Shadow of the Conqueror

by Shad M Brooks

  Lyrah had to step carefully here. “People can still do remarkable things without having our powers,” she said. “There’s also many types of darkstone-powered weapons that could burst open a wall.”

  “True.”

  “Did you manage to get a description of this young man?”

  The detective flipped back though his small notepad. “Male, young, blue hair, wore an old-style dueling coat.”

  “That’s plenty. You may carry on with your investigation,” Lyrah said, and then she walked to Cueseg. “I don’t get it. He first murders a man by throwing him from a building, yet at every other point we’ve tracked him to, he seems to have been helping people.”

  “You are missing something very clear,” Cueseg said, condescending as ever. “Reason. Why did the boy kill? The other man was missing his pants and had his penis cut off. Sex must be the reason. I am thinking that man was a rapist.”

  Lyrah’s jaw tensed and she replied with as much control as possible. “A rapist?”

  “Yes, taking a man’s penis is the punishment for this crime.”

  Lyrah felt her cheeks flush. “No, it isn’t.”

  “It is for my people.”

  “Then there’s at least one custom I like from Tuerase.”

  Cueseg nodded once. “You will like many more as you learn. We are the most intelligent people.”

  “Humble, too.”

  “Strong and beautiful as well,” Cueseg said, with such perfect sincerity that Lyrah laughed.

  “What is funny?”

  “Oh, just the things that go over your head.”

  Cueseg glanced to the ceiling, and though his face didn’t change, it was clear he didn’t understand. Lyrah laughed again.

  “You are a silly woman, laughing too much.”

  “You should try it sometime. Light, Cueseg, you’re as stiff as a brick.”

  “If I must be stiff as a brick to be as strong as one, I will be stiff.”

  “Don’t forget thick.”

  “Yes, I will be as thick as a brick, too.”

  Lyrah suppressed another chuckle at that. “Anyway, there’s no way to know why the boy killed that first victim until we question him.”

  “I am think he is trying to help. It makes sense. He must fight evil or he cannot have our powers.”

  Cueseg was right; the boy’s actions did fit with the supposed moral requirement to becoming a Lightbinder, something she was doubting.

  “Even if he is, the boy is using his powers recklessly and with no right. Taking it upon himself to be judge, jury, and executioner, just like his blackened father.”

  “It is what we do when we see a crime.”

  “A right only given to us by the nations we serve, not by virtue of our powers.”

  “But there is a law you teach me—what is it, to justify?”

  “The law of justification,” Lyrah said with a sigh. “Yes, in Hamahra, citizens can be justified to carry out punishments if they catch the criminal in the act, if they can later prove the crime through evidence or witnesses. But only if the punishment was proportional to the crime committed.”

  “What if this boy is justified?”

  “There’s not enough evidence for that. In fact, some of his acts look to be pure murder.”

  “Maybe, but I do not think so.”

  “We’ll find out once we catch him.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Many have called me mercilessly effective, which is accurate enough. I executed all captured soldiers after each battle—better to feed my own people than take care of enemies that would fight against me given the opportunity.

  I had sealed away my compassion to obtain revenge, and from that time on no horror or atrocity I committed made me flinch, for nothing could come close to the horror I had seen when looking down at the massacred bodies of my family. Though I had sealed away my humanity by choice, it was permanently severed from my soul through action. I became a heartless, unfeeling husk. Though I had obtained success and rule over one of the greatest nations in the world, I was utterly miserable, and had begun to loathe who I was.

  So in between my acts of rule and governance, I drowned my misery in whatever fleeting pleasures I could obtain: fine food, fine wine, and sex. Lots and lots of sex.

  * * *

  The Maraven was a Devendale Hauler, one of the finest skyships ever built in Daylen’s opinion. It, like many skyships, had a large iron windshield at the fore of the deck, which stuck up like a giant arrowhead from the bow. The edges of the shield had been angled up and out, pointing away from the ship. This directed wind currents away and over the deck which created a calm air pocket where one could walk and work while the ship flew through the violent winds. The wind whistled off the sides of the ship, yet not loudly enough that people couldn’t hear one another talk.

  All skyships had several inbuilt safety measures to prevent sudden drops or rises that might throw a person from the ship. The navigation levers had them too, which prevented the pilot from performing such extreme maneuvers intentionally. This didn’t stop accidents altogether, but reduced their likelihood considerably.

  Daylen and Ahrek lounged on one of the inbuilt benches that hugged the side rail of the ship.

  As usual, Ahrek was drawing in his sketchbook.

  Daylen couldn’t help but glance at Ahrek’s work now and then and see the drawing take form. It was a portrait of a woman. Ahrek was indeed talented, and if not for the new daguerreotype cameras, he could have easily made a living off it.

  Daylen held out his hand. “May I?”

  Ahrek smiled, pausing his sketch. “Of course,” he said, handing Daylen his sketchbook.

