as my head span, “to my personal collection.”

  “This...this isn’t the main armoury?” I gasped, trying to take it all in.

  “For the citadel?” he scoffed. “Of course not. That armoury is next to the barracks. It would be a foolish move to keep your guards separated from their weapons. This is just my personal collection of items that I have collected over the years. Nothing too outlandish mind, all those weapons like Asp and the tyrant blades that I know you have become familiar with are kept in a more secure location.”

  The armoury in the Emperor’s citadel isn’t secure? I wondered idly as my gaze scanned the room. A series of great axes caught my eye; my experiences with the Meredothians having given me a taste of what I could accomplish with one.

  The Emperor caught my gaze and nodded approvingly, moving to run his hand along the long rack of double-bladed weapons. “Tasul, Seren, Afun, Illioth, Aeona,” he murmured as he touched the blades. Glancing up he gave a small smile. “Each of these are named blades and would serve you as well as they have served me.”

  “S-served you?” I stuttered, shocked. “What do you mean?”