‘What?’ Aurelia said, confused. ‘How?’
‘Do you remember when we first met?’
Aurelia nodded. Chrysaora had been a suspicious warrior, anxious among the nobles of the palace, uncomfortable and out of her element. Aurelia surmised that was why she seemed so relaxed now, on the road, travelling with refugees. Just like before they’d reached Argentor.
‘You realised quickly,’ said Chrysaora, ‘that I do not trust those in power, people with authority over others. You offered me this role, but you said I could leave at any moment if you did not prove worthy. Many times I had to remind you of your role, many times I helped you. But in the end you never intended me harm, never treated me like an inferior. You did not abandon your task. Or these people.’ She gestured to the caravan ambling through the rocky pass.
‘Even though you encouraged me to if I remember.’
‘I might have tested you,’ said Chrysaora, with a wry glance. ‘But you never ran. You evacuated an entire city. You stood your ground, and we killed Medusi in their thousands.
‘You have proved a worthy Empress.’
The tears fighting to emerge, won. ‘Thank you, Chrys.’ It was Chrys or Saora, never both together.
‘When you are well, do me the honour of taking my solemn oath to protect you.’
‘You don’t need to do that,’ said Aurelia.
‘I do.’
‘You have already been everything I could have asked of a bodyguard.’
‘I want it to be official. You are my Empress now.’ She glanced at the procession ahead. ‘I think you may find an awful lot of others who feel the same.’
Aurelia couldn’t process that just yet. Instead she thought back to what Chrysaora had done for her. ‘You killed Faibryn,’ she said quietly, ‘but the city was being overrun. How did you get me out? And Nepheli, she was there.’
‘Let’s find Nepheli before we go into all that,’ said Chrysaora. She looked up at the darkening sky. ‘Evening approaches. They’ll be calling a halt soon. We can catch up to them on that ridge. I know that’s where the leaders will camp.’
*
Dusk leant an air of magic to the scenery. As Aurelia followed Chrysaora on foot up to the ridge overlooking the trail, she gazed at the scene below her. Countless campfires glowed between the clefts of the outcrops they wound through, like fireflies in the distance, each one flickering and dancing, each one representing five, ten, twenty people, an entire city on the move. She swallowed, not trusting herself when looking at the results of her endeavours.
She had saved close to a hundred thousand people’s lives. Looking at them spread out below her was enough to set off tears again.
‘You did that,’ said Chrysaora, beside her.
‘I know. Be quiet,’ Aurelia whispered back.
She could see the herd of Luacha that she had drafted into the army with cannon strapped to their backs, now repurposed as tireless pack creatures. They were domestic in some ways, happy to aid humans, but were also fiercely individual. The one she rode into battle, into the city, and had been slumped over for the best part of a week, had imprinted on her like a baby duckling and followed her around even now that she was steady on her feet.
She would need to give it a name. Even now it trailed after her up the incline at a respectful distance, keeping a watchful eye on her. With Chrysaora there as well, Aurelia felt truly safe for the first time in months.
The campfire atop the ridge seemed quiet, but came alive when those sitting around it saw her approach. Nepheli and Lucinda jumped to their feet and bounded over to her, Nepheli embracing her again like an old friend with no history of systematic character assassination. Lucinda beckoned them over to sit in her place by the fire, then coaxed the taciturn Ambler to stand watch just a little way beyond the circle of firelight. He eventually agreed with much noisy argument.
Nepheli’s father was there, out of uniform for the evening, resting his bare legs near the warmth of the flames, his trousers rolled up. The rest of Nepheli’s group were in attendance, the women who had made the evacuation possible. Aurelia supposed she still had bridges to build there, but at least no one outwardly wished her any ill will.
Once everyone had been introduced and had wished her a quick recovery, Aurelia said, ‘Chrys promised me an explanation, but only once you were here to help.’ She looked at Nepheli. ‘How did we get out of the city?’
Nepheli looked sheepish for a moment. ‘I stupidly went back to look for stragglers, of which there were none, but Chrys can tell it better.’
