The Immortal Queen Tsubame: Ascension

by H. D. Strozier

  “If she seems to know so much about me,” MaLeila said to herself, “It’s only fair I get to know a little about her.”

  Besides, knowing more about Tsubame would even the odds. She hadn’t flat out told the woman she wouldn’t join her, but if she were going to get away from the woman and defeat her, she needed to be able to play the woman’s game. And unfortunately there was no registry with all Tsubame’s known history that she could download. Thus, MaLeila would have to resort to asking the right questions and finding out more about this alternate version of herself on her own. She could have asked Marcel about it, but they had enough things to straighten out between them without MaLeila demanding information about Tsubame and asking Tsubame herself was out the question so that left Nika.

  The idea backfired, mostly because, MaLeila noted in hindsight, while Nika certainly possessed the same blunt straightforwardness the Bastet she grew up knowing over the years had, Nika didn’t possess the maternal and diplomatic gentleness. The woman told MaLeila in no uncertain terms that she was going to have to do better than that if she wanted to find out more information about Tsubame in order to get the upper hand on the woman, not that Nika even thought it would help. MaLeila’s response was to bluntly ask who managed to shove a stick so far up her ass and any chance she had of getting anything out the woman was lost.

  Marcel showed up in MaLeila’s room later, chuckling as he relayed how disgruntled Nika was with her.

  “She’ll get over it. She’s usually grumbling about how none of my girlfriends have a backbone and cry too easily,” he added.

  MaLeila glanced over at Marcel as he came further into the room, occupying the chair that Nika usually sat in when the woman had nothing better to do besides watch MaLeila as she poured over the books she had gotten Tsubame to provide her with.

  “I’m pretty sure you didn’t come in here and make yourself comfortable just to tell me that,” MaLeila said bluntly.

  “No I didn’t,” Marcel admitted. “You asked for some time. And though I know everything’s not water under the bridge yet and you’re going to need more of it, I think I’ve given you enough space.”

  This was the first time in a relationship that MaLeila had with someone where she wasn’t making the first move. Any time she and Devdan butted heads, it was always her extending the olive branch towards him. When she broke up with Irvin, it was MaLeila who picked up the phone after he left the states so they could have their first conversation as friends again. The reconciliation always happened on her terms, when she was ready, so she wasn’t sure how to deal with reconciling with someone when they had decided it was time to and she still wasn’t so sure.

  “I guess so. But since we’re on the topic of Nika,” MaLeila added in effort to push off any discussion about the two of them as long as possible, “Why is she always in such a bad mood?”

  Marcel rolled his eyes. “That would be my fault. She hasn’t been the same since I manipulated Claude into sealing her for almost two hundred years instead of me.”

  “Oh yeah?” MaLeila said, curiosity piqued at unexpectedly getting some of the information she had been seeking. “How did you manage that?”

  “I knew Claude was planning to seal us both, but I also knew he could only seal us one at a time…” Marcel said trailing off.

  When he didn’t immediately continue, MaLeila furrowed her eyebrows and said, “What?”

  “I want you to keep in mind that back then I wasn’t exactly the nicest or most considerate person,” Marcel said. “In short I was a total asshole.”

  “If I can forgive Devdan for being an asshole to me all the time, I can forgive you for being one a long time ago,” MaLeila pointed out.

  “Touché,” Marcel said and then continued, “Anyway, since I knew he could only seal us one at a time I took advantage of his weakness and manipulated him into sealing Nika first. While he was doing that, I left and came back after Claude died later disguised as a white auctioneer so I could take Claude’s magical theory book and what turned out to be Tsubame’s staff in the future.”

  “What was Claude’s weakness?” MaLeila asked noticing that Marcel was conveniently leaving out exactly what it was he had done to get Claude to seal Nika first.

  “Before I tell you this, promise me that you won’t draw conclusions in the present based on what I did in the past,” Marcel said.

  “Now you’re worrying me.”

  “It isn’t the worst thing I’ve ever done in my life, but considering our fallout it’s a big deal,” Marcel admitted.

  “What did you do?”

  “Claude was attracted to men, he had a particularly fondness for me and for a long time I rejected all his advances. Then—“

  “You found out he was planning to seal you and Nika,” MaLeila cut in.

  Marcel nodded his head. “I knew he had a thing for me, so I distracted him. Returned his advances and the night before he was supposed to seal us I slept with him.”

  “And then what happened?”

  “He let me sleep in for the rest of the day and decided to Nika to seal her first. He would have sealed me the next day if I hadn’t taken the opportunity to run off,” Marcel said. “Needless to say, when Nika found me and Tsubame almost two centuries later, she was furious and tried to kill me. If Tsubame hadn’t stepped in between us and said that the one Nika should have been pissed off at was already dead, I don’t know what would have happened. She forgave me for it eventually, but being sealed that long fucks with your head so she’s been much more aware of people’s manipulations since.”

  MaLeila stared, not sure what to say. She pressed her lips together, trying to resist the first words that came to her tongue in effort to keep her promise.

  “Go ahead and say it,” Marcel said. “I know you promised not to, but go ahead.”

