Full Circle

by Christopher Nuttall

  “Once you kneel down, I will place this on your head,” Dolman said. “If you’re part of the bloodline, the gems will start to glow. Are you ready?”

  Elaine hesitated, then slowly knelt in front of him. Johan stood behind her, his emotions spinning through a confusing maze. She hadn’t been joking when she’d told him there was a good chance they were already married, thanks to the bond. He’d see his life circumscribed as Prince Consort, as long as she stayed on the throne. All she had to do was say no … hell, it wasn’t as if she was facing the penalties for deliberately lying. She had every reason to think she was related to Deferens.

  “Do it,” she ordered.

  Dolman slowly lowered the crown onto her head. She closed her eyes as it touched her hair, trying to withstand the urge to tear it away from her. It was heavier than she’d expected, pressing down on her scalp. She felt a tingle passing through her body, magic flickering over her …

  “Your Supremacy,” Dolman said, tonelessly.

  Elaine opened her eyes and looked up. Her head was surrounded by red light.

  Red for blood, she thought, numbly.

  She suddenly felt faint; she would have fallen over if Johan hadn’t caught her, his strong hands holding her tightly. It was hard not to feel a sense of irony when she remembered her past life: an orphan, a poor scholarship student, a lowly librarian with barely enough magic to make an impression …

  “It worked,” Johan said. Elaine shot him a nasty look for stating the obvious. “Now what do we do?”

  Dolman carefully took the crown from Elaine’s head and placed it back in the drawer. “We slip down to the Throne Room and take the Golden Throne,” he said. He tapped his wand against the hidden entrance, opening it up. “Come, Your Supremacy.”

  Your Supremacy, Elaine thought. She hadn’t realised just how strongly she’d hoped Johan had been wrong until she’d discovered he was right. Once I sit on the throne, my life as I knew it will be over.

  She shuddered as she followed them back into the passageways. Light Spinner had wanted power; Vlad Deferens had wanted power … but she wasn’t like either of them. Deferens had been a ruthless bastard, a monster who’d enslaved Charity, Dread and thousands of others; Light Spinner had been kinder, yet no less ruthless. And the previous Grand Sorcerer, a man who’d ruled so long that even she’d forgotten his name …

  No one questioned his orders, she thought, bitterly. But they’ll question mine.

  She would almost have welcomed an enemy presence in the Throne Room, but it was as dark and silent as the grave. The Golden Throne sat in the exact centre of the giant chamber, glowing faintly as they stepped out of the hidden passageway. Elaine could practically taste the magic surrounding it, great strata of power surging down into infinity. For the first time, she believed – truly believed – the Witch-King’s claim that mundanes had worshiped wild magicians as gods. The people who’d built the Golden Throne, and primed it to continue absorbing magic for centuries, had been far more powerful than any living magician, even the Witch-King himself.

  Light Spinner was trapped here, she thought, as she took a step forward. The throne was surrounded by an aura that drew her in and repelled her in equal measure. And Deferens was the last to sit on the throne.

  “Hurry,” Dolman ordered, as the sound of running footsteps echoed through the chamber. “I think they’ve worked out what we’re doing.”

  Elaine took another step forward, unable to think of anything but the throne. Even Johan receded to the back of her mind. It seemed to be taunting her, promising power and pain in equal measure. She’d wondered why successive Grand Sorcerers hadn’t destroyed the Golden Throne – they lost everything if a true heir sat down – but she understood now. The Golden Throne was linked to everything, from the wards surrounding the Imperial Palace to the defences worked into the Seven Peaks. Destroying the Golden Throne would have crippled the entire city.

  But the Witch-King would see it as a source of power, she thought, as she took another step forward. He’d find a way to drain it into himself.

  “Elaine,” Johan said. “I think you need to sit, now.”

  Elaine barely heard him as she reached out to touch the throne. Magic glittered around her fingertips, a final warning; if she didn’t satisfy the throne, she’d be dead before a second had passed. How many had died, over the years, gambling that they had some of the bloodline in them? And how many had been allowed to die just to convince the population that there wasn’t a secret test first? She ran her fingers over the throne, then turned. The light was so bright that it was hard for her to see anything beyond the dais, but she could hear the sound of fighting.

