Empire of Chains (World in Chains Book 1)

by Ryan W. Mueller

  Nadia stopped in the middle of the stone foyer and glared at her father. "How could you possibly expect me to deal with Tylen after what I've been through?"

  "The world doesn't stop for your bad decisions, Nadia."

  "Two of my closest friends just died! I need to be alone."

  Her father's expression remained stern. "Well, you have until dinner."

  He turned and strode toward his study, leaving Nadia fuming. She longed to hurl something at the back of her father's head, but angering him would accomplish nothing. Fighting against tears, she made her way to her room, then knocked on the door to Avia's room. Avia stepped through a few moments later, frowning with concern.

  "I heard about last night." Avia settled down beside Nadia on the bed. The wrinkles on Avia's face seemed to have deepened. "I'm glad you're okay."

  Nadia looked down at her knees. "But Varek and Len aren't. I got them killed."

  "They would have been there even without you. You can't blame yourself for everything that goes wrong. Like you have for your mother's death. It's time you moved on, Nadia. You can't let negative emotions consume you like this."

  "Y-you don't understand," Nadia said, tears flowing down her cheeks. "Varek and Len remained behind to protect me. That's what got them killed."

  "Nadia, you aren't thinking about this rationally. I've been told that you were the only person who noticed the spies at the back of the room. If you hadn't been there, no one would have escaped."

  Nadia wiped away a tear track. "You're right. I didn't remember that."

  Avia rested a warm hand on her shoulder. "You have a way of doing that. You get so focused on one thing that you block everything else out. You have to learn to let things go."

  "I can't do that. You know I can't."

  Avia rose. "As long as you think like that, you won't change. I think you need some time alone to sort through your thoughts. I'll be nearby if you need me."

  "Thank you," Nadia said, her voice barely more than a whisper.

  Avia retreated to her room while Nadia sat at the edge of her bed, holding back tears. How could she handle Tylen on top of everything else?

  Chapter 18

  Markus tried not to look back as he walked down the cobblestone path toward Crayden, looking up at the small mountains that surrounded the city. He didn't know what to make of Nadia, but he liked something about her. Would he ever see her again?

  But he couldn't worry about her. He had his own dismal future to consider.

  His steps took him to the blacksmith's shop where his old friend Tomas worked as an apprentice. Markus stepped into the shop, a building filled with weapons and armor he couldn't normally afford. Now he could, but those things would slow him down on a long journey.

  Tomas stood at the counter. He'd grown a short brown beard, and the work at the forge had given him muscles to rival Markus's.

  "What're you still doing around here?" Tomas asked. "Thought you and Rik would've left by now."

  "We tried. Didn't work out so well."

  "Is Rik okay?"

  "Yeah, he's fine. We got lucky. The Imperial Guards spared us. Now I'm going to have to make it to Mountainside."

  "That's going to be a rough journey," Tomas said. "I won't say it's impossible, but the Black Swamp ain't exactly an easy place to cross." He chuckled. "I'd come with you, but I've actually got a pretty good life shaping up here."

  "Don't worry," Markus said. "I won't blame you for staying behind."

  "So when are you leaving?"

  "As soon as I can. Just thought I'd stop by to say goodbye." Markus shook his head. "I still can't believe I have to leave everything behind. Saying goodbye the first time was hard enough. Saying it again, that just feels weird. I wish I could feel more hopeful."

  Tomas smiled weakly. "You and Rik are resourceful. You'll make it."

  "You're just saying that to make me feel better."

  Markus considered telling Tomas everything, but no—letting Tomas in on the secret of the barrier might put him in danger. Markus didn't even want to tell Tomas about the Imperial Guard he and Nadia had killed. In truth, Markus didn't want to think about this morning at all.

  "You need any weapons or anything?" Tomas asked.

  "No, I've got what I need." Markus gestured to the sword on his back.

  Tomas looked around the dim shop, then spoke in a low voice. "You know, I'm thinking about joining up with the Order. Met a girl named Kara who's in it. She says I should join. My master would hate it, but that's his problem."

