Chapter Twenty-One: ‘Alliance of calamity, capitulate not...’

Roman had been pleasantly surprised to discover a first aid kit in Gerald’s truck. Dressing wounds wasn’t his forte, but Voreese and Mehlsanz were able to provide apt instruction. And when he finished, he thought Lynnette’s cotton-white bandage looked quite skillfully applied.

For the first hour or so of driving, Lynnette’s questions were unrelenting, but given all she’d been through, he wasn’t about to spare her any explanations. And after she seemed to have wrapped her head around imaginary beings and undying people, she started asking why Hector was not regenerating like before.

“Because his reaper is severely wounded,” Roman explained. “He won’t start regenerating again until Garovel recovers.”

Lynnette eyed the half-destroyed helm containing what remained of Hector’s head. She couldn’t see Garovel’s unconscious, shriveled form clinging to the back of it, but Roman could.

To his eyes, reapers looked like ethereal birds. Crows, precisely--but at the moment, Garovel was no more than a dark smudge. He would have to take Voreese’s word for it that reapers could still recover from such a state.

Mehlsanz and Voreese had both been actively scouting to ensure they were not being followed, which meant flying up extremely high for visibility. They didn’t report anything, and after a while, Roman finally began to relax.

‘That fight should have gone smoother,’ Voreese said privately. ‘Maybe we’ve been avoiding conflicts for too long.’

Eyes closed, Roman rested his head against the window of the truck’s cabin. ‘You said you wanted to keep a low profile and build an empire.’

‘I know. But this country is important to you. And apparently, we picked shitty allies. If I’d known you had something you wanted to protect, I would’ve pushed you harder to become stronger.’

He peeked at Voreese with one eye. ‘I didn’t think my feelings mattered to you that much.’

‘Then you’re an even bigger idiot than I thought.’

He smirked and closed his eyes again.

Soon, they reached the city of Walton. His hometown was a welcome sight, even if it was blurry without his glasses. Voreese gave the Queen directions to Roman’s midtown mansion. They exited the vehicle in the underground parking complex and took the elevator up.

“Why don’t you two get some rest?” Roman said to the ladies. “Make yourselves at home, and we’ll reconvene later to figure out our next move.”

“I am ready to discuss it now,” said Helen.

Roman looked at Lynnette.

She glanced at the Queen. “I think I’d like to rest, if you don’t mind...”

“Of course. And thank you, Lynnette. Your help has been invaluable.”

“I’ll make a call,” said Roman. “I know a good private doctor.”

The elevator doors opened, and a petite blond woman was waiting for them. “Master Roman!” she said. “You look like hell! What happened?”

“Lots. We have guests, Gina. Treat them well.”

Gina frowned. “Why didn’t you call ahead? I would’ve had everything prepared already.”

“Phone was destroyed. Please show Lynnette here to one of the bedrooms.”

“Sir, are you--is that a head that you’re carrying?”

“It belongs to an acquaintance. I’m keeping it safe for him. Now, please.”

She stiffened, but nodded. “As you say. Please follow me.”

“Oh, and bring me a new pair of glasses.”

Gina immediately retrieved a pair from her vest pocket.

He took them. “Ah, finally!” He looked around, blinking happily before cocking an eyebrow at Gina. “Why did you have my glasses on you?”

“Because you are very needy, sir.”

He shooed her away, and Lynnette followed. He showed Helen to the kitchen and began scrounging for food.

“I still do not know who you are,” the Queen said. “Or why you decided to help me.”

Roman tossed her a premade sandwich. “My name is Roman Fullister,” he said, biting into his own. “As for why I helped you, eh... I suppose that’d be part national pride and part business.”

“Business,” she said. “You mean thievery?”

Voreese gave a snort. ‘Roman is to thievery what you are to Atreya.’

Roman’s brow lowered. “That’d make me the queen of thieves, Voreese.”

‘Oh, you know what I meant.’

“Please, just let me do the talking.”

‘No, fuck you! Roman only steals from the super wealthy! And nobody knows it, but he takes care of the poor, too! He’s a great guy!’

Roman scratched his head. “I don’t know about that. I do live pretty comfortably, as you can see.”

‘Psh! You’re talking to the fucking Queen, Roman. She’s not impressed by your shiny floors and fancy sinks. This place probably looks like a crack house to her.’

It was Helen’s turn to furrow her brow.

Roman sighed and leaned against the refrigerator. “Point is, I have an organized operation here in Atreya. A number of highly-skilled people work under me. And while I might be able to take advantage of the chaos that Abolish’s plans will bring, it would only hurt my business in the long run.”

‘And Roman grew up in Atreya, so he has a soft spot for it.’

“Yeah, I guess I do.”

‘He was an orphan, too.’

“Well, I don’t see how that’s relevant...”

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‘Lived on the streets for a long time, he did. It’s a real rags-to-riches story.’

“Voreese, what the hell? They don’t care about any of that.”

