Empire of Rust

by Chambers, V. J.

  Gabriel leaned out of the carriage and spoke to the driver.

  Leah held her breath, waiting.

  And then the carriage started to move, carrying her and her husband off through the night, carrying her to see Nathaniel again, the only man she’d ever loved.

  She was worried that Gabriel would want to talk the whole time they were traveling, but once they were out of the city, he went silent, looking out the window and mostly ignoring her, which was typical. He didn’t usually pay much attention to her.

  She gazed out the window too, and she thought about Nathaniel. She couldn’t wait to see him.

  The first time she’d seen him, it had been from afar. He and his group of players and singers had come through to do a show in the city. She heard about it from one of the other girls who worked with her at the tavern, and she begged her father to be allowed to go. He had been hesitant, asking all kinds of questions about chaperones—as if that really mattered to a girl of her station, anyway—but eventually, he’d relented when he found out that her friend’s maiden aunt would be along.

  The show was marvelous. At first there had been the typical singing and playing of ballads and a short play about a stupid, cuckolded husband and his scheming wife. Those things weren’t anything special. She’d seen them before. But then the final portion of the show began. The magic show.

  By that point of the night, it was dark outside. The stars twinkled overhead, and the makeshift stage in the square was only made of shadows. A voice rang out, “Prepare to be amazed and dazzled. Prepare to see things that you have never seen before. Prepare for Nathaniel the Magnificent, the illustrious magician.”

  Leah remembered wondering how they were going to see any kind of magic when it was so dark outside.

  But then the sparks burst forth—an array of crackling and brilliance. The sparks danced in an arc between his hands—he held something there that caught the sparks or made them or stored them or… she didn’t understand how it worked.

  But she remembered the first time she saw his face, illuminated in that brightness. He was beautiful.

  She never thought she’d see him again, of course. He was a traveling gypsy. They came and went as they pleased, and they were never in one place for long.

  But the following day, everyone was talking about him. There were whispers that this man was something special, something more than just a traveling magician. The holy men always claimed that the people would not suffer forever. They said that they had lived past the apocalypse, past the end of the world, and that they currently lived in a time called the Tribulation, where they were all tested and made to suffer until God saw fit to send back his Son to bring about a new heavens and a new earth. The Son would drive away the revenants and tear down the fences. Then they would all live in paradise, heaven on earth.

  And there was murmuring that Nathaniel was the Son.

  Of course, other people said it was heresy. Why would God send back his Son as a bastard gypsy? That hardly made sense, did it?

  And others were always quick to point out that God had sent his son the first time as a carpenter, with a manger for a cradle. “God blesses the humble,” someone would intone.

  Leah thought it was all nonsense. She didn’t believe in God, and she certainly didn’t believe in some messiah, some savior, come to drive away the revenants. No, this Nathaniel was a man. Just a man. A beautiful, intriguing man, but there was nothing more to it than that. And she didn’t think she’d ever see him again.

  So, she was surprised and pleased when he appeared at the tavern where she was working the following day. He was recognized almost immediately, and there was a crowd around him, asking him to show them more magic, to perform miracles and heal the sick, turn water into wine.

  Nathaniel had laughed all of it off, saying that they were wrong. It wasn’t he who would save them, it was the people themselves. And it wasn’t the revenants that they needed to fear, it was the emperor. “Who keeps you living in squalor while he dines on the choicest meats and sleeps on the finest sheets? The emperor, that’s who.”

  And the people began to mutter amongst themselves that it was true. It didn’t take much to stir up unrest amongst the common people in the capital. Their lives were short and bitter and hard, and they barely knew a moment’s happiness. Now that Leah had lived in the mansion, she was even more certain that there was no need for the vast division between the rich and the poor.

  Before long, the people were stirred up in a different direction. They were talking about how badly they were treated, how hard their lives were, and how much things needed to change.

  Leah watched it all, but she never fell under Nathaniel’s spell. She filled his drink, and she treated him like any other customer. She was impressed with him, of that there was no doubt. But she wasn’t going to fawn over him or worship him. He was just a man.

  Nathaniel seemed to notice that she wasn’t like the others. She didn’t quake in his presence or break into hysterical tears of joy. He stayed until the tavern closed. And when she kicked out all the other regulars, she didn’t kick him out, and the tavern owner didn’t object.

  They talked while she cleaned up and went about her closing-time business.

  And then they left together—just the two of them alone in the dark streets of Sarrasarra.

  She’d never been alone like that with a man before.

  She’d been warned, of course, that men only wanted one thing, and that she had to guard her virtue against an onslaught.

  But nothing happened that first night. That night they just talked. He walked her back to her house. Before she went inside, he reached out and touched her cheek, and it was the softest, sweetest caress she’d ever felt.

  She probably fell for him at that moment. She already admired him and thought he was attractive. But with that soft touch, he stole her heart.

  After that, it didn’t matter. She would have done whatever he wanted.

  And so, of course, her virtue didn’t last much longer, not against such strong feelings. She was letting him kiss her the second time she saw him. And the third time she saw him, the kissing kept going and going until she was out of her skirts and it was just… happening. After that, it didn’t seem as if she could really say no. Once her virtue was gone, it didn’t matter, did it? It was a one-shot deal. Now that she was no longer a virgin, she figured that she could do what she pleased from now on.

