by Ben Wolf
Nothing about the Imperator was normal, but even this seemed especially strange to Calum. Still, he’d asked in earnest, and Calum sensed there was a reason for his inquiry, strange as it may be.
“I was a child. I’m not sure how old I was. You tend to lose track after working in the quarry for so long,” he began. “One day, my parents and I were out in the woods walking. I’m not sure where we were going or why we were out there. I think maybe my dad was taking some goods to a local town to sell them in the marketplace, but I don’t know for sure.
“I was riding in the back of the wagon with my mother, and my father was up front driving the donkey pulling the wagon. At some point, a band of soldiers—the King’s men—surrounded us. I don’t even know where they came from. Maybe they’d been hiding behind the trees, acting like bandits.”
For as much as Calum couldn’t remember details about his parents, he remembered far too much of that day after that point in his story. He paused for a moment to gather himself and collect his thoughts. Then he cleared his throat and continued.
“They demanded my father give them coin, or hand over whatever was in the cart, or something. I don’t know.” Calum’s emotions rose from his chest into his throat, and he gulped them back down, but he knew it was only a temporary fix. “My father said no, and…”
Calum glanced at Matthios, who continued to stare at him with those unnatural molten eyes. He looked like a monster.
His voice shuddering, Calum asked, “Why are you asking me this?”
“Please,” Matthios repeated, calmly and quietly like before. “I must know. Please.”
“But why?” Calum insisted.
Matthios bowed his head for a few seconds, then he looked back up at Calum again. “I am powerful, but I am incomplete. I have existed in this world for many years, and in that time I have learned much, but there is still much I do not comprehend.
“I struggle to understand and experience emotions like you, like any other sentient person in Kanarah. This is an asset when it comes to my proficiency as a warrior and as a general, as I can fearlessly fight and lead others into battle. But in most other situations, I lack the ability to connect with others on anything but an intellectual level.” He repeated, “I am… incomplete.”
“And how do my words—” Calum asked, “—how does this story help you with that?”
“I am learning,” Matthios said. “I am trying to comprehend how to perceive your emotions, how they affect who you are, and how I might also one day experience them for myself.”
“These are not emotions you want to experience,” Calum said. “Trust me on that one.”
“That is why I am trying to learn,” Matthios said. Another pause filled the space between them. “If you are willing, please continue.”
Calum exhaled a shaky breath and nodded. “My father said no, he wouldn’t give them what they wanted. Then they hit him. He fought back, and one of the soldiers drew his sword and… The next thing I knew, my father was lying on the road in a pool of his own blood.
“My mother shrieked and left me in the wagon so she could tend to him. I don’t know if the soldiers thought she was going to attack them or what, but they cut her down, too,” Calum said. “After that, I don’t remember much. I screamed and cried, and not long after, I was in the quarry, living a new life that never should’ve belonged to me.”
Matthios gave a slow nod. “Thank you. Please forgive the intrusion.”
With that, he stood and headed toward the window.
At first, Calum was content just to let him go, but Matthios stopped at the window and turned back.
“You may place your trust in the King,” he said. “He is the One True King of Kanarah. There will never be any other.”
With that, Matthios stepped out of the window and floated away, leaving Calum alone once again in his room with nothing but dark thoughts and bad memories.
Dinner that night came and went, and though the discussion seemed to make some progress, the King was pulled away early to deal with “some matters of great importance.”
Whatever. Axel wasn’t too worried about it. It wasn’t like anything they’d discussed here would happen in the real world, anyway.
He was still convinced that the King was just putting on a show for them as part of some devious scheme to undermine everything Lumen was trying to do. Even if that wasn’t the case, it meant the King was either too incompetent or too naïve to properly run this country, and either way it meant he still had to go.
As the black curtain of night descended over Solace, Calum and Lilly had wandered off somewhere in Valkendell, leaving Axel alone. At this point, he didn’t even bother trying to follow them. They clearly weren’t interested in spending any time with him, so what was the point?
Besides, Axel had Valerie to think about. He didn’t need Lilly anymore. He supposed he favored blondes more than brunettes purely for aesthetic reasons, but he’d also resigned himself that Lilly was a prize he could never win. Calum couldn’t either, he was sure, which gave him some comfort, but more importantly, that knowledge freed him up to pursue other interests.
And his current interests included Valerie, first and foremost.
Except she wasn’t anywhere to be found. He’d roamed the fortress for a solid hour, peering into every open door and even trying to open some of the closed and locked doors as well. He checked the enormous kitchen, the enormous throne room, the enormous banquet hall—most of the rooms in this place were enormous—yet he didn’t see Valerie in any of them.
More than a handful of servants wearing uniforms of various colors stopped him and offered to help him find his way back to his chambers, but he waved them away and kept searching. When a soldier clad in silver armor strongly insisted that he reconsider his wanderings, Axel frowned at him and left that area of the fortress behind… for now.
Another half hour later, he wandered back into the garden. With the stars blinking and winking overhead and only torches for light, the massive green space took on a totally different feel than the placid warmth it exuded during the day. The huge gray cliff face loomed over the back of the garden like a black specter, blotting out every star in that direction.