‘Well, they should! Our previous allies obviously didn’t care, and look at what dicks they turned out to be!’

“We knew they were dicks when we aligned with them.”

‘Yeah, but we didn’t know how much! They were mega-dicks!’

“You’ll have to forgive Voreese,” said Roman. “She tends to hold grudges. Not that I disagree with her on this one.”

Mehlsanz floated behind Helen. ‘What should our next move be? We’ve been run out of the capital. And it doesn’t seem like we have the power to take Sescoria back.’

Voreese nodded. ‘And we definitely don’t have the power to keep Sescoria. Even if we killed the ones already there, more might show up like Gerald said.’

“Then we require more power,” said Helen. “Where might we find it?”

A brief silence fell.

Roman’s expression soured. “Can anyone think of something that isn’t the Vanguard?”

Helen looked over everyone. “I am not sure I understand what this Vanguard group is. They protect people from Abolish, no?”

“They do, yeah. And if we go to them for help, they’ll probably give it. But afterwards, they won’t just send us on our merry way. They’ll want our support, too.”

“That only seems fair,” said Helen.

“Maybe so,” said Roman, “but you should understand, Your Majesty. You might very well lose control of Atreya to them.”

“We will see about that.”

‘And besides, she’s already lost it to Abolish,’ said Voreese.

‘There’s another problem,’ said Mehlsanz. ‘I abandoned the Vanguard. I’m not sure how welcoming they’ll be. They may try to kill us.’

‘Oh. Delightful.’

“Then maybe we should go to Sai-hee for help,” said Roman.

Voreese gave a winged shrug and tilted her bird’s head. ‘It’s worth looking into, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. I doubt Sai-hee will break her neutrality and attack Abolish just because we ask her to.’

‘Getting in contact with her will not be easy.’

Helen folded her arms. “Why does Abolish want war, exactly? And what kind of war will they try to create?”

“If nothing else, their motives are always easy to understand. They want to cause as much destruction and death as possible. Whatever their plan is, it’ll be designed to maximize those things.”

‘Their plan is obvious enough,’ said Mehlsanz. ‘They want Atreya to instigate war with another country in such a way that even more countries will be dragged into the fighting.’

‘That’s not an easy thing to do,’ said Voreese. ‘Most countries have learned their lessons about forming dangerously dependent alliances.’

‘But that is what they will aim for,’ said Mehlsanz. ‘In their eyes, even if they fail to pull more combatants, they’ll still have a war like they wanted. And they’ll make it as bloody as possible.’

“I see,” said Helen, and she ventured into the next room and turned on the television. It didn’t take her long to find a channel where a reporter was standing confusedly in front of Belgrant Castle with police and firefighters in the background. “They will try to use this,” she said. “My disappearance will soon be discovered, and they will rally for public support.”

“You really think they’ll be able to blame the attack on some other country?” Roman asked.

“I am not sure. Perhaps there is some video footage of the attack which will exonerate any accused parties.”

‘They’ll wait and see what the media learns before making their move,’ said Voreese.

“Even if they fail to garner public support,” the Queen said, “they can simply go to war anyway, and such a ludicrous act could prompt an armed rebellion.”

‘And then it’d just be a civil war, instead,’ said Mehlsanz. ‘All roads lead to war in some way.’

“Unless we kill those assholes and get you back on the throne,” said Roman.

Helen rubbed her forehead and sat down on the black couch. She closed her eyes. “My husband will undoubtedly try to oppose them...”

Mehlsanz floated closer. ‘They won’t kill him.’

Everyone looked at her, all sharing unconvinced expressions.

‘They won’t,’ she insisted. ‘With you gone, power falls to him. It’s too suspicious if you vanish and he dies at the same time. They want public support, remember? To make their war as large as possible, they’ll need him alive.’

The Queen sighed. “I hope you are right.”

Roman and Voreese exchanged glances, and everyone was silent for a while, simply listening to the news reporter drone on about how little they knew at this time. Roman sat down and placed Hector’s head on the small table next to him.

Voreese spoke first. ‘We do have one thing in our favor, at least. They need time to organize their war. Which means we have time to stop them.’

“True enough,” said Roman. “How long do you think we have?”

‘Hard to say,’ said Voreese. ‘I can’t imagine it taking more than six months, though. What do you think, Queenie?’

“Coordinating an initial assault would take less than a week,” said Helen. “Preparations for a long war would require more time but not likely more than a month. However, if they truly intend to win the people over first, then yes, we do have more time. I would guess four months, if no other complications arise, which is also doubtful.”

Roman adjusted his spectacles. “Well, in any case, we shouldn’t dawdle here.”

‘Agreed,’ said Voreese. ‘We should leave Atreya as soon you’re prepared.’

“And go where?” Helen asked.

‘As far as I know, the nearest Vanguard forces are in Korgum. They do have their hands full with Dozer, though, so they might not want to spare us any soldiers.’

Mehlsanz hovered around Helen. ‘Eh... I’d really prefer not to meet anyone in the Vanguard again.’

