by G. D. Penman
He turned his back on the people and strode back into the tower smiling. It was like being out in the dark again, not a sound to be heard.
He almost walked into Lucia. The metallic shimmer made it more difficult to read her face but it seemed obvious she was unhappy. Kaius cocked his head, “What is wrong?”
She stared at him, “Why did you make it sound like I was going to kill anyone who disagrees with me?”
Kaius shook his head, “If anyone requires killing then that duty shall fall to me.”
She grabbed him by the shoulders, the skin on the palms of her hands was hot enough to make him wince, “I don't want any more death Kaius. We have had generations of people dying at the Eater's whims. I am not going to be like that. I am not another tyrant.”
Steam started to rise from Kaius skin and he tried to maintain a steady voice, “I am trying to ensure the minimum of bloodshed. You made your wishes clear.”
She snapped, “You threatened to kill everyone!”
Kaius nearly rolled his eyes at her naivety, “Yes. That threat is what is keeping us safe. If we were attacked I would have to defend us with force. People would die, the very thing you wish to avoid. Those words will keep conspirators and rioters at bay. They will give us time to form a plan.”
Lucia walked back to the bed and flopped down, face first and groaning loudly. Kaius stood watching her and shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. Eventually she rolled over and said,
“What am I meant to plan? I don't know what I am meant to do. Nobody should have to deal with all of this.”
Kaius agreed dutifully, “This is the first time that an Eater has successfully destroyed another and seized their base of power. From what Negrath said before, I believe it was more common before history began being recorded. There is no precedent set for the correct way to behave in this time and place. While we have no guide down this path, it has the benefit that you are now creating the precedent. Whatever action you take now is how things shall be done in the future.”
Lucia stared up at the ceiling, “I just want to tell everyone that they don't need to be afraid any more. That I am going to take care of them instead of taking everything from them.”
Kaius halted her train of thought and made her look at him with new-found appreciation. “Words are fine and well but anyone can bandy them about to win public favour. Your actions will be what define your rule. Show them that there can be a better way.”
“A better way would not start with dire threats that everything will remain as terrible as before.”
Kaius accepted this meekly. “I apologise. I seek only to do as you will.”
She sat up suddenly, “Kaius, no. Stop it. I am not some goddess to worship. We are partners in this. You and I. We protect each other. We work together. I don't want a servant. I want... I suppose I want a friend.”
He frowned and she sighed, “A permanent ally. Someone that you know you can trust forever. An equal.”
Religion was not Kaius’ area of expertise but he was fairly certain that he was not the equal of an Eater. Any Eater. If he had not already possessed that belief, then a lifetime of having it pummelled into him would likely have convinced him. He was lesser. She was greater. But this was not the first unreasonable demand that had been placed upon him in his career so he spoke freely, cringing inside, “I expect that we will be attacked by the other Eaters before we can secure our power-base. I imagine that they are already on the move. We must secure a military force. With its threat, you can apply pressure to the city's nobles to serve you. Their private armies are not a formidable enough force to sway actual warfare, but they could cause a great deal of disruption. There is already a system of governance in place. I expect that you will want it all burned to the ground.”
Lucia grinned at the prospect but he pressed on, “We do not have the time to build a new one before our enemies are upon us. If we use what is here now, we can survive the coming attacks and have plenty of time to reform what you want destroyed.”
There was sense to what he was saying but Lucia saw the danger too. “And what happens when another threat arises. Then another. How long do we postpone?”
He stared at her with mournful eyes, “You have all of time to make things the way that you want them. I have only those years left to me to protect you as best I can.”
Lucia flinched, eternity was not a prospect that she had ever considered before. Now it stretched out before her like an abyss. She stared into it for longer than she should have before she asked, “What was Negrath like before he died?”
Kaius frowned slightly, “I believe that it had been driven quite mad. It had been very badly injured at some point in prehistory and the wounds had festered. Have you ever seen an injury turn septic? There is a fever that effects the mind. It believed that you were one of the original Eaters, rather than a new addition to the collection. It loathed the creature that you consumed the remains of beneath the Glasslands. It feared it more than anything else, as did the other Eaters as far as I could tell.”
Lucia sighed, “You don't think that they would accept a peaceful solution?”
Kaius was quiet as he considered and balanced the information available to him then said, “I believe that every one of the Eaters would destroy the others if given the opportunity. There is not open war only due to the balance of power. My actions have disrupted this balance. There will inevitably be war. And in all likelihood, the majority of the hostile intent will be towards us. Both as the unknown element and as a power that can be quashed before it finds its feet.”
Lucia was despairing, flopping back onto the bed with her hands over her face. She let out another long groan. Kaius interrupted before she could generate much volume, “We must be proactive to avert this. If the other Eaters perceive us as too dangerous to tackle head on, then we will only have to deal with assassination attempts and political manoeuvring for a few years. Which should be sufficient time to make the changes that you want to make, and construct effective defences.”
