Up on the balconies, the Council members formed grim expressions. Some pressed their hands into their faces. Their guards closed ranks around them, wary.
A moment later, Nathan realized why.
“Now!” one of the dark elf Champions shouted. Her single amethyst lit up.
Nathan cursed. Not every Champion relied on this Bastion.
Eight dark elf Champions charged them, although only two were duogems. All of them had typical gems: amethysts, garnets, sapphires, and the like.
“Protect Astra,” he snapped, glowing triangles snapping into existence over his arms.
His Champions still lacked weapons, but they didn’t need them. He trusted in the abilities of his girls, over the raw quantity that the Spires churned out.
Fei’s body wreathed itself in flame as she darted forward. A reedy monogem dark elf screamed in fear as the flaming catgirl tackled her. Nathan wouldn’t need to worry about that fight.
In front of him, Seraph nearly blinked forward as she blasted out energy waves with her hands. The clothes and weapons of the closest monogem nearly disintegrated, and she stumbled in fear. Behind her, a duogem went for the throat. Seraph received the blade through her arm, before kicking the Champion away.
“Nurevia, catch,” Seraph said as she plucked the short sword from her arm and tossed it to Nurevia.
“Ta,” Nurevia said with a grin.
She twirled, caught the sword, and her amethysts glowed.
The monogem charging Nurevia hesitated, and it saved her life. Nurevia’s sword only vaporized the monogem’s hand when it slammed into the hilt of her scimitar. Before the monogem could even let out a scream, Nurevia kicked her into a disempowered Champion. Another Champion stepped up, her single diamond gleaming as she took on a far more powerful enemy.
Nathan stepped in front of Astra as a monogem sapphire darted in. Her gem glowed right as she jabbed with her sword. Nathan rolled his eyes and blasted her in the knees with blades of wind. The blast bowled her over. She screamed as she tumbled end over end, blood streaming from her legs, right down the ramp out of the chamber.
That left two Champions they hadn’t covered. Nathan prepared a spatial spell to handle one, but he needed help with the other.
Too late, he realized.
Astra hadn’t moved an inch, other than lowering her arms. She stared at the duogem sapphire charging at her.
Magic roared through Nathan’s body. He prepared to step in and try to save her. Then he stopped.
Astra’s opals were glowing.
The saber of the attacking Champion turned into a blur as both sapphires glowed. Some sort of rapid-attacking ability, Nathan guessed. Several blows streaked into Astra’s body at once, faster than Nathan’s eyes followed.
When the ability stopped, the saber disintegrated into dust. The Champion stared at the hilt of her broken weapon.
Astra broke her jaw a second later. The blow appeared weaker than normal, given the duogem attacker remained standing. Normally, that would have knocked her head clean off. Astra’s opals didn’t glow during the attack.
The other Champion froze at the sight and pointed at Astra in fear. “How? He’s dead! You should be powerless. Monster!”
Astra turned to face her accuser, fire in her eyes. She grinned and cracked her neck. When she took a step forward, the attacking Champion took a step backward. As did almost every dark elf in the room who wasn’t in the middle of combat.
Nathan stared at Astra. He genuinely didn’t know how her immortality worked, he realized. It was definitely a gem ability. That was why her opals had lit up. And he had felt Astra lose her connection to her Bastion.
Had Omria truly gifted her immortality? Was this the power of a goddess?
Or, Nathan wondered, was this the power of a Messenger, or a being such as Kadria’s boss?
Whatever the case, it meant that gems could be modified by other beings. Nathan needed to be on the lookout for signs of strange gem abilities or anything similar.
“Enough! All Champions, stand down by the orders of the One True Council of Aurelia!” a councillor shouted at the top of her lungs. She looked genuinely old, but like most dark elves, aged gracefully. Nathan suspected she had to be over 150 years old.
The dark elves still in combat fell back. Only the one fighting Fei didn’t, mostly because she was in no state to do so.
“Somebody put that wretch out of her misery,” the councillor snapped.