  And certainly she knew that she was taking a risk, because Nathaniel wasn’t legally bound to her. But she wasn’t worried. Nathaniel had told her that she could run away with him. She could come with the gypsies and perform on the road. He thought she would make a fine actress or singer. But what she wanted was to learn to do the same magic that he did. She wanted to control the sparks.

  That was her plan, to follow Nathaniel on the road, and to become a magician herself. She and Nathaniel would be together, and in love, and she’d be free.

  It would have worked out perfectly if it hadn’t been for Gabriel.

  She glanced at him across the carriage, and she felt her anger bubbling up.

  Gabriel had asked Nathaniel and the others to perform in the mansion, and they’d taken him up on it. She’d met Nathaniel after the first performance, and he’d been almost giddy, going on about how impressed he was with the emperor’s son.

  It had confused her, because up until now, Nathaniel had never had a good word to say about the emperor or the government. They were all oppressors, or so she had thought. She had thought the only reason that Nathaniel and the others were performing in the mansion was to get a good look inside.

  By now she knew the truth. Nathaniel wasn’t just a magician, and the others weren’t just players. They were planning a revolution. They were planning on changing the world.

  And Leah wanted to help.

  It would have all gone swimmingly if Gabriel hadn’t interfered. They would have left the capital and traveled north, performing all the way. When she realize
d that she was pregnant, she would have been with Nathaniel, and he would have been excited at the prospect of the two of them starting a family together. He’d already told her that he wanted her with him always. He’d told her how much he cared about her and how much he loved her. So, she knew he would have welcomed the news of a baby.

  But all of it had been spoiled, because Nathaniel and the others had been locked up in the dungeons.

  She’d been terrified when she heard the news, and she spent days figuring out a way to get in to the mansion to see Nathaniel. By then, she knew about the baby, and she needed to let him know. She also wanted to help any way that she could. She wanted to find a way to free him. Eventually, she’d managed to work it out with some of the maids that worked there. They would let her in, and they would take her to the steps that led to the dungeons.

  But it had all gone wrong, because there had been revenants when she got into the mansion. People running and screaming everywhere. Leah had barely escaped with her life.

  Then she found out that Nathaniel and the others had escaped and run away. They’d left her behind.

  She told herself that it was only because they were in too much danger to come and get her. She didn’t blame Nathaniel for abandoning her. After all, she’d rather him alive than both of them dying together.

  But it did leave her with quite a problem. Because now she was pregnant and alone, and she didn’t know what she could do. She knew there was an herb that women sometimes brewed when they were with child. Drinking the brew could bring on her bleeding and rid herself of the problem.

  She agonized over it, because she had such dreams about the small life growing within her. She had thought about holding the baby in her arms, its tiny hand closing around her finger.

  But all of her dreams also involved Nathaniel in some way, and now he was gone.

  Without Nathaniel, her future was bleak.

  She could hide the child growing within her for some time but not forever. When it was discovered, she’d be turned out of the city. They’d send her out through the gate, and she’d travel the road north. That area was clear of revenants for the most part. There were fences up along the roads—ones made of barbed wire. But the fences were old and rusted in places, and the revenants sometimes made their way through them.

  She’d be all alone and pregnant, forced to fend for herself. If she wasn’t eaten by revenants, she’d probably starve to death.

  Her only chance would be to make it north and find some traveling band of gypsies, hope they would take her in. But she didn’t know where they were, and she didn’t know how she’d make it there.

  The way she figured it, she could keep the baby and wait. And then both of them would most likely die out in the wilderness. Or she could brew the tea and bleed the baby away. And then she could continue her life here, no one the wiser. At least this way, one of them got to live.

  Maybe it wasn’t fair. Maybe it was even wrong. She knew what the holy men would think of it.

  But damn the holy men. They’d never been where she was, staring the prospect of death in the face. And maybe it wasn’t fair to the baby—it certainly didn’t deserve this. It hadn’t asked to be conceived in the first place. Surely, it wanted to live as well.

  But… well, it wasn’t likely that the baby would live in any case. It was already dead, now that Nathaniel was gone.

  So, after agonizing over it for days, she climbed over the wall on the east side of the city in the place where she had heard that the herb grew. She was in danger from revenants out here, of course, but she hoped to stay clear of them. She had a knife to ward them off.

  And it turned out that she didn’t see any. She found the herb fairly quickly, and she was stuffing it into her pouch when she heard an approaching horse.

  She looked up to see Gabriel coming. She recognized him, of course. Everyone in the capital knew the emperor’s son.

  He rode up to her and dismounted. “What are you doing outside the wall? Don’t you know it’s dangerous?”

  “I’m climbing back over now,” she said. She wasn’t about to tell him about the herb. She knew that there was a punishment for using it.

  But Gabriel had seen her hiding it away, and he seized her pouch to look inside. He pulled out the herb and fingered it. He raised his gaze to hers slowly. “Does this mean you’re pregnant?”

