David’s footsteps echoed across the wet stone as he carefully made his way down the stairs and into The Hollow. One thing never changed about the place, and that was the smell. If it weren’t for the fact that those located in The Hollow were the worst of the worst, sinners that offended the empire on a conceptual level, he would feel bad for them.
Sympathy was an emotion that David had been struggling with after the loss of Roland. His ability to try and empathize and understand the members of his court had faded, now replaced with a righteous fury determined to stamp out these horrid offenses towards Arlin’s progression.
Making his way down to the bottom and finding himself at one of the strongest doors in existence, an imposing iron behemoth that took nearly thirty seconds to slide out of the way, he nodded at the soldier manning it. Entering The Hollow, he made a quick left turn to the first cell and pulled out a key that he was carrying in his back pocket and opened up the door to find Orven with a beaming smile.
“My, if it isn’t the young Arlin.” Orven smirked at him. His hefty body and balding head stood out from his extremely ragged noble attire. They’d kept him in the clothes he was wearing when he was captured, and his time here and the trip to The Hollow had certainly taken their toll on them. In the corner sat an accumulated pile of shit and urine, which had gone uncollected. David was wearing plain clothes by royal standards, only a blue buttoned long sleeve shirt and black trousers along with a belt carrying the imperial seal.
“Polite to the last, Minister Orven.” David said with a smile. A guard soon ran inside with a foldable chair and a bucket, into which he scooped the waste and ran off.
“I do pride myself on being able to keep up appearances, even in the worst of situations. I’m glad to see that you have finally come to visit me after… How long have I been down here?”
David lifted up his right hand and began to count on his fingers for emphasis. “Around four days, not including the time it took to transport you here.”
“I see! It certainly felt much longer, with the lack of any sunlight and the irregular schedule of meals. I say, it would be enough to make a normal man go mad.” His very literal shit eating grin grew wider. David wanted to punch it and remove as many of his teeth as possible, but restrained himself.
Taking a deep breath, he removed all of the friendly airs he had been putting on and decided to get directly to the point. Time was of the essence, after all.
“Why did you hire the assassin to kill Transport Minister Roland?”
Orven paused and tilted his head to the side, feigning confusion. “I have no idea what you mean. I heard about his death and am extremely sorry for your loss. However, I have no connection to any part of his assassination.”
David sighed, leaning back in the foldable chair. He truly wished he had Erin here to advise him, but she was unable to survive the smell of The Hollow. By the time they had reached the bottom of the steps, she would have puked out all of her stomach’s contents and then some.
“You do realize the situation you are in doesn’t help you if you lie, right? I could have very easily put you in one of the other rooms here. The room at the end of the hall is extremely efficient in getting confessions. I’ve been very accommodating so far, and I would expect a return of that kindness.” David looked the man deep in his eyes, ignoring his many wrinkles and engorged body. The weight he’d put on was something only a man with more lins than one should reasonably attain..
However, Orven kept up the charade and looked completely unhindered by David’s threat.
“Young Emperor, I wouldn’t exactly call putting a person in The Hollow accommodating. In fact, I expect my other court members would likely have something to say about you shoving an innocent man down here, don’t you think?”
Will this piece of shit only call me Young Emperor?
“I think it would be best for the both of us if you released me sooner than later. I would be very willing to mitigate any potential damages to your reputation that this little game of yours might cause.” He crossed his legs, uncaring about the filth that caked his body. “Of course, I’d also appreciate it if you would help me to cooperate with my faction after that.”
David studied this unnaturally prideful man with a look of pure confusion on his face.
“Are you… attempting to order me?”
Orven shook his head like a dissatisfied teacher, still smiling.
“I’m giving you an extremely lucrative suggestion. Not an order. You may interpret it as you will. It is your right as the leader of this Empire.”
“Was your faction in on the assassination attempt as well?”
Orven was about to answer, but as his mouth began to open, he suddenly paused. His grin grew wider as he came to what appeared to be an extremely gratifying revelation.
