by Billy Wong
"Who do you think did it?" Julian asked.
"I can't say. We have no evidence so far, since apparently nobody saw what happened. Don't know how they did it in a damn store, though. I guess it was early in the morning. Whoever killed him might have followed him until no one was looking. Maybe the shopkeeper was in the back, and when Thaddeus entered then..." She made a throat cutting motion, and her son gulped.
"I bet it must be an existing enemy of ours who did it," Keith said. "Maybe that anti-magic faction, or some other group or person who was waiting for an opportunity?"
Julian gazed questioningly at him. "But nobody attacked me before, or Mom. Why start with the seer?"
"You're well guarded, and you know your mother is almost invincible. So they probably weren't ready to take the risk of attacking one of you, and when Thaddeus arrived saw a chance to harm us indirectly."
"Makes sense," Julianna said. "We failed to protect him well, not expecting him to be targeted. But shit, don't they realize killing him might doom us all?" She knew they didn't, yet it couldn't keep her from feeling more angry than she had since—since before her death. Rudolph was annoying, but this... Too, she felt guilty the man she had just brought back into the fold already lost his life. She balled a fist. "I'll find the one who did this and make them talk, and then punish whoever stands behind them."
"But how will you do that when nobody saw them? It would be difficult to follow their tracks in the busy city."
"Someone might yet come forward." Her voice took on a cold edge. "I have a different idea, though. Would you believe a vastly powerful mage princess who came back from the grave could bring back the dead?"
"Can you do that, Mom?" Julian's voice grew small. "That would be astonishing..."
"No, I can't. Just because I revived myself doesn't mean I can do so to others."
"So then what was the point of asking that?" Keith said.
"I can't actually bring back the dead. But, I think I could do okay at faking it. Remember how I sent magic into the stone when we were trapped by that cave-in? If I do the same to Thaddeus' body, I can move it around like a puppet. That way I might fool the culprit into believing they failed to kill him, and lure them out to try and finish the job. And I'll be waiting."
"Hasn't news spread of his death already?" Julian asked.
"No, not officially. I told the guards not to reveal the victim's identity yet. So all the killer knows is that they thought they had killed him. If they hear he's miraculously survived, I'm counting on them to make another attempt on his life. Then I'll put this fist through their face—but only after I make them talk."
Keith frowned. "Would it be right? Using Thaddeus' remains like that, I mean. Of course I don't disapprove of punishing his murderer."
"It's distasteful, but he's already dead. I'm sure he'd rather have his corpse animated briefly over letting his murder go unavenged." She looked away. "I'll have to use magic too, which I've been trying to avoid. But this is a threat to our family you know, and to the whole continent if they keep interfering with us. If there's anything I can do, I won't allow it to stand. No matter what it takes, I'll catch these bastards. Now that they've stirred my wrath, let it burn them to ash."
#
Later that day, after they got a skilled mortician to disguise Thaddeus' pallor with makeup—paying him a good sum to stay quiet—Julian publicly announced there'd been an assassination attempt on the royal seer which ended with his throat being sliced. However, he continued, his mother had used her unmatched powers to save him from the mortal wound. Julianna walked out on the balcony alongside Thaddeus then, manipulating the magical energy she had infused his corpse with to control his limbs. He moved quite jerkily, as she wasn't used to doing this, but hopefully a supposed brush with death would excuse it well enough. The crowd below cheered, many looking astounded at her ability. It felt like a bit of a fraud, but was for a worthy cause at least.
"However," Julian said, "as it was such a close call, our revered soothsayer will require much rest before he fully recovers. Mother, will you escort him to his room?"
"Of course. Come on Old Thaddeus, if you don't walk straighter I'll have to carry you back!" At that, the townspeople who had just been so impressed with her broke into guffaws. Showing some humor should make it more believable, anyway.
She guided Thaddeus' stiffly moving body through the halls to his room and entered with him. Setting him down on his bed, she hid inside his largely empty wardrobe. Because she didn't need sustenance like normal humans, waiting out the killer would just be a matter of patience. She hoped they would take the bait soon, before she got bored out of her mind.
