An Emperor's Fury: The Frayed Rope

by Paul Heisel

  “What would you have me do then? You have all the answers, don’t you Pearl? Please tell me. Oh tell me about the ‘bigger picture’, I like that one. We live here in Malurrion, not Pyndira. So we are worthless compared to the Pyndirans.”

  “Sarcasm will not help the situation.”

  “Then what will? Tell me how I can help. I’m listening.”

  “Tomorrow, when we meet as a group, you must tell Hector that fighting amongst ourselves will not be tolerated. We will search for the truth to what happened. Owori defended herself, she told me so, and I believe her. That’s the truth.”

  “Regardless of the ‘truth’ the Furies will want Owori to answer for Jerr’s death. In person. It doesn’t matter if her actions were justified by self-defense. Owori was spying upon him, made a mistake, and he discovered her.”

  “Owori doesn’t make mistakes. There’s no way he should have found her.”

  “Well maybe he found a way. The whole bathhouse was frozen solid and the damage will probably take weeks, perhaps months, to fix. I suppose he froze everything, hoping to freeze her. Or see her. Warm breath shows in cold air.”

  “Footprints in snow,” Pearl muttered.

  “That’s what happened. Jerr suspected she was there and used cold to find her.”

  “That doesn’t matter. The truth is Owori defended herself. We have to find a way to get Hector and the Furies to believe that.”

  “I told you that the Furies will want her blood. Can’t you see that?”

  “Tomorrow, you’ll need to convince Hector all of this. The truth. It was self-defense.”

  “Should I tell him that you took her away to Pyndira to be marked?” Kara asked.

  Pearl put her hand on her hip. “Only a fool would say that. Of everyone from Malurrion that has been marked, few know they went to Pyndira and back. Those from Pyndira do not speak of where they are from. Don’t bring another variable into this confusing matter. What you need to do is tell him justice will be done once Owori is found and her story told.”

  “She’s not coming back, is she?”

  “No.”

  “You may as well say that she’s dead, then this matter will be concluded.”

  “They will never believe that she’s dead, particularly if there’s no body and no one claims to have killed her. Building lies upon a foundation of lies will only cause the house to collapse.”

  “I agree with you that Hector will be obstinate. He’ll want Owori no matter what we tell him, I see that now. I think we should tell him that she fled and we don’t know where. We will send teams of soldiers to look for her and bring her back. What else can we do? Now, tell me, what was Jerr up to? What is Hector doing now? What did Owori tell you?”

  “I didn't have time. She did tell me that she killed Jerr in self-defense. She was injured and I drugged her before transporting to Pyndira, as she won't understand marking. I won’t find out the full story until I return to Salt Island. It will take a few days for her to recover and marking her will take time. I’ll see her in a couple of days, get the full story, and return here to talk about it.”

  “What about Hector?”

  “I don’t know what his plan is,” Pearl answered. “Whatever it is, Jerr’s death set it in motion.”

  “If your theory of a predetermined plan is correct, then Hector is going to do what he’s going to do no matter what we tell him or say to him. So we need to find out what their plans are, but they will be on guard because of Owori’s failure. I fear many of Jerr’s Furies have left Bora with the intent to assassinate the Grand Master…”

  “I told you I don’t care about your precious version of the Accord of the Hand unless it affects my students,” Pearl said. “You knew, before I agreed to make you a part of this, that I won’t choose the Accord of the Hand over my Furies. I only care about our students and I must see to their training, safety, and wellbeing.”

  “We’re going around and around,” Kara said. “I understand all of your requirements and reasons. That doesn’t change the fact that they are members of the Accord of the Hand and part of my monastery. What has happened is a part of the price you pay for a haven. You’re part of the Accord of the Hand whether you like it or not. Now, where do we go from here?”

  “This is pointless.” Pearl gave a curt bow. “You aren’t listening to me, so you’re wasting my time. I’m leaving to get some sleep. I’ll see you at noon tomorrow for the meeting.”

  “Noon it is.”

