Illeth

Shylldra's animal was acting strangely.

Troodon's didn't really have a concept of pets, so Illeth hadn't been sure how to deal with the brightly colored microraptor at first. Over the weeks they'd learned to get along, and apparently the flat side of her claws made an acceptable petting surface to the tiny creature. And it was a way to spend the afternoon that didn't involve pacing or kill things, towards both of which Illeth was having intense urges.

She'd wanted to come to the arena with Shylldra, but Shylldra had pointed out bringing the empire's most feared assassin along might put the emperor's guard up. And that if something happened the person who was both the sneakiest and most lethal out of them was Illeth, who could sneak out and rescue everyone. It made sense. It was what was best for the pack. It was still frustrating, so she sat and stroked T'challi's head instead of going out to kill everyone.

At least until the microraptor started getting twitchy. It kept fluttering back and forth to the wall.

Wait, she knew that wall. There was a secret passage behind there.

“No,” she told the microraptor. “If I let you back there you will get lost. And Shylldra will be angry. You're a thing of sunny treetops anyway, not dark holes.”

But the microraptor was insistent, poking and prodding at the wall.

They eat small rodents and lizards. Maybe there is prey it desires just within the passage. It should be alright if I watch over it. I can sympathize with a hunter who cannot hunt. Especially today. Illeth found the hidden switch and pressed it, swinging open the section of wall. The passage beyond was dark, but her troodon eyes had no trouble seeing the passage. It led to a branching of the secret halls within the palace, one of them leading to--

Death. Rot and ruin, by the smell of it. An evil smell. A familiar smell.

Dalluth. She'd had the path to his death in front of her all along. But how to protect the microraptor while...it wasn't a concern. The microraptor had curled up on the chair again. Almost as if it had been trying to show her this.

“Thank you,” Illeth said. “Remain here. I will see if I can slit the monster's throat.”

Illeth slipped through the passage, closing it behind her. She followed the scent of death and decay until it came out in what had been a suite of rooms for noble guests. Now it was a laboratory. Assassins were trained to be shocked by very little, but there was very little like what she found inside,

The ceiling was a mass of glass tubes and pumping bladders. The bladders looked to be living organs, taken from living creatures and infused to continue something not unlike but far less wholesome than their living function. The fluid that pumped through the tubes was mostly clear, but reddish black blobs crackled with light in a distorted rainbow of nauseating colors. At the center of the thing was a gigantic glass hourglass. The top half was full of liquid, the center of the reddish black blobs and the crackling light. The bottom half was empty, and a door in the side stood open. Illeth didn't know what kept the liquid from flowing down into the bottom half. It might have been some powerful aspect of the infusions that had gone into creating the monstrosity, or it may have been a simple flap. Either way, Illeth was grateful for its presence.

Dalluth himself stood to the side of the hourglass, carefully placing infused bone around its base. His metal faceplate rested on a table nearby, but he still wore his hood.

“Well what do you want?” Dalluth asked, not looking up from his work.

“To kill you.”

“Oh that nonsense again,” Dalluth sighed. “Go away, assassin. I have work to do.”

“What is this?” Illeth couldn't help asking, letting her eyes wander along the tubes and pulsing organs.

“Amazing isn't it?” Dalluth said eagerly. “And really it's just a tool. A way to create my wonders is all it is. Did you know that? I'm going to create wonders.”

“It's horrible,” Illeth snarled.

“Yes,” Dalluth said proudly. “Horrible. It inspires horror. Which is really just awe mixed in with fear.”

Illeth was certain now. She had to kill him before he finished...whatever this was. Once she decided to kill she stopped gawking and moved like fluid lightning to cut his throat. But just before she touched him the fluid in the top of the hourglass pulsed. Beat, like a living heart. She felt it screaming. The scream wasn't a noise but a thought, a daydream of suffering and agony that ripped her mind open and poured ice inside, sending her stumbling away from Dalluth and his work. The infuser laughed, a wet and ugly sound, and turned to face her.