  Markus kept his voice low. "The Order's dangerous, you know. Yeah, that's where I'm hoping to end up, but I don't really have a choice. You have a stable life. The world isn't great, but you're not going to change anything by getting involved."

  Tomas leaned hard on the wooden counter. "I don't know. Maybe you're right."

  "Whatever you do, keep safe for me, okay?"

  "You, too."

  "Goodbye, Tomas. I'll miss you."

  Markus turned to leave, but then the door opened. Through it strode five Imperial Guards. Markus's stomach gave a sudden twist. He recognized the man at the front of the group.

  Commander Glenn.

  Markus tried in vain to find a shadowy corner of the room. Heart hammering, he turned to face the Imperial Guards.

  "Ah, Markus." Commander Glenn smiled. "I hoped we'd find you here."

  Markus stepped forward on wavering legs. "And why is that, exactly?"

  "Your uncle informed us that you'd left. He wasn't sure where you'd go, but he mentioned your friend Tomas here. Guess we had good timing."

  "Well, there's still a day left," Markus said.

  Commander Glenn smiled again. "Nothing wrong with an early start, I think."

  No matter how many times Markus glanced around the room, he could find no escape. He couldn't fight them either. Tomas avoided his gaze, and Markus didn't blame him. Better not to get involved.

  "I-I'm not ready yet," Markus said.

  "That, I think, is obvious." Commander Glenn stepped toward him. "So we're going to ask you to come with us today. Your uncle wants you to have a choice."

  Two Imperial Guards stepped forward, took Markus's sword and leather sack, then wrapped their gauntleted arms around Markus's. Markus didn't try to resist. He glanced back at Tomas, who looked on with a frown. Then the Imperial Guards marched Markus out of the shop, toward his grim future.

  They walked the sundrenched streets of Crayden, past buildings of old wood and passersby who made no move to help. He couldn't blame them either.

  "It isn't as bad as you think it'll be," Commander Glenn said as they exited the market district and started through a poorer district marked by dirt roads and rotting wood.

  "You're not going to change my mind," Markus said, marching between his captors.

  They stopped in the middle of the road, and no one came near them. "Your uncle told me you'd be stubborn," the commander said. "Is this your final decision?"

  Markus's throat felt tight. "Yes, it is. I'll die before I serve Warrick."

  "We can arrange that," said one of the other Imperial Guards.

  "Let's not be hasty." Commander Glenn looked at Markus with cool blue eyes. "I can see you won't be convinced easily, so I think there's a third option here. Maybe a little prison time will change your mind."

  "Do you really think you can convince me to join you?"

  "Well, it's worth a try. Believe me, it'd be easier to kill you, but your uncle's a good friend of mine."

  And Warrick wants me alive, Markus added silently. "I'll take prison."

  "Not a pleasant fate, but it's your choice."

  Commander Glenn gave orders to his men, and they started toward the prison on the city's north side. Crayden's Imperial Guard garrison stood in the center of town, only a few streets away. Fleetingly, Markus wished he were going there instead of prison.

  Then again, everyone in the empire lived in prison. Freedom had been so close, and now it was gone,
nothing but a cruel illusion.

  Crayden's prison was a large wooden building. They entered and walked to the warden, who sat behind a rickety desk. He looked up with a bored expression. "Another prisoner, I presume."

  "He's to be taken to the lowest level," Commander Glenn said. "We need the key."

  The warden grabbed an old, rusty key from the key rack behind his desk. In addition to the warden, two other guards kept constant watch over the keys. This did little to lift Markus's spirits. But who would break him out anyways?

  Well, that was the kind of insane thing Rik might do.

  The warden handed the key to Commander Glenn, who motioned for his men to follow with Markus. At the back of the large main level was a staircase carved into the rocky ground beneath the city, like a cave of close, suffocating walls

  The staircase continued downward past five prison levels, a testament to the many prisoners taken by Imperial Guards. When they reached the bottom level, Markus's mood sank lower than ever. A solitary torch flickered against the stone walls. Water dripped into the cavern, moistening the stones and nourishing thin vines.

