“You’re back!” Erhi ran toward me and wrapped her arms around my torso. “Am I right in assuming…?”

“We won,” Batu said. “Easily.”

We’d landed in the courtyard, just before sunrise. Dog could barely fit, and when she tried to move, her snout crushed some tiles on the roof. The men and I stood underneath her, blood dripping on us like rain. When the sun showed its tip above the eastern roof, Dog faded away to the Spirit Realm. I casually tucked the map into the band of my shorts.

Erhi shook off the blood on her hand. “I can see that.”

I wiped some off her forehead. “The war isn’t over yet. I need to get to court.”

Batu looked me up and down. “Shouldn’t you, uh, wash up and put some clothes on? The men of the court don’t seem very accommodating.”

“They’re in my court,” I said. “They’ll be the ones accommodating themselves, or finding another lord to serve. Too bad for them I’m leaving ever fewer for them to choose from.”

I’d taken off my shirt and trousers so that my men could make skin-on-skin contact with me. I stood shirtless in the courtyard, looking around for the clothes I’d left here.

“I folded them up and put them away,” Erhi said. “I’ll go get them.”

“Meet me in court,” I said. “And tell Captain Eeluk to summon the men of the court.”

She nodded and walked off. I turned and went the opposite direction.

“What’s the rush?” Batu asked, jogging after me. “He’s coming in a week.”

“No he isn’t. I just said a week to see if he can travel the way I can.”

“So if he comes earlier, he’s got a map too?”

“Not necessarily. The First Empire built this entire continent. I have to assume they have things like the statue in the graveyard hidden around here too.” I glanced back at Batu. “It takes about nine days to travel from the First Capital here, and that’s if you ride your horses through the night and half to death. Batbayar didn’t strike me as the type who would exert himself, what do you think?”

Batu chuckled.

“So if he appears here in a week, he must’ve travelled some way other than horseback.” I turned a corner. “I’m just assuming that he’ll be here a few hours after he gets the message. He’ll want to spook me.”

“I haven’t seen you get spooked even once. Eternal Blue Sky knows I tried to give you frights as a kid and it never worked. You don’t scare easy.”

I grinned. “He doesn’t know that.”

I pushed open the back door to the courtroom. It shot open as if a gust of wind had almost blown it off its hinges. The bang of wood against stone caught the attention of the few men who had already arrived. They were getting here more quickly now. Batu took a seat in the front before they were all filled. I walked past two men and overheard their whispers.

“I wonder what he’ll do next,” one said.

“It’s like a play taking place in real life,” the other replied. “My wife has been begging to come to court after she heard her friend recount—”

“Shhh.” He pointed at me, but quickly averted his eyes. “My…my lord.” He bowed his head.

“My lord!” His companion bowed his head too.

I nodded to them. “I hope you’ll enjoy today’s proceedings.”

They went red in the face. As I walked away, I heard one of them whisper, “Wait until my wife hears about this.”

“I’ll be glad to tell her,” the other replied.

I sat on the edge of the hearth. No one had lit a fire since I extinguished the last one, so it was cool in there. The place still smelled of burnt pig. Men filled the benches, wood creaking as they plopped down. A few were arguing over where to sit—close to the window, close to the front, close to the door. They bowed when they saw me.

Eeluk jogged up to me. “My lord. You were victorious!”

“Don’t sound so surprised,” I said.

“I’m not surprised. I just…for the life of me I can’t understand how.”

“Speak to the men when we’re done here. They’ll tell you.”

“Then I assume you have no intention to describe your victory to court, my lord?”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“None whatsoever. Rumors will stir their imagination more.” I waved Eeluk closer. “I need you to bring Gantulga to me.”

“Yes, my lord. Is he being sentenced?”

“Don’t tell him before I do, but I’m releasing him.”

“Releasing him!” Eeluk pursed his lips. “As you wish, my lord.”

I grabbed his arm before he hurried off. “When he leaves this place, follow him, and report back to me if you see anything strange.”

Eeluk’s face relaxed into a smile as he nodded.

The entire room went silent. Heads turned toward me. Men shifted in their seats.

“I have, as you’ve just heard, decided to release Gantulga.” I stood up. “The quality of mercy cannot be understated in this time of war. What is it they say about the Eternal Blue Sky? He sees all and forgives all. Can we not do the same in his view?”