His face looked like bloody ground meat splattered against a broken skull. As if someone with spare parts from a butcher's shop had tried to make a statue what mocked the concept of a human face. The fact that the eyes were so human only made it worse.

“Go away little thing,” Dalluth said. “Go away. This is game for us now, the gods and geniuses. Go and play the emperor's silly games, and leave me alone. I'm creating wonders.”

His creation pulsed again, and the world screamed, and Illeth fled down the secret passage. When she came out she found the microraptor on a chair, staring at her worriedly.

“I'm sorry little one,” she said. “I failed, despite your warning. Come. We can't stay here. We have to tell Shylldra.”

She had no idea what was going on with the rest of her pack. If Shylldra was alright, if the emperor was still alive, if there had been a wedding, any of it. But she knew whatever was happening it had to stop, it all had to be put on hold, because whatever Dalluth was making needed to be stopped before he finished it.

Jajess

Patrician Jajess was eyeing the emperor's throne. For real this time. He'd been doing it metaphorically for years but now he actually stood before the enormous vacant chair and considered sitting down on it.

No, he thought sadly. No I'll never get away with it. I'll have to hold the authority from the shadows, like in the original plan.

But who to make emperor? Lekarik had been a bad compromise created by Hanavel's inability to produce a son in the first place. There were other blood relatives, most of them in distant parts of the empire. Some of them outside of it completely. All of them extremely distant, and noneof them likely to be able to wield the Axe. Jajess made a mental note to get his hands on Shylldra again. She really could legitimize just about anybody's rule, if she could be controlled. And of course, the minute she had an heir...

Gwarruf stood behind him, wringing his hands.

“This is most improper!” the old man snorted. “The emperor will not--”

“The emperor has become a monster,” Jajess interrupted him. “obviously he has angered gods, or they wouldn't have twisted his body that way. Trust me, Gwarruf, everyone at the arena will say the same. And even a monster can't defeat the entire guard force of the palace. Lekarik's reign is done.”

The protocol master opened his mouth to object, but thought better of it. It wouldn't be the first time an emperor had been cursed by the gods, after all. And behind the usual ambition in Jajess's eyes there was true horror. Jajess was no doubt twisting this to his advantage, like he did with everything, but he wasn't lying.

“Then a new emperor will need to be chosen,” Gwarruf said. “I suggest we send for young prince Evadolo.”

“Evadolo?” Jajess asked. “Never heard of him. And that name doesn't sound Angelarian.”

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“As a matter of fact he's prince of Thyrth,” Gwarruf said. “It's a very small kingdom lying between the empire and the lands of the sky lords. Prince Evadolo is the second issue of King Vorode and Queen Nylladri.”

“As in princess Nylladri, Havelin's daughter?”

“Precisely. As the youngest he's not the heir to the throne of Thyrth, and as young as he is he would require...guiding advice, which after Lekarik is in all our interests.”

“A most excellent choice!” Jajess laughed. “And just think, if something were to happen to the eldest heir of Thyrth, it would be absorbed into the empire!”

“That thought had occurred to me, patrician,” Gwarruf said with a somber not. “Not that we expect any such tragedy.”

“No, of course not!” Jajess agreed, already planning such a tragedy. Maybe falling down a cliff, were there cliffs in Thyrth or was he just associating it with the Sky Lords and their clifftop kingdoms? Well time enough to find out later. “I think that's settled, then. Amazing how easy that was! Now we'd better get the guard ready, just in case. If Lekarik is still alive he'll be in an angry mood when he arrives...”

“It's coming!” someone shouted down the hall. “Lord Patrician, it's coming!”

It was one of the observers Jajess had left back at the arena. He looked to have run the whole way to the palace, covered in sweat. His eyes were wide in panic and confusion.

“See?” Lekarik said. “Alright, we need to move quickly. How far away is Lekarik?”

“Not-not the emperor!” the man panted. “The parade!”

Jajess and Gwarruf shared a confused look.

Shylldra

The whole city had come out to watch the strange procession.