“I see what this is. You don’t have any proof, do you? You just picked me on a whim, because you’re aware that I have the most connections to finances throughout the court?” Orven pointed one of his wrinkled fingers at David. “Young Emperor, I’m aware that you’re having some trouble after his passing but this is rather juvenile, don’t you think?”
David clenched his fist to hold himself back from making any physical moves. He technically held more power in this situation over Orven, but the old Minister appeared to be toying with him.
“You aren’t an innocent man. I know of your imports and auctions. You think my information network hasn’t been keeping track of you? I have enough information that I can work with, to say the least.” David attempted to once again tap back into the strong persona he usually put up, but this man was making it feel completely in vain.
Orven merely scoffed in response. “If those crimes are worthy of putting one in The Hollow, Young Emperor, I believe you wouldn’t have enough cells. Please, let us get this over with. I support you and can for your efforts, but this one is beyond reasonability.”
“Stop lying to me.” He mumbled under his breath.
“What was that?”
“Stop lying to me! I am done with everyone telling me all of these farcical falsehoods and attempting to lead me around like some puppet. Ever since I entered the room, you have done nothing but spout one falsehood after another. I know you don’t care about me, my reign or even the people of this Empire. You care about yourself, and you will lie and cheat to get your way.”
A silence fell upon the cell as Orven pondered these words.
“Excuse me, but you do realize I'm a politician. Lying is half of what we do.”
David’s rage began to simmer. “You admit that you have lied to me?”
“Of course not. I have made no claims, nor do you have any proof of wrongdoing in relation to the case of Roland. I stand by my suggestion that it would be best for you to release me sooner than later.”
I will make you suffer.
“We’ll see about that.”
David picked up his chair and made his way out the door, turning back to look at Orven one last time. He truly kept up his mask, no matter what. In truth, it was a skill that David needed to work on now more than ever.
It didn't matter. He planned to get a confession out of him, one way or another. All it would take is the right push, and he’d be ripe for the picking. He had only given him the courtesy because he had hoped that the man might reveal his co-conspirators. Erin’s analysis of the situation suggested that this wasn’t an individual effort, and that the people who planned this must have a greater scheme in mind. There were several other ways to catch his attention, but killing Roland couldn’t just be something on its own.
He was determined to figure it out, one way or another. Even if he had to bring many other men to ruin.
***
Sitting on the throne, David wanted to be anywhere else. His body ached as the national treasure of Morath poked into his neck. It was the crown of its king, a majestic golden circlet adorned with rubies and sapphires. The reason it was poking into the back of his neck was because of two separate problems.
One of them was the fact that the throne had slowly degraded over time. Not in that it had lost its luster, but pieces of it had been chipped away or softened from use. Gold lasted a long time, but a wide variety of parties in the chambers of the Emperor had taken its toll. The crown of Morath used to be farther back into the chair, but it had begun to jut out. The second reason was that David was taller than the other Emperors. He wouldn’t call them short, but the crown was intended to rest slightly above the head of the person seated on it, rather than poking into the back of their neck. There were a few other gems and items such as this, but the crown was the worst offender. He had debated slumping slightly in the past to mitigate the stabbing of the crown, but that might ruin appearances. The rest of the chair was also extremely rigid and offered no support, hence the general pain he would experience afterwards.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
The room it was in was also rather opulent. The palace was the largest building in the capital, second being the Royal Court. The throne room took up a good portion of the space. It was an extremely long hall, long enough that walking from one end to the other would take over a minute. Along it were towering marble pillars on both sides that stretched upwards to a massive mural depicting the many campaigns of Arlin. The mural was regularly updated after every campaign to fit the current state of the Empire, meaning the artwork was extremely layered. On the walls sat paintings of individual battles such as the Siege of Lohim, portraits of the emperors and important historical events. One of the paintings closest to the throne was that which depicted the founding of the alliance under the first emperor.