She perked up slightly, lifting her head if nothing else, “So if we can just spook them we will get away with this?”
Kaius shrugged and tilted his head, “It is not inconceivable.”
She spun her legs off the bed and sat up, “First thing is first. Chosen?”
Kaius clasped her hand and drew her to her feet, “First the new Chosen. Then call a council of the noble houses to bring them to heel. Finally, we can present you to the public.”
She glanced down at her ruined clothes and shifted uncomfortably, “I don't think I will make a very good impression.”
He considered her carefully, “I imagine that the servants will already obey us without question by now. We could have clothing adjusted to fit you.”
She looked him up and down pointedly, “And you. Scruffy.”
He took in his ruined robes and ruined flesh, “I believe that my armour will be sufficient for the image I am trying to project. I will perhaps adjust the design somewhat to distinguish myself.”
She thought on that with pursed lips, “Can I make armour?”
He paused to consider the question, “I can't imagine why not. However, it would perhaps be too militant an appearance for meeting the nobles.”
She sighed, “So I should just make myself pretty?”
The Chosen were fairly utilitarian in their views. Sexism would not have been unknown to them, they did interact with the outside world and it was far from perfect. But holding onto the belief of superiority over another Chosen without evidence of it was poor tactical analysis. Something that was punishable. Kaius was uncomfortable with the topic, “It would not be terrible to appear desirable but it should not be our focus. We should do all that we can to emphasise your inhuman appearance. We must make it clear that you are more than human. To this end, I think that we should endeavour to display the changes to your skin.”
She froze, “What?” she stood up quickly, “A mirror. I need a mirror. Get me a m
irror!”
He scrambled across to the bronze tables around the room, knocking incense and finery aside in his hunt for a mirror. He eventually found a full length one tucked away in a recess and dragged it across for her. She put her hands over her mouth and Kaius backed away. Her breathing grew faster and faster, then she seemed to stop altogether. She whispered, “This is fine. I can live with this. This isn't too bad.” She jumped back, overturning a table, then rushed to press her face next to the mirror, “What? What is wrong with my eyes. Oh no. Oh no. No. No. No.”
She turned and stalked across the room, stopping with her head resting against the ivory wall and panting, “This is fine. This is fine. Oh no. This is alright. This is fine.”
Kaius approached her carefully and rested a hand on her shoulder, she flinched. For the first time, he let some of his discomfort be known in his voice, “You are quite beautiful now. If that is your concern.”
Lucia smiled and turned her faintly scaled face to him, “Yep, I am a real looker.”
Kaius smiled back, “You were not exactly stunning before.”
She slapped his arm playfully and let out what might have been a giggle. Unexpected warmth blossomed in his chest and he mentally sorted it under strange new developments associated with the new words that he was learning. He rubbed his hand up and down her arm in the hope that it was comforting then drew back quickly. He said, “I shall fetch a dressmaker up from the city. Excuse me.”
Chapter 14- The First Day
The entrance to the tower was packed with the city's previously Chosen protectors. Metharia had to push her way through them. They were soft compared to her. Used to comfortable duty. Used to giving immediate obedience to anyone who demanded it. She had killed within the last few days.
She was not just going to take Kaius' word that Negrath was dead, that her grandfather was dead. Beyond the throngs of old chosen in their old robes the tower was practically deserted. Servants still sprinted around but they were few and far-between.
She knew more than the common Chosen. Her grandfather had taken the time to talk with her, mainly to gauge the feeling in the Halls and among the Chosen, but the talk turned both ways and she had been educated in a noble house. She knew how to work information out of a reluctant conversationalist. She went down the stairs, noting the soot stains on the roof as she descended. The smell caught her as she went down the steps, sickly sweet and smoky. She had been in ghul encampments out in the dark lands. She had torn them apart in fact. But in each one there had been that same smell of spoiled and roasted meat. She passed by the dark patch on the stairs, slowing in preparation for an ambush but finding nobody there. No servants or Chosen. Everyone was too busy milling around up above. She passed by the furthest she had ever been before.
All signs of the silver door now gone and soon she came across the dead man's torso sitting by the closed door to the inner sanctum. It was discarded and forgotten like everything else that had gone before the rising sun. She gave him a quick kick, partially to check if he was alive but mainly to relieve her frustration, then she opened the door. Smoke poured out and the unbelievable heat inside curled her eyelashes. She staggered back, gasping for air. She spat and it sizzled on the blackened stone. Then she walked in with the heat cracking the cheap leather of her stolen boots. Progress was slow and the smoke was thick and black in the air.
She did not even recognise her grandfather among the mass on the floor until she accidentally rolled him over and exposed a patch of what had been his face. She was not sickened or even saddened, her fury ran too deep. She did not look at him for a moment longer. She just stormed over to the charcoal mass and began tearing at it with her bare hands.