  Pearl slipped through Kara’s quarters and pulled open the door, taking time to let the anger slip out of her fingertips before she considered slamming the door closed. It was clear Kara was playing games, but to what end? Why the sudden waver in support? It was worrisome to think that no one was on her side, not Kara, not Hector. She figured she couldn’t trust anyone until she talked to Owori. Perhaps she made a mistake leaving in such haste without getting Owori’s full side of the story.

  #

  Kara peeked from behind the cover and watched as Pearl spoke with Hector. She couldn’t hear them as the distance was too great. No doubt the conversation was interesting. It probably consisted of Pearl telling Hector that she was going to string him up by his testicles. Though Pearl was an incredible force of magic, intelligent, and beautiful, her one failing was predictability. She was consistent and predictable. The smoke from the fires plumed up and into the darkness, leaving behind soot and ash that drifted to the ground like snow. She resisted the urge to get closer to hear what Pearl was saying, but no matter, she was sure a loyal monk was lurking in the shadows and would confirm back to her what they were talking about. The situation was out of control, and Hector’s aggressiveness didn’t help matters. After Jerr’s death, they screamed for justice, blood – Owori’s blood. If only things had gone to plan.

  She took a chance involving Owori, hoping she would not necessarily side with her, but side against Jerr. She knew Jerr wasn’t happy with Bora, and more than once he threatened to leave with all his Furies. He planned to depart and begin his own monastery, to set up his own school to teach his monks, adding a sixth monastery to the existing five if he could get the blessings of the Grand Master. Numerous times he touted his notion that the Accord of the Hand was destined to fall, and by misinformation, she twisted that into Jerr was going to lead the civil war. Jerr said the Hand was going to collapse because they hadn't extended their monasteries to accommodate their expanding empire. She took liberties with what he preached and a simple twist of the truth served her well, making him the enemy.

  Now things weren’t going as planned, Owori shouldn’t have been caught. Kara was worried as well what Owori learned. It caused her to kill Jerr in self-defense, the question was, why Jerr decided he needed to kill her? Though she wanted to dismiss the matter aside and start all over, she was supposed to travel to Sabrin which complicated matters. In a short time Seveth would be dead, as would Caleth after that. When they arrived in Sabrin, there would be confusion with two of the monasteries being led by the Winds. Laws were such that the other Winds would come into power until things could be sorted. Then once she had her monks in place inside Sabrin, they would eliminate the Grand Master. Either she or Djaa would be put in power. Lately it seemed that she was destined to become the Grand Master, as Djaa had lost interest since returning from the conflict in Borgard. In fact, he had withdrawn from his original plan with her and was taking a less prominent role. It didn’t matter, as she would take the leadership of the Accord of the Hand and establish Bora as the new capital if she needed to – if Sabrin was destroyed in the conflict. The Accord of the Hand would become even greater with her leading it, and she would have her army of Furies to support her. If either Caleth or Seveth survived the attacks, she would still manage to gather the leadership together, where she could destroy any opposition. She wondered, though, what was Hector going to do and how would it affect her plan? She would have to be nimble and think on her feet, making decisions as Hector’s intentions unfolded. Th
e other unknown variable was Pearl. All she would care about would be her students. The question was, how could she use this to her advantage?

  The fighting, stopped by Pearl and Hector’s discussion, didn’t resume. Monks, poised in the shadows returned to their cloisters, others tended to the wounded and began removing the dead. Pearl came back from the courtyard. She looked furious. Kara knew, at some point soon, she would have to find a way to get rid of Pearl and that would be no easy task. It would be best for her to find someone else to do it for her, like Hector.

  #

  The following day the meeting went as scheduled and the result of it quelled tempers. Kara implemented a search for Owori so they could further ascertain the facts of the matter, and Hector agreed to assist and make sure that none of his monks did anything rash. Pearl facilitated the entire meeting, guiding everyone so they would listen to reason. They all agreed that fighting amongst themselves wasn’t going to solve any problems.