Before anybody else reacted, Fei managed to snap her opponent’s neck. Her sapphires glowed so brightly that Nathan worried they were about to explode. Had Fei overfilled them with magic somehow?
The enemy Champions glared at Fei, but she simply blew flames at them.
“Council, they are traitors, we must—” one of the dark elf Champions began to say.
“Silence!” the guards next to the Council roared, nearly deafening Nathan. Fei squeaked, then glared at them.
“The Council passes judgment, not mere soldiers,” the female councillor snapped, glaring at the Champions below her. “Leave us.”
“But—”
“Leave!” the guards bellowed.
Long ears drooping, the dark elf Champions scattered. Before Nathan could do so as well, the councillor gestured to him.
“Stay, Lord Nathan,” she said, before taking a seat again.
The guards glared at him. One of them whispered into the councillor’s ear, and she rolled her eyes and said something to him in return.
Nathan stepped into the center of the chamber.
“Um, do we need this?” Fei asked, pointing at the corpse of Astra’s former Bastion.
“No,” Astra said, before anybody else could disagree.
An instant later, Fei reduced the body to ash. The dark elves watched in silence. If they disagreed, they kept their opinions and emotions to themselves.
Truthfully, they probably appreciated it. Fei had disposed of the evidence for them in as convenient a manner as possible. The Council could make up whatever story they wished to explain his disappearance.
The female councillor said something to the guard, who then said, “Where is Ambassador Sureev?”
The others looked at Nathan in confusion, save for Astra. They wondered why the Council didn’t speak to Nathan directly.
Nathan sighed. “Can we not play this game?”
The guard opened his mouth to argue.
Nathan pressed his point before he was hounded by the dark elf dogs, “There’s no crowd jeering at us. Nobody is asking you to kick us off the edge.” He jabbed a thumb at the void behind him. “This meeting is off the public record, effectively. The Champions have no influence. None of you will be voted out because you actually talk to me, instead of carrying out this pointless pantomime.”
He looked each of the Council members in the eye. Two of them glared back, but three returned his gaze blandly.
“You presume much for someone who knows nothing of the Spires, whelp,” a muscled and bald councillor said.
“He seems to know plenty, Laechrias,” a lanky and young dark elf said. He had, by far, the most piercings visible and showed the most skin. His name was Dmitri, if Nathan recalled. He and the woman had been the only two councillors he recognized from his world.
“It doesn’t matter what he knows. This is unwise,” a practically ancient man said.
“Oh, shut up, Ivo. What’s been unwise is letting things get to this point.” The final councillor was a veritable giant of a dark elf, with thick, long hair full of jewelry.
“Can we focus?” the female councillor said. “Doran, don’t provoke other councilors.”
“Yes, dear,” Doran said, a smirk crossing his face.
“Do not.” Her eyes flashed. She turned to face Nathan and rested her face in one hand. “You are correct, Lord Nathan. This is a private affair. But that does not mean we should suspend our traditions.”
“I’d make a joke about whether your tradition is about mocking humans,
but I already asked Sureev that,” Nathan said. “Councilor…” he paused, trying to remember her name, “Veleria, let’s not waste time. Enough has been wasted as is.”
She raised an eyebrow at his usage of her name. The guards simmered.
“This is a waste of time,” Ivo said.
“Shut up,” the giant, Doran, said. He stared down at Nathan. “So, where’s Sureev? I figured he’d be with you, and he’ll need to talk to the other Bastions after this.”
“Downstairs. This didn’t seem like a situation for him.”
“And what exactly do you think this situation was? Because it doesn’t look good for you. A Bastion from the Empire assisting with treason is not something we can overlook.”
Nathan resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Beside him, Astra’s face scrunched up in confusion. She looked at each of the councillors, one-by-one.
“A coup. And a fairly obvious one at that,” Nathan said. He raised a hand to forestall any rejoinder, as the angry old men on the Council opened their mouths to argue. “I just said not to waste time. Do you often debate breaking your alliance with the Empire while surrounded by dozens of Champions, while the Bastions claim demons are invading at the same time?”