“Why did you desert them?” said Roman.

Mehlsanz paused briefly. ‘My previous servant, she grew up in conflict. Even before I resurrected her, she had lived through two wars as a child soldier. It was all she had ever known. And then one day, we found out that her sister had become a servant for Abolish.’

Roman’s expression darkened. “Let me guess. The sister was mentally ill.”

‘Yes. Her sister wasn’t psychotic, but she didn’t really understand the consequences of what she was doing. And her reaper took advantage of that. But of course, the Vanguard had to stop her. She was killing innocent people. And my girl--Valencia was her name--she was just torn to pieces by this knowledge. She wanted to protect her sister, but she couldn’t. She didn’t want to fight her, either, so the higher-ups moved us to a different battlefield. But it didn’t make much difference, at that point. Valencia didn’t want to fight at all anymore. She just wanted to go somewhere and live peacefully.’

‘Fucking Abolish motherfuckers...’

Mehlsanz nodded. ‘I wouldn’t normally agree to such a request, but after all Valencia had been through, I wanted to give her a chance at a quiet life. For a while, at least. I thought maybe she could find someone to fall in love with, and I’d let her grow old with that person, and then afterward, I’d release her and return to fighting Abolish with a new servant. And besides, I sort of wanted a break from the fighting, myself.’

“I’m guessing that didn’t go over so well with your bosses.”

‘They refused. If she wouldn’t fight, I had to release her, no exceptions. I protested, and then they imprisoned me and told me that if I didn’t release her, they’d have to kill me. So I released her. And at the first opportunity, I fled.’

‘And they didn’t come after you?’

‘I hid for a while, with decreasing levels of success. And now, Helen’s status is the only thing protecting me. The Vanguard won’t kill the ruler of a nation that’s not under Abolish’s control.’

“You’ve had it rough,” said Roman.

Helen frowned. “I am sorry for all you have had to endure, Mehlsanz, but I must do whatever I can to protect Atreya--even if it means aligning with people you do not approve of.”

‘I know.’

Voreese tilted her ghostly, feathered head. ‘The Vanguard didn’t used to be like that. They’ve always been self-righteous pricks, but I’ve never known them to go that far. What changed?’

‘I’m not sure, honestly. I first noticed their harsher rules a few years ago. I can’t recall a particular incident.’

“I’d always heard the leader of the Vanguard is a pretty decent guy,” said Roman. “Is that not the case anymore? Or maybe it never was?”

‘I wouldn’t know,’ said Mehlsanz. ‘I only met Sermung once, and that was fifty years ago.’

“Hmm.” Roman looked over everyone and adjusted his glasses again. “Well, we don’t have any idea where Sai-hee’s people are, so I still think we should try the Vanguard in Korgum, first.”

“I agree.”

Mehlsanz ruffled her feathers but nodded. ‘We must be very cautious.’

‘What about Hector and Garovel?’ said Voreese. ‘They’re gonna be out of commission for at least a week. Probably more.’

“We can’t wait that long,” said Roman. “I wanna be out of here within two days.”

‘You could just carry Hector’s head with us,’ said Voreese.

“Eh. I don’t think we should take them out of the country without their permission. They might have a reason to stay in Atreya. How much do we even know about them?”

‘Not much,’ said Mehlsanz. ‘I worked with Garovel some thirty years ago, and he seems more or less the same. Which is a good thing. But I know nothing about Hector.’

Helen looked at the helm. “We know that he protected us. That is not nothing.”

“We also know that Garovel said they weren’t prepared to die for you,” said Roman. “And then they were both nearly killed.”

Helen gave a slow nod.

“They can stay here. Gina will take care of them. And besides, I really don’t wanna try to smuggle a severed head into a foreign country. I hear people frown upon that sort of thing.”

“Very well.”

“What about your sword girl? Should we take her?”

“I cannot send Lynnette back to Sescoria. Abolish will kill her.”

“Oh yeah.”

“If she wishes it, then I would have her accompany us.”

“Alright.” Roman stood and stretched his arms. “I already have plenty of spare identities for myself, so we’ll only need two more.”

‘You have someone who can provide fake documentation?’ Mehlsanz asked.

“Have someone?” said Roman. “Please. I do all my forgeries myself.”

‘Ah, of course.’

“That’s why I said two days. I need time to work.”

‘Make me one, too!’

“Not this again. Voreese, I swear--”

‘C’mon. Just the ID. You can skip all the other stuff.’

“No!”

‘Tch.’ She turned to Helen and Mehlsanz. ‘He refuses to make me a fake ID, even as a joke. It wouldn’t even be that much work for him. He’s so lazy. Doesn’t care about my happiness at all.’

“Y’know what? Fine. One day, when the entire country isn’t in danger, I’ll do that for you. Okay? Happy now?”

‘Yes!’

“And for your photo, I’ll use a picture of an actual bitch.”

‘Maybe you should change yours to a picture of an actual cock!’