The crowd mumbled a little. They were right not to believe me—I wasn’t releasing Gantulga for his gain. I was releasing him for my own. Batbayar would probably try and sow discord in my court before he came out of the woodwork. Gantulga would desire revenge, and I’d rather have someone incompetent conspiring against me. And if he truly decided to go off into the country and have a little rice paddy and a family, then I would have avoided executing a changed man, and be seen to be merciful. Win-win, as long as everyone thought I was releasing him for purely selfless reasons.

“Can we not,” I continued, “in these violent and turbulent times, try and change that? That’s what I’m doing by uniting the continent under one banner anyway. I can’t have an empire of corpses, and if Gantulga can change his ways, then there is hope that I won’t have to.”

A few men started to nod.

Eeluk kicked open the back door and dragged Gantulga in. He kicked and squirmed wildly, his chains clanking as he thrashed against the floor, walls, and pillars. Erhi tiptoed into the room behind them and held up a bundle of my clothes. She had my blade under her arm.

When Gantulga saw me, he stopped wriggling. “My lord! You look troubled.”

“Let’s get on with it,” I said. “And I’ll have one less headache to deal with.”

Gantulga swallowed.

“You conspired against me, sought my head, coveted my city, and attempted to stage a coup against your former lord.” I looked every man of the court in the eye as I spoke. “What do you think should be done with you?”

“My lord, if you can’t find it in your gracious and abundant soul to forgive—”

“You’ve convinced me,” I said. “You’re free to go.”

Gantulga narrowed his eyes. “Is this some kind of joke?”

I ignored him. “Eeluk, if you would.”

Eeluk stepped over and undid Gantulga’s shackles, sighing as he did. “Yes, my lord.”

Gantulga rubbed his wrists. “My lord, your mercy is unfathomable.”

“Then you better spend your life as a free man learning to fathom it.” I waved him off.

He lingered, like an ache. “If you could allow me to rejoin the court in your service, I hope to repay this—”

“No. Leave. You will never be a member of this court again—scratch that, you will never set foot inside this city again. Gantulga, I would sooner burn every bench here before giving you a seat.”

He scowled, but quickly turned it into a little grin. “Of course, my lord. I am, of course, more than happy to perch upon the ashes.”

“Must I have Captain Eeluk remove you by force?”

Eeluk pushed him with his chest. That put a jolt in Gantulga’s step.

As Gantulga made his way out, I addressed my court, making sure to do it while he was still within earshot: “And now, I am pleased to announce that we will be receiving a visit from Lord Batbayar very soon.”

The door shut behind Eeluk and Gantulga. He’d heard me.

I smiled. “Of course, this concerns the war.” I put on a solemn, tight-lipped face and started pacing with my head down and my hands behind my back. The crowd ate it up. “I have every desire to end it. And in order to accomplish that, I have decided to discuss terms of peaceful co-existence with Lord Batbayar of the Council of Lords.”

Batu started clapping enthusiastically. The rest of the men joined him.

“When can we expect him?” someone asked.

“Soon,” I said. “Very soon.”

One man stood up as quickly as his age allowed. “We must begin the parade immediately then.”

“Parade?” Batu said. “My brother didn’t get a parade.”

“It’s tradition,” the old man said. “Visiting lords are escorted to the courtroom with a display of the city’s delights and virtues.”

“Hear that, Batu.” I walked over to him. “Visiting lords. I didn’t just visit.”

“Still,” Batu said. “I haven’t seen many delights since I’ve been here.”

I tapped his gut. “Yes, you have. Hopefully we have some delights left for Lord Batbayar.” I looked over the men of the court as they shuffled out. “We wouldn’t want him to feel unwelcome.”

Erhi came over. “I brought your clothes.”

“Thank you.” I shook out the shirt and put it on, then my trousers. “I need to talk to you about that vision.”

Erhi looked away, then back at me. Batu took that as his cue to leave. He bowed at each of us in turn in silence and followed the others out.

“You and I were in a field.”

She nodded. “Some kind of barren land. No grass. No buildings. Nothing but ashes.”

“Alone?”

“There were bodies on the ground.”

“The dead don’t count.”

“Alone…except for the emissary.”

“Night or day?”

“I couldn’t tell. The smoke…”

I sniffed, and then sat down.

Erhi paused. “What are you doing?”

“Waiting.”

“For?”

I grinned. “The smell of smoke.”