  She sat.

  The Golden Throne reached up and surrounded her. Magic flared brighter than ever, ripping through her mind. She wanted to scream, but she couldn’t move; the throne was slowly tearing her apart, as casually as a sadistic young child would tear the wings off a fly. And yet … there was something about it that was almost welcoming. Had Vlad Deferens left a surprise for anyone who sat after him? But Deferens was dead. No one had taken the throne since then …

  She felt the throne scrutinising ever last atom of her body, then open up around her. It felt like touching the Great Library’s wards, only far – far – worse. And yet, the more her mind expanded, the more she understood what she was seeing. No wonder Deferens had had no trouble besting Light Spinner. The sheer power of the wards surrounding the Imperial Palace meant he’d had problems only turning her to stone. Disintegrating her and everyone else within the palace would have been far easier.

  Her awareness snapped back to the Throne Room. Dolman was being pushed back, despite his power, by a dozen red-robed sorcerers. Johan was trying to raise a shield, but he couldn’t produce enough control to do it without damaging the magic surrounding the Golden Throne and harming Elaine. Elaine concentrated, testing the hundreds of thousands of spells that made up the wards, and sent a single command. The wards lashed out and the red-robed sorcerers froze solid.

  Deferens must have been far more used to having vast levels of power at his command, she thought, coldly. He never even tried to be subtle with what he had.

  She sent her awareness running through the Imperial Palace, freezing every last sorcerer, soldier, servant and slave. A quick twist to the spell would ensure they never even knew they were frozen. Time would stop for them until the Inquisitors had a chance to sort them all out, then free the innocent and punish the guilty. Her awareness twisted again as the Imperial Palace noted the dragons; she told it, quite firmly, to leave the dragons alone. As far as she knew, Deferens had been the only person to produce Dragons and the last of them had been captured, after his death.

  The Great Library isn’t quite linked to the Imperial Palace, she noted, puzzled. She’d assumed it would be, although in hindsight she should have realised that they weren’t, if only because Deferens had been unable to break into the Great Library. And neither is the Peerless School.

  The answer rose into her mind from the throne. Both buildings had come into their own after the wars, after the Witch-King had been defeated. By then, the Golden Throne had been empty; no more heirs remained, save for the handful the Witch-King had kept in hiding. The Grand Sorcerers might even have been relieved. No, they had been relieved. Aristocracy was a poor way of determining who would hold ultimate power. So too, perhaps, was a magic-based meritocracy.

  But it does cut down on succession disputes, she thought, as she opened her eyes. No one doubts who is the next in line to the throne.

  “Your Supremacy,” Dolman said.

  He prostrated himself below her. Elaine blushed in embarrassed shock, understanding what he meant. He was hers now, bound as solidly to her as he’d been to the Emperor …

  “Elaine,” Johan said. She tasted his sudden embarrassment at her embarrassment. “Um … Your Supremacy?”

  “Show the proper respect,” Dolman growled.

  “Let him talk freely,” Elaine said. He
r lips twitched. “And please, talk freely too. I don’t want people bowing to me.”

  “Too late,” Johan said.

  “Call the others down,” Elaine ordered. She wasn’t normally so assertive. Was the throne pushing at her, gently moulding her into an Empress? “The remaining troops in the city are to surrender, if they want to; if not, we have to kill them before they can make a break for it.”

  “Of course, Your Supremacy,” Dolman said.

  “And please stop calling me that,” Elaine insisted. “My name is Elaine!”

  “Elaine the First,” Johan said. Elaine glared daggers at him. “It’s true!”

  “I know,” Elaine said, sourly. She could sense his amusement. “But you don’t have to rub it in.”