Erin flicked his leg with her finger, hoping to stop his day dreaming. He snapped back to reality, his eyes narrowing in on the piddling ambassador from Mylia. He was the reason he was forced to endure this torture, after all.
“I presume you have word from your king on the potential escapees?” David said with an extremely practiced smile.
Simmons nodded up and down like a broken toy before speaking. “I am sorry, but we were unable to locate any of them. From our best estimates, they have likely left our territory to sail to other nations using the coast. However, with the document you provided and some of the extra information, we believe we might have an idea how.”
Oh?
“Please, enlighten me.”
“Your documents of the list of slaves included an interesting one- Nicole Garcia Pluma Allena. She is the eldest daughter of the Allena oligarchs, and is intended to inherit the position after her father steps down from her post. It’s possible that her family’s connections gave her a way to escape from our ports without arousing suspicion. However, we could continue searching our lands, as per the agreement.”
Ah yes, the agreement.
“You may stop. The agreement still stands, as long as you continue to work with us. I assure you that our trade will remain equitable as long as you support our position in Boralis and allow us to station troops along your border.”
Simmons bowed emphatically. “Of course. I will relay this message to the king at once.”
“You are dismissed.”
Simmons rapidly abdicated the room flanked by his personal guard. David had needed some comedic relief today, and the ambassador had certainly provided it.
Brushing off his pants, he got out of his chair. Erin quickly came to his side to walk with him.
“You haven’t talked much about what happened with our Minister situation. I know you had other stuff going on today, but you could have at least said something.”
David gritted his teeth just thinking back to the encounter.
“He said nothing. He toyed with me the entire time. I guess there’s a reason why he’s the longest surviving court member. I really would have preferred you to be by my side.” He raised an eyebrow, causing Erin to groan uncharacteristically.
“If you wanted me there, you could have moved him to a different cell.” She chided him.
“Ugh. We shouldn’t discuss this here. It’s a tad hard to trust people to hold their tongue right now.”
Erin jabbed him softly in the stomach with a cheeky grin on her face. “You’re just unhappy that I’m right. As usual.”
You being right is actually the thing that makes me happy right now.
Walking through the hall with the royal mantle swaying alongside each step, David felt uncharacteristically self conscious. After the discussions earlier and his issues with Orven, a lot of this felt so superficial. His outward persona was only effective on the people and those outside of Arlin. For the court, they must have seen right through him.
He needed to be stronger. For the sake of the Empire. For the sake of Roland.
***
David let out a sigh of relief as he relaxed in his office chair. All of the tension in his back just melted away in its perfect cushions.
Erin pulled out her notebook and flipped to a page that was overflowing with notes and scribblings. “I’ve checked his information, but the information about this Allena figure seems off. Whatever network this woman has built, it was a good one, because she seems extremely well protected. If she pops up again, should we go after her?”
“She’s not our biggest problem. The contingent acting as a rebel group is a big one.”
He’d taken Roland’s suggestion and had taken position on the roads of Corith. The forest of horrors that encompassed the rest of the nation created an easy funnel, where they could overwhelm and trap their forces. It wasn’t a surefire strategy, but it was a hard one to counter for a group with no supply lines.
“Neither of them are the big issue on my mind…” his voice trailed off as he looked out the window and in the direction of The Hollow.
Erin sighed, placing her notebook down on the table and moving to his side, placing a hand on his left shoulder. “We’ll get him soon. Are you planning on putting him in that room?”
“I can’t think of any other option. It’d get a confession out of him. He’d confess to anything we charge him with, but I don’t think he’d give us useful information. Torture can only take you so far with a man like him. The decision to kill Roland couldn’t have been his alone, and I can’t just randomly go after members of his faction. Putting him in there might also cause them to take more drastic measures.”
