Daniel woke up early, but even so he found that Governor Deirdre’s household was quite lively. The glow of sunlight was just barely creeping over the horizon and already he could hear a chorus of footsteps and voices throughout the mansion.
He should have guessed as much. From what he’d seen of Deirdre the night before, and from what Telann’s memories had told him about the woman, she wasn’t one to tolerate laziness.
Rifling through his packs, Daniel’s hands fell on the stiff black ducal uniform. The one he’d seen in the dream where he’d encountered Telann’s ghost, and what he’d been wearing on that ill-fated night when he’d woken up here.
He wasn’t hiding anymore, was he? The official garb seemed appropriate, especially since Deirdre seemed to expect him to throw his weight around in the coming negotiations. He donned the clothes. The process was strangely familiar, and the garment fit him perfectly. It had probably been tailored especially for this body, and the fact showed in the fluidity with which he could move despite the thickness and toughness of the cloth.
The room featured a tall mirror, and Daniel took a moment to examine himself. He ran his fingers along the silver clasps and embroidery, avoiding eye contact with his reflection. The face he wore now resembled his own to a remarkable degree, but it wasn’t quite the one he’d lived with all his life. Seeing those differences made him uneasy.
What must the duke have been like? Taur adored him, and Arnica—reserved though she was—had clearly cared for him. He held the respect of the veteran governor Deirdre and had led a people in the harsh environment of the mammoth steppe. And yet Daniel had only exchanged a few words with the man before replacing his soul. A few confused, bitter words.
He imagined what it must have been like, to be responsible for an entire people and to feel like you’d failed. The people of Rhud had been driven into exile and Telann had been injured beyond recovery. When he’d met Daniel in that dream—or whatever it had been—he must have known that he’d lost his chance to fulfill the full measure of his duty, to save his people and defeat the monstrous threat that had assailed them.
And he was so young… Daniel realized. His body hardly looked much older than the one he’d left back on Earth.
Daniel suppressed a shiver.
He straightened the uniform one last time, then stepped out into the hall. A servant noticed him almost immediately, bowing and informing him that the governor was awake and waiting. They entered a large office with a heavy mahogany table, and upon seeing Deirdre and the weariness on her face, Daniel wondered whether she’d followed her own advice and gotten any sleep at all.
Arnica was there as well, and it appeared that she’d had the same idea as him. Giving up the idea of traveling incognito, she wore her uniform, a near match to his, though with less ornamentation. The mage cast him a disinterested glance, but the governor for her part seemed happy to see him.
“Duke,” she said, “I’m glad you’re finally with us.”
“Glad to be here,” Daniel replied. “There weren’t any extra complications last night, I hope?”
Deirdre grimaced. “There were plenty, but nothing too surprising. Some of the crowds got into minor scuffles with the city watch, and we caught more than a few ruffians doing their best to sneak their way over the walls toward the army camp. I haven’t got the least idea what they planned to do once they got there, but they didn’t exactly seem grateful to us for likely saving their lives.”
“What about lord Arlan? Has he answered any messages?”
“No, not yet at least,” Deirdre sighed. “Though if any good has come of this, it seems the welp has been spooked enough to get his soldiers in line. By some miracle, they all got out of the city after the incident, or they’ve had the good sense to lay low.”
“It would have been useful if they hadn’t,” Arnica mused, “an exchange of prisoners could have been a convenient solution.”
“No it wouldn’t,” the governor said. “I don’t want the army walking away from this unhappy. We’re an imperial city. That hasn’t changed and it won’t. I’ve always been loyal.”
“Loyal to the old emperor,” Arnica replied, “one of his best, and rewarded for your service.”
“Yes. And?” Deirdre asked.
“The sixth doesn’t march under the old emperor’s banner. They answer to the regent.”
“They’re sworn to the Tagonian empire, same as I am,” Deirdre said, her voice becoming careful and measured.
“But the oaths you made are different, are they not?” Arnica insisted. “The regent deposed the emperor, aren’t you—"
“Enough.” The governor’s interruption was calm but insistent. “The sixth army and Konti are on the same side. This debacle will be over once everybody realizes that.”
Arnica met Daniel’s gaze, unperturbed, and he got the impression somehow that her questions had been a display for his sake. But why? Rhud had been part of the empire too, hadn’t it? He would have to ask the sorceress later.
“In any case,” the governor continued, “we need to establish communication with them as soon as possible. They need us for supplies for goodness’ sake, they can’t keep to themselves forever.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Are the gates still closed?” Daniel asked.
Deirdre nodded. “There’s a mob there just waiting for us to open them. They know we’ll have to before long, and they’ve gotten themselves worked up about last night. Four citizens are dead by musket shot. Nobody has ever seen anything like it.”
“I tried to contact their mages as well through sorcerous channels,” Arnica said, “but they’re closed off, which is odd. It’s like they’re nervous about something, though I can’t imagine them actually fearing a civil disturbance like this. That would be dangerous, but not enough to trouble an imperial mage.”
Silence fell over the room, and Daniel considered for a moment. He recalled how difficult it had always been to resolve arguments over text back on Earth. When messages were written down, they usually didn’t quite get the same meaning across as a face-to-face conversation. Misunderstandings and perceived slights were rampant.
“We should go in person,” Daniel decided, “Arlan hasn’t been taking messengers, but he can’t turn away a duke. Or the governor.”
“Foolish,” Arnica said. “Perhaps we are above forcing a prisoner exchange, but we shouldn’t rely on them sharing the sentiment. I’d advise against either of you putting yourselves in their power.”
