Princess Olivia Ciera Harenaro had an idiot for a brother. As she stormed through the disgusting old ship she was forced to take everywhere, Thavin kept droning on and on about his inevitable revenge. “Thavin, you miserable little twit!” she finally shrieked. “There were countless ways we could have gotten here without you plowing through every single one of my plans!”
Her brother glared at her as their knightly escorts hurriedly made themselves scarce. “You heard the spy!” he said, his voice growing nasal. “They’re conspiring with our enemies! They seek to make Arinae their prize!”
Olivia let out an exasperated breath. “Schemes, brother. Schemes within schemes! Everyone is planning, everyone is plotting! We plan, we manipulate, we act, we don’t just react to something someone says at a party, throwing our entire nation into chaos!”
Thavin punched the steel hull of the ship as they went downstairs toward what passed for living quarters. “I will kill the Chosen!” he insisted. “Calevaro will be dead, and there won’t be anything left to scheme over! If you ever truly acted we wouldn’t need to waste away our lives on other peoples’ schemes!”
The princess pinched the bridge of her nose. “This is like the waterlands all over again. It is only by the genius and foresight of our honored ancestor that you still live. It is only by his schemes that you draw breath! Every time you open your damned mouth, it is I who must clean up a mess!”
“You should be grateful that I allow you such opportunities, sister,” he said with a sneer. “Continue to prove your worth and perhaps I’ll let you live after I ascend the throne!” Thavin thundered off toward his room, slamming the door behind him.
Oliva sighed, stopping to lean against a wall, one hand over her eyes. When she looked up and saw her attendants hadn’t taken the hint, fury rose up. “Get away from me, you insufferable idiots!” she shouted, and they scrambled to avoid her. “Fools, everywhere I turn,” she muttered.
The stench of rust and decay assailed her Dusk rank senses as she stalked her way through the ship. I’ll die a thousand deaths before I let that vicious, violent ass take the throne, she promised herself. Her anger-fueled charge through the Dunebreaker ended in front of the Luxmachina, and she stopped, staring at it.
For generations it had been an effective, if extremely specific weapon in Arinae’s arsenal. She moved forward and ran a hand over the controls, thinking of the last time she’d used it to get her brother out of trouble. She knew her knights were eager to get back in, enjoying the sport of invading a duel and hunting down enemies of the kingdom.
Lucky for Thavin. He wasn’t a poor warrior, she knew that, but his emotions made him a horrible duelist. You couldn’t scream and stomp your foot to bring down the likes of Prince Calevaro, who was truly his father’s son when it came to combat. It looked like once again she’d be forced to save the brother who brought shame on their family at every opportunity.
Olivia pointlessly kicked the machine before spinning on her heels and striding back toward her office. She needed to plan…to scheme as her brother called it. Doing something productive would calm her, and she had yet to determine what to do about Nixus and their little games.
She moved to the locked door, and traced out the runes that would open it. She messed up the sequence twice in her rage and haste, before finally throwing the door open, and slamming it behind her. She was so distracted she took two steps into the room before realizing she wasn’t alone.
“Such haste,” the dark robed Chosen said, his gravelly voice sending a chill down her spine.
Olivia’s mouth fell open in shock, and she looked around her own office in confusion. Bookcases, maps, her desk, and blank walls–no other ways in. Finally her rational mind reasserted itself. Of course he could enter a locked room, he’s a Champion ranked Chosen. She swallowed and bit back an angry remark, hiding it by giving the slightest of bows. “Chosen, this is the last place I expected to find you,” she said.
“Is it really?” he asked, and Olivia gritted her teeth. A two week trip from Arinae without him speaking a word, and now he speaks in riddles.
“This is my private office, Chosen, and I’d thought you had already left Viridus.”
He looked at her, face hidden in the deep hood. “Can you think of no reason why I might see the need to stay, princess?”