  With Marcel’s greenlight, the words spilled out her mouth.

  “You expect me to believe that you didn’t use me for Tsubame’s plan, but here you are admitting that you’ve slept with people before to get what you wanted,” she said.

  “Centuries ago.”

  “So you’re telling me that was the only time. That you never manipulated someone for Tsubame in all those years?” MaLeila asked. “And don’t beat around the bush about it. Just answer.”

  Marcel groaned and said, “No. It wasn’t the only time and yes, I’ve done it for Tsubame before. But that has nothing to do with you. I told you—“

  “I know what you’ve told me.”

  “And you don’t believe me,” Marcel said bluntly. “I don’t know what to say except if you don’t believe me then believe Tsubame. She’s a manipulator. She keeps things to herself for her own gain. But she’s not a liar. When she said she didn’t know what to do with you, that she had no plans for you even though she knew you existed, you weren’t part of her plan or anyone’s plan. In fact, I think she was surprised to find out that we were—are involved.”

  MaLeila agreed with that. Tsubame wasn’t a liar. She simply let people make assumptions. Even when she offered to take the blame for Fathi’s murder, she never outright told anyone that she did it. She simply decided to go back home and didn’t confirm or deny anything when accused which was enough admission of guilt for the council. So despite Tsubame’s manipulative hand, MaLeila was more prone to believe the woman’s word over Marcel for now. And based on her interactions with the woman, MaLeila was sure that Tsubame hadn’t decided to integrate MaLeila into her plans until the last minute and MaLeila was also sure that Tsubame had been somewhat surprised about her relationship with Marcel, if only because he was a council representative. That was another thing. If Marcel had been a part of Tsubame’s plan, she wouldn’t have risked sending Marcel through the council. If she were Tsubame, MaLeila would have sent a man to capture her heart through something to do with modeling or school or some avenue that might have secured MaLeila’s trust faster.

  “That doesn’t change the fact that you still came with her i
n the first place. That you knew who she was and you helped divert our attention away from her.”

  “And what was I supposed to do? Tell you who she was? Who I was? I liked you. Why would I have done something that would push you away and see me as your enemy? At least this way you got to see for yourself. Before you even knew about my history with Tsubame or even suspected it, you started to see on your own that Tsubame was the lesser threat compared to what the council planned to do and is still planning to do. So don’t try to use me as your excuse for why you’re conflicted,” Marcel said, his voice not necessarily harsh, but definitely an octave or two lower than usual.

  “That may be true, but that doesn’t change the fact that whether you meant to or not, for whatever reason, you lied.”

  “I didn’t lie.”

  “Misled then.”

  MaLeila and Marcel stared at each other for a few beats, neither willing to back down. Finally Marcel looked away and said, “You’re right. I’ll give you that. No matter what the reason, I did mislead you even though I wasn’t trying. I was trying to be as honest as I could though.”

  “That’s the point.”

  MaLeila could reconcile that Marcel was another version of Devdan from another world. She could even reconcile that he misled the council to help Tsubame’s plan fall into place. But what really bothered her was that she didn’t know him as much as she thought she had, only a faucet of him.

  “Fine then,” Marcel said as he stood from his seat and crossed the room to stand in front of her. “Come with me.”

  “Come with you where?”

  “On a date.”

  MaLeila raised her eyebrows and said, “I just told you that I essentially don’t know if I can trust you and you ask me out on a date?”

  “So you can get to know the real me without me having to hide my past, who I am, what I am. You’ll get all of me, without the secrets and then you can decide whether you still want me or not,” Marcel explained.

  MaLeila pressed her lips together before she opened her mouth and told Marcel that there wasn’t a question as to whether or not she still wanted him. She already decided she did. But the question remained was it because of her lingering feelings for Devdan or did she want Marcel because he was his own person? And if he was his own person, could she separate that in her mind and see it. And that was on top of the fact that the circumstances of their relationship was based on secrets if not lies.

  “Where would we even go?”

  Marcel shrugged. “I’m sure there’s something around here to do?”

  “And Tsubame would be fine with you disappearing and whisking me away with you?”

  Marcel huffed. “She’s my queen, not my slave master.”

  In the end they settled for a walk through the dilapidated city. They walked in comfortable silence as they passed half ruined buildings one block and then perfectly sound and safe structures with vendors outside them the next.

  “You okay?” Marcel asked.

  “Yeah. Just reminds me of home as weird as that sounds.”

  “It’s not. Whether you call it the slums or the hood or the ghetto or low income, it looks the same wherever you go, albeit with some worse than others, but still the same. A bunch of poor people who can’t overcome the obstacles their oppressors put in their way,” Marcel said. “I think Tsubame feels the same way. While they’re ostracizing her on television, she’s been out here every day getting water to families, helping people grow food, rebuilding their homes. It’s part of her plan of course, to make people think she’s some power thirsty woman scorned who killed her future husband and she may be doing it partly for the fun and challenge of it all, but Tsubame genuinely feels a kinship to these people.”

