Chapter 40: Tessa
Tessa followed Jak as he pushed his way into the packed throne room. At first, she couldn’t see anything but his broad shoulders in front of her face. But she could hear the commotion in the room. Shouting, screaming—confusion slowed the beat of the music and the chanting of the priests. The dancers shuffled to a stop. Jak pushed into a more open area, and Tessa slipped around him so she could see what was happening.
They were standing against the railing of a broad walkway that circled the huge room below them. Ornate thrones stood on each side of a sea of brilliant blue glass tiles, a silver throne sat to her right and a gold one to her left. She’d heard of this, silver for the Regent, and gold for the Overlord’s throne. Both were raised up on high platforms, although the Overlord’s throne sat at easily twice the height of the Regent’s. There was disturbance around both, but most of the noise came from the Overlord’s side of the room. As they watched, two red-robes leapt onto the dais and raced up the steps. Shoving the High Priest aside, one drew a knife and began hacking at the neck of the Prime. The false Prime, Tessa reminded herself, the Selok’s other body. Scarlet blood sprayed into the air, brilliant with the color of Nish. She felt Jak lurch, and was just in time to clutch him to her. Only the press of the crowd around them kept them from falling.
"Jak!"
"Neck," he gasped. "Don’t let me fall."
"I’ve got you."
She wrapped both arms around his waist and held on tight, her own neck aching in sympathy. On the Overlord’s throne, the second red-robe struggled with the high priest for the crown. Closer to them, nobles in brocade and silk milled in confusion. Armed guards tried to reach the thrones, but there were too many people in the way.
Tessa heard screaming to her right, the Regent screaming on his silver throne. His wide brimmed hat fell to the floor and the waterfall of silver beads was trampled under the feet of the nobles around him. She saw him throw himself back as his body convulsed.
She felt Jak trembling in pain, every muscle locked tight as he gasped for breath. She slid her right hand up his chest, over the rough fabric of his new black tunic, reaching for the back of his neck. Massaging Jak’s nape in small soothing circles, she murmured, "It’s alright. We’re going to be okay. Just hold on. It’s almost over."
She hoped that wasn’t a lie.
She looked over her shoulder at the gold throne of the Overlord in time to see Toko throw back his hood and rip off his black mask. Kamura tore off her own mask as well. She’d won the tug of war with the high priest, and she handed him the Overlord’s jeweled crown. Toko ripped a circle of shining black from inside it and tossed the glittering ornament to the milling priests below them. Standing in front of the Overlord’s throne, he placed the black circlet on his head. Was this the thing they called the God Core? It was plan, unimpressive without its covering of jewels. He adjusted it so that it touched the connector at his neck. It clung there on Toko’s head for a moment and then seemed to flow, to disappear into the mass of his hair.
There was a pulse.
A sleeper woke. Something huge stirred and stretched. There was a heartbeat, a deep breath, an awakening. It was all those things, yet none of them.
Tessa smiled. How could she ever have doubted him? Most of all, it was right that Toko was Overlord of Shadriss.
Omniphage Invasion Page 40