Deny, deny, deny, her mind screamed. “I wouldn’t presume to understand your desires, Chosen, nor what you would deem worthy of your time.”
He didn’t respond, he simply stood there, staring. His odd lack of Astral presence made her uncomfortable, as if she were standing in her office alone, not facing down one of the most powerful beings alive. “Is this about the duel?” she asked at last, hating herself for speaking.
“It is,” he confirmed.
“We’ve done as you asked,” she said, hearing the petulance in her own voice. “We’ve agreed to delay while the new Chosen gains his abilities. What more do you want from us?” Oh yes, Olivia, make demands of the man, that will de-escalate the situation.
Again he paused, as if waiting for her to speak, to admit to a secret her family had kept for centuries. Olivia pressed her lips together tightly, refusing to blink as the man stood perfectly still.
Finally he let out a sigh, shaking his head as if disappointed in her. “Did you really think I’d leave before I ensured it would be a fair duel?” he asked. Her face scrunched up. He knows, he knows!
“I don’t know what you mean, Chosen. We’re…we’re doing as you asked,” she said again, hearing how weak it sounded.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
He took a step forward, and she took two back on instinct. “And what else are you doing, princess? What might I find if I walk through this ship?”
Olivia’s mind scrambled for any way out of this situation. He knows. He knows and…and he’s in here. Talking. A plan came to her then, and she stood up straighter. “I don’t know what you’d find, Chosen. It is an ancient ship, built by one of your number. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were things in here that I don’t understand.”
He cocked his head at her, clearly suspicious. “You play dangerous games,” he said softly.
“No games here, Chosen. You have free run of my ship. Do what you will, we both know it’s well within your authority. What isn’t?” she said with a smile.
The Chosen hesitated. Certainly someone of his age and wisdom understood that she had ulterior motives, but that didn’t matter, the outcome would be the same, and she’d be free of blame. He raised one hand. “This is what you wish?” he asked, and she had to school her expression.
“I wish for nothing, Chosen, do as you will,” that was as close to permission as she was going to give. Anything further and she might not be able to hide the truth from her father.
The Chosen shook his head, obviously suspicious, but resolute in his cause. With a snap of his fingers, explosions echoed through the ship. Olivia was flung against a wall, but the Chosen seemed unbothered, as if he were stuck to the very floor. Thankfully the ship didn’t seem to be falling from the sky, but she could already smell smoke coming through the small gap under the door.
“You are an odd woman,” the Chosen said. Then he tilted his head. “Or perhaps simply one who’s grown tired of her troublesome younger brother.” Olivia struggled not to show her reaction, but needn’t have bothered. The Chosen disappeared an instant later.
The princess got to her feet, then charged out of her office. Smoke was everywhere, but it wasn’t more than an annoyance at her rank. She pushed past servants and knights, making her way to the front of the ship, and the Luxmachina. As expected, it was largely in ruins, and people were struggling to get a fire under control.
Thankfully the Chosen had only used the barest fraction of his power, likely unwilling to risk destroying the entire ship. Still, the machine was an absolute wreck, and she smiled at it. Sorry brother, it looks like I won’t be able to clean up your mess this time.
***
Waiting in the small dark room in the belly of the ship, Ethan felt the rush of dimension mana return to him as he dismissed his reflection. He quickly removed the cloak he’d brought, though he still needed the black mask, even if he was done with the distorted voice effect. He wasted no time in moving back into the ship’s hold, trying to make a hasty exit.
He could feel the runes that held back Dunebreaker’s defenses fading, and dropped to the floor of the hull to sprint toward the grates that would let him out. He figured the explosions that [Volatile Infusion] had caused would be distracting enough that no one would be listening for footfalls four decks down. As he scrambled back into the shaft that led outside, he considered what had just happened.
