Chapter 1
“Fya, I may need two body bags shortly,” Evelyn said, only half-watching the security feed playing in her mind’s eye. It hadn’t taken her more than an instant to pick out the two walking down the street, and the scowl on the bodyguard’s face should have been in a dictionary under disapproving. It was rather impressive, but Evelyn wasn’t surprised. Then she added, “That, or we’re going to need to instruct… oh, sixteen or so assassins on how serious we are about rule number three.”
For a moment Fya didn’t reply, then the djinn spoke, amusement in her voice. “Is that Princess Vania, come to finish the job herself?”
“She can’t finish what she already finished. Also, Empress Vania, not princess,” Evelyn replied dryly, running the cloth over the edge of the dagger again, then examined it critically. She was happy that she wasn’t interrupted by Fya again.
The blade looked almost perfect, now, the hardly perceptible burrs she’d noticed that morning gone. However, the magic had smoothed the edges of the runes slightly, so she set the cloth aside and pulled out another tool to fix them. Evelyn refused to sell equipment that wasn’t at least serviceable, and most of her wares were significantly better than that.
She glanced up habitually, scanning the shelves of her store again, but nothing had changed since she’d last looked. The back wall was dominated by dozens of enchanted firearms and their ammunition, ranging from projectile pistols to sniper rifles to the solar cannon, complete with the miniature star shedding blue-white light as it raged in its power pack. She’d kept the star hidden by a protective outer casing for a while, but eventually Fya had convinced her that she should show it off to draw more business. As usual when it came to marketing, Fya was right.
To the entrance’s left, nearest Evelyn, the shelves were dominated by melee weapons. Arc claws, daggers, infinity hammers… there was an enormous variety, but Evelyn kept the energy blades closest to her desk. They were her favorites, and anyone who tried to steal from her deserved what they got. Which usually was dismemberment.
Last was the armor, ranging from lightweight skin suits to powered armor that turned their wearer into the equivalent of a heavy tank or a light mech. Not that they could hold up to an equally enchanted tank or mech, but some people liked that sort of thing. Evelyn thought they should learn to dodge, but she wasn’t going to say no to their mythrite.
A few seconds later the door slid open, and Evelyn resisted the urge to arch an eyebrow as Vania stepped inside. That was rather stupid, but so was walking the streets of Rakal with only a single bodyguard. She should have had at least two, one to check the room ahead of her, and one to guard her back. It seemed that the empress hadn’t learned enough lessons from when her kingdom was conquered.
Vania did look like she was doing well, though. Over the five years since she’d shot Evelyn, she’d turned from a frail young elven woman to a poised, graceful woman who had obviously been working hard under weapon masters… or what passed for weapon masters in Peldra. She still had that lovely golden hair, fair, sun-kissed skin, and blue eyes, along with an excellent figure that was covered in a well-tailored white and gold combat suit. Evelyn almost smirked on seeing the pistol and energy sword at her side, though, since cosmetic changes weren’t enough to make her mistake her old weapons. So Vania had kept them, had she? The angle of the security cameras hadn’t been right for her to recognize them beforehand.
Right behind Vania was Rasien, and the sight of her was amusing, as the steely-eyed elven woman looked about as unhappy to see Evelyn as could be imagined. In appearance she was cut largely from the same mold as Vania, but she was taller and presumably more muscular under her heavy power armor, though it wasn’t bulky enough to slow her down much. It was also royal blue with silver trim, which was far, far too flashy for Rakal. No wonder there were so many assassins after her. Some of them were probably also kidnappers.
“Tourists should have stopped at Careth, fifteen AU to the galactic east,” Evelyn said calmly, finishing cleaning out the runes, then examined the dagger critically. “You’d best make your way back to your ship quickly. Unless you’re looking for mercenaries or bulk weapons, in which case you need to go right after leaving the spaceport. I don’t deal in bulk weapon shipments.”
“We aren’t tourists, and we aren’t looking for mercenaries or weapons.” Vania replied, her voice carefully calm. “How are you alive? I shot you myself!”