Dmitri laughed. “No wonder Sureev likes you.” He looked at the other councillors and pointed at Nathan. “Can we keep him?” They ignored him.
“You’re admitting to being behind this?” Ivo asked, the old man leaning forward. The guards muttered to each other.
Astra instantly opened her mouth.
“I am,” Nathan declared, talking over the trigem Champion. “I’m not about to let a close ally of the Empire fall to a military coup due to a treasonous Bastion. I convinced Astra to help me and ensured Sureev couldn’t warn anybody.”
A fairly transparent effort to shelter them. But both Dmitri and Doran nodded at him, and he somehow knew he had made the right call.
Nathan didn’t know most of the Council, but Dmitri and Veleria were trustworthy. They had remained in the Spires until the very end in his world. If Doran was on their side, then that made Ivo and Laechrias suspicious. Not that Nathan knew dark elf politics well enough to say that for sure.
Veleria sighed, rubbing the bridge of her nose. Fei giggled at the motion, looking at Nathan. She likely thought it funny that he shared the same stress tic as Veleria.
“It will take us years to recover from this. We have lost a Bastion, dozens of Champions are without their power, and the Spires will be in turmoil once they find out. Was intervention truly worth the price, Lord Nathan?” Veleria asked.
“The price is nothing compared to the alternative,” Nathan said coldly. “The Spires must remain standing and strong. At no point should you ever be considering using what I know is hidden beneath this very chamber.”
He slammed a foot down on the slate flooring.
A chill ran through the chamber. The councillors stared at him with wide eyes, and even Astra appeared to be shocked.
Doran started clapping. “Well, now I know why Gorthal sent you.”
The other councillors glared at him, but he simply smirked back at them.
“Thank you for your time, Lord Nathan,” Veleria said. “We will need time to consider what happened tonight. Ambassador Sureev will speak to you later and summon you once we are ready to relay to you our decision.”
The guards didn’t bellow out a dismissal. Instead, Nathan simply walked out of the chamber. Astra remained behind to talk to the Council.
They found Sureev immediately outside the chamber, and he nodded to them as he walked past with several guards. Clearly, the Council had moved quickly to summon him.
“What’s hidden beneath the chamber?” Fei asked with wide eyes as they left.
Nathan made an explosion gesture with his hands. The others stared at him.
“Do you really think that a race that spent millennia as slaves would ever willingly return to it?” he asked rhetorically. “It’s their failsafe. The Spires will never be taken by force.”
The next few days passed uneventfully. Nathan was allowed to leave the Jormun Spire, although he didn’t bother. Being glared at and mocked by a bunch of dark elves wasn’t his idea of a good time. But he let his Champions go with Astra, and they came back with bags of things they wouldn’t show him. Ciana’s face when he inquired spoke volumes.
Nurevia slipped away one morning. Nathan caught her when she crept through the common room.
“Going back to Tharban?” he asked. Despite his mixed feelings about her, disappointment welled up inside him.
Nurevia refused to meet his gaze. “I mean, we’re done here. If I stay any longer, the Council might make an example of me to cover things up.”
“You have a choice, you know.”
“I…” she finally looked at him, and her purple eyes held a look of regret he found unfamiliar. “I want you. Badly. You exude a suffocating pressure that I can’t get enough of. Even if you don’t do everything I’d like.”
He waited for her to finish.
“But I’m not a traitor,” she said, looking down. “Tharban hasn’t done anything I haven’t asked him to.”
“Do you actually believe that?” Nathan asked.
She scowled. “Fuck you.”
She stormed off.
“The door’s always open. At least so long as you don’t do something you’ll regret,” he called after her.
He meant that, surprisingly. Absence made the heart grow fonder. Nathan didn’t know if he could trust Nurevia, but he found her biting presence comforting in an odd way.
And it’s not like he really worried about her betraying him. The fact she returned to Tharban after all of this spoke volumes about her loyalty, even if it was misplaced. Nathan merely needed to find a way to deal with Tharban.