Chrysaora leaned in close to the flames. They all knew Faibryn’s fate, so she began just afterward. ‘I healed Aurelia’s wounds, but she lost consciousness through lack of blood. With Nepheli’s aid, we managed to lift her out of the suite and down the main staircase where we found her Luacha, waiting patiently for his mistress.’ Chrys paused as the Luacha barked, announcing his presence. He knew they were talking about him. They were clearly far more intelligent than Aurelia had credited. ‘Once she was secure on his back we left the palace. The city must have been half filled with Medusi. Many of my explosive traps had gone off by this point. But it was just Medusi, any thralls were yet to find their way to the centre. We found an abandoned fishing boat, one big enough for our friend here, and rowed across the Sarpenti. There were Medusi crossing the river behind us, hot on our trail.’
‘We had to run,’ said Nepheli taking up the story. ‘We made it through the streets on the north side but once we were out of the protection of the buildings, the Medusi, they just went for us. We dashed for the North gate, but we didn’t make it. I shouted to the Luacha and Overlords thank him, he stretched out his wings, broke the saddle on his back. We pulled Aurelia off and he swept us in under those thick wings. Just in time.’
‘The Medusi washed over him,’ said Chrysaora. ‘I thought we were dead. Until then I hadn’t known Luacha were resistant to Medusi stings. Nepheli saved us.’
‘You won’t believe who told me?’ Nepheli said.
‘Faibryn,’ said Aurelia. In one of his unguarded moments.
Nepheli smiled, but it was tinged with sadness. She nodded.
‘That Luacha even ate a Medusi,’ said Chrysaora. ‘Eventually they gave up attacking the immoveable and increasingly dangerous rock and drifted back towards the city seeking easier prey. When the coast was clear we emerged and reached the northern gate house. It was still open.’
‘That was me,’ said Lucinda, grinning. ‘I was taking the last group through, but I left the gate ajar for you. I knew you’d make it.’
Aurelia smiled. ‘You’ll never guess who told me about the gate house, or that it still opened, or where it went?’
‘Faibryn,’ said Nepheli.
Aurelia glanced at her. There was a mutual pain they shared.
Somewhere inside her heart, Aurelia knew she would always hold a special place in her heart for the man Faibryn had been in his unguarded moments. The friendly teacher, the academic. The manservant Marcus. His memory would always be marked with betrayal, but she would try to remember the positives.
‘The end is simple,’ said Chrysaora. ‘We locked the gate, and then followed the route Aurelia had planned with everyone. It is not hard to catch up to a city on the move, even one where the leaders had two days head start. We caught Lucinda in a matter of hours.’
‘And how long has it been,’ asked Aurelia.
‘Oh, seven days since the battle in the valley,’ said Lucinda.
‘Do we know anything of the city?’
‘I have a couple of scouts far behind.’ She was the army’s logistics officer after all. Aurelia found she wasn’t surprised. They would need capable people like Lucinda in the coming months. ‘They report Argentor is a burnt-out husk. The fires were visible for miles and raged for at least two days.’
That news subdued the jovial atmosphere. They had survived, but it was so clear that had they been just a day slower or less organised, the citizens of Argento
r would have been thralled or caught in an inferno.
But that was the point, wasn’t it? Aurelia didn’t want to lose the magical mood. ‘Argentor is its people,’ she said, ‘not stone and mortar. Homes can be built again, but lives are lost forever.’
General Opetreia was the one to nod and agree. ‘You are right of course,’ he said. ‘Argentor will live on in its citizens, however far away we roam.’
‘Home is where you decide it is,’ said Nepheli, trying to join in with sagely wisdom of her own.
‘I have a question for you,’ said Opetreia, addressing Aurelia.
Aurelia turned to him across the fire.
‘Well, two questions actually. They have been hanging over us this long week of travel, while you lay healing on the back of your Luacha. But they must be answered, and soon, if we are to have any hope of survival out here, considering what’s behind us.’
He had succeeded in claiming the attention of the whole group. Aurelia was certain that had been his intention, injecting gravitas into his questions by announcing them as questions. He is probably a gifted orator, she thought, far happier to ascribe good traits on him now that he wasn’t sentencing her to death. ‘Well, please don’t keep us waiting.’