Evelyn paused, examining Vania for a moment, then replied, amused despite herself, “I have no idea what you’re talking about, miss. I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else.”
“Don’t you even start!” Rasien interjected hotly, taking a step forward. “You didn’t even change your appearance or name!”
“I am but a humble shopkeeper. I must say that I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about,” Evelyn said, this time keeping her voice utterly devoid of emotion. She knew she wasn’t fooling anyone, but it would be highly amusing if Rasien keeled over.
Instead, Vania laid a hand on Rasien’s shoulder just as the knight stepped forward, stopping the woman short. She visibly inhaled, then spoke.
“Evelyn, you were dead for a year. Your body was destroyed, the ashes sent on an express trip into the sun, just to make certain you were dead and couldn’t be revived easily. Seers checked to ensure you were dead, and the magi attempted to trap your soul, only to find it was either bound or passed on. How in all the gods did you come back?” Vania asked calmly.
“If you’re not going to buy anything, I’m going to have to ask you to leave,” Evelyn replied, ignoring the exceedingly good questions. She had no intention of answering them. Instead, she stood and stepped around the counter, carefully placing the dagger in the spot she’d set aside for it. “I am not an information broker, and I do not work for charity.”
Vania’s right eye twitched, and for just a second Evelyn wondered if she was going to do something stupid. Something very, very stupid. But she didn’t, allowing Evelyn to move back behind the counter. Taking out the next box, Evelyn opened it, wondering what she’d have to do to get rid of the women. She’d rather not kill them. Body disposal might not be expensive here, but it wasn’t cheap either. Especially if she didn’t want them raised as pretty undead toys for someone she disliked.
Stepping over to the back wall, Vania looked it over, then picked up a single bullet, approached Evelyn, and set it down. Her voice was frosty as she spoke. “There. I’m buying this, I’m a customer.”
Evelyn raised her gaze to the ceiling for just a moment, wondering if the empress knew just what type of bullet she’d picked up. Not that it mattered, as Evelyn mentally activated the store’s lockdown mode. Both women jumped as armored shutters slammed into place, just behind the heavy shields protecting the building from anyone who might approach. Rasien reacted with commendable speed and had her rifle half-raised to aim at Evelyn before she froze, seeing two of the four turrets in the corners of the room that had popped out of the ceiling and were aimed at her.
“I hate politics,” Evelyn said, sitting back in her chair and staring at Vania and Rasien for a moment. “I’m also not answering your questions. You really should have just left.”
“Evelyn—” Vania began, only to fall silent as Evelyn raised a finger.
“Coming to visit someone you even suspected was me with a single bodyguard was beyond foolish, Empress. I don’t care how much training you’ve done or how much Rasien has upgraded her armor, it won’t do you a damned bit of good here. I could kill both of you without you so much as singing my jacket or hair,” Evelyn said, staring into Vania’s eyes, and she could see the way the woman was beginning to… revert, almost. Five years wasn’t nearly enough time to cure the terror that Evelyn had instilled into her. “Beyond that, you came here. Rakal is a terrible place even for those used to the underworld, and you, a woman of obvious power, breeding, and wealth, came walking in openly. Perhaps I shouldn’t have left you in the tower for two year
s, if this is something you think is intelligent.”
Vania winced, looking away as she said. “I didn’t trust anyone else to do this, and most of my guards would have… overreacted.”
“For good reason,” Rasien said, staring at the turrets warily.
Evelyn simply arched an eyebrow at Vania, opening the box fully, which revealed a fine blade that made even her pause, as it was translucent with pink light pulsing through it like a heartbeat. This was a particularly beautiful piece of astral steel… and would be hard to move, with how the color would turn off most pirates and mercenaries. That annoyed her, but there was nothing she could do about it. She could always find some noblewoman who wanted a pink cavalry saber, she supposed.
“We need your help,” Vania said, and Evelyn froze in place for a moment.
Then she burst out laughing. Not mild laughter, but overwhelming laughter that almost left her unable to breathe. Rasien looked offended, but slowly lowered her rifle, while Vania simply looked resigned. Eventually Evelyn stopped laughing, as she needed to breathe sometime, and she sat back, still chortling softly to herself.