Her fingernails cracked and tore before she made it through the hard outer layers. Beneath there was pus, thickened into a tar-like thickness that she scraped away until she found what she was looking for. Elbow deep in the remains she found a pulse. She wrapped her fingers around the living flesh and tore it out in one great stringy mess. It was tiny and sickly and grey but it could not die. The power bound within it would not let it die. She sank her teeth into the last remains of Negrath. It tasted foul and bitter and she relished it to the very last bite.
***
Lucia was being swarmed by tailors and dress makers from the finest shops in the city. All too terrified to look at her, hands hovering always a breath away from touching her, flinching at her every word. Kaius had snapped off some commands to them rapid fire as he strode out of the room, trusting Lucia to handle them. Down in the entrance hall, Kaius was making harsh statements and barking out orders. He was bringing all the old obedient soldiers into the new fold. He said the words that had been spoken over him and Lucia experienced an insistent tug as fresh cords of power were drawn out of her and made their new connections.
Soon there were ten. Then twenty. All softly draining at her strength in tiny ways. The light filtering in from outside replenished it all in an instant. The clothes that they were stitching around her were black, not a colour you saw often outside of the Eater's service. They were cut sharp and angular, covering her completely in abnormal places but also revealing the patches of silver now rising up through her skin. When they drew the seams together it was so tight that her breath caught. Her body seemed to be streamlining, her curves, such as they were, were all smoothing out.
Those few assets that she had left were pushed up and out in a manner so aggressive that she wouldn't have looked out of place in one of the city's brothels. It was the same style mimicked by the majority of high society. She would have blended in well if it weren't for the other flairs on the dress. She could feel Kaius moving around already but now each of her new servants was a fixed point in her mind too. It tickled as some drew speed and flew off through the city, out into the lands she had just claimed as her own. At any distance she could sense them through that connection. She realised that the dressmakers, already having given up talking to her, now gave up speaking all together.
One poor girl brushed the back of her hand across Lucia's scales and hissed as her skin blackened suddenly. She had run from the room trying to avoid the Eater's wrath before Lucia even really knew what had happened. The others all froze in place. Lucia looked around their pale and terrified faces, all eyes were averted. She spoke softly, so as not to spook them, “That girl did nothing wrong and I did not intend to harm her. This new power is... I am still learning to control it. I would not do any of you harm by choice.”
This statement did little to alleviate the tension in the room. Kaius returned to the room, took one look around and demanded, “Why is it not finished?”
The tailors started shuffling towards the door, leaving the seamstresses to complete their delicate stitching with shivering fingers. As each girl finished her stitching she ran for her life. When the last girl left Lucia shouted, “Thank you.” at the rapidly retreating back of her head.
She sighed heavily. Kaius lifted her face by the chin and said, “You look most imposing. This will do well for the meeting with your nobles.”
She leaned away from his touch with a bashful shrug then said, “I burned one of the girls.”
He frowned and asked, “What did she do wrong?”
Lucia leaned ever further away from him, “Nothing. She touched me and it burned her. I would never...”
Kaius had turned away to look out over the balcony as she spoke, he glanced back when she trailed off, “I am glad that they did not displease you. You should come down to the audience chamber as quickly as you are able, the nobles have been stewing there since shortly after our announcement. They will likely have reached a consensus by now on whether they will accept your rule. You should make special mention of the Pontifex. They will be your priests until such time as there is another election. They will convey your laws and wishes to the people. They will be feeling the most threatened with the death of Negrath. Politically they hold little sway but to the commons they will be your voice, it would be helpful i
n your reforms if they are aligned with your goals.”
Lucia's features twisted with anger and heat radiated off of her, “My 'reforms' will be stripping them and every other noble of their powers and delivering them into the hands of the people that they have abused for centuries.”
Kaius replied flatly, “Better not to mention that part to them at the moment. Bear in mind that while they are somewhat unfair in their judgement they are also the only competent administrators and lawmakers that you have.”
Lucia shrugged again, “So just lie to them?”
Kaius shook his head, “Be entirely honest about your goals. Emphasise the benefits of the changes to them as well as to others. The important thing to remember is that you are already in control. If they wish to join you, then all the better. If they do not wish to join you, then the loss is only theirs.”
He managed to coax a smile from her and they moved together towards the door. She halted him with a hand on his arm before they passed into public sight, “Kaius. I need to know that you will support me. No matter if I get everything right or not.”
He smiled, “I serve you willingly and completely.”
She gripped his new silk sleeve as he tried to walk on, dragging him to a halt. “I need more than that Kaius. Tell me why you are doing all of this?”
He had been wondering something similar. They stopped at the door and he gave it careful consideration. Eventually he spoke, “You sang to me. You sang about things that I did not know existed. That I did not think could exist. It made me believe that the world did not have to be like it was. I fought for Negrath because I was good at fighting. I was forced to do things that I have no pride in. There was nowhere else for me in the world. But now there is you.”
She rose on her tip-toes and kissed him on the cheek. He froze as she did it and for the first time she noticed his unnatural stillness. She whispered, “Thank you.”