‘Our Duke is dead. His heirs are gone – Laigus dead, Crescen banished, and Faibryn the traitor, dead also. The less said about him the better. The point is our nation's royal line is ended. This procession, this city on the move, needs leadership.’
‘What’s the question?’ she asked, but she knew full well.
‘I think I speak for everyone here, when I say we want you to lead us.’ He raised his hands for those around the fire to make themselves known. Aurelia watched. She saw Lucinda turn to her and nod excitedly, saw the women of the court, Evangeline, Hyacinth, even Meredith, look to her expectantly.
She knew Chrysaora’s mind, but it was heartening to turn to Nepheli and see the only other woman who could take control of this rabble if she desired to, agree emphatically. ‘Darling, you simply can’t refuse.’
‘Is there no one else?’ Aurelia asked. ‘No one more suited, no other hereditary lines more deserving?’
‘I can think of none more qualified at this time,’ said Opetreia. Aurelia remembered his opinion of her when they first met, a wealth chaser, looking to marry into a rich dynasty after her own collapsed. He’d called her scum, an enemy leader. How he had changed his tune, how they all had. ‘I want to name you Empress again.’
‘Thank you, General. I know how much that means.’
‘Will you do it?’ asked Nepheli.
The Luacha bellowed at that, adding his opinion to the conversation. Aurelia took it as support and that she’d be a fool to refuse.
‘I will,’ she said, nodding. ‘I will lead this new nation.’
‘Fantastic! We will spread the word,’ said Nepheli. ‘If it comes from us, there won’t be any disagreement, right ladies?’
‘What’s the second question?’ asked Aurelia looking at Opetreia again, although she thought she knew.
He sat forward. ‘The second relied on the first, Empress. Your plan when you laid it out for us, was to evacuate the people of the city through the long-closed north gate. But what comes next? The question is, where are you taking us?’
Aurelia felt confident to answer, even if there was mystery ahead. ‘There is a rich history to the road we are travelling. It was once a silk road between Argentor and the ancient northern lands of Andromeda. Trade and commerce were plentiful. We must get these people to safety, we must find somewhere to found a new city, a new nation. A place where we can mount a proper defence and from which to stage a real counter offensive.’ She left out Faibryn’s assertion that it was the birthplace of Medusi. It may be true, but it made little difference to the decision and would only worry her people. She smiled. Her people.
Opetreia frowned. ‘I recall the reason the gate was shut had to do with a rampant disease that swept through the people of Andromeda.’
‘The plague will be long gone.’
‘That may be true, but what do you expect to find? Not people, I’d wager.’
‘We will have to take that little on faith,’ said Aurelia. ‘I will not try to lie to you. We do not know what is ahead of us. But we know all too well what is behind us. I will lead you to safety, that I promise. But even I don’t know what that will look like.’
Her words met silence, but not one heavy or awkward. Instead, she felt their wordless assent, was buoyed by their support. She had truly started something here. She had people who trusted her. Now she just needed to create that nation.
A stranger cleared their throat behind her, an old man’s stern cough. It was Ennius. He crept into the firelight into the gap where no one sat, followed by another robed figure. Aurelia smiled in greeting.
‘Empress.’ He bowed. ‘If there is anyone you need to help you now, it’s the founder of the Premiers.’
The second figure stepped forward and removed the cowl from their head. The soft leather skin of Naus’ face was revealed. Aurelia choked back a shocked exclamation.
‘Naus!’ she breathed.
Chrysaora stood and embraced the old nomad. ‘I have missed you, old man,’ she said, clapping arms around him.
When freed again, Naus said, ‘I thought to catch you while you were still in Argentor, see the Citadel I helped build.’ He didn’t need to say anything else.
Aurelia took her turn embracing the travelling swordsman. ‘I must talk to you, in private,’ she said. Naus nodded and they moved a little way from the fire. Chrysaora joined them as they stopped in the shadow of the watchful Luacha.
‘I saw you die!’ said Aurelia, punctuating the word by hitting him in the shoulder.
‘What, die? How? I’m sure I would have known about it?’