Soldiers flanked it on either side, marching on parade. But a parade of soldiers was nothing that interesting, there were parades of soldiers all the time. But what they marched with... the creatures of a parade were hornffrills, raptors, and duckbills the legions used as cavalry mounts and support animals.

Not today.

The one in the rear was an allosaurus. It was bigger than most, the scars all over its muzzle giving the impression it the veteran of a thousand battles. It stomped through the ranks glaring back and forth, but itsrider seemed to have things well in hand. Those who could get a good enough look saw that it was being ridden by none other than Hallek, the newly famous gladiator, and rumored lover of the emperor's betrothed. Which made sense, considering who was riding the animal in front.

The Western Mammoth trumpeted as it walked, elated to be free of the restricting arena cage. A howdah originally constructed for triceratops they'd found in the depths of the arena's storage glittered with faux jewels, But with the enormous elephant trundling through the streets the onlookers were too dazzled to realize they were fake, and the golden threads that made up the howdah's fringes were real enough.

Besides fake jewels didn't matter. This was about the sparkle, not the value. It was meant to make a scene. To make the audience feel the idea of wealth, and grandeur, and power, so that they were in the right mood when they noticed Shylldra standing in the howdah like a captain at the bow of her ship with Milkaamek's Axe held high above her head, both the weapon and herself streaked with dirt and blood. In her bloody golden dress, carrying a bloody Axe and—no one missed this—accompanied by a great warrior, rumored to be her lover and also covered in blood, she looked like some kind of warrior goddess. Rumors about how the emperor had died were already spreading.

“The emperor has died and gone mad,” Arena master H'viss bellowed through his voice enhancing infusion. He was there slightly under duress, but someone had to tell everybody there was a new empress before someone else told them they didn't. “His betrothed Shylldra has claimed the throne. All hail Empress Shylldra!”

Shylldra felt ridiculous.

She'd been atthings like this hundreds of times. Part of the cloud of wives and concubines and daughters following after her father in some parade or procession. But she'd never been it before, never been the occasion. Never been the one the whole world was staring at. She kept expecting someone to point and laugh, but no one did. In fact they were cheering. Some of them were even chanting her name.

For weeks she had been their shield against Lekarik. Now taking his place seemed almost natural. The next step in the story. By the time she reached the palace, everyone in the city had accepted Shylldra as their new empress.

Jajess

Almost everyone.

“This-this....” Jajess sputtered, leaning out one of the palace windows on his trundling walker chair. “This is ridiculous! It can't be true! It can't be allowed! There's never been an empress, it's unlawful!”

“It's against all precedent,” Gwarruf said, “but it's not actually illegal. And it does seem as if she has the hearts of the people.”

“Don't say that you old fool!” Jajess yelled, grabbing the protocol master by his robes. “Do you have any idea what she'll do to me if she actually takes the throne?”

“Do you think I'm better off?” Gwarruf snapped back. “I was the part of the plan to kill her that sent her off into the wilderness and got us into this whole mess! I'm not even the only protocol master in the palace, just the chief one! And besides, do you honestly think that...” he gestured to the parade and the cheering crowds outside “is going to give a damn about dusty books and legal precedent?”

“There must be something,” Jajess said, letting go of Gwarruf and tearing at his own hair. “After all this time, everything I've done, she can't just come and take this away from me! She's a pretender! A fraud!”

The parade had reached the guards around the palace now, a much stronger force than usual thanks to their hasty preparations against Lekarik.

“She won't want a battle in the streets!” Jajess said. “Send orders to the guards to hold firm against the pretender. We can talk her out of it, make a deal.”

The parade had stopped at the gates of the palace. Shylldra stood on her mammoth, holding a speaking staff she must have gotten from the arena. Hells, what had happened after he left? Oh obviously Hallek had won the fight, but how had it all ended up like this? And was that Grand General Fennik she had with her? So the legions were lost to him too...

