The Undying Emperor [Grand Conquest Fantasy]

Lucius' ploy was neither subtle, nor bloody. He funded it by dipping into the coffers of the Wavefront Corporation and staffed it with those displaced from the academy. With land under Felicia's control, he announced the formation of a new institute of learning. It was not meant to compete with the academy of Forum, but to take in the youngest of children. Specifically, those deprived of their fathers by the violence of war.

When he brought the proposal to Acheliah, she called him a fool. "There are records of who served. There are records of those known to have died and those presumed to have died. There are not records of who their legitimate children are. Perhaps some mayors and barons keep such things written down, but it would be a paltry sum to forge such a script. You will be overwhelmed with fraud."

The boy smiled and spread his hands. "It would be a charitable thing, no? To take in children. To teach them? Rather than leave them to wolves on two feet, surely it is better to put in some effort and make proper men and women out of them? Or would you rather they become fodder for revolutionaries?"

The angel sighed and deferred to her favorite pet. The king's sister, Kassie, ordered that it be done. "My brother is going to be throwing money at people regardless. He wants to build roads. Why not build a school instead?"

Acheliah attacked a sweetroll like a raptor taking the head off of its prey. "And if his scheme fails? How many starving children could you have on your conscious?"

The princess wrinkled her nose and sipped her tea. "He was going to seize the pensions regardless."

"But now they will be your responsibility, even if it is my dog's project instead of yours. Don't encourage him, Kassie."

"Encourage him to what? Make himself look better?"

"To groom himself an army," she said, eyes square upon Lucius. "Suppose this does work. How many men would he have loyal to him in five year's time? That view him as their benefactor?"

"They'll view the king as their benefactor," the princess insisted. "He will either be in prison, or in Aillesterra in five years time."

He scoffed. "Please. I wouldn't need so long to crush the clans. I'll grant you prison, though."

"He won't be sent to Donjon."

"I wouldn't be able to be your dog if I was in Donjon, now could I?"

She pivoted flat eyes at him. "You know, I had the king in my room screaming at me. He demanded to know why I was favoring you. He said he knows for a fact you were complicit with the coup."

Kassie's knuckles went white on her tea cup as Lucius answered, "I think the evidence speaks for itself. Had I been complicit in the coup, it would have worked."

Acheliah planted her elbow on the table and grinned at him. "You remind me of better times, Lucius. I remember when there were no kingdoms, no nobles, no politics. Every man and woman stood for themselves and what was exalted was their character itself, their heroism and virtue. It was only after that when people started making laws. Making second hand virtues called order and duty."

"Back when the gods spoke?"

She nodded, eyes downcast. "Back when it was my job to kill the monsters in the dark. Dog, I have a new task for you."

"I thought you'd never tell me why you summoned me."

"My priests will provide you a ship. Head west to the hermit monastery and retrieve my reaping blade. You'll know it when you see it."

If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

"A reaping blade?"

Her grin was back. "Yes. It's a blade that can kill even you, Undying. But, you may relax. I don't intend to take your head. You know who I want it for."

"He does?" Kassie interjected, but neither informed the princess.

Lucius shrugged, allowing his posture to relax. "Something like that sounds quite useful for my other tasks."

Acheliah laughed. "If you can wield it, perhaps I'll let you. It's not an easy blade, though. If it was, do you think I would have left it alone with but a few mad gatekeepers?"

He grimaced. Some might have thought the magic itself would be tricky, but Lucius' first assumption was almost entirely accurate to the problem. "Am I going to need to bring a trollkin with me? I don't think I have one I trust." Kassie's maid took no offense at his comment.

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Please, it's not that heavy. Prove yourself to be half the man you posture as and bring it here."

"As you command," Lucius said, and took the angel's dismissal.

At this time, he had made an assumption that any who dared spy on him would not dare spy on the angel. Further, that if one was mad enough to do so, Acheliah would notice and intervene. There was, however, a rather simple avenue of interrogation he should have seen. Not only because I trained him to be better than this, but because that avenue weighed over three hundred pounds and stood ten feet from him during the entire conversation. Alas, against all better thought, he never considered that the trollkin maid, who had served and protected the princess for over a decade, despised him. It was a very paltry sum it took to turn her from a confidant to an informer as it regarded Lucius von Solhart.

Word reached Jon Brume's ear before Lucius had even left the king's castle. Word was studiously sent back to Sir Montem via pigeon, but even the flight of birds can be considered slow. The Blade of Night assumed Lucius would return to Forum, or at least send word to his family another way, but he kept his attention on Lucius regardless. The more things played out, however, the more irresistible it became. For four hours, Brume paced the shoddy inn room, trying to wait for Montem's orders, but he kept asking himself what a mad gatekeeper was, and if they could kill the undying.

Eventually, he brought himself to the swill selling shacks beside the docks where men of his kind congregated. There he found himself a smuggler in need of work and he plied the man for information. There could only be a handful of monastery islands in the west. Such places would need to have supplies sent to them, and those paths would be at least known, if not charted.

The captain of several, but they were rudimentary things. Priests and priestesses would be stationed there as quiet punishment when the temple wanted to serve justice without making it known that a member of their own had been in the wrong. These were places such as Gallows Rock, where at least a hundred people had thrown themselves to the waves rather than wait through forty days of starvation. Each island had a name at least partially known to Brume, for such rumors collected in Donjon where prisoners had ought to do but gossip. And so his spirits were emboldened and more ale fueled his conviction that his chance had come at last.

But Lucius did not wait to send word back to Forum. The command had been given by Acheliah herself and if the temple's captain didn't need to wait then he wasn't going to be the delay himself. With the sun setting, the Otter Tides departed for the west and Brume shoved enough money into the hands of his smuggler that he was soon in pursuit. A cloak of mist drew thick upon their low-masted ship. The crew was uneasy as they bobbed from wave to wave, following the scarce trail of proffered oil dumped from the back of the temple ship. They had but a meagre protection from the great beasts of the sea, creatures that struck fear even into the Aillesterran navy, but before the sun rose a new fear came upon them.

The captain recognized what forsaken rock he was headed to and not for all the silver in the city would he take his crew there. When he set his eyes upon the mossy stones, he bellowed to turn at once. Brume seized him, but the captain refused to belay his order for it was an isle of cursed lepers they sailed toward. Brume could see for himself that Lucius had docked there, however. He cut the captain's throat and shoved him over. The bosun grabbed an ax to split his head, but choked on another of Brume's blades before he could bring it down. The tide was already sucking the smugglers to the rocky shore. It took but a simple threat. "If I kill but one more of you, you won't be able to free yourself from this island, but I can seek shelter with the priests. What will you do? Take me there as I paid you to do? Or drown with your pride and fear?"

They brought him to the far side of the island and shoved him off with a rowboat. They spat at him and swore to cut out his tongue if they ever saw him again. I don't know what became of that crew, but I know they never had the chance once he set foot upon the isle of the mad keepers of the reaping blade.