Julianna waited and waited, almost slipping into daydreams at times. Peering through the small hole she had drilled in the closet for her before, she eventually saw a bearded man of nondescript build walk inside to stand by Thaddeus' bed. "Sleeping soundly, eh?" he said quietly. "Go to your eternal rest." He raised a blade.
She stepped out of her hiding place. "You're the one who will go there. But not before revealing your secrets."
"What?!" He looked at her, then back at Thaddeus. His eyes grew wide. "Wait, is he..?"
"You succeeded in your mission. But you won't escape the consequences. You probably thought yourself lucky the door was lightly guarded. Now what do you think?"
He ran for the exit. As he reached for the knob she threw her weapon through his shoulder, pinning him to the door. He whimpered, trying to tug the spear free from the wood but to no avail. Julianna walked up behind him, yanked him backwards off the pole and threw him on the floor. She knelt with one knee on his chest. "Now speak. Who sent you, and where do I find them so I can talk to them with this fist?"
"I'll never tell you, Magic Empress! Kill me now if you want, but don't waste your time trying to get something from me you never will."
Magic Empress? Well, if that wasn't a clue... "Oh, never huh? How confident are you in that?" She clamped one hand over his mouth so his screams wouldn't spook the whole palace, stuck her other thumb inside a nostril and pulled sideways. He squirmed and kicked his legs frantically, tears running from his eyes from the agony, but she held him down with ease. Just as she began to feel flesh give, she stopped. It wouldn't do to rip off his nose so soon, when she might need him intact for torture depending on his willpower. "How far between 'never' and 'now' are we now?"
"W-what?" He gawked at her, orbs already crazed with fear.
"I meant, how close are you to talking? Will you spill your secrets or are you looking forward to a lifetime of this?"
"I won't tell you! Do your w-worst. You'll kill me anyway, so what is some more pain before death?" But the way his voice shook told her his bravado might not hold up long.
Julianna stuck a finger in his other nostril and stretched it to the brink of tearing again, this time making a yellow puddle spread under his lower half. She didn't envy the maid who would clean up this room, and should give her a small bonus by way of apology. "Come on, don't be shy. Your eye socket's next." On second thought, maybe she should save that for...
The man could barely speak now, struggling to get the words out through sobs. "I can't, I can't tell you! My family, if my master's betrayed..."
She actually felt a touch of sympathy to hear that, but only a bit. He was to blame for joining his despicable organization in the first place, and she shouldn't be obliged to soften his mistakes for him. However, "If you let me know who your master is, you won't have to worry about them hurting your family. Because they'll be dead."
"Are you sure? Do you swear it?"
"Your master probably will target my family next, or if not soon after. So why wouldn't I end them?"
He opened his mouth, but then hesitated. "I'm afraid-" She grabbed his crotch and twisted, sending spasms of anguish through his body. When she released him, he lay there shaking while taking great breaths for a while, then whispered, "All right, all right. My master is Leelee the Golden."
Sh
e recoiled. Leelee who her son courted? The hell, that was unexpected. But then she recalled Leelee's birth father betrayed her long ago, and she killed him in retaliation. His daughter had been so young when she was adopted by a family friend, Julianna thought she wouldn't remember it. If she did, wanting revenge made sense... but it still seemed odd for a twenty-one year old woman who would have been even younger when it started to lead such a sinister faction. Not impossible, though. "Are you telling the truth? If you're lying to buy time, you'll suffer the price later."
"I promise you it's so. She is young, but her resolve is strong! She won't rest until one of you no longer exists."
That sounded quite extreme, although "no longer exists" might just refer to them considering Julianna already dead. "I'll have words with her. And I'll keep you alive for another talk in case you've misled me." She slammed an elbow down into his temple and knocked him senseless, then went to fetch the guards.