He’d known a disguise would be valuable in case of discovery, and had bet that Lathander was an enigmatic enough man that he could at least fool some guards if needed. He hadn’t considered using it on the princess, but the size and complexity of the machine he’d found had changed things. Sabotage was the only thing he could think of, and he couldn’t very well set off explosions inside the ship without enormous consequences.
The mysterious robed Chosen, on the other hand, could essentially do whatever he wanted. Ethan hadn’t been sure how much Olivia had known, and knew he’d be improvising heavily, but things had gone better than expected. He still would have destroyed the device even if she hadn’t seemed to want him to, but it was even better that she did. Less likely that there would be investigations or follow ups that Ethan didn’t want.
Still, the way her face had transformed when she’d seemed to realize she was damning her own brother had been disturbing. But Ethan couldn’t worry about that; he’d disabled the device, and his reflection had collected copies of Olivia’s Impression Stones and documents. That his copy shared access to his inventory hadn’t seemed overly valuable until now, but Ethan sure as hell wasn’t going to put the real him into a room with the Dusk rank princess, and the trick had proven quite valuable.
He emerged from the side of the ship, feeling the magic around him growing thicker and thicker. He wasted no time in hurling a dimensionally charged dagger at the city wall, and had to mentally fight against the pressure pushing down his abilities to follow it with a rift. As he appeared on the other side of the waves of sand, he felt almost weightless compared to the oppressive feel of the ship, and happily scrambled away, content with what he’d achieved.
***
Ethan was in a tree, on the East side of town. He felt foolish to be in a tree, in the middle of the night, but he couldn’t think of a better option. He knew he wanted to go over Olivia’s documents before Princess Ellevaro did, and there were few places he felt safe doing so. His own room was no doubt watched, and he didn’t want to bring them to Selina’s.
He made a mental note that he needed to find some kind of safe haven in the city in the future, but for now he simply sat in his tree, and read. Much of what he’d found was meaningless to him, referencing places and people he didn’t know, though he suspected the princess would find use for them. In the end it took nearly two hours to skim through the irrelevant items, and identify the truly important.
The first of the latter sort was about him, and the interaction he’s had with the royals at the feast. It was a copy of a letter sent to some Nixus contacts, and while it wasn’t explicit–none of the documents were–it nevertheless implied that she’d identified Ethan as an agent of the snow kingdom. It suggested several possible motives for him, offering far more possibilities than he’d intimated, many referencing political scenarios he couldn’t begin to understand.
Regardless, it didn’t appear to be leading to war–Ethan wasn’t ready to start a war just to inconvenience the royal family–and it didn’t seem that he’d made a definitive enemy of the Arinaens. Frankly it was more flattering than anything, and Dalin had been right that recruiting him was a very real consideration for the princess. Either way, this went in the pile that wouldn’t be making its way to Ellevaro.
He had to make the same call with the correspondence that Nixus had returned. Obviously they denied the implication that Ethan was one of their agents, but more than that, they claimed the accusation was designed to distract from Arinae’s own plans to ally with Viridus against the snowlands. Truly a remarkable level of political paranoia, Ethan thought.
It was the last documents that were truly concerning, however, as they raised far more questions. There were reports of killings and disappearances that were apparently being seen by Olivia’s agents all over what would have been North America on Earth. They even postulated that the same thing was happening across the world, though Arinae didn’t have a network large enough to verify the claims.
Hunters were disappearing. Not in enormous numbers, but still too large to be accounted for by normal monster encounters. Just as interesting, members of the Church were being killed, both the Rift Hunters and clergy. There were all kinds of theories as to the cause, but most were equally refuted in the documents. The only one that stood out was Terranova, the human settlement Ethan hadn’t been able to learn much about.
Several of Olivia’s agents had reported that evidence was pointing at the mysterious nation of ‘New Earth’, though the motives were unknown. Still, as Ethan read and re-read, he replayed his last words with the Chosen Lathander in his mind.
‘Who would possibly be on the side of more rifts, more demons?’
‘A question you’d be better served asking your own people, Terran.’