  The previous night saw eighteen monks die, fifteen of them from Tasha’s group, two from Jerr’s (now Hector’s), and one from Ash’s. Pearl didn’t lose anyone other than Owori. During the conflict, dozens of soldiers died as well, and it was unclear who was responsible for the deaths. That would be an impossible task to figure out. Still, Kara went about trying to understand the sequence of events. One by one, she began interviewing each monk in the hopes of piecing together what happened so she could determine who started the fighting and why.

  Days passed. Bora went back to normal. Construction restarted on the monastery and repairs began as well to the damaged buildings, including the bathhouse, and the instructors brought their monks back to familiar routines. Kara finished her initial investigation, telling the instructors that it wasn’t clear what had happened, so she wasn’t going to take any action until they found Owori and questioned her. She went to the morning session, the first one she had been to in a week, and was disappointed by the poor turnout. There were so many empty spots on the exercise floor. There were monks missing from each of the four groups, and each leader had similar explanations – the absent students were either upset by recent events or mad as shades about them. It was agreed the best course of action was give everyone time to put the events behind, time to heal the open wound.

  After the end of a week, Kara prepared to go to Sabrin. She knew messages would be coming soon from the Grand Master requesting her presence in Sabrin for conclave, within it would be the announcements as well of Seveth and Caleth’s deaths. Ash would go with her as planned, and she would bring with her members of his talented group. They would be a small force with deadly capabilities, and she would bring loyal soldiers as well for additional protection. Tehari, Master of the West Wind, would take charge of the monastery while she was gone. He was trustworthy and would serve her unwaveringly; she feared no treachery from him. A bonus was he had no love for Pearl, Hector, or Tasha. He would keep them in line and do what was necessary to protect the monastery.

  She left Bora with little fanfare and under the cover of darkness, hoping to depart unnoticed. Once outside the monastery and clear of any unwelcome listeners for miles to come, Kara spoke to her group. She told them that she discovered Hector started the fighting and that half of his monks slipped out of the monastery, this was why the Furies' attendance at group exercises was so poor. She presumed they were headed toward Sabrin or they would try to ambush her along the way. She didn’t know their intentions, so instead of taking the most direct roads, they were going to travel hard into the wild then take a less traveled, little known route to Sabrin. That night they traveled toward the center of the Accord of the Hand Empire with all speed. Kara wondered if the seeds of suspicion she planted would bear any fruit while she was gone. She hoped when she returned to Bora that she would see Pearl’s head on a pike.

  #

  Winded but not tired, Pearl crossed the grassy courtyard toward the bathhouse. She finished training for the day, unhappy she was done, as training was the only thing that kept her from constantly thinking about the current situation. Kara was the mastermind behind all of this, and it was unfortunate Owori hadn’t been able to tell her earlier. Things happened too fast. Pearl had no reason to doubt Owori. It put her, though, in a peculiar situation. If she confronted Kara publicly, then she would have to bring Owori back as a witness to tell her story. That wasn’t going to happen. There was no intention for Owori to return to Malurrion. Without a witness and proof, everything Owori learned would be termed lies. She would have to take another path to figure this mess out. Hector was increasingly secretive and secluded his Furies within their compound. She felt as if he was going to act soon, but what that was, she didn’t know. At a point in the near future, Pearl knew she would have to force the issue. The question was, would she survive?

  She entered the humid baths, the flowery aroma of the salts filling her with energy. Workers had fixed the damage, overestimated by Kara, and the bathhouse was in perfect working order. Pearl went inside the women’s change area and stripped off her fighting clothes, then folded them and set them underneath where she hung her golden robe. They would be washed later. She grabbed a wool towel and went to find an unoccupied bath.