  Daylen leafed through the pages. Most of Ahrek’s pictures were portraits, all masterfully done. Daylen found the portrait Ahrek had done of him, from that dream. It was a very good likeness, especially from memory. As he flicked through, Daylen noticed a few recurring faces among the sketches. As he continued, those faces stood out to him more and more. Indeed, their faces were what Ahrek drew most. Then Daylen turned to a picture that had Ahrek himself with the recurring characters. It was a picture of him playing with three children, a boy and two girls, a woman at his side. Ahrek was still in his Lightbringer robes, but the woman and children were wearing normal clothes.

  Daylen showed Ahrek the picture. “Who’re they?”

  Ahrek looked to him and hesitated before replying. “My family,” he said with quivering emotion.

  Daylen nodded. It was all too clear. He knew that heartache just as keenly. Ahrek had lost them, and his drawings were a way to keep them close in his memory.

  Daylen looked at the picture again and felt tears welling in his eyes as the memory of his own little ones returned. He envied Ahrek for having a way to see them, for Daylen did not. Their faces were a blur in his mind, and it broke his heart.

  Daylen closed the book and handed it back.

  Ahrek took it and began drawing once more. The two sat in silence for a time before Ahrek glanced at the crew of the ship. This wasn’t the first time the Bringer had done this, nor the first time he had glanced at the hazy shapes of the islands that floated high above in the sky.

  “Worried about something?” Daylen asked.

  “I’m not worried. Just cautious. These are exactly the type of men who’d happily take advantage of anyone. I’ve already seen two pick the pockets of their fellow crewmen. That one keeps trying to shirk his jobs when he thinks no one is looking. And the captain has been sneaking suspicious glances toward us as he talks to his first mate.”

  “If I wasn’t already aware of your particularly perceptive nature, I’d say you were paranoid.”

  “You think I’m particularly perceptive?”

  “Stop fishing for validation, you know you’re good at noticing things.”

  “Yes… If I recall correctly, you think I’m a smartass.”

  “And you should be flattered by that compliment.”

  “I overflow with gratit
ude.”

  “Careful—that’s sarcasm I detect.”

  “I never said I can’t be sarcastic. Sometimes even the lowest form of humor has its place.”

  “Huh, now you’re being self-righteous.”

  “Yes, you’re right. I’m sorry.”

  “Oh, shut up!”

  “What?”

  “If you’re going to reveal in the smallest way that you’re as imperfect as the rest of us, you could at least make it harder to admit your own fault.”

  “You know, you’re very hard to please.”

  “I’ve got to keep you on your toes.”

  “Then why are we sitting?”

  “Pathetic.”

  Ahrek chuckled. “So pathetic that it’s hilarious!”

  “No.”

  Ahrek sighed and glanced again at the crew.

  “All right, what is it?”

  Ahrek closed his sketchbook and put it away in his satchel. “I’m simply wondering what could honestly make these men risk flying through these skies.”

  “First of all, it’s not nearly as risky as you think. We’re flying as low as is safe and at a decent clip which is hard to spot from up at the Isles. So unfortunately we’re probably not going to see any pirates.”

  “Yes, a tragedy, but still a great risk—and is it really worth saving half a fall’s time?”

  “Depends on schedule and demand. If this trader gets to a buyer that can only purchase a cargo’s worth before another trader…well, they’ll get to sell their goods and the late arrival will be left out of pocket. If a trader has debts, and by the look of this once impressive ship I’d say they do, making it to a deal is often the difference between success and bankruptcy.”

  “Life is ever more valuable than money.”

  “That’s too simplistic. Money facilitates the ability to live, so don’t judge people for seeking it.”

  “Oh, but I will judge for that very reason. What point is there for money to support life when that life is risked in its pursuit? Such a contradiction reveals a very unbalanced set of priorities.”

  “Yes, these men have skewed priorities. For whatever reason, they need to get to the capital as soon as possible, and we’re here to benefit from that. So stop whining.”

  “Very well. My concerns will be contained.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Might I ask a question instead?”

  “Might you?”

  “How do you know so much about pirates, as demonstrated by your confidence that they won’t attack? Or is this another thing that falls into the realms of none of my business?”

  Daylen considered the question. “What I will tell you is that I’ve visited the Floating Isles before. Light, I’ve even traveled to their cities: Deadend, Freelife, and Raidaway.”

  Ahrek looked genuinely surprised. “When under the Light did you visit those awful places, and more to the point, how did you survive?”

  “You’re lucky I’ve said as much as I have.”

  “Yes, with how secretive you are with your past, I suppose I should be grateful for any small offering.”

  “Good. Anyway, the cities are interesting to say the least,” Daylen said as he thought back, “but not exactly what you expect. They go through phases of law and lawlessness, depending on who’s in power at the time. Of course their version of law isn’t what the word implies; it’s more an unspoken code that might get enforced if any particular person feels so inclined.”

  “It’s a wonder no one has thought to do something about those lawless havens.”

  “Dayless the Conqueror tried to.”

  “Yes, well, apart from him.”