  It was nearly an hour before Dread, Sarah, Charity and Daria were shown into the Imperial Palace. Dread prostrated himself at once – Elaine couldn’t help feeling even more embarrassed at Dread prostrating himself – while the others hesitated. Charity moved to go to her knees, then stopped herself; Daria and Sarah were less inclined to bend the knee to anyone. Elaine understood; indeed, after everything she’d been through, she was more than willing to forgive Charity refusing to make any submission at all.

  “The city is reasonably secure,” Dread said. “But there’s probably still quite a few enemy troops hiding out.”

  Johan frowned as he looked at Elaine. “You can’t find them?”

  “They’re not in the palace,” Elaine said. She groaned, inwardly; she was Empress with nine Inquisitors to her name, but very little else. “Charity, please can you speak to the Administrator? We’re going to need his assistance and that of his staff.”

  “And the older students too, I’ll wager,” Dread said. “They may not be fully-trained, but they’d be able to help.”

  Elaine nodded. “And then see how many of the Great Houses are left,” she added. That might be a mistake – the Great Houses hadn’t liked having the first Emperor – but there was no choice. Their magic was needed. “I don’t know how long we have before the Witch-King arrives, but I don’t think it will be very long at all.”

  “I can see if we can make contact with the remaining Levellers,” Sarah offered. “I don’t know if Hawke survived, but if he did …”

  “Find him,” Elaine said. An idea was bubbling through her mind, now she’d seen the Golden Throne, but it would require some fancy timing. “We’re going to need everyone we can get.”

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  “It’s reasonably safe out there,” Dolman said, as Charity followed him out of the Imperial Palace. “But Her Supremacy insists I accompany you.”

  Charity nodded, too tired to argue. She wasn’t sure what time zone she was in, let alone when she should be trying to get a nap, but there was work to do. She’d heard stories of people having problems when taking express coaches across the continent, yet it had never seemed a real issue to her. Flying on a dragon, on the other hand, left her feeling as if it were still the middle of the night, even though it was early morning.

  The streets seemed quieter somehow as she walked towards the Peerless School, although she knew there were holdouts hidden within the city. She couldn’t help glancing around, expecting an attack at any moment; the sense of being watched by inhuman eyes grew stronger the closer she walked to the school. It was quite possible the Administrator was watching her through early-warning wards, waiting to see what she’d do when she tapped on the wards and asked for admittance. He almost certainly knew what had happened to the last set of children she’d taken from the school.

  Guilt burnt in her heart as she reached the edge of the wards and pressed her fingers against them, requesting entry. The Emperor had ordered and she’d obeyed, collecting three dozen children from the Peerless School and leading them to be sacrificed like lambs to the slaughter. Magic flickered around her fingertips; she found herself hoping, only half in jest, that the wards would repel her with lethal force. It would save her from her own helpless guilt. But the wards opened slowly, allowing her to walk to the gates. She glanced at Dolman, taking comfort in his presence, as she began the long walk. The giant stone doors opened up in front of her …

  And the Administrator was standing in the hall, waiting for her.

  She sucked in her breath sharply as his gaze flickered over her. This time, he wore the black and gold battle robes as if he had a right to wear them, his hand clutching a staff charged with deadly spells. She felt a flicker of hope as she realised he’d readied himself to fight, even though it would have been useless against the Emperor. Vlad Deferens would have knocked him aside if the Administrator had tried to stand up to him. But then, the bureaucrat could hardly deny what had happened any longer. She couldn’t help wondering if he’d already drawn up plans to evacuate the school.

  “Cast a truth spell,” she said, harshly. “Please.”

  The Administrator frowned and waved his hand in the air. A faint golden glow appeared, humming faintly as it settled around Charity. A lie would turn the gold to red, she recalled; only a handful of sorcerers could trick such a spell and it was almost impossible to do it without being noticed. The Administrator would have access to her records, if he’d bothered to look them up after their first meeting. He’d know she couldn’t hope to fool the spell for more than a few seconds.

  “The Emperor is dead, long live the Empress,” she said. The gold continued to glow, untroubled by deceit or falsehood. “Lady Elaine, the last surviving member of the Privy Council, has taken the Golden Throne. However, the Witch-King is heading towards the city and intends to take its resources for himself.”