  The Imperial Guards led Markus to a large cell, unlocked the door, then shoved him inside. Markus hit the ground with a painful thud. By the time he turned back toward the cell door, the Imperial Guards had slammed it and turned the key.

  "Enjoy your time down here," said one of them. "You'll change your mind quick enough."

  Markus glared at him. "I don't think so."

  The men marched silently up the stairs, and Markus settled down against the wet stone floor with a heavy sigh. How could he keep from going insane in this place?

  Markus turned and saw another man. The man looked small, with messy hair and a thick beard. A bit rough.

  "Um, hello," the man said. "What's your name?"

  Markus's throat felt dry. "Name's Markus, what's yours?"

  "Berig."

  "Strange name. I don't think I've ever heard it before."

  Berig shrugged. "Yeah, I ain't sure where my parents got it from."

  A tense silence fell. Berig didn't look or sound dangerous, but he was in prison, and Markus felt defenseless without his sword.

  "You don't seem like the prison type," Berig said. "What'd you do?"

  "I was supposed to become an Imperial Guard. I refused."

  "And they didn't kill you?"

  "Obviously," Markus said. "My uncle used to be an Imperial Guard. He made this deal when I was young that I'd become one. Since the commander's friends with my uncle, he decided he'd give me another chance, throw me in prison to make me change my mind."

  "You gonna take it?"

  Markus leaned back against the stone wall. "No. Warrick is evil. I can't bring myself to serve him. If it means starving to death, then so be it."

  Berig laughed softly. "I don't know. I think I might take the chance. You know, not all Imperial Guards are so bad. Knew a guy back in Bradenton. Gram. A good man."

  "I know they're not all bad. I mean, my uncle's always been decent to me." Markus hesitated. "Wait. Did you say Bradenton? That's way on the other side of the Empire. How did you get here? I think I'd like to hear your story. I told you mine. It's only fair."

  In the dim light, Berig looked troubled. Maybe Markus had ventured into dangerous territory. He opened his mouth to apologize, but then Berig began speaking.

  "To be honest, I ain't exactly sure why I'm in here. Might be that I used the Imperial Guard teleportation system, and they weren't too happy about it. Might be that I had to defend myself against another man in Riverside. He ended up dead. I didn't mean to do it. It just happened. I wish now that I could take it back."

  Another tense silence fell. "You been in prison before?" Markus asked.

  "Yeah, I've done my share of bad things. I don't go around hurting people, but I've been known to steal things I really shouldn't.

  "Well, you seem okay to me," Markus said.

  "Yeah, you seem okay too."

  Markus looked wistfully at the bars. "I wonder when they'll come back."

  "At least you've got a chance. I'm pretty sure they're gonna let me rot in here. I wish they'd at least tell me what's gonna happen to me."

  "I guess we'll just have to wait and find out," Markus said.

  They spent the next few minutes trading life stories. Berig thought it was strange that Markus couldn't remember his parents, but couldn't make anything of it. Markus felt sorry for the horrible life Berig had lived. But what could they do about any of it now?

  Berig looked down at the damp ground. "A few days ago, this wasn't where I expected to be. I thought I could start a new life over here. Guess I was wrong."

  "Same here," Markus said. "I thought I'd have a chance to get to Mountainside. I guess life has a way of not working out like you planned." Of course, he and Rik had come up with a stupid plan. Markus shouldn't have expected anything better than this.

  "You never know. Maybe life has another plan for us."

  "I don't believe in fate or anything like that. My uncle always taught me that life's about the decisions you make. Who knows if there's a God?

  "Yeah, I guess I'm the same way. Don't really know what to believe."

  Markus chuckled without humor. "All I know is I want out of here."

  "Amen."

  * * * * *

  Darien left the chamber where he read the Webs of Fate, failing to hold back a smile. His steward gave him a strange look, as though he'd never seen the expression on Darien's face. In truth, Darien had seen few reasons to smile the last few years.