‘Do you remember I told you and Totelun that Cassandra was seeing visions of the future?’ He nodded again, his furry eyebrows creased. ‘I have been seeing them also, when they become too intense, sometimes they spill over across our bond. I see them as nightmares, awful premonitions. For weeks I have been seeing a figure approaching the throne of Noctiluca. Each night the vision grew in clarity and length, until it became as real as you and I standing here. Only when I was unconscious for an extended period did I see the entirety of the vision.’
‘What happened?’
‘The third son of the Duke, Faibryn Argentor stabbed me with an Iruki venom-coated dagger. Chrysaora saved my life and ended his. I blacked out.’
‘I knew there was a reason I brought you along,’ said Naus, smiling to Chrysaora. ‘I meant what happened in the vision?’
‘Oh, well, you confronted Noctiluca in Anthrom’s old throne room under Theris palace. You told her everything you had found out about her in the Temple of the Order. You told her,’ she whispered here, ‘you told her that you knew she was Eleutheria, which I have no idea how to deal with.’
The look on Naus’ face said that information clinched it; he believed her.
‘How did I die?’ he asked.
‘She did not take kindly to your accusations. When you revealed you were there to kill her, she made you turn your sword on yourself. It was horrific, I can’t even explain.’
‘Her coercion magic,’ he said, mulling it over. He noticed her tears. ‘Come now. It didn’t happen.’ He wiped at her cheeks with his sleeve. ‘I’m alive and healthy.’ He embraced her again, then winced when she held him a little too tight in return. ‘Well, not healthy then. I have a bastard of an arrow wound.’
‘I’ll take a look at that,’ Chrysaora said, placing her hand on his chest.
While she worked silently, Aurelia explained. ‘You’re right, it didn’t happen. It was just a possibility. Cassandra’s visions only offer the alternatives, never revealing which is the definitive truth,’ she said. ‘Multiple paths spread out into the future from every crucial decision.’
Naus nodded. ‘I made a crucial decision,’ he said. ‘Once I had found
out her true nature, Noctiluca invited me to the palace. I needed some way to tell you and Totelun about what I knew. I stood at a crossroads with Cartracia before me. South to Theris and Noctiluca, North to find you here. Only one offered the Cephean link that would allow me to share my secrets with Totelun. But I decided against the suicide road.’
‘So you’re only here because of my link with my sister?’ she asked. She could hear the disappointment in her own voice, was sure Naus would catch it. ‘I had hoped…’
He cut into the hanging sentence. ‘I came here to serve a worthy Empress. I’ve been looking for one for a thousand years. My last died long ago.’
Aurelia smiled at him. ‘Really?’ she said. ‘You’ll be my advisor? I thought you said courtly life would upset your constitution?’
‘I wasn’t deliberately waiting for the city to burn down, but there’s no court anywhere around here that I can see,’ he said. ‘We’re in the middle of nowhere.’ He pointed behind her and Aurelia turned, gazing out over the sea of twinkling fires that made up her nomadic tribe.
‘You are setting up a brand-new nation, founding a new city from scratch. Who better than one who has done all that before? Who better than the man who helped the first Empress to found Theris?’
She felt like Eleutheria for a moment, founding the great city of legend, before she abruptly remembered the first Empress had become Noctiluca. She shook her head, she would not follow in those footsteps.
That twisted yarn would keep for another night. For now, she leant against Naus’ shoulder and basked in the reflected glow of the campfires below; a city, an army, all her own.
Trusting her to lead them.
She would forge a new path, with Naus’ help.
Chapter Forty Seven
Anthrom
When his army of thralls reached the northern gate of the Bridge of Redemption, newly rebuilt in gothic black stone to stretch across the moat, Anthrom was met by High Cleric Harling.
The man was wretched, far more so than when he’d left him; stick thin, his muscles were like cord and his tumours visible through his parchment-dry skin. They bulged around the base of his neck, one behind an ear, another between two of his fingers. He hacked and coughed as he reached out a hand, tapping to stop Anthrom’s palanquin. Inside, Anthrom quickly dropped any and all perception-altering illusions he had manifested. He still did not want anyone to know his talent if he could help it, least of all Harling. Still the man seemed to sense something.
Embrace of the Medusi (The Overlords Trilogy Book 2) Page 62