One day, Sureev approached him.
“The Council has given us permission to question Torneus,” he said.
They ascended to a jail in the upper levels of the Spire. The wards around the cells prickled at Nathan’s senses as he entered them. Torneus’s cell was sparsely furnished. He had a bed, a chair, a bookshelf, and a combined shower and toilet.
The man himself appeared to be in good health. His white hair was closely cropped, as always, and he still had his wiry muscle. The main difference was how dim his eyes were. In past encounters, they had contained a fire. Torneus had once been a man possessed with spirit. Now he was broken.
Astra entered the cell with Sureev and Nathan, but the jailers remained outside.
“How amusing,” Torneus said. He folded the corner of the page he was reading, then closed his book. “I didn’t expect to see you so soon.” He nodded at Sureev. “It’s been some time, Ambassador.”
Neither Nathan or Sureev answered. Instead, Nathan looked around the cell and reached out with his magical senses. These strange wards stabbed at him.
“We are under watch,” Sureev advised him.
“I figured,” Nathan replied.
He then raised a hand and cast wards over the cell. Sureev blinked.
“That felt unfamiliar,” the ambassador said.
“It should,” Astra said, earning her a glare.
“A conversation you don’t want overheard?” Torneus asked, a smile forming on his lips. “I believe I told you plenty last time.”
“You were also drunk,” Nathan said. “I have some fairly specific questions this time. My head’s in the game, now.”
“Ah. How curious. I’m all ears. If they’re interesting enough, I promise I’ll answer truthfully,” Torneus said, his eyes glittering.
“Even if they implicate you?”
“I’m going to die here anyway. How can the truth hurt me?” The old man laughed.
“Lies might aid you, however.”
“I get the feeling you know enough to see through them. I hear things about you, despite being in here. Curious things, Lord Nathan.” Torneus drew out the syllables with a smirk. “Amazing that people refer to a me
re Bastion as a lord.”
Nathan ignored the jibe. “Did you have any involvement in the cascade?”
“How boring. I already told you the answer.”
“This is related to something more interesting. I’m pretty sure I know who did it,” Nathan said.
“Hmm.” Torneus hummed. “Fine. I’ll humor you. The answer is still no.”
“Did you make any attempt to kill Princess Alice or Countess von Clair?”
The old man stared at him. His lips thinned and he steepled his hands in front of him. The old Torneus slowly returned. “No.”
Nathan nodded. “Who passed on the information about Princess Alice going to Falmir during winter?”
Torneus’s eyes nearly glowed. Fire returned to them. “Who do you think?”
A chill ran down Nathan’s spine. “Falmir.”
Torneus whistled, even as Sureev and Astra stared at Nathan in shock.
“Indeed.” The old man leaned back and cracked his knuckles, a smirk crossing his face. “They were involved from the start. We coordinated our plans to attack Gharrick Pass with Falmir, so they would tie up the Imperial Army in the west. When that failed, they provided intelligence to try to keep the war going. They underestimated you, however.”
Nathan closed his eyes. He ignored Sureev’s follow-up question, and Torneus’s sarcastic answer.
The facts added up. In Nathan’s world, he and other Champions had deployed to the borders of the Empire months ahead of its collapse. He had believed it was due to rising tensions. But now that he was older, he knew how odd it was to deploy so much military strength to the border of a friendly neighbor.
“Were Trafaumh involved?” he asked, rubbing his nose.
“Not with me,” Torneus said. “Of course, we met here.”
Silence. Sureev looked around, as if expecting to be attacked.
“My wards prevent anybody from eavesdropping,” Nathan said. “Don’t worry about spies.”
“Shit,” Sureev breathed. “I thought we were dead.”
“Impressive,” Torneus said. “Then I’ll tell you the rest, although I doubt you need to hear it. I never worked with the Council. Too public for a human like me. And your Nationalists detest foreigners, so Tharban was out. I worked with proxies from Falmir and the Spires’ Bastions.”
Heretic Spellblade 3 Page 28