Axel stopped short when he heard familiar voices nearby, and then he darted behind a tall bush to take cover. He wasn’t quite sure why he’d chosen to hide instead of just continuing to walk out into the open, but he’d already made his choice, so he stayed concealed.
He recognized Valerie’s voice first; he’d grown quite attuned to its tone and the way she spoke her words, and he found he couldn’t get enough of it.
Seeing her there, standing with the King and Matthios, Axel concluded that she must be some sort of trusted advisor to the King. She certainly had routine access to the King, and the King seemed to listen and value her presence.
Axel briefly wondered if she was the King’s wife—which would make her the Queen of Kanarah. But when Axel had asked her if she was royalty, she’d said she wasn’t. She’d also said she belonged to no one but herself.
Was she the King’s daughter, then? Based on her regal demeanor, it was possible, but Axel had never heard of the King having children or having a wife.
These were thoughts for another time, Axel decided. With these three figures gathered before him, he was bound to learn something useful.
The King’s voice came through next, subdued though it was. It had bothered Axel this whole time that aside from very obviously trying to play them for fools, the King was nothing like he’d imagined. He’d expected a raging bloodthirsty tyrant, but what he’d gotten was a demure introvert.
Third, Axel made out Matthios’s voice. Between the King and his Imperator, Axel couldn’t decide which one of them was the more peculiar. They King seemed like he was living in another world most of the time, but it was a world only he could access through his mind.
Matthios wasn’t any better—Axel had passed him a few times in the halls of the fortress, and eac
h time, he’d been mumbling to himself and walking with his back perfectly straight, as if he were a puppet with someone’s hand controlling him. Axel had only made out a few of the words he’d spoken, but it sounded like Matthios was just listing random emotions as he walked.
From his vantage point behind the bush, Axel couldn’t make out what they were saying. They were too far away, standing as three points of a triangle, and as usual, the King was talking too quietly. Axel probably could’ve heard Matthios if he’d been facing toward the bush, but his broad bronze-plated back was the only part of him that Axel could see.
Although he couldn’t pinpoint most of what Valerie was saying, he took pleasure in watching her from afar. He had a good view of her, and he enjoyed watching the way she formed words with those luscious lips of hers.
Then Axel remembered the promise he’d made to himself upon accepting the King’s mercy: he was there to find some sort of weakness they could use against the King. After all, the forthcoming battle with Lumen’s forces was inevitable, if for no other reason than Lumen would never give up on his quest to rule Kanarah and set the people free.
The memory prompted him to consider inching forward, but that would mean abandoning the relative safety and concealment of the bush. And by doing so, he’d risk getting caught by either the King himself or by Matthios, or both.
Then again, if Valerie caught him, maybe she’d punish him. That couldn’t possibly be that bad…
Focus, Axel, he chastised himself. You’ve got a job to do.
Axel decided to chance it. He eased out from behind the bush and, unlike mindless Calum, he thought to watch his footsteps as he advanced. As he’d expected, he didn’t trip over any errant vines or roots, and no trees lobbed fruit at him. He crept closer, across a stone path as silently as he could manage, until he reached the edge of another planting bed.
Axel flattened himself out and slithered through the foliage like a snake. It made a little bit of noise, but he figured he was still far enough away that the three of them talking wouldn’t notice the sound.
He found a spot among some taller flowers and remained on his stomach, watching and listening. Even if they looked in this direction, they wouldn’t see him. Another bush in the next planting bed perfectly obscured his position. Better still, he could hear every word they were saying.
Axel scoffed inwardly. Riley had made this stealth stuff sound like it was difficult, like Wolves were the only ones who could pull it off. Well, if Riley could see Axel now, he’d have to eat his words.
Axel fixed his gaze on Valerie—of course—and listened, even though it was Matthios speaking.
“—already have 5,000 soldiers stationed in Solace, ready to defend their capital and their King,” the Imperator said. “But I believe we should muster the remaining 2,000 in reserve. We have not faced a threat of this magnitude for a thousand years. It is wise to quash Lumen’s rebellion once and for all.”
“I do not have the mind for warfare that your esteemed Imperator does,” Valerie nodded toward Matthios with a grin, “but I tend to agree with his assessment. If you do not stop Lumen now, forever, he will return. He is stronger this time, and wiser, and more determined to put an end to your reign for good.”
True to form, the King was listening intently, as he’d done whenever Axel or his friends had spoken. He simply curled his finger through his dark beard and stared at a distant flowerbed.
The prolonged silence nearly drove Axel crazy. If he’d actually been a part of the conversation, he would’ve said something else by now just for the sake of saying something. He appreciated that the King at least pretended to genuinely consider everything people said to him, but at some point, enough was enough.
Finally, the King nodded. “See to it immediately, Matthios.”
Matthios bowed, yet his back remained rigid even as he did so. “May your will be done.”
With that, Matthios turned back and faced Axel’s position, and he stormed directly toward Axel on his way to exit the garden.