  The Administrator’s eyes went wide. He’d know, of course, that someone else had taken the Golden Throne – every powerful sorcerer within fifty miles would know – but he wouldn’t know who, or why. He might well have assumed that Deferens’ son had stabbed his father in the back and taken the throne. It was the sort of thing Deferens would have encouraged, if he’d believed his own words; he’d always insisted the strong should overtake the weak, after all. The thought made her smile. No doubt Deferens would have died sooner rather than later even without her.

  “The Empress commands you to assemble your staff and upper-level pupils who are ready to fight,” she continued, without giving the Administrator a chance to speak. “Lower-level pupils are to be readied for immediate evacuation. Every magician in the city who is not going to join the defence has to leave, as soon as possible.”

  “I see,” the Administrator said. He stared at the glow for a long moment, as if he couldn’t quite believe either his eyes or ears. “I have only three hundred upper-level pupils.”

  The Great Houses must have started pulling their heirs out as soon as the Emperor turned his back, Charity thought. It was hard to blame them for trying, although they’d been taking a ghastly risk. Deferens would not have rewarded anyone for trying to escape his clutches. But if three hundred are all we have, they will have to do.

  Dolman took a step forward. “And lower-level pupils?”

  “Only two hundred,” the Administrator said. “Mainly mundane-born.”

  Charity frowned. “Why?”

  “The Great Houses sent fewer students after the … near-disaster last year,” the Administrator said. “It was a matter to be discussed by the Privy Council, before the Emperor took the Golden Throne.”

  “I see,” Charity said. Elaine hadn’t mentioned anything about it to her, although that meant nothing. She had the very distant impression that Elaine would have been happier having as little to do with the council as possible. “Have them readied to leave, then assemble the other pupils. They may be needed to reinforce the Inquisitors.”

  The Administrator looked alarmed. “My students are not trained combat magicians …”

  “They will have to do,” Charity said, fighting down the urge to yawn. “The Inquisitor” – she nodded at Dolman – “will sort through their skills, then assign them to where they can be most useful. In the me
antime …”

  She took a breath. “In the meantime, sir, is the rest of my family here?”

  The Administrator looked at her for a long moment before nodding. Charity let out a sigh of relief; she’d known she’d have to ask, but at the same time she’d been terrified of the answer. Johan had sent the younger children to Lady Lakeside and she’d sold what remained of her soul to keep them safe, yet she’d feared the Emperor would have decided to hurt them on a whim. It wasn’t as if she had any way to force him to keep his side of the bargain.

  “Please can I see them,” she said. Her voice cracked noticeably, but she found it hard to care. “It’s been so long.”

  The Administrator bowed gravely. “If you wait in the antechamber, I will have them sent to you,” he said. “And then I will assemble the younger pupils. I assume they will be escorted through the mountains?”

  “Yes,” Dolman said, flatly. “Provisions will be made to send them to the nearest harbour.”

  Or the nearest harbour that’s safe, Charity thought. Falcone’s Nest would be the closest and the whole city was in flames, only yesterday.

  She allowed the Administrator to show her into a small room, then waited; taking a seat while Dolman leant against the wall, his dark eyes missing nothing. Part of her just wanted to run, to hide from her siblings; part of her knew she’d failed them badly and just wanted to see them again before the end. The Peerless School felt oddly quiet – classes couldn’t be in session, she thought – as if half the pupils had vanished. Or were they cowering in their dorms, after she’d taken students from the school? Did they know she was coming?

  And if it had been this quiet back when I was a pupil, she reminded herself, I’d have thought someone was planning something.

  The door opened, revealing her younger siblings. Charity stood and practically threw herself at them, wrapping the four children in a giant hug. Jay and Jolie looked pale – they were old enough to understand something of what was going on – while Chanel and Chime seemed alarmingly nervous. They’d been in House Lakeside when the Emperor had unleashed a dragon on Lady Lakeside and her family.