  “He was called the Conqueror for a reason, so do you really think anyone else is going to have a better chance than he had? Dayless wiped out each of those cities, but the ruffians who lived in them just hid in the thousand other islands, hunkered down and fought back like the bandits they were. It was literally impossible to root them out with all the places they could hide. The Isles are like a never-ending three-dimensional maze. No one has ever been able to completely chart the place. So even with their cities destroyed, the people in them were never defeated. Dayless eventually abandoned his mission as a lost cause. One might say it’s the only battle he ever lost.”

  “Again, you’re right,” Ahrek said. “I suppose if someone as ruthlessly effective as the Conqueror couldn’t clean out the Isles, no one can. And now I hear that the bandit cities have been rebuilt larger than they ever were.”

  “Yeah, I’ve heard the same.”

  “Hmm…”

  “What?”

  “Oh, just a personal thought. I’m going for a walk. You’re free to join me if you wish.”

  “No, that sounds a little too gay for me. I’m sure that at least one of the crewmen here might swing the other way, if you care to find out.”

  Ahrek shook his head as he left. “Truly, your humor needs a thorough reeducation.”

  “Huh, you’re one to talk!” Daylen called out after him as he leaned back to gaze up at the soft, island-spotted sky.

  There were several hundred thousand individual islands among the Floating Isles, all ranging from the size of a skyship to kilometers in diameter, all at varying yet relatively close heights and localized to a hundred-kilometer radius.

  The prevailing theory on where the Floating Isles came from was that they were all once joined as a much smaller continent that floated above the mainland, much like the smaller sister continents of Orden and Azbanadar. Daylen had lent credence to this possibility many years ago when finding that most of the Floating Isles fit back together like some massively complex puzzle. Something incredibly powerful had blown it apart, and that was one of the things Daylen had looked into during his attempts to eradicate the pirates.

  He had found an ancient device buried in one of the center isles. After giving up on the invasion as a lost cause, Daylen returned to study the device, discovering that it was an incredibly advanced sunforge. It could make sunucles far easier and quicker than any forge in the world. But Daylen had suspected it could do more. Finding it at the center of the Floating Isles was too much of a coincidence. Daylen thanked the Light he didn’t discover its full function until after his defeat, as otherwise he might have been tempted to use it.

  Once in hiding, he had all the time in the world to study the device, and after a few years he had figured it out. Its sunforging ability was unlimited. It could sunforge a whole skyship…or continent. But when trying to sunforge a continent, as some idiot had tried to do so long ago…well, the Floating Isles had been the result. The device could sunforge darkstone, something thought impossible, but from testing tiny granules Daylen discovered that darkstone exploded when sunforged, and the yield was thousands of times more powerful than anything else—hence the Floating Isles.

  But that didn’t matter anymore. Daylen had hidden the device away and it was far better the thing was lost once more, considering its incredible destructive potential.

  Daylen leaned back and was feeling good, invigorated even, and he realized why. He had now recovered from the overuse of his powers.

  With access to his powers once more, Daylen decided to test them again. The light came to him as easily as ever. Smiling and reveling in how wonderful it felt, Daylen bonded it to his eyes and gazed above.

  It was amazing. He could see so far, and easily gazed through the haze of the air above. Now the islands were perfectly clear to him, and in very fine detail.

  Daylen enjoyed the view for a moment before channeling all bonds to his eyes.

  Daylen raised his hand in front of his face. With his eyesight enhanced so much, he could see the individual cells of his skin. Looking up at the isles was something else—not only could he see the underside of each island in his field of vision as if he were next to them with a magnifying glass, but he could see all those things in his field of vision in that level of detail at the one time. Normally a person could only focus on one thing at
a time even though there were many things in their field of vision. That was not the case anymore. It was as if, with the enhancement of his eyes, his mind was also enhanced to be able to process and comprehend all the information.

  Smiling, Daylen was content to enjoy a view of things he had never dreamed were possible. After a few minutes he released two of his bonds, wanting to see how long he could maintain his powers at half strength. An hour passed, and where his powers would have been exhausted by then if used to their maximum, he didn’t feel fatigued one bit. It was at that time a skyship flew out from above an inconspicuous island kilometers overhead. With his eyesight still enhanced, Daylen saw it immediately.

  Daylen maximized his sight to get a better look at the ship. It had once been a Hammenlight switchback, one of the faster carrier models, but had been aggressively retrofitted with iron plates, harpoons, and a rammer fixed to the bow.

  It was a pirate ship.

  Daylen smiled to himself. “Well, this trip isn’t going to be nearly as boring as I feared.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  It started with the finer ladies of ill repute, but with the pleasure of bedding them came a feeling of filth. I loathed myself enough as it was, and soon couldn’t stand to be in their presence. I wanted something pure and innocent, such a contrast to what I was, so I called for a willing young woman. A virgin.

  Many girls came forward, believing that I sought a wife, an empress to rule at my side. My people still loved me at that time and the one I picked thought it as a marriage proposal. She deserves to be remembered. Her name was Deena: sweet, kind, beautiful, and in all ways perfect.