Axel froze solid, and his breath caught in his throat. His heart rate multiplied, and he swore it was loud enough to give away his position.
Matthios’s determined footsteps hammered the stone path adjacent to Axel’s position in the planting bed…
And then he walked right past.
A few seconds later, Matthios exited the garden, leaving Axel still concealed in his spot while the King and Valerie continued their conversation. Axel took a moment to revel in his perfect silence and the quality of the hiding spot he’d chosen for himself.
Chew on that, Riley, he mused, then he refocused on what the King was saying next.
“As you know, Matthios is a blunt instrument,” the King said. “Relentless and effective, but lacking in nuance.”
“It is what I most admire about him.” Valerie displayed her customary pleasant smile.
“But as a blunt instrument, he does not fully comprehend what must be done,” the King continued. “If I could have merely destroyed Lumen and had that be the end of it, I would have.”
Valerie’s smile waned. “I do not fully understand, either, but you have my unending trust.”
Another long pause lingered between them, until the King asked, “You planted the seeds I requested?”
“Deep in Kanarah’s most fertile soil,” she replied. “They lie in wait for their King’s command, though I confess, I do not fully understand their purpose, either.”
Seeds? Axel thought back to the pods that had transformed into the rose golems inside the walls of Kanarah City. Was the King plotting some sort of ambush? And what part of Kanarah would be considered the place with the most fertile soil?
“You need not concern yourself with such details at this time,” the King said. “You trust me, and you trust the Overlord, and that is enough. Three days hence, amid the coming storm, I promise you will understand everything.”
Valerie curtsied. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
Axel had been a farmer. He should be able to figure this out. There were the King’s orchards and the endless fields of grain where they’d first found Lilly.
But were those places any more fertile than Axel’s family farm up north? He supposed they had to be. Why else would the King’s workers have planted so many crops there?
From a tactical standpoint, it made sense as well. Lumen’s army was heading toward Solace, away from those fields and orchards. If the King had planted—literally planted—an army of sorts behind them, something like the rose golems from Kanarah City, they’d box in Lumen’s army from behind.
Axel was no strategic mastermind—after all, who needs a plan when you can just run in and pound all your enemies into paste—but he’d been in enough scraps to know that was an awful spot to be in.
That’s what had happened to him, Calum, and Magnus when Tyburon and the Southern Snake Brotherhood had confronted them, only for Captain Anigo and his soldiers to also show up. They’d managed to pit the two enemy sides against each other and survive, but it could’ve very easily gone another way.
This time, the two sets of enemy soldiers definitely wouldn’t fight each other; they would serve their King unto death, and they would surround Lumen’s army and force them to fight the battle on two fronts.
Now this was information Axel could use. A few more morsels like this, and Lumen would have to bestow real power on Axel.
“It is getting late,” the King said. “I wish to stay here in the garden for a time, but perhaps you should retire for the evening. Neither Matthios nor I require sleep, but I cannot expect everyone to measure up to that standard.”
“That is a wise decision on your part, and it would be prudent of me to accept your recommendation. I believe I will.” Valerie’s smile widened, and she curtsied. “Have a pleasant night, Your Majesty.”
“You as well, Valerie.”
As before, Axel stayed hunkered down among the flowers and waited. He figured that if he could successfully hide from both Mat
thios, who’d walked right past him, and the King, who apparently maintained some measure of control over plants or nature or whatever, then hiding from Valerie would be as easy as beating up Calum.
Though he hated to admit it, Axel realized he needed to find a better comparison to draw. Calum wasn’t as weak as he used to be—even if he had blatantly cheated by using Lumen’s light in their last fight.
Even so, Valerie passed by Axel’s position without issue, and she, too, exited the garden.
The King surveyed his garden in perfect silence. Thanks to the dome above, which glinted from the torchlight like distant facets of a gemstone, not even the wind could rustle through the numerous trees below.
After an eternity of waiting, in which Axel almost fell asleep twice, the King finally abandoned his position in the garden and began walking toward the exit. He, too, passed Axel by, and then Axel was alone again.
He waited an extra ten minutes just to be certain the King had actually left and wouldn’t be coming back, then he rose from his position in the flower bed, brushed himself off, and stretched out his sore limbs.
Axel now had one very important piece of the puzzle. Perhaps tomorrow he’d discover another, but for the time being, one was enough.
With his newfound knowledge secure in his mind, Axel made his way back to his chambers.
Chapter Thirty-One
To Lilly’s relief, Axel hadn’t tried to join them when Calum had invited her to go on a tour of Valkendell. Now he was off somewhere “doing stealth,” as he called it.
Lilly had considered warning him to be careful, but at this point, Axel was going to do what he was going to do, and there was no dissuading him. If he got himself caught or killed, that was his problem.
Now Lilly walked through the white halls with Calum, her arms folded across her chest. Though she’d elected to accompany him, she didn’t trust his intentions. Not that he would hurt her or try to take advantage of her like Axel had—Calum wasn’t the sort to do that—but she feared he would urge her into a conversation she didn’t want to have.