  Monks passed her by and gave her bows of respect and smiles of greeting. Underneath the protocol and properness, she could see glints of hope in the men’s eyes, daggers of jealousy in the women’s. It was nothing new. Brief conversations of the past came to surface – other women always wondered why she never took a lover or wasn’t actively pursuing a male companion. Rarely did she explain herself, which made her seem arrogant. Fact was, she didn’t care. The simplest explanation, the truth, was that she hadn’t found a man worthy of her attention and if they thought that arrogant, so be it. No one believed her anyway, and that gave way to rumors that she preferred women, a wrong assumption. She did find the female form intriguing, but she wasn’t curious enough to explore those connections sexually. She did enjoy closeness and friendship with like-minded women, like the relationship she had with Owori, but anything beyond that was not of interest to her.

  Pearl entered an empty bath chamber. It was one of the older ones, the dark wood worn in places, and it didn’t have extra room. She attached colored wooden tiles to a rope and winched it upstairs to the workers. Moments later hot water came sluicing from above, splashing in the tub. Flowery scents expanded and filled the room. After discarding the towel, she climbed the stairs and slithered into the tub. The hot water soothed her muscles. It was time to relax, think, and figure out what she needed to do. The bath suddenly made her think of her sisters, Ruby and Sapphire. A long time ago they had taken baths together and had mercilessly scrubbed each other clean. She wondered what they were doing. Sapphire, no doubt, was leading a worthwhile cause and refining her magic. Ruby would be a young woman now, no longer the little kid following her around, and discovering her magical talents. She missed them. It seemed like such a long time ago that she and her mother fought. Pearl stuck her head underwater and wetted her hair, coming up moments later and feeling the cooler air. It was refreshing.

  Kara had departed for Sabrin, the delegation containing more than enough Furies to cause havoc. Soldiers went as well, and thankfully, none of her Elites were involved in Kara’s plans. Troubling though was she was certain fifty of Hector’s Furies had slipped out of the monastery, presumably acting on a plan put together by Jerr. There were two possibilities – they were going to ambush Kara or they were going to Sabrin to defend the Accord of the Hand’s Grand Master. Either way there was going to be violence and bloodshed, more dead Furies. She wondered how many Furies would die because of this nonsense, and it made her angry. There wasn’t anything she could do except let things play out. With any luck, Kara would be dead at the end of it.

  The water felt wonderful and she scrubbed her body with coarse brushes, marveling at the vibrant tattoo on her body. It had been there for years, and it was still perfect and colorful, looking the same as it had when Paq marked her.
Pearl rolled her shoulders, loosening the tenseness in them. Without warning, the door to bath chamber opened. Cooler air rushed in. A diminutive figure stood in the doorway, obscured by the steamy fog.

  “Sorry,” said a voice. The door closed.

  “Tasha!” Pearl shouted, moving forward in the tub so she was closer to the door. The water sloshed over the side.

  The door opened again. The demure woman peeked her head through the door, but did not enter. “Pearl? I’m sorry, I didn’t know this bath was occupied. You didn’t put the sign on the door.”

  “I seem to forget that. I’m always too anxious to get into the water.”

  Tasha hung the red placard on the door, indicating it was occupied. “Well, I’ll go now.”

  “No – stay. Come in. You look like you need company. The water is still hot and there is enough room for both of us.”

  Tasha nodded and closed the door. There were dark circles under her eyes and her tiny shoulder’s drooped. In the fighting she lost a third of her students. She put her towel on a peg on the wall and went up the steps. Everything about her was tiny, and she reminded Pearl of a young woman not yet developed – like her sister Ruby had been years ago. Tasha was stuck between girl and woman even though she was older than Pearl by several years. Her hips were slimmer than her shoulders and her breasts were small. Tasha sighed as she slid into the hot water.

  “How are you doing?” Pearl asked.

  “Not so well,” Tasha answered. She grabbed a brush that fit on her hand and began rubbing her body with it. “I’m still trying to figure out why fifteen of my students are dead. They were my friends.”

  “It’s unfortunate, many of them had potential.”

  “I’m sorry Pearl. I know each student means a lot to you.”

  “No need to apologize to me. It wasn’t your fault this happened. We’ll find who is responsible. They’ll answer for these needless deaths.”