  But he was proud of himself today. Markus's decision of a few days ago, to abandon his future as an Imperial Guard, had thrown Darien's plans into disarray, but now Darien had manipulated things in the right direction, finding the proper strand in those Webs.

  Markus had returned to the right path. It was strange how the future could be manipulated. A person might think that it was impossible to return the future to a path once it left that path, but it wasn't true. Certain strands in that Web, like the Weavers who spun them, drew events toward them. To return to such a path was a delicate matter, but Warrick was capable.

  Now he could see the path ahead of Markus. A path that led to Darien himself.

  Yet parts of that path remained dark, Darien lamented as he entered his chambers. He settled down on his bed and closed his eyes. Though he was pleased, he was still exhausted.

  The dark strands. There were few of them in the near future. He felt confident that Nadia's quest to kill him would fail. Beyond that, he wasn't so sure. The possibilities expanded, branching in infinitely complex patterns, ending in dark strand after dark strand.

  Dark like the memories he had lost more than five hundred years ago. He had thought many times that the two might be related. Just as he couldn't see some of the future, he couldn't remember some of his own past, during the period of his rise to power.

  What had driven these memories from his mind? Who had the power to do such a thing to a powerful sorcerer like Darien?

  He'd tried to ignore these doubts, but for a mission as delicate as his, he had to know everything. He had to feel like he was in control. Ever since the day his parents had disappeared—a random event, everyone said—Darien had felt that drive to retain control.

  An obsession, some might say.

  But this world had taken his parents from him, taken the comfortable life he might have had, and it did the same thing to countless people every day. The stories he'd heard. Monsters breaking through wards. Strange weather phenomena swallowing entire towns. Tales of cruelty, of war, of oppression the likes of which Darien's people had never known.

  Was he a hard man? Yes. But it was necessary.

  And he regretted every innocent life he took.

  Chapter 19

  Nadia wiped the last of her tears away, then looked in the mirror. Her eyes were puffy, with dark circles under them. Her curly brown hair was even more a mess than usual, and she didn't want to fix
it, didn't want to do anything.

  A knock sounded at her door.

  "What?" she demanded, not turning.

  Her father stepped into the room. "I don't care for that attitude."

  "Well, I'm sorry my emotions don't work on your schedule."

  "I don't have time for this," he said. "You have an hour until dinner. And if you come down looking and acting like this, you will regret it, young lady."

  He strode out of the room, and she longed to hurl something at the back of his head. Didn't she deserve a little compassion after losing Varek and Len?

  She spent the next few minutes taking deep breaths, then called Avia into the room. Nadia felt too choked up to say anything, and Avia nodded with understanding as she began brushing Nadia's hair.

  "I don't want to marry Tylen," Nadia said.

  "And why is that, my dear?"

  "He's a horrible person. He supports Warrick."

  Avia sighed deeply. "Not this argument again. I understand how you feel, Nadia, but you're not likely to find many nobles who oppose the emperor. Your mother was a rare woman, and she kept her ideas about Warrick secret until she knew she could trust your father."

  And she misplaced that trust, Nadia thought bitterly.

  "Tylen will control me," she said. "He's as strong a Warrick supporter as you can get. And he strikes me as the kind of man who would imprison me here in the castle, or even turn me over to the authorities once I give him an heir."

  Avia pulled the brush through a particularly troublesome curl. "Nadia, this is all conjecture. You can't judge him without actually knowing him."

  "You weren't there at the gathering. He isn't just one of those people pretending to support Warrick because it's convenient. He actually supports the man."

  "Did you ever consider that he might be a very good actor?" Avia said, continuing to untangle Nadia's hair, her touch patient and gentle. Just like her words.

  "I trust my intuition," Nadia said. "It tells me he's dangerous."

  "Dangerous, Nadia? I think you're being dramatic."

  "All right, I'll give him a chance," Nadia lied. She didn't feel like continuing this argument.