“You need my help. Oh, you have developed a sense of humor. You need my help. The usurper, the destroyer, or whatever else they’re calling me this year. Bane of Three Kingdoms? No, that would be far too flowery for me,” Evelyn said, smiling broadly at the two as she tapped the blade experimentally. “No. I’ve had an average of one assassin come after me every month since I settled down here. I don’t mind that much, since it keeps me in practice, but it’s annoying, and I know it’s done by residents of your lovely little empire.”
“Evelyn, please!” Vania asked, finally sounding desperate. “I know that I don’t deserve it, but everything I’ve tried so far has ended in failure! The elemental is breaking free, and we can’t kill—”
“Ah, that’s what this is about!” Evelyn interrupted, realization dawning on her, and she couldn’t help a smile. “The plasma elemental those idiots bound in the Sunstone Power Plant is finally breaking free, isn’t it? I told them they needed to come up with a better solution, but they dragged their feet, complaining about the cost. I see you never made them deal with the problem, either.”
“I… well, we’ve tried re-binding it, but it’s shattering the seals too fast. Banishing it hasn’t worked either, and at this point… well, the only person I can think of who might be able to kill it is you. The elemental recovers from damage almost instantly, and it’s like its core is invulnerable,” Vania explained, a hint of hope appearing on her face.
“No,” Evelyn replied, shaking her head again. “I said it before, and that’s my answer.”
“Why?” Rasien demanded. “You caused enough devastation that the least you could do is something like this!”
“Says the woman who couldn’t defeat me when she had an entire army at her back… or so I heard,” Evelyn replied, smiling coldly as the woman flushed bright red. “Or maybe I should have said, who couldn’t even put up a fight. However, the reason I’m saying no is simple. It isn’t just that I don’t care, because I really don’t. No, do you really think there is any chance in all the hells that if I went to Peldra, I’d be allowed to leave again without a great deal of devastation? If you do, I have a nice piece of oceanfront property on the local star I’d like to interest you in.”
“But—” Vania began, only for Evelyn to interrupt her again.
“Besides, you don’t need me to deal with the elemental. And you certainly don’t need a paralysis bullet,” Evelyn added, sniffing derisively as she picked it up. “Really, a paralysis bullet on an elemental? Please. Especially not an elder plasma elemental with a tier one infernal infusion, and a tier three astral infusion due to how much mana those idiots poured into it when trying to increase their power generation. I swear, their pursuit of lower costs… a sphere of infinite lightning coupled with power converters is far more efficient and safe in the long run.”
Evelyn walked over to the back wall and put the bullet back where it belonged, then moved a set of bullets that were varying shades of blue with flecks of light across their lengths. There were only a dozen of them on the shelf, but she took the whole set, bringing it back over to set in front of Vania.
“These are what you need to kill it,” Evelyn explained calmly, a cold smile on her face. “Bullets forged of astral ice ore, mixed with flecks of celestial iron. Expensive, rare, and not used often enough for anyone to make them less rare. Each bullet costs about as much as the sniper rifle you’d use to fire them, and one bullet through the core of the elemental will put it out of your misery.”
She paused, tapping her upper lip as she considered, then shrugged, adding, “Though given the aim of your typical soldier, I’d say you’d probably want all twelve bullets.”
The women stared at her for several moments, and Evelyn smiled a little wider.
“Are you certain?” Vania asked, looking at the bullets dubiously. “None of the magi or researchers said anything about a solution like this.”
Evelyn snorted, shaking her head disdainfully.
“I’m living on a planet which is incredibly dangerous, where the people have had to kill damn near anything that lives in our universe or any of the countless planes at one point or another, and I run a premium armory. I’ve learned how to kill very close to anything that you can imagine,” Evelyn told her, smiling coldly, then leaned forward, giving a winning smile. “Though, considering that we are old friends, if you get a sniper rifle for the bullets, I’ll give you a ten percent discount.”