“We could do it from the wall,” Daniel proposed. “Plus, the soldiers seemed to like me, even if Arlan didn’t. Some of them will listen, and they might help convince him to see reason.”
Deirdre broke into a smile. “It’s not a bad idea, I’ve committed myself to worse ones in my day. There’s no reason to waste time then. Come on, we can take my carriage. I think I’m still popular enough to take a ride through the city unmolested.”
As the governor set about preparing their travel, Daniel pulled Arnica aside.
“Where’s Taur?” he asked her.
“Gone,” she said. “He left sometime last night.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
“If you had to guess?”
Arnica shrugged. “Gathering information, likely. Ingratiating himself with people he gets along with. He’s not much of a politician.”
A dreadful thought passed through Daniel’s mind.
“You don’t think he tried to sneak into the army camp?” Daniel asked. “He got along with Jep and Pinkie, and the governor said they caught people trying to scale the wall.”
“He might’ve,” Arnica admitted. “But have some faith. Taur is more capable than he pretends to be. If he wanted to get to the sixth’s camp, he wouldn’t get caught until he wanted to be.”
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As the governor promised, their carriage ride through the city was uneventful. When they neared the wall, however, the background noises of the city resolved into a steady beat of jeers and demands. The crowd near the main gatehouse was too thick to approach, so instead they used another tower to climb to the top of the wall.
The city watchmen saluted as they made their way along the battlements. They appeared to be out in force, and Daniel saw more than a few red eyes. They were getting little more sleep than their governor, then.
From the wall, he could see into both the city and out onto the gentle slopes of clear land surrounding it. The soldiers’ camp had pulled in tighter than the day before and had retreated a little ways from the wall. It spoke to their wariness of the city. At least they were taking this with the seriousness it deserved.
The crowd on the city side appeared far more eager for a fight, though from this vantage Daniel wondered if they realized how outnumbered they were. Outgunned as well, if they tried to storm the camp of the imperial army they would be up against trained soldiers. Trained soldiers with firearms, at that. It wasn’t something Daniel wanted to see.
They found a spot that was nearest to the imperial camp, and that would be visible to the soldiers there. Unfortunately, it was also visible to the crowd inside the city. The shouts grew louder.
It didn’t take long before they were noticed, and soon a squad of soldiers approached, several armed with muskets. Arlan marched at their head. They halted about fifteen meters from the wall.
“Governor!” the lord commander shouted, “And Duke! I hope you’ve come to apologize for the treatment we have received this night!”
“Apologize?” the governor shouted back in a voice loud enough that Daniel had no doubt it would carry the distance to the soldiers. “Your people fired on my people!”
“After being harassed and threatened,” Arlan replied, trying his best to look regal as he craned his neck to look at the top of the wall. “Poor hosts you’ve been to the hand of the empire, outstretched for your own protection.”
Muscles bunched in Deirdre’s jaw. Daniel saw her glance at Arnica, who raised a knowing eyebrow at her. The governor snorted, then turned back to the upstart below them. Daniel could see her patience evaporating before his very eyes.
“You forget who you’re talking to, boy,” she said. “I’ve shed more blood for the empire over the years than you have in your veins right now. And if you were devoted to protection, I wouldn’t have a duke in my city right now!” She gestured to Daniel, who shifted nervously on his feet. This meeting hadn’t turned out nearly as amicable as he’d hoped.
“Lord Arlan,” he said, realizing he may have to be the one to ease tensions, “let the perpetrators go to trial, and the city will calm down. Nobody wants trouble, least of all with you.”
His words didn’t have the intended effect.
“I have no obligations to this city, or the duke of a failed province,” Arlan spat. “Come to me again when you’re ready to open your gates. Every hour you don’t will go down in our histories, and the imperial council at Tagon will know exactly how far this decrepit little backwater has wandered from the road of loyalty!”
“He must’ve practiced that one to his mirror this morning,” Deirdre muttered quietly, so Arlan and the soldiers wouldn’t hear.
She was right, it had sounded a little rehearsed. Sure enough though, the lord commander turned and began to leave with his soldiers following him, though Daniel noticed they seemed a little more reluctant.
The governor stepped back from the wall and sighed, pressing a hand to her forehead.
“That could have gone a lot better,” she said.
“It could also have gone a lot worse,” Daniel offered.
“It may yet..” she replied, staring off after the retreating lord.
Daniel noticed that Arnica was frowning, not an uncommon thing, but oddly she was staring not at Arlan, nor the army, nor the angry crowd behind them. Rather, her stare was fixed at a point on the horizon, past the army in the direction they’d come from with Taur.
“Arnica?” he asked. “Is everything okay?”
She spared a glance for him but had already refocused on the distance before she answered.
“I’m not sure,” she said, uncharacteristic self-doubt in her voice. “The mages, I thought I felt it before but it’s undeniable now. I can sense their emotions bleeding through their sorcery. They’re worried about something, and they’re being careful.”
“Could they be worried about you?” Daniel asked.
The necromancer shook her head. “No. They’re focused on something else. Something out there.”
Daniel squinted in the direction she was gazing. He couldn’t see anything abnormal on the horizon. Just farmland stretching out to the border of the forest they’d come from. Past that, there were only mountains rising up to graze the sky.
He moved to Arnica’s side to confer more privately.
“When we were in that cave, you said you had been pursued by your enemy from the North. Do you think—maybe—we’re still being pursued?”
Arnica broke her vigil of the horizon to meet his eyes.
“For everyone’s sake, pray that we aren’t.”