“At the least, I’d say it’s a fitting punishment for a man like him. You saw the girl from Uril, right?” Erin said, trying to shift the topic. She was taken alongside Orven when he was captured. If the man were to die, a fate which David was now heavily invested in, her status would be up in the air. She could be handed back to the man’s family, but if Orven’s charges would mean the seizure of the majority of his wealth, slaves included. Doing some basic cursory research, which meant going over the ownership documents, she was acquired by him in an auction in Pluma. Going further into the documents, it was also found that she was currently enslaved without a listed crime.
There were incidents of this in the past which David was painfully aware of. Hoping to fill up their boats, opportunistic slavers would go into annexed lands and have the local municipalities assist them in snatching up some poor soul who they thought might sell well on the market. They’d get added along with the rest, and the necessary officials would turn a blind eye and allow for this abuse of Arlin’s systems to continue. It was a flaw inherent to the Empire’s growth and its ever thinning oversight.
This case, however, seemed off. When Erin and her assistants looked deeper into her past, they found almost nothing. It was not only as though this young girl from Uril had never committed a crime, but had never existed in the first place before the auction. Someone in a higher position of power than a simple slaver had taken a very deliberate action in making sure that she was untraceable in the system. David doubted even Orven knew her full origins, as he likely only cared about her ‘aesthetic’.
“She is an oddity, that is for sure. Do you have any preferences on how to treat her?” David calmly asked.
She placed her hand on her chin and rubbed it pensively. “Personally, I’d adopt her. She’s quite cute, and if she was able to put up with that piece of shit, she’d probably make a fine member of my team.”
David let out a hearty laugh, catching Erin off guard.
“I thought you said you weren’t ready for kids.”
Erin lifted her hand from his shoulder and used it to punch him in his arm. It probably wasn’t as hard of a hit as she wanted it to be, but it certainly stung.
“Either that, or put her up for auction. While I really don’t want to do the other one, if we execute Orven, it’ll probably mitigate the reputation damages slightly. Killing a man and then stealing his slave isn’t a look I’d want you to have.” Erin’s suggestion certainly felt better for his current predicament.
The more outlandish the actions I take, the closer I get to the fate I see in my dreams.
“It’s not like they can really kill me now.” He rubbed the area where he was punched, hoping it wouldn’t bruise. “There’s no heir lined up yet.”
Although from what I have heard, the third was a rather promiscuous man.
Simply thinking about that caused him to once again gaze at his assistant. In the light of the setting sun, she was beautiful. Her petite body, dirty blonde hair and little button nose were simply perfect. Whether or not his taste in women had come first and Erin had fit all of those features, or his taste had been shaped by her, he couldn’t know.
“David?”
Her words snapped him out of his daydream. “Sorry. Just got lost in thought.”
“While staring directly at me?”
“You make it quite easy.”
Erin could only groan at his casual flirtation, sitting on the table while looking out over Vyris. “Should I send a message to The Hollow and have them move Orven?”
David smiled and gave her a rather childish thumbs up, something which very much didn’t fit the punishment they were about to inflict on the man.
“If he wants to sit around and act like he controls me, I think I need to teach him a lesson, even if it puts our mission in danger. Speaking of, I’m having your guard increased.” He leaned back in his chair and placed both of his hands behind his head. “Just because I’m mostly safe doesn’t mean you are. If they’re willing to go after Roland, there’s nothing stopping them from going after you too.”
“You really believe that?” She said, raising an eyebrow.
“I do. Roland was an easy target they knew they could go after. We’re about to set the entire court alight with this action, and I can’t have you in danger because of it. Without you, my plans would fall apart.” He sighed, swiveling the chair back around and away from the sunlight. “If we can survive this, I’m sure we can finish our plans before my head ends up on that chopping block.”
Before he could relax, he felt her place a hand on his shoulder. She swiveled his chair around to face her, and the two of them locked eyes before she leaned down and placed a soft kiss on his cheek. Pulling away, she gave him the most devilish grin he’d seen in a while from his assistant.
“Oh David, don’t think like that. With what we’re about to do, there’s no doubt in my mind that the deaths the court has planned for us are far more brutal.”