  “So you’re telling me that Tsubame, despite her ruthlessness, is a benevolent queen?”

  “Wouldn’t you be ruthless to defend the people under your charge or to right injustices done to those who are innocent? Especially when it’s the ruthlessness of those who take pleasure in oppressing others that get them their power in the first place. Nothing less can be used to take them down,” Marcel replied.

  “That’s one hell of a philosophy.”

  “It’s the one that works. Trust me. I lived through revolutions and wars and the people who are respected the most are those who would never actively aggress someone, but would definitely fight the hell back when someone messes with them,” Marcel replied.

  “I can agree with that.”

  “Of course you can. It’s the story of your life.”

  “Just how many wars and revolutions have you lived through?”

  “The American Civil War, Three World Wars, Vietnam. You name it. I was there—somewhere,” Marcel added.

  “Three World Wars?”

  “Oh. That’s right,” Marcel said. “I forgot you all haven’t even gotten to that point in time where that happened. If it’s even going to happen.”

  “Did you fight in any of them?”

  “Fight might not be the word, but certainly involved.”

  “How?”

  “Which war?”

  “What was World War III about?”

  Marcel laughed. “I knew you would ask me about the one war I can’t tell you anything about.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because that hasn’t happened in this timeline yet and we haven’t reached that point in this timeline yet so it might still happen. It’s dangerous enough that Tsubame brought us here to begin with, but telling you future events that could still happen isn’t wise.”

  MaLeila stopped walking, turning to look directly at Marcel as she said, “That can still happen? I thought we were from different timelines.”

  “We are.”

  “Okay. Forget the wars you’ve fought in. Tell me how alternate timelines work and how the same events can still happen in two different timelines.”

  Marcel nodded and went over to a vendor who had a pen and a receipt book. Marcel asked if he could borrow it and without waiting for an answer, nodded MaLeila over to the side of the vendor table.

  “Contrary to popular belief, not all timelines run parallel to each other,” Marcel said as he drew a line and then two lines from the top of it that went in different directions. “They diverge.” Then he drew another line that came out from lower on the first line and eventual crossed with the line that forked from the first at the time. “They cross paths.” Marcel continued on the same line until he was tracing the line that forked from the left. “They even merge. All a culmination of the many different choices we all make, could have made, would have made, never will make, right down to simply deciding to meet someone’s eyes in the crowd or choosing where to get your coffee. All those choices make the difference.”

  “So in essence when a timeline runs parallel, the same things happen at the same time in each and at any point, they can diverge in another direction which creates the differences between them and causes them to go in another direction,” MaLeila stated.

  “Essentially and that’s based on the little Tsubame and I have learned about them. The universe has to keep her secrets of course,” Marcel chucked as he handed the vendor back his receipt book and pen.

  “What choice do you think made our timelines so different?” MaLeila asked.

  “Could have been anything. You know how many events that changed the course of history wouldn’t have happened if two people simply resisted the urge to sleep together. What do you think it was?”

  If MaLeila went by what Marcel had explained to her about timelines, at some point their timelines had run parallel, the same events happening the exact same way until someone made a different choice which caused a domino effect and the two timelines to go in different directions. And while she couldn’t pinpoint exactly what it was that made the differences, certainly the fact that Marcel escaped being sealed while Nika was sealed was a factor.

  “I don’t know,” MaLeila said. “But since you can’t tell me about any potential future wars
, tell me about the Civil War.”

  5

  In the end, after deciding the best way to get to Tsubame was to infiltrate the Russian army, only he and Bastet ended up going on the mission to find MaLeila. Irvin was whisked away by his mother to deal with the escalating fallout of their country leaving the European Union, especially with what was no doubt an impending war. While Tilila and her husband were better suited gathering intelligence and doing historical research for them that could give them context in future encounters with Tsubame.

  The Romanovs weren’t a magic clan that wasted a lot of time. They started their operation to attack Tsubame two days after Bastet and Devdan finished planning how they were going to use the chaos to get into Tsubame’s compound and find MaLeila. As misguided and greedy as Devdan thought they were, he could see why the Russian Clan was in such a rush considering their first attack had been foiled by Tsubame and then delayed by the failed peace treaty that the Magic Council had arranged. If Devdan weren’t directly involved in the matter, he’d be amused by how threatened the infamously aggressive clan was by Tsubame.

  The Russian Clan was convinced that aiding the now allied factions in a ground invasion with some of their best spies and sorcerers mixed in the army would be the best way to go against Tsubame. People, at the very least could cover their eyes and get over the discomfort of a sandstorm. And once Tsubame had been subdued, they could drop as many bombs and send in as many drones as they wanted to wipe out the remains of the army.

  “The commander is pretty confident that they’ll be able to siege Tsubame’s city and kill her in a day,” Bastet said, disguised as a heavily armed desert soldier. “I hope the Russian Clan is prepared for their plan to go greatly awry.”

  Devdan said nothing as he stared out into the night desert, waiting for word that they would start to approach the city using the cover of night.

  “Not even a huff? A condescending side eyed glance? Honestly Devdan, what’s going through your head?” Bastet asked.