  She snatched back the pouch. “Not me, sir. I swear. I was getting it for a friend.”

  He raised his eyebrows. “Risking the revenants for a friend? Somehow, I doubt that.”

  She covered her face with her hands. “Please. Please don’t tell anyone.” This was horrible. He’d taken Nathaniel from her, and now he was ruining this too.

  “I promise I won’t,” he said. “Will you be honest with me now? Are you pregnant?”

  She didn’t answer, just refused to meet his gaze.

  “Look,” said Gabriel. “It’s none of my business, of course, but would you consider not using this herb?”

  She did look up then. She was angry. “I don’t have any other options, or I wouldn’t be doing this.”

  “Right,” said Gabriel. “Well, maybe I could help with. Maybe we could help each other, actually. It would really be a huge favor to me if you could just stay pregnant.”

  And so, that was how it all happened. She did Gabriel his favor. She kept the child and became his wife. She didn’t really like Gabriel. He was rather dull, she thought. Of course, He’d been kind to her. It wasn’t as if she wasn’t grateful. She was. Very grateful. Without Gabriel, she would have ended up brewing her tea and ridding herself of the baby entirely. He’d saved her.

  But all she’d wanted for some time was to be with Nathaniel. And now it was happening. Nothing could be better than that.

  * * *

  Michal stood in the doorway of her brother Gabriel’s study. Not his true study, the one full of books and a laboratory, but the one he’d inherited from their father. The emperor’s study. She had expected to see Gabriel in there, but instead, she found her uncle Matthew sprawled out on the desk, snoring.

  Michal cleared her throat. “Excuse me.”

  Matthew started, mid-snore. He raised his head and wiped drool from his mouth. “Why, if it isn’t Michal. How’s my little niece?”

  She glared at him. “Why are you in here? Where’s Gabriel?”

  He squared his shoulders. “The emperor has been called away on business, and he’s left me in charge in his stead.”

  “What?” Michal couldn’t believe this. “What business?”

  “I’m afraid I don’t know. He didn’t say.”

  She fumed. “He’s gone to see those gypsies, hasn’t he?”

  “He didn’t say anything about gypsies, my dear. Really, that would be an odd thing for an emperor to do, wouldn’t it? Negotiate with gypsies? For what?”

  “He said he was negotiating?”

  “He did.”

  She folded her arms over her chest. “That bootless churl.” This couldn’t be happening. She thought that when she’d last spoken to Gabriel, she’d made herself perfectly clear. He couldn’t negotiate with gypsies, and he’d have to let the whole thing go.

  The gypsies had her brother’s… well, she didn’t know what to call him. Gabriel had called him a friend, but she knew that the man was more than a friend. She supposed he might be properly called a lover.

  At any rate, this man, this Ezekiel, had been taken by the gypsies, and now they were demanding that Gabriel trade Darius, the necromancer and Michal’s husband, for Ezekiel.

  She’d told Gabriel that was unacceptable, but he didn’t seem to have gotten the message.

  “Now, now,” said her uncle. “I’m sure you know that it’s not wise to be insulting the emperor.”

  “I don’t care,” said Michal. “He’s lost his mind. He can’t do this. He can’t treat my husband like a servant—like livestock. It’s obscene, and I won’t let him get away with this.”

  Matthew gave h
er a pained look. “Really, please stop it. I don’t want to have to do something to reprimand you. I’d much rather go back to sleep. I’ve got a bit of a headache, you see.”

  She rolled her eyes. It was well-known that her uncle was a drunk. “Goodbye, Uncle Matthew.” She swept out of the study and hurried up the hallway.

  Well. This couldn’t happen, and she was going to have to find some way to stop it.

  It was simple, really. If Gabriel tried to force Darius to be traded to the gypsies, then Darius would oppose him. Darius could call forth revenants to do his bidding. He would only need to threaten Gabriel with them before Gabriel would see that he couldn’t order Darius to do anything.

  Of course, by then Darius would have opposed the emperor, and that was treason. So, then he’d be sentenced to death.

  But how would that sentence be carried out? Darius could call an army of revenants to himself. Darius could fend off as many men as they wanted to throw at him. His revenants would never get tired, and they could keep moving even if they’d been stabbed—as long as it wasn’t in the head. He was clearly in a position of power.

  She turned the corner and stopped walking as the full force of what she was thinking crashed down on her.

  There was no one else in the empire that could oppose Darius. He was the only necromancer. He was… he was so very, very powerful.

  She swallowed. If Darius had to oppose the emperor, then he wouldn’t be left with any choice except fighting.

  Maybe… maybe it would be easier to go on the offensive instead of the defensive. Maybe Darius should strike before Gabriel demanded something of him he wouldn’t give. Less lives might be lost that way. In fact, if it was done right, maybe no lives would be lost at all.

  She took off down the hallway again. She had to find Darius. She had something that she needed to discuss with him.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Because they’d left in the middle of the night, Leah and Gabriel reached the agreed-upon negotiation point midmorning, and the gypsies hadn’t arrived yet. Leah was disappointed. She’d stayed awake the whole time in anticipation of seeing Nathaniel. Now, she had to wait.