For some reason, the two didn’t seem reassured by her smile. If anything, they looked unnerved, and Evelyn reflected that what Fya did rarely seemed to work for her. So she abandoned that approach, going back to her cold smile.
“Look, the deal is on the table. Take it or leave it, I’m not coming with you,” Evelyn told them, and glanced at the clock before adding, “Besides, I’m closing in twenty minutes, at which point I’m going down to the lovely local beach for a drink with my assistant, and maybe a nice dinner and fun afterward. She’s even dissuaded the assassins and kidnappers who were after you by this point. I think one of them left of his own accord, and the others… well, there’s a business for bodies on Rakal. Now, make a decision.”
Chapter 2
Evelyn watched the two women leave via the cameras, making certain that they got off her street safely, and as she did so she tapped the desk, then hit the button to lock down the store again. If anyone tried to break in, and they almost certainly would eventually, they’d find themselves leaving their corporeal forms quite suddenly.
“I’m surprised you let them live, Milady,” Fya said, and Evelyn turned to look at her, raising an eyebrow curiously.
Except for her hair and eyes, the djinn looked much like any human one might run into on the street. Tanned skin, an excellent figure shown off by a tight, curve-hugging purple and white bodysuit, while her hair and eyes were colored bright pink, the hair in a high ponytail that had an unnatural amount of volume and bounce to it. She didn’t appear to be armed, but by this point even the natives of Rakal knew better than to attack Fya, at least any of them that had been around for long. Those who didn’t quickly learned that Fya didn’t need to carry weapons with her. In that respect, her assistant was even more feared than Evelyn. Which was ironic, since Evelyn was the more dangerous of them.
“You don’t appear happy about that,” Evelyn said, folding her arms as she looked at the djinn calmly.
“She killed you,” Fya said simply.
“I let her kill me. And I would have died anyway, as I didn’t go for treatment,” Evelyn told her.
“She killed you,” Fya insisted, her eyes narrowing. Evelyn grew a touch exasperated, staring back at the djinn.
“And you kept me in brightly colored, complicated, silly dresses for a year,” Evelyn retorted, glowering. “More than one person can hold a grudge about that sort of thing, you know.”
“I don’t care. You l
ook good in the dresses, you don’t look good dead. Except when your soul is manifested and dressed up,” Fya said stubbornly.
Evelyn rolled her eyes and stepped toward the back, speaking calmly. “It isn’t like I’m going to let her do it again. If she tried, I would have needed those body bags. I respect them too much to let the reanimators get them, but not enough I would’ve left them alive.”
“Good. They would’ve been better served in the body bags, but I’ll accept that much,” Fya said, obviously a bit mollified. “We’re going to the beach and out for dinner, right, Milady?”
“We are,” Evelyn agreed, then paused, looking at Fya curiously as the djinn took her left arm, pulling her close. It took her a moment before she asked, “Why do you call me that, anyway? I’m not a noble anymore, and I’m hardly what most people would consider a lady.”
“Don’t care. You’re my lady. Other people’s definitions don’t matter,” Fya replied bluntly, hugging Evelyn’s arm tighter. “If she tries to hurt you and you don’t kill her, I’m going to spread what’s left of her across a dozen planets as an example.”
Evelyn couldn’t help a sigh, wondering how in the world she’s managed to get such an overprotective djinn as her assistant. She shrugged it off, though. Vania and Peldra weren’t her responsibility anymore. She was going to do what she wanted, and Rakal was the perfect place to do it. Even if Fya was an overly affectionate lover sometimes. Except when she shifted moods, of course.
Chapter 3
The next few years fell into something of a pattern for Evelyn.
The number of assassins slowly fell off, and those who arrived grew more skilled and powerful. Not that it saved them, and the woman who’d managed to cut Evelyn’s hair short on one side died terribly. Evelyn didn’t like taking potions to grow her hair out. It was good practice, though, and she had begun wondering how stupid the assassins were, when they took the job despite how many bodies she’d left in her wake.
Chosen of Chaos (Eve of Destruction Book 1) Page 2