Chapter 7
"You don't seriously believe him, do you?" Julian asked when Julianna revealed the murderer's confession to him and Keith. "Leelee couldn't be the founder of the anti-magic organization, she was just a kid when that Eve girl first infiltrated the Ostuh researcher department no?"
"She was nineteen. Young yes, but older than you now and you're the ruler of a country, not just a shadowy group."
"Besides," Keith said, "your mother was even younger when she killed Leelee's father. It's also possible she wasn't the founder, but inherited the position from someone else."
"That's true. Why would she court me for so long if she hated our family though? Why not kill me while she had the chance?"
Julianna gnashed her teeth at the mere thought. "She probably didn't only want to kill us off, but take control of Aerilea in our place afterward. Establishing herself as your spouse would be an important step towards keeping power after your death. My return must throw a wrench in her plan."
"She isn't even as good as me at fighting, though. How could she think to oppose you or Dad?"
"One doesn't need the ability to battle physically to mastermind a plot. Besides, how do you know she hasn't been hiding things from you?"
He hung his head, finally accepting he might've been had. "What will we do? Will you go to Leelee's keep to settle this?"
"I'd rather you summon her here. She shouldn't know her underling gave her away, and even if she suspects it she can't deny a royal request. Better that than meet her on her home turf."
"All right, Mom." He met her eyes. "Can I be there when you confront her? After how much she and I have interacted, it wouldn't feel right to slink away and leave it all to you."
"Fine, you're the man on the throne after all. Just let me and your father handle the action if Leelee the Golden proves more dangerous than expected."
Julian sent a letter requesting Leelee's presence, and they waited for her arrival. Yet another delay to the search for a solution to the continent's biggest threat aggravated Julianna, but she couldn't help it with her family's future at stake. When they got word Leelee had entered Myrrhise, she and Keith hurried to the throne room to greet her with their son, a private meeting between the four of them as they ordered the soldiers out. "Is it true?" Julian asked the tall slim blonde in a white gown, the picture of young femininity but whose graceful swaying walk might conceal bitter hatred.
"Is what true?" Leelee asked in a soft, sweet tone.
His conviction seemed to waver as he paused before saying, "My mother caught an assassin who killed Seer Thaddeus shortly after he came back to the palace. When questioned under duress who ordered his death, you were the one named."
She leaned back in surprise. "Me? I would never do such a thing! Why would you believe him, when he was no doubt told by his true master to frame me?"
"Nobody mentioned the assassin was a he," Keith said.
"Ah, well I just assumed it would be a man. Women don't have the stomach for brutal work such as this."
Julianna cracked her knuckles. "That's both untrue and offensive. I have plenty of blood on my hands. I think, at least by proxy, you do too."
Leelee looked back and forth between them. "You accuse me, you prejudge me? Julian you must believe me, we love each other don't we? It baffles me that your parents give the word of a common thug more weight than my own, but you surely cannot share the same opinion."
"I would be skeptical of you being guilty, but Mom says your father was Count Valdo who tried to kill her. If that's so, it makes some sense that you would hold a grudge and seek vengeance against us..."
The corners of her mouth twitched with irrepressible anger, making Julianna fairly confident in her guilt. "Tried to kill her? It's a lie! Your demon of a mother, the so-called Saint Princess, murdered my father when I was a child before my eyes in the cruelest of ways." She jabbed a well-trimmed fingernail at Julianna. "This fiend should die for her sins, or stay dead at least."
Her passion seemed to almost convince Julian. "Mom, is it really true you murdered him?" he asked in a small voice. "Please tell me it was in honorable battle, the warrior that you are."
"It wasn't exactly in battle. I guess you could say it was murder—or an execution, for all the fight he put up." Her son's jaw dropped. Then she exchanged looks with Keith. "But that was after he made an attempt on my life." Her mind drifted back to that time. "My own father had just passed, and Leelee's invited me to his manor to reaffirm our relationship as vassal and liege. When I drank the wine he offered... gods, after minutes it was like a fire burning through my veins and guts! I fell to the ground clawing at the carpet in anguish, and he raised his sword to finish me off.