“Patrician Jajess,” Shylldra bellowed through H'viss's speaking staff, her voice carrying easily to the palace and over the entire crowd gathered to watch. “I understand your fear. Lekarik is dead. All of us have done things over the past months we would like to take back, that we aren't proud of. Some of the things you've done have been directed against me. The guards here tell me you have the palace locked up, in case Lekarik came for vengeance. I can only assume it remains locked because of me. You have my word, as does anyone else in the palace who conspired with you or Lekarik, there will be no reprisals. Not trials for the things that were done during Lekarik's descent into madness. Lekarik is dead, Patrician. Let all this insanity die with him.

“But that doesn't mean I'm prepared to negotiate. Or make concessions. If you will not open this door willingly, I will open it by force. Because I am your empress, patrician. And I am coming in. I'll give you a few minutes to respond.”

Jajess spat curses and pounded his fist on the stone windowsill. How dare she? How dare the little bitch? He didn't believe that nonsense about no reprisals. Oh, there wouldn't be any public consequences, but he had no doubt he'd find a dagger sliding across his neck some dark night after she'd taken power. It's what he'd have done, after all.

“There are secret passages out of the palace,” Gwarruf said. “We could run.”

“No!” Jajess said. “No! I will not run! Not now! Don't you realize? There is no one else. Not prince Evadolo, and certainly not that overly pious whore down there. It's me. Only me. I am emperor now! And I won't let her take it away from me!”

Shylldra

Shylldra put down the speaking staff and almost slumped. She made herself stay standing. The empress couldn't show any weakness, not now. She climbed down off the mammoth and walked to the clump of her friends. Well, and Verris. He'd offered to help storm the palace because it gave him a chance to kill his father. His presence just didn't give her same comfort as the others did.

“I hope that's enough,” she sighed.

“Hard to tell,” Verris said. “My father's smart, and a coward. Both of those say he should give in. But he's also stubborn.”

“There are worse things than him inside the palace,” Illeth said.

Shylldra reminded herself that the empress could not scream like a terrified little girl. How did she get there?

“How did you get there?” Verris demanded.

“I surrender in stealth only to the thief,” Illeth said. “Although the little one did not make it easy.”

“T'challi!” Hallek said, taking the microraptor from Illeth. “It's been forever! You could have visited me you know. You can fly. Ish.”

“What did you mean about worse?” Shylldra asked.

“Master Infuser Dalluth. He had built...something. I don't know. It screamed at me in my mind. I do not know its purpose. He called it a tool for greater wonders.”

“A weapon maybe?” High General Fennik rubbed his chin. “A powerful infuser with time to prepare is never good to go against. And I've heard dark rumors about the man.”

“And they're almost certainly true,” Shylldra said. “We don't have time to go into it all, but I agree with Illeth. Shutting down his experiments has to be a priority.”

“We must kill him,” Illeth said.

“Probably,” Shylldra said. “In the end. For now we're--”

“Shylldra, daughter of Hanavel,” Jajess's voice boomed from one of the upper palace windows. He must have gotten a speaking staff from somewhere.

“Sounds like I'm up,” Shylldra said, moving to the front of the crowd.

“We have heard your proposal,” Jajess continued. “But we, the ministers of this palace and this empire, cannot support your illegal attempt to ascend to the throne. Surrender control of the legions to proper authority, allow us to begin restoring order, and we will allow this lapse to go unmentioned.”

Shylldra shook her head. She had arrived with theatrics and an impassioned plea, and they responded with a legal document. People were already booing. What was Jajess thinking? Someone handed her the speaking staff and she raised it to her lips.

“I can't help but notice you asked for my legions,” Shylldra said, “because you don't seem to have any of your own. Nearly all the palace defenders are out here with me, Jajess. Is that your final response?”

There was only silence from the palace.

“Alright then,” Shylldra said. “Then I'll take the palace from you. Anyone in the palace who wishes to avoid the battle should remove all weapons and stay out of the way. General?”

She said that last word through the speaking staff even though the general was right beside her. For the effect. The effect was very important at times like this. The crowd cheered as Ferrik bellowed the order, and soldiers began to move.