"Yet even at eighteen, my indignant rage was too strong for the poison to quench. With a magical whirlwind, I flayed the skin from Count Valdo. He ran shrieking from the study a raw crimson mass, to die soon after... I take it his young daughter, who we found hiding along his path later, must have witnessed the sight. I suppose you could call it murder at a stretch, since I would've been able to restrain him without killing him. But I was poisoned, and in excruciating pain. In my agony, I lashed out without much thought, and he perished."
"I don't believe you!" Leelee wailed. "My father wasn't evil, he wouldn't have betrayed you like that!"
"Didn't you see how I staggered out of the room after him, barely able to stand? I was in so much pain, I almost couldn't see... if I hadn't already been 'inhuman' to some degree then, I would have died right there."
"That's not how I remember it. You walked out standing tall, triumphant. The memory of your cruel sneer is burnt into my head!"
It had probably been a grimace. "You remember wrong, I couldn't have been standing tall—save maybe a moment when I straightened. Perhaps your mind has warped your memories, to give you somebody to hate and fuel to drive you on... plus you were four, not the best age to trust memories from in the first place."
Leelee shook her head vigorously. "I'm not listening! You monster, your lies won't work on me. You must have deceived my father the same way, so that he would trust you. Never again, Magic Empress... never again!"
"I'm sorry," Julianna said quietly. "I shouldn't have let you see that."
"Then you admit to sending the assassin?" Keith asked.
"Yes, I admit it all! My people sabotaged Ostuh's research, stirred up anti-mage sentiments in Severil, and of course killed Thaddeus, all in the name of weakening the hold of conceited magic users like your holy bitch."
Julianna spread her arms in a pleading gesture. "Conceited? I know why you would say that, but it isn't true. You think my family believes we have a right to rule based solely on our magical talent, but that's not how I feel. I want people to follow me because they find my decisions just, not because they fear my power. The magic is just a tool, to be used when needed."
"Hmph! As if I'd believe you, when you used that very magic to force your will unjustly on my father."
"Anyway, this isn't the time for this type of fighting among ourselves! We're trying t
o save this continent right now, from a danger which threatens us all. By thwarting our efforts, your actions could doom everyone."
Her face split in a defiant smile. "As if I would believe you. I know what you told the other rulers. The continent might fall? Ha! Nothing but a ruse to set you up as the hero when it doesn't happen because you 'stopped' it. How transparent."
"If that was the case," Keith snapped, "why we would keep this theory from the public instead of fostering awareness of it to maximize our glory? Think, girl! Have you not heard the news of islands collapsing, do you think that's fake too?"
"I believe some islands have fallen. How exactly does that prove the calamity you describe is imminent? Exaggeration to exploit an opportunity is all it is. But it'll end today. If subterfuge has run its course, I'll settle this with brute force!"
Julian started. "Leelee, what are you saying? You can't possibly think-"
The girl swung her arm in a backhand-like motion, a wave of golden light sweeping forth in its wake. Keith tackled Julian away from the throne, trying to push him out of harm's way, then got hit by the blast so that father and son were sent flying. Both men rolled across the floor to lie next to one another, Keith hugging his ribs in pain while Julian said frightfully, "Dad! Dad, are you okay?"
Meanwhile Julianna had blocked with her spear, and landed on her feet after being knocked back. "What on earth, you use magic?"
"Oh, you weren't prepared for that, were you? Ha ha ha ha! I've been training to be a mage since I found a teacher willing to take me on. If I couldn't beat you with other means, I would use your own methods against you! Did you know I was actually disappointed when you died, since I could no longer vanquish you myself? Now that you're back, I get to tell you as I pictured. I'm a younger, better version of you!"
She blinked in bewilderment at this latest revelation. "But isn't that kind of hypocritical? You seek to free the land from the rule of mages, yet you become one yourself?"
"I won't use magic to impose tyranny! All